What I hate about magic tricks, not that I hate it, is that if you are not really well known, people always assume there has to be some kind of gimmick involved, but if someone famous like Criss Angel, or David Blaine does the same trick, people think it's an absolute miracle. How exactly can you get the spectators to really think that what you are doing is a miracle?

You can't and you shouldn't .

Magic is entertainment . At it's best it can be an art form, but if you get people to think what you are doing is a real "miracle" then you've crossed the line into John Edwards or Uri Geller territory.

Criss Angel and David Blaine use clever post-production editing , stooges, and camera tricks to "sweeten" the legit magic tricks they do , so you can never duplicate those effects unless you are using the same sort of methods and editing.

If you shoot 14 takes of the same trick and on 13 of the takes people react very little or not at all, but on the 14th take you get someone who freaks out and says : "Holy ****! You're the devil! You're the greatest magician ever! OMG! " and then the run away down the street like spooks are after them ... well, guess which take gets aired on TV?

This is generally a question about the issue of prestige. Look into Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic for how this works.

IMHO you should hope to all heck they understand that what you are doing is entertainment and not storybook magic happening in real life. That said, the quality of your performance is effected by the dignity and respect you give your own work.

Don't worry about the guys with hangers on and camera crews... or even better do some street magic and bring your own camera crew

Magicmoose:

Your profile doesn't say where you live. Please let me know.

It will help me on my research paper: Trolls, and the Bridges Where They Live.

BTW, if you are hopping to be well-known, it will take a very long time. Be sure to change feet.

It's all about doing it at the right moment.

Walk on water, stigmata ........


Never been concerned with anyone thinking what they've experienced was anything but unique, quality entertainment.

Close observers never witness miracles, miracles occur over time by well established lies.

I can't begin to imagine what Magickmoose is talking about, every trick I do is taken as a miracle.

First, get over any ego you might have.

Look, this is a business as well as an art. If you are any innovative, creative and good, you get to work.

If you can do some tricks exactly like they are advertised or demonstrated in the brick and mortar store or on-line, then you don't deserve to work. Cruel, cold, whatever, it is the truth, and people need to be told.

If you can master the finger flicking moves described in the latest video or, heaven forbid, a book, good for you. Show them off at the local magic group or meeting, they'll appreciate your dexterity and skill. But, do not think that makes you a magician in the public's eye.

Performing for the general public requires you to be able to do more. You need to be able to entertain. The general public doesn't care whether you used a dexterous move that took 6 years to learn or a simple prop that you bought for 2 bucks. They care if you entertained them and created the illusion of skill, real or not.

Instead of being envious of Blaine, Angel et al, appreciate that guys like this keep magic in the public eye. Like 'em or hate 'em, they serve a purpose. They keep magic "hot."

Oh, and by the way Bill, even if all my personal stuff is not listed, you know who I are and I would be honored (spelled the American way, even though I am Canadian and adhere to the British "honoured") to be added to your Troll list!

I think you're working from a skewed perspective. People suspect some magicians of always using gimmicks. Other magicians, people assume he's using some tricky sleight of hand. When it comes to Angel and Blaine, my experience has been that people assume it's made for TV magic.

And other magicians still, people don't know what to assume. That's the category you want to be in. To learn how to make it look like a miracle, study the performers who make it look like miracles. What are they doing right? What are they not doing wrong? What do all their routines in each of their repertoires have in common? How do they relate to the people? What makes their stuff work?

Ask good questions, you'll get good answers.

Thing with Blaine and all them is the whole idea of chance. My personal experiences have taught me this as well. I can do a great coins across routine for one person and they see it as everything but a miracle. But I can go up to a girl and do that same coins across and they think I am walking on water. CA, and Blain have the luxury of filming the same trick to 30 different people and picking the best one.

I'm sure all of us have shared an experience where the effect is totally different on different people.

Josh

Yes, yes...but as you get better, your feedback gets more consistent.

You mentioned working for one person here and one there...for a challenge, try working six people with your coins across and getting applause.

All the things you need...can't be bought or found here anyway. Keep looking.

Dear Magickmoose:

Don't worry about what the other guy is doing, has done, is about to do. Concentrate on raising your ability as high as it will go and then shoot higher than that. The road to 'fame' as such is almost always the road to excellence in some form or the road to vulgarity or infamy which can be a VERY short road indeed.

Life is all process. A goal is merely a pause in a larger process moving one forward with hopeful regularity. Get into the process of 'being' a solid magician and see where it takes you. Highly recommended read: "To Have Or To Be" by Erich Fromm.

All best,

If someone famous like Criss Angel, or David Blaine does the same trick, people think it's an absolute miracle. How exactly can you get the spectators to really think that what you are doing is a miracle?

You give the spectators money to act like a miracle just happened.

Work on your presentation skills...

Amazing Binky: It's a good question in a certain context. Consider for a moment that EVERYTHING you see when you see David Blaine and C.A. on t.v. is SCRIPTED. I mean it is scripted and planned to the nth degree. Their work is also edited to gain the best possible Effect and Affect for the t.v. audience. This is not a critical comment. I applaud them for using the technology for all it's worth. But, the point is that you don't want to gauge what you do against these fellows.

Try to gauge everything by the response YOU get each time you perform a routine, act, etc. When I started out I was busted by my mom on a continual basis. It was maddening! My mom, the sweetie she was, thought she was just being helpful and in the end she was right. It never helps to tell someone they just did a trick perfectly if you saw exactly how they did it!

Learning magic well is very much like working on computer code: You write the code and then you debug it. So to with a magic trick or routine. You learn the moves, etc. and then you discover in test performance WHERE you are having problems. As you mature in the craft you will KNOW these things without testing because you will have encountered the same types of problems, etc. and you can eliminate them before hand.

You will also with practice gain an idea of WHAT tricks for YOU work the best and that you can pull the most from. I have used this story before, but it's a great illustration: One of my oldest friends in magic is one of the best sleight-of-hand men I have ever known. Just amazing. Great technician and great entertainer. He can't do Twisting the Aces. That is, he can do it perfectly, but he gets NOTHING from an audience with it! I on the other hand can get a standing ovation with it. Why is that? Haven't a clue. That why you have test material for a time in front of folks until you can decide what it's going to do for you.

Blaine in an understated way is a VERY accomplished manipulator. His manner of performance down plays this. It works for him.

As an exercise select the one trick that you get the best response and attempt to figure out why? Pays dividends even if you fail in the quest. Best,

Not necessarily. I've know laymen who think that Angel and Blaine are big fakes.


Maybe it would help if you stopped calling them "magic tricks" and started calling them "effects," "illusions" or "mysteries."