What would you say is a good ideal finish for an act that uses manipulation. I have seen some acts that build up to producing really large jumbo cards which is good but not up to everyones capability.

I have used for a long time now a ribbon streamer with lots of confetti from a dove pan. This goes down well with the lay public but not always magicians. So my question is what type of effect do you think should finish your act?. Eg: for a dove act they vanish the doves in a cage but what about a manipulative type act that probably uses some but not all manipulation type of effects ?

Stuart.

I see a lot of Card fountains used to finish manipulation acts. Or the o-so classic production of a large Card castle. You may want to look into that.

It really depends on what would be an appropriate ending!

Costume changes, large productions (or vanishes), or even a simple pose may 'work' in many situations; but it wouldn't make sense to change your tuxedo from black to red after performing a misers dream routine.

Derek Merdinyan

Strong vanishes will leave the audience talking.

One good ending will be music added while producing cards.

Argh, why must manipulation always mean cards? There is so much more to manipulate!

Also there is a general rule in magic that you should not end an act on a vanish (Because it is a negative end, also a vanish often requires a reproduction to avoid the "where did they go?" question). I think this is especially important when it comes to Dove work. The whole beauty of Dove work is that you are apparantly creating life, to vanish the doves at the end is to destroy all the beauty and good that you have created. Remember that Doves represent peace, are you sure you want to vanish them?

So how do you end a manipulative act then? Well the most logical ending is to produce the item until your hands are full ala Billiard Balls or Thimbles. From there you can, if you like, take one such item and perform a beautiful transformation such as ball to streamer, which would in turn set you up for a kicker production on the applause.
The other way to end an act is by using a running thread. For example, if you were playing a tramp like character producing coins all through the act then at the end you could produce a huge shower of coins, or a few jumbos, or in this case you could vanish the coins, because of the part being played. I would recommend not using a card shower from the recepticle though, because then you give your ending applause to your prop, when it should be on you (because it is obvious that you are not the one creating the magic).
How you end the act depends very much on your character and what you are manipulating. I like to end on a larger than me production, some people like to end as they began. Others simply crescendo and stop.

The most important part of your ending is your bow and your exit.

Best of luck,
Paul

Dove to silk

It is refreashing to hear Paul say some of what I belive in myself. Manipulation acts can be far more then cards and far more then just the norm. Think outside the box and be creative in what you do and are creating. Do not look towards magic for your ideas as it tends to have you creating what others have already done before you. Look outwards and seek other methods for your creative ideas for your acts. Open up your mind.

How do you keep it creative and different and why is it not the best to just do an act of pure skill alone. Below is my answer to these questions along with some tips on what has worked for me in regards to ways anyone can make their own acts more creative and therefore connect better with the audience and gather more response and applause along with it.

My first question to anyone putting an act together may seem a bit strange or sound like I am being too harsh, but read on and I think you will see what I am referring to. Some of these tips relate to manipulative magic, but the tips can be used for any type of an act. My big question to you is: WHY!!!!!

I told you that it may seem a bit strange, but let me go on now to tell you about what I am referring to. To a magician, we are fascinated with cards and flourishes and vanishes and anything related to manipulation. It amazes us by the technique and the method and skill involved in doing the executions of the routines. This alone keeps us striving to learn more and peaks our interest and curiosity.

However, this is often NOT the case with a lay audience. A lay audience does not see manipulative magic in the same way we do. They do not understand the techniques and skills involved and nor should they if what we are doing is supposed to be magical. With this in mind, the audience often will say to themselves... "WHY". Why is this magician doing the same thing over and over again.

Why? Because the magician knows he is doing different vanishes and each one is slightly unique. However the audience only knows that the card vanishes, the card returned and now your doing it again. This is why an act of manipulation is very hard to do well if your doing it for 7-8 mins in a normal act time. You do not want your audience ever going "Why" at any time in the routine.

So how do you work around this problem of boring your audience to tears? Well that is where research and creativity comes into the picture. It gets back to the point that in a manipulative act you must give the audience "more". It is not good enough to simply show an 8 minute act of pure skill alone doing moves that appear the same to any audience.

So how do you give your audience more? Well you can give them more through the use of themes, character, style, pacing, transition effects and emotional response to just name a few. Let me go on to talk very briefly about each of these I just mentioned. Each could be an article all in itself but I will just give you my tips on each one for now in hopes you can grasps what I am referring to.

- Themes: You can give more to your audience in any manipulative act if you simply add in a theme to the act you are doing. This can be a generalized theme in regards to the objects all relating that you are manipulating, or the act itself can be themed around a storyline. In this way you are performing a small 8 min play that just so happens to have magic in it. The audience can relate to the themed objects or the story and get more involved with your act and with you.

- Character: Every act you do should have a strong character present on stage. The audience needs to be able to connect with this character. If you can connect the audience with you, then they become more attached to you and can relate to what you are doing on stage. Ask yourself if your character is suave, comical, athletic, hip, sad, down on his luck. Each of these can become a strong character that can be conveyed in your stage movement and even your music.

- Style: With style, I mean the way you move on stage and the way you conduct and hold yourself throughout the act. It is something that must be learned over time. It is those little things that make a huge difference to an audience liking you or not. It can be the way you pause at the right moment and look at the audience and wink right before a big production. It could be the way you move and look and smile at the audience as if saying thank you without moving your mouth at all.

- Pacing: The way you pace and time your act can make a world of difference to an audience. In many manipulative acts, the audience is being barraged with too much visual input. They can not follow it all the time and so start shutting themselves down from even watching what it is you are doing. You must pace your act and place in it pauses that give the audience a chance to catch up, breathe a bit and give them a chance to applaude you before going into the next sequence.

- Transition effects: These are the simple things you can place into your act that changes it up a bit and ads so called "spice" to the act. It gives your audience something more to watch and breaks up the act from being too repetitive.
For example: You could be doing a billiard ball act. You do a few vanishes and produce the ball. The ball gets tossed up and as you catch it it turns into a white silk. You do a knots of silk effect and the not becomes the ball again. In this way the ball to silk becomes a transition effect that gives your audience something more to be interested in.

- Emotional Response: This is a HUGE one and can work so wonderful if done well. If done right it can make your audience connect with you long after you have left the stage. It is causing an emotional response in your audiences by allowing them to connect and relate to your character and the predicament presented on the stage. It can also work closely in with the theme you are presenting.

Every person in your audience has experienced something in common. What is common to us all is emotions. We have all felt fear, love, confusion and happiness. These are common to every person know matter who you are performing for. So if you can connect with them on one or more of these emotions, you can get that audience member to really relate to you because they are remembering a similar situation when they too had that exact same emotion or situation happen to them. they can relate.

For example, your manipulative act could be all about this guy at night who is just trying to reach a bus to get home. It is late and he misses his bus and the entire world seems to be passing him buy. He sits on a bench to wait for the next bus and turns on his radio. He drifts off to sleep only to awake moments later. He realizes that magic starts happening to him even though he does not know exactly why it is. Through out the act the magic that happens to him causes him to smile and to realize that life is full of wonder even if we may not always see it.

Now this is just a very vague example but you can see how the entire act could be a manipulative routine but now you are relating to them a story of a very well defined character with a well defined theme. You give them an emotional response to the act because most can relate to being in a similar situation in their own life. In this way they relate better to what you are doing on stage.

Now these ideas are not meant to be the bible for a great act by any means. They are simply some of my own understandings on what I have experienced that has really worked not only for myself but to other acts that have really "made it." They are meant only to be reviewed and given some thought to. Take even one thing from them and I think you will see your act reaching your audiences in a whole different light.

So I simply ask you to ask yourself. WHY?

Hope this helps. my 2 cents worth.

Kyle

That was some unbelievable thoughts to ponder

Thank you so much for the kind words. I do appreciate them. I hope it sparks creativity and gets people thinking about their manipulative magic in a different light. Thanks again.

Kyle

Well Kyle, I guess great minds think alike! Very good advice, I hope everyone follows it!

my comments on your post:

Character seems to be the thing missing in most 'young' manipulators, it annoys me most!
Theming an act is very good, you can even theme with a style, but be prepared for a headache! It's not easy to achieve, also it may mean you have to include things like mime or dance! (Think McBride or Roy Davenport)

And Emotional response... the holy grail of a magic act! How I strive to reach my audience in the same way a great singer/actor can! A love song can move you to tears and you be happy about it, or make you even feel love. Some day I want a magic act with that much power!

Paul

Thanks Paul. I just see so many manipulators going to do their acts just like everyone before them. It becomes a series of magic clones all of us doing the same moves in the same way with almost the same music. Their lacks creativity in a lot of what I see manipulators doing these days.

This is not to say there are not creative manipulators out there. It just means that there are so many going about it without learning to think outside of the box. There is so much more you can give to your audiences by imploying and adding "flavor" to your act.

Kyle

Hehe, so true, so true!
Paul