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Logan Five Inner circle Northern California 1434 Posts |
I think all of us have seen our fair share of great magic and of course some really bad magic, including great and not-so-great performers.
Yes, there is a difference between the two, but what exactly is it? It is just the effect itself? It is just the performer who can't connect with an audience? Is it a skilled performer who can take a not-so-great effect and with his personality and rapport and presentation skills make that effect go over? What in your opinion makes good or great magic? What in your opinion makes bad magic? Sincerely Rick
Self concept is destiny..
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Simplicity of effect is the heart and soul of the trick, itself. If the cause and effect are separated by too much nonsense, the effect suffers. If you can't summarize the effect in one sentence, the trick is too confusing. Things must be clear.
Presentation is also key. The presentation must be appropriate. There must be relevance. Scale is important. Could you imagine a big stage production with a jungle setting, drums beating, and a guy comes out, dressed as an Ecuadorian headhunter, and then does "jumping gems?" Competence is also very important. There should be no fumbling, groping, fooling around—everything should be in its place and ready to go. Any misdirection should be subtle and unnoticed. For bad magic, well, it should be just the opposite.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
LordM Loyal user Portugal 232 Posts |
The presentation, and the way you communicate with your audience, makes the difference between a REAL magician and a "trick-maker". Magic is not just about the trick you do, but what you do with it.
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Richard Allen New user 66 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-07-17 12:25, Bill Palmer wrote: Wow, that pretty much sums it up. A lot of times I've seen footage of magicians, and I won't name any names, but these magicians were just plain horrible in my opinion. Technically, they were excellent, and I'm far from them on that level. However, a lot of these performers had great magic effects but failed to connect with their audiences. The audience seemed like nothing more than a prop in their trick rather than actual people. Examples include:
The one on reverse suggestion should really get you thinking. Think of a lot of things that magicians say that are most likely or even obviously false. "I have an ordinary deck of cards, and all of them are different..." What do you imply there? |
RBerteig Regular user Monrovia, California 146 Posts |
Like any performance art, it is certainly possible to be bad and not know it. Just think back to the first-round American Idle audition tapes... most of those people really thought they had a chance.
What scares me a bit are the people who placed in competitions, and are still bad. I saw some tape of a woman doing a production routine, that was billed as a prizewinner. She clearly aspired to be Melinda, but produced fake six-shooters to a soundtrack including punched-up ricochet sounds. Although there were some rough spots in her productions, that isn't what brings it to mind. It was bad mostly because the motivation was so poorly thought out, that the "story" of the production made no sense. Topping that off were the horrible gun safety lessons... Obviously, she spent a lot of effort on the routine, and obviously she beat out other competitors for whatever prize it was, but neither made the routine "good".
Ross Berteig
Wizards in my Parlor |
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