|
|
haugaas1991 New user 28 Posts |
Hey! I'm completely new to this forum. I need some help to improve my act Manipulation. This is an act I have just conceived and filmed. The idea is that there will be about a date that comes to visit. If you have any ideas on what I can improve, or what was good, just comment plz:)
I'm sorry for the poor film quality. best regards Alexander http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9cRLD6TYrc |
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
1st of all you have to decide who or what your want to represent. The Tux says one kind of person, the dancing says another, the spread legs all the time says another, and the juggling says another, the phone gag says comedy, but you are nto doing anything funny. It is okay to have a subtle comedic ection or trick, but not for no reason to the audience.
Do not stoup to the table, always stand up straight, legs together, and face the audience for all effects. Get a pair of shoes with heals. Never unbutton your coat, but if you do, suck it in, you know what I mean. Always play to the audience, by looking at them. Present your effects to the audience, not just like your were alone in a room. I would suggest you get Levent's act on DVD and find out what stealing is and how to make steals. Geoffrey Buckingham manipulation DVD is another good source. Consider Norm Nielsen's Deck Dropper as well. Do not produce more the 12 single cards at a time. I see you worked on your card work more then any of the other effects. I suggest you practice the other tricks as much as you do your card work. Do not pull things out of your pockets unless you have a reason. I suggest you find out what card clips are and buy or make some. You can steal from the props table as well if you think about your continunity of your material. Present each trick to the audience, not as if they were just watching a strange guy doing things. Do not dance, do not spread your legs or kick your legs for no reason. Stand still, stop weaving back and forth. Don't have material on the tables not related to the act, or used in the act. I like the jumbo card to newspaper idea. You have a long way to go to get this material flowing properly. |
haugaas1991 New user 28 Posts |
Thanks for answer!
I like the way you advice me on how to preforme. This gives me alot! I have no theaterical experience at all, so I like the way you pointed out what I could to when I stand and preforme on the stage: ) best regards, Alexander |
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
You are welcome, anyone can do a trick, but to present it in a pleasing manner takes some practice.
Also try to do all the tricks in your hands and not on the table or do the trick on the tall table and put you bucket and stuff on the low table. In other words switch working tables. |
Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3014 Posts |
I too enjoyed the cards to newspaper - I haven't seen that before! The card juggling is also something I haven't witnessed, so that was a nice touch too.
While it sounds cliche, think from an actor's perspective - what is your motivation? Why do you do each thing you're doing? The silk through cane bit was good, but didn't seem to really have a purpose. Your music works in some places, but overall it was a little skewed. I would look for a way to tie all of the audio in as well, so it's not just one song stopping and another song starting. Make the whole act flow into one piece, even if there are different elements to it. I enjoyed watching your video! I've been working on a similar idea for awhile - basically setting the stage for "romance" so that I can get a female spectator on stage, so producing a table cloth, rose, bottle of champagne, things of that nature. It's a fun thing to play around with! Good luck!
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
|
shinji07 New user 5 Posts |
Hello haugaas1991.
Thank you for your performance. It was nice to see it. As wmhegbli pointed, I also think the biggest problem in your act is stealing... Always keep your both hands visible to audience unless you have any reason for it. The easiest way to steal an object is from the table. For example, you stole the red silk from your right pocket, which was too obvious... Instead of it, I recommend you should steal the red silk from the table when you put a blue silk away, which is used for the silk-cane penetration. (I mean you should steal the red silk at 1:02) I think it is more convincing than the way you use. Just roll up the red silk so that you can easily finger palm it. One more thing I should point out is that all the while you are performing to the same tune. You should decide which movements to emphasize and which not to. For example, in the first part of your act, you take small white stuff from your breast pocket and burn it into the rose... I couldn't know what you had burn. You should emphasize this white stuff so that your audience can discern it. I know my English is not so great... but I hope you understood my comment(>_<) Keep it up and you will soon get better! |
61magic Special user Sacramento California 775 Posts |
Alexander since you are in the early stages of development of this act the best advice I can give is for you to take a good hard honest look at the video and critique it as if you are watching someone else performing.
Make notes of things you see wrong the work to correct them. I think you will notice the act flow is choppy due to the gaps in the music, reduce the gaps and the magic will start to fall into place. I would perform a newspaper effect at the beginning of your routine to complement the one at the end. I think something quick like Squircle would work here. The advice offered above is spot on, keep working the routine and make sure you always rehearse with your music. The one thing to watch for on your color changing champagne is to have the flute held away from your body, the black suit made it very difficult to see the actual color change. Also you should look at the flute and show some surprise the color has changed, and pause between changes. I think a layman would think you are trying to make the flute vanish and not notice the color change right away. As suggested above get a copy of the Levent DVD the routining in his act is really good and a lot can be learned from watching it. Good job and keep up us posted.
Professor J. P. Fawkes
|
Stucky Inner circle I'm Batman! 1355 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-11-19 10:44, Andrewzuber wrote: Pilou has done it and Soma did it with a cell phone. (Just so yah know) The biggest issue is is the act is not consistent with your self-imposed theme of getting ready for a date. I do agree that you should do something with a newspaper at the beginning if you are going out on that as your ending. (Perhaps in the future the production of a girl accompanied with a doorbell sound) Lose.The.Cards - They have NO basis in that routine whatsoever. I see you have a champagne bucket sitting there. I think a better manip piece to replace the cards is a miser's dream I have seen on a recently released DVD with ice and a champagne production. It's by Chris Randall. There is more, but it is not my style to ramble on.
Official Thread Killer
|
shinji07 New user 5 Posts |
It's true that your act is not consistent with your theme...
But I understand your feeling that you want to use the cards. I can see from your act that you really practiced it hard. If you want to combine the cards in your act you should rationalize it. How about like... "Oh, how stupid I am! I was so excited that I played with the cards, and scattered them on the floor! I have to wipe them away before my girlfriend comes!!" and you produce a broom to wipe them away. It's only an example... Anyway, you had better add the reason why you use the cards... |
Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3014 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-11-20 05:01, Stucky wrote: Yes, Soma's act is one of my favorites! I haven't seen Pilou however.
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
|
Stucky Inner circle I'm Batman! 1355 Posts |
Official Thread Killer
|
Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3014 Posts |
Thanks for the link! That was fun to watch.
I'd hate to be the cleanup crew after one of these things
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
|
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-11-19 09:16, haugaas1991 wrote: I suggest you purchase the DVD by Joanie Spina "Get Your Act Together", this will help you develope you act. As it is, you are doing trick poorly. |
DanielCoyne Special user Western Massachussetts 544 Posts |
Hey Alexander,
I think you've gotten a lot of good advice here. I just want to chime in and say congratulations -- you have clearly done a lot of thinking and practicing and it shows. You've got some great moments here and you're on your way to a really nice routine. Keep revising and polishing, and but I think you should feel really proud of the work you've done in getting the routine to this point. -Daniel |
Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3014 Posts |
I think people gave him some good advice and he acknowledged it - I don't think it's necessary to tell him he's performing poorly.
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
|
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
I added that comment because of his comment, seemed to be a realization that he had not considered. Maybe, not up to par would have been better, but I did want him to realize that it is not the tricks, but the presentation of the tricks is what an audience sees. Thus he should work on that as well as his tricks or at least be aware, magic is more then just then the trick.
|
Anatole Inner circle 1912 Posts |
I think anyone on the Café who posts a link to a video of their routines is genuinely asking for honest constructive criticism. Alexander even expressed his thanks for the comments. That said, it should always be remembered that one man's poison is another man's "breakfast of champions."
----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez
----- Sonny Narvaez
|
haugaas1991 New user 28 Posts |
First of all:
THANK YOU ALL FOR THE FEEDBACK! It is all very helpfull! My motivation and creativity is just exploding after these comments. It will not take long before I will post I new video with adjustments. I did preforme this act for audience this weekend and magician aswell. The magician's sad it was a brilliant idè and a good theme. I will work on my beginning at first. I will no throw out some ideas I have: 1. entering the stage (with high heal shoes and a tie)(i will just juse one table with a champagne holder) 2. I will pick up a calender and it will stand: 19. november DATE NIGHT! 3. I turn over a page and I will draw a champagne glass. (i little bit like Kenji Minemur produce the shades here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLq0SgrUkK4&feature=related 4. After producing the glass, I will produce a champagne bottle. I will now be ready to change the color of the water in the glass. In the meantime, my date calls me to say that she is ready for the evening Just some small ideas for a openere. What can I do futher? and I might need some help to produce the glass from the scratch after drawing it? best regards Alexander |
Stucky Inner circle I'm Batman! 1355 Posts |
Don't change the liquid so many times. Just because a trick comes with lots of options, doesn't mean you should use them all.
Official Thread Killer
|
graywolf Special user South carolina 631 Posts |
I enjoyed the video. It looks like you worked very hard on it. About stealing body loads, you cannot misdirect the audience without directing the audience first. In other words, if you are going to steal something from the right side of your body, you need to choreograph the same move before you make the move to steal it. I liked your card work. By the way, 32 years ago, Neil Foster showed me a version of jumbo card to newspaper.
Cordially, Howard Vanderbeck |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Finger/stage manipulation » » New manipulation act - help (0 Likes) |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.04 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |