Every year I post this trick on Thanksgiving. It’s a good example of adding a theme to a trick that already exists.
The base routine was something that I had read in a Jim Steinmeyer book. For holidays, look at what you already do and look for logical connections then make the trick!
-Louie
A couple of days I was doing my morning writing and my brain had stalled out and was really having a hard time, then I noticed a cardboard tube on the table. This is a small tube that is in the center of the bags for our dog’s poop.
I’ve spent a couple of days brainstorming ideas with the tube, here’s my favorite:
I like it, the thing I want to change is instead of a wooden dowel inside, I think I want to use a metal rod. Using a metal rod will help with the switch as I can use a magnet as a hold out.
-Louie
Last night I was cleaning out my phone and found a video of an idea. It’s an interesting idea, however one that I’d probably never use, but might be good for an instagram video.
I’d have to play with it a little bit more to get the ditch cleaned up…but honestly it doesn’t really fascinate me enough to put the time in for a 20 second video.
Years ago when I was a teenager, I attended the Desert Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. One of the lecturers was Gary Oulette and he was talking about magic for TV and how they did The World’s Greatest Magic series. A few things about that lecture have stuck with me, the main one being why to use shiny mylar strips as a backdrop!
He talked about using stingers and adding little twinkles when the magic effect happens. I’ve also noticed that on Master’s of Illusion they do that as well. I think it really does add to the experience.
I’ve been messing with adding little twinkles to my videos when the magic happens. I’ve found a few that I’m using, but I think I need to keep searching as I’m not 100% happy with them. I do feel that they add to the video and are worth the time to search them out and add them in.
A month or two ago Nick Lewin wrote an article about Magic Flix (you can read it here), which is a streaming magic video website. Nick’s article go me interested in check in it out. I found a free month trial code and checked it out. What I’m really enjoying watching on MagicFlix is the … Continue reading “Magic Videos…”
A month or two ago Nick Lewin wrote an article about Magic Flix (you can read it here), which is a streaming magic video website. Nick’s article go me interested in check in it out. I found a free month trial code and checked it out.
What I’m really enjoying watching on MagicFlix is the Stevens Magic Emporium Greater Magic Video Series. These were put out in the early 1990’s and feature a lot of the older magicians, so the up and coming ones, like Micheal Ammar, Daryl, and John Carney. When I was a kid I couldn’t afford these, and it’s very interesting to watch them now.
My goal is to make it through the whole series. There’s a clear point where close up magic changes, with the style of routines that guys Ammar or Carney were doing. That’s the style that’s existed until Blaine came on the scene. Then there’s been another change with Shin Lim and the close up manipulation act style of magic.
From a magic history standpoint watching these videos is amazing!
Yesterday I wrote about the biggest problem with most magician’s promo video is the audio. Last night I was playing with the idea of adding subtitles to a promo video to help with bad audio. Here’s what I made: I think that using captions works when used sparingly. I don’t think I’d want to watch … Continue reading “Make it Easy…”
Yesterday I wrote about the biggest problem with most magician’s promo video is the audio. Last night I was playing with the idea of adding subtitles to a promo video to help with bad audio. Here’s what I made:
I think that using captions works when used sparingly. I don’t think I’d want to watch a whole video with bad audio that was captioned. That’d be a bit much, as a booker, I’d be worried that the performer would be unable to understand in a live show.
Keep at upping your audio game as much as you up your sleight of hand game and you’ll do great!
Whenever I work with an act I always try to watch their promo video. I also do this whenever someone posts their “new” promo video on social media. I do my best to watch them all the way through, but I would say I bail on about 60% of them halfway through. Why don’t I … Continue reading “Good Audio…”
Whenever I work with an act I always try to watch their promo video. I also do this whenever someone posts their “new” promo video on social media. I do my best to watch them all the way through, but I would say I bail on about 60% of them halfway through.
Why don’t I watch them all the way through?
It’s simple, they are really bad. For me the make or break thing for a promo video is good audio, with video quality coming is second. With all the HD cameras now and how cheap they are, there’s no reason you video should have the resolution of a 1980’s sitcom.
Let’s get back to the audio, which is the big one. If the audio isn’t clear, you are better off not having any audio. There are tons of promo videos I’ve seen from comedy magicians, and you can’t understand what they are saying…what’s the point?
I was guilty of having bad audio, until I figured out how to do it. I now record my audio with a voice recorder.
There are two ways to do it, directly off the soundboard, or off of a mic that plugs into the voice recorder. Personally I prefer the mic as it gets my voice clearly (most of the time) and it also picks up the person on stage and audience reactions. I can then mix this with the audio that the camera takes and have audio that’s easy to understand on my promo.
TLDR: they need to be able to understand you.
Last week I was having lunch with a couple of magician friends, and jamming magic tricks. This is one of the best ways to create magic, it to just riff on ideas. We came up some some interesting ideas and expanded on some existing ideas. When I’m out somewhere I like to think of ideas … Continue reading “Impromptu Tricks…”
Last week I was having lunch with a couple of magician friends, and jamming magic tricks. This is one of the best ways to create magic, it to just riff on ideas.
We came up some some interesting ideas and expanded on some existing ideas.
When I’m out somewhere I like to think of ideas for magic tricks using things around me. This day we were at the LunchBox Lab in Seattle. On their tables they have seven different flavors of salt. So here’s a quick trick I did with the salt:
This trick is nothing ground breaking from a method standpoint, it’s essentially a card trick done with salt. In this situation using their salt gave it a feeling of being unplanned, and I think that made it feel more amazing to the waitress.
TLDR: Think about doing magic tricks with things around you.
