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Cyar Regular user 132 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-03-14 09:43, truesoldier wrote: Please go ahead and name a few others. This thread will die off soon and it would be nice resource to turn to for all at a later date.
I told those f***s down at the league office a thousand times that I don't roll on Shabbos!
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Tony Noice Veteran user 342 Posts |
A seminal point in STRONG MAGIC is Ortiz's disagreement with Fitzkee's premise in SHOWMANSHIP FOR MAGICIANS. The Fitzkee premise is that all performances must be entertaining and he goes on to analyze the elements that make any type of show appealing, suggesting that most magic acts contain fewer of these elements that many more popular forms of entertainment like music or comedy. Ortiz calls this Fitzkee's Falacy. Ortiz believes that a magician's performance should succeed because of the magic not despite it. I believe they are both right. I've seen hugely entertaining magic shows where the actual magic was mundane but the personality and style of the performer enraptured the audience, and equally successful ones where the audience was absolutely fascinated by the sheer impossibility of what they were seeing. And quite a few fine performers combine both approaches.
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erlandish Inner circle Vancouver, Canada 1254 Posts |
I think you're right on, Tony. If there is one bad thing about Strong Magic it's that there hasn't been a proper rebuttal to it, in the same way that SM serves as a proper rebuttal to some aspects of Fitzkee and Nelms.
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rxwookie New user Tennessee 59 Posts |
Here is an interesting alternative, though not nearly in the same league as Ortiz...
At only $15 you can get Gene Anderson's lecture notes for the Part-Time Pro. http://www.geneanderson.com/products.html Saw his lecture a few years ago and his ideas really struck a chord with me. He talks of polishing a routine... and this is, to me, what seperates a professional from an amateur.
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a sucess unexpected in common hours.
~Henry David Thoreau |
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EndersGame Inner circle Reviewer EndersGame 2195 Posts |
Tony Noice makes a good observation that while Fitzkee believes that the essential criteria for a successful performance is that it must be entertaining, Ortiz contends that performances must depend primarily on the magic and not other elements to be entertaining. Tony suggests that both are correct, and that it can be the personality and style of the performer that makes a magic act succeed, the magic itself, or a combination.
This is an excellent point. Two examples (click to view video clips) would be the Vanishing Bandana and David Copperfield's Webster (Slo Mo Duck). Both are extremely entertaining effects (at least, if you haven't seen them before), and the comic presentation contributes just as much to the entertainment as the magic. In both cases, comedy and magic combine successfully to create good crowd-pleasing entertainment, and that's what counts. For it to be part of a magic act, there needs to be at least a small element of magic. The Vanishing Bandana is more comedy than magic (even though it's about magic), but it still does have some magic in the twist at the end, so it's appropriate as part of a larger routine. A very serious performer, however, likely wouldn't find The Vanishing Bandana appropriate for his act, because the "magic" element is too miniscule. In the final analysis, perhaps the extent to which comedy or other elements can contribute to the entertainment depends on the persona adopted by the magician. |
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andre combrinck Special user South Africa 953 Posts |
Card College vol2 also has a great section(the last chapter).
AJ |
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Dave McFarland Regular user Portland, OR 184 Posts |
I highly recommend Scripting Magic by Pete McCabe. It's certainly not the only word on the subject of performance, in fact, its focus is pretty narrow, but it's a fantastic read and presents many good suggestions for framing and presenting effects.
The Henning Nelms book (Magic and Showmanship) does have some drawbacks, but it's only $10 on Amazon. It's a pretty quick read and it DOES have lots of great material. I learned a lot about creating motivation for your actions from this book, and there's quite a lot of good stuff about scripting. The tricks themselves are so so, but it's so cheap, and is a really important book in the history of magic theory. And yes, both Strong Magic and Designing Miracles are fantastic books--my copies are covered with underlines and filled with dog-eared pages. I do agree that they are a bit deep and may not be the easiest books to ease a beginner into the topic of magic theory, however. I think the suggestion made by Gaddy is very good: take an acting or improv class as well. |
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squando Elite user 444 Posts |
I Plan to check out the "Inner Game of Tennis." Weber uses his love of tennis, and his son's success to make valid points.
I find that the many books recommended above and their points for performance enhancement are awesome.
Frank
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