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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
You can escape from your TT problem. Others have. It need not control you.
If you can work with something other than a black silk pocket square you could have the item produced be more of a shadow, think 'Peter Pan'. Starting to wonder about having a container, removing the darkness inside to find the interior lit. Then replacing the darkness and all back to ordinary.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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rcad Loyal user St-Eustache 211 Posts |
Haha! Jonathan, because of the language barrier, it took me a while before I realize there was a lot of humor in the first comment.
Seriously, I have never used a TT, at least never in performance. I have known about that effect and its method from since I was 12. I had never seen a presentation that made me want to do this trick. But I saw my teacher perform it and he blew me away! His handling was such that I realized I had never seen anyone do it well. I am usually more into choosing tricks for the story of my act rather than trying to figure out how to include a specific effect in it. I am more of a writer than a sleight technician. But I must admit that I fell in love with this effect and the technical choreography of it. Besides, since I'll be using silks for other effects, why not produce it rather than bringing it out? The idea of materializing darkness came from the fact that the characters I practice and write stories for, are mostly dark in nature (I haven't chosen my character yet so I want to perform them all and see what happens). But that was the first thought that came to me and I figured that with all the creative minds on this forum, maybe we could come up with different presentations that would render justice to this trick wich seems to have been overused and is now overlooked. I just don't want it to look as it got out of a clown act. Mind you, I have nothing against clowns or clown acts. One of the characters I'm working on is in fact a dark kinda clown... He could produce the silk very theatricaly, almost as if making fun of classic clowns but I'd like to include that effect with another character who is much more serious and who wants your soul... See? Why can't that character produce a silk too if he needs one? I am looking for a way... PS: I still find all the other ideas interesting and they are seeds planted in the soil of my creativity... Richard
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." Albert Einstein
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Darkness falls upon things and people. Manifesting darkness as something that might touch someone or cover something is interesting.
Where do you imagine placing the darkness you produce?
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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rcad Loyal user St-Eustache 211 Posts |
I was thinking about money... Especially since my character is at the very least, a demon worshiper trying to lure people into the dark side. He does so by appealing to their own darkside... So money is definately something he has control over. I see the silk/materialization of darkness as a door leading from and to the other side in the mundane appearance of a black silk. So when things appear or disappear from it or that they go through it, it makes a strange kind of sense.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I like this idea... Richard
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." Albert Einstein
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Michael J. Douglas Inner circle WV, USA 1645 Posts |
Well, there's the old silk from dollar bill!
or As you take out a piece of flash string/cord, you could say, "If it's true that 'out of darkness, came light.' Could this not work the other way around? How about 'out of the light, came darkness.'" At the end of the last line, you would produce the silk from the piece of flash string/cord. or With the box theme- You all sit in a room where the only source of light is by candle. As you open the box all of the candles go out! When your routine is over and you close the box, the candles re-ignite themselves! Of course this would be expensive and would require set-up time.
Michael J.
�Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange things.� --from Shakespeare�s �As You Like It� |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Are you suggesting that money touched by darkness becomes cursed? Perhaps carries some darkness inside once tainted?
Does something cast into darkness in one place become retrievable from darkness elsewhere?
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Peter Marucci Inner circle 5389 Posts |
Instead of producing a square of black silk, what about a circle?
That is, producing a "black hole". The possibilities for a story line just went up many notches. |
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Sid Mayer Special user Santa Fe, NM 656 Posts |
There is the well-known effect of walking away from your shadow. Ergo, it should be even easier to walk away from your TT.
Alternatively, confine its use to better purposes than producing a handkerchief. Sid
All the world's a stage ... and everybody on it is overacting.
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rcad Loyal user St-Eustache 211 Posts |
Peter,
You are right. Playing with the form of the silk could enhance the symbolism... How would you represent a "rip" between the two worlds because this is how I imagined it in the begining. Jonathan, I have always been fascinated by an idea I read in the novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub called "The Talisman" (even if I consider the novel itself so-so...). In this story, the main character travels back and forth from our world to a parallel universe. In doing so, he also carries objects from either world into the other. What I thought was a fascinating idea is that those objects are transformed as they cross the threshold. I don't remember exactly what objects were involved but that idea has a lot of potential. For example, once it has been established that what comes from the other world is evil, the magician could temporarily show the true nature of what we consider ordinary objects. One idea I had was to take a pen and pass it through the "rip". It would come out on the other side as a small dagger... The symbolism being of course that the written word can be a destructive weapon. I could make up a story about who the owner of that pen was... The ideas are still simmering but you get the picture. So to answer your question, I don't think object would become cursed or tainted but would be evil to start with, the magic only revealing it in broad daylight... Or something like that... Sid, I have never used a TT before. I just see a lot of potential in a great effect that has been overdone, granted but mostly underestimated and not well performed. Besides, it's not the trick or the method that makes great magic, it's the magician who performs it and I'm always up for a challenge when my creativity is involved. Richard
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." Albert Einstein
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Michael J. Douglas Inner circle WV, USA 1645 Posts |
Quote:
One idea I had was to take a pen and pass it through the "rip". It would come out on the other side as a small dagger... Richard, A large topit comes directly to mind. The switches would be perfect. From your pic, you already wear the jacket. Just don't overdue it or it would seem as though you've sprouted a growth on either of your sides!
Michael J.
�Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange things.� --from Shakespeare�s �As You Like It� |
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DanHarlan V.I.P. 998 Posts |
The speed of darkness is identical to the speed of light. This is a given since one balances the other. Darkness retreats the moment light enters, and returns instantly upon its exit. Darkness is passive yet pervasive, waiting for the light to leave. Light is intrusive. Always pushing. In darkness we are comforted. The light reveals our flaws. Then, it is the light which is evil, no? Is the truth revealed by light just another illusion? What is the truth that darkness conceals?
Peter is right. I think you need to use a circle of material if you are going for symbolism. Perhaps you may want to color change a white (square) silk into the black (circular) silk. Someone mentioned the Flip Tip. Also, the Eclipse Tip idea by Jay Scott Berry would work. I like the simplicity of the symbolic idea to elevate the lowly TT silk. I have a presentation (The World's Saddest Trick) which, although humorous, also gets away from the norm. BTW, the egg came first. There were many egg-laying creatures before chickens existed. --Dan Harlan |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
One might suspect the chicken would have to exist in order to decide if another 'thing' were a chicken. One does need a standard of comparison.
Then again perhaps the darkness got bored and brought forth the light and the chicken? Is it dark inside an egg?
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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cogliostro New user Tampa 99 Posts |
Essence of shadow, distilled midnight, liquid darkness. The contents of this bottle are unlike anything most mortals ever dream about. Allow me the opportunity to demonstrate!
. http://www.wondermagnet.com/ferro.html It certainly looks the part doesn't it Rob |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
For some reason, the image of a light bulb being engulfed by that dark fluid...
Darkness as animated substance? Wunderbar's evil twin?
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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rcad Loyal user St-Eustache 211 Posts |
This stuff looks incredible but difficult and even dangerous to play with though...
magis6, Thanks for the tip! But I haven't really stopped to think about methods yet. I'm trying to define a concept that will fit a very dark character I'm working on. Do you like that idea about the dagger? I'm also trying to turn the appearing silk using a TT effect into something new and interesting... Richard
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." Albert Einstein
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Doug Byrd Veteran user VA 361 Posts |
Richard,
In all seriousness. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel. "I'm also trying to turn the appearing silk using a TT effect into something new and interesting..." Who is this for? Your spectators? 99% of the world has never seen anything produced or vanished using a TT and if they have and it was done RIGHT they still haven't. Or are you trying to whip something "NEW and Exciting" up for the Magical Masterba...'s club meeting? If you are then you are wasting your time. I'm not trying to bust your gonads here Richard since I'm still not sure what you are asking for, but one of my biggest pet peeves is anyone that says that TT's or Sponge Balls are passe. Stop thinking so hard. All you need is right here. Get with Peter Marucci, Kay Tracy, WR, or Christian Chelman and flesh something out. It's not that any of us think the TT is outdated, it's just you seem to be asking for a skyscraper when all you are offering is $30.00 in lumber. How about this?... You take a small flower from your suit jacket's button hole and talk about how things grow in the sun and that the sun must equal life. You raise your other hand in the typical vanishing fist display (that you use with a TT) and say, "So inversely darkness must mean.... (here you pass your fist around for their "quick" inspection and bring it back and place the flower in and the hand comes right back out and displayed openly to show you left the flower in your fist)....DEATH! With this you open your hand and show a dead wilted flower. You place the dead flower back in your button hole and say to your spectator's, "We all have a date with the darkness. May your days in the sun be many and may you meet you appointed time with no regrets." Here the TT is not used in the usual put and take situation. It is merely a tool used to an end and if this doesn't send a shiver down their backs then I'd check their pulse. Doug
"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
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rcad Loyal user St-Eustache 211 Posts |
Doug,
I love your flower idea! You are right. I am working on a performance for a magic class final evaluation. We have to perform 3 tricks that were taught during the course. I am working on a dark character and trying to find interesting dark twists to the classic effects taught that I am interested in. The appearing silk effect using a TT is one of the tricks I liked a lot and that didn't seem popular among the students. This is important because although my first 3 choices wouldn't include the appearing silk effect in my act, I may end up choosing the effects last and "get stuck" with effects nobody wanted. If it happens, I want to be able to quickly adjust my act. If not, I still will try it with non-magicians audiences because I think the ideas expressed here are very appealing. And as I mentioned earlier, if I'm gonna use a silk for certain effects, why not produce that silk instead of reaching into my pocket for it. I may have sounded "obsessed" with the TT but I guess the context in which I plan to use it explains my reasons. About your pet peeve, point taken. Unfortunately, too many people who are not studying magic told me that this appearing silk effect was done with a TT (using many other names for it but still describing the gimmick). I think that the use of this gimmick has many more applications and that even the individuals who know about the TT, could be fooled by it. However, I was refering specifically to the appearing silk effect that everyone seem to have witnessed at least once in their life. Then again, maybe the exposure of this particular effect is not as bad as I think it is... Richard
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." Albert Einstein
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peterng25 New user 90 Posts |
It's a wonder no one has mentioned 'building blocks' (the shadow suggestion)
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Could we start by calling the thing a handkerchief?
And motivating the production... as it is quite simple to remove a handkerchief from one's jacket pocket. As to darkness itself... that tends to be shy in the light.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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JudgeBean Regular user 125 Posts |
What about a smaller square of black velvet?
a square to fit the palm of your hand? you could also say its not darkness but a piece of a dark soul. (also a black silk and a peter pan story of losing his shadow) and the timing can be quicker. a dark story of vampires or muderous ghosts and just a peek of the blackness....only a glimpse really. just enough for them to think did I see that or not? and remember its not how you do it. Its the preception or the effect on them that matters. Judgebean |
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