Over the last week a lot of magicians have been putting their shows online. I’m talking about a youtube video of their whole show, not just streaming. In my opinion 99% of these are garbage to watch. I’m not talking about the quality of the show, but the quality of the video. They only reason I’m able to get through them is that I like to know what other people are doing around the world.
If you are going to put a video of your show online, or even a clip, the first thing you need to do is cut out any fat at the beginning and end. I watched video last night and there was 20 seconds of the stage and the back of audience’s head before anything happened. This is a common problem with social media clips, where people leave in the video them turning on or off the camera. Edit that stuff out. When you leave it in, it tells me you don’t respect the viewer enough to spend a couple of mins to edit it out.
The big thing is audio, most of the shows I’ve watched sound like they were recorded off the camera’s microphone in the back of the room. Sure you can hear the show, but you have to listen.
The final thing is that you really need to have a couple of cameras and mix up the angles. The single camera at the back of the room with a wide shot of the whole stage doesn’t cut it anymore. You could use bits of the same routine from different shows. Recently Judah Friedlander and Adam Sandler did this in their Netflix shows.
Consider those three things before you upload your show to YouTubej.
Tag: netflix
Working Slow…
Recently I watched Anthony Jeselnik’s stand up comedy special on Netflix. In it he works really slow and really takes his time. I had also recently watched David Hira’s Penguin Live Lecture and on it he talks about using pauses. Last night on stage I decided to experiment and really take my time. I went … Continue reading “Working Slow…”
Recently I watched Anthony Jeselnik’s stand up comedy special on Netflix. In it he works really slow and really takes his time.
I had also recently watched David Hira’s Penguin Live Lecture and on it he talks about using pauses.
Last night on stage I decided to experiment and really take my time. I went at a what felt like a snails pace on stage, in real time it wasn’t nearly that slow.
It really took me out of my comfort zone, but well worth it. I got a lot more applause in the show and better laughs. For me, it’s mentally really hard to pause and wait for a laugh that may not be coming. Waiting for applause is easier, but the waiting for the laugh stresses me out onstage. Waiting is the better choice than just plowing through it and stepping on it.
Unfortunately bad gigs make it hard to do good gigs as they give you bad habits. Things like stepping on a laugh when you are really just trying to get through a rough gig. I think that I need to work bad gigs like they are good gigs and just do everything the way I normally would and almost treat them like rehearsal, and not like trying bail water out of a sinking ship. If I know it’s the gig (and not me), like a horrible set up, or whatever, then just treat it like a rehearsal.
Can’t Stop the Hustle, But Maybe You Should…
Oh man, so recently in an Facebook group for magicians someone posted a news report about them with a streaming TV deal. The problem with post it in a magicians group was mainly that it really served no purpose for that group. It was a “Look at how great I am” sort of post, but … Continue reading “Can’t Stop the Hustle, But Maybe You Should…”
Oh man, so recently in an Facebook group for magicians someone posted a news report about them with a streaming TV deal. The problem with post it in a magicians group was mainly that it really served no purpose for that group. It was a “Look at how great I am” sort of post, but more that, in my opinion it’s all smoke and no fire.
I’ll let you watch it and decide for yourself:
So, do you think it’s relevant in a magicians group? I personally don’t and it’s someone trying to inflate their ego and I’m not a fan.
Here’s the nuts and bolts of this. In my opinion he hired someone to do a news report, as there’s no news company’s logo on the video. So far that’s fine, it’s a promo video. Second the news stories is that he’s “shopping” a show to the major streaming sites, which really isn’t news, but still in some sort of promo that’s fine. Next he tagged all three streaming services on it, which is unusual. I’m not an expert in pitching TV shows, but I’ve heard that once you get to the actual pitch, usually things go on lock down so no one swipes your idea. Once it’s out there, someone with a higher profile, more money or connections can steal your idea and get it made.
The big one is that he’s saying he has almost 40K views, which I’m sure he does. This is what he’s selling hard, that he has 40K views in the post. However personally I’d guess he bought those views. Here’s why I think this, the post only has 70 likes/hearts/etc and 5 comments. His rate of engagement is insanely low for having 40K legit views. With my high school math the rate of engagement from the video is something like 0.0018%! That’s not a good rate.
Maybe in May 2019 when this is on Netflix I’ll be eating my words, and I hope I do.
How is this relevant to being a magician? Pretty simple, if we are supposed to be good at the art of deception, at least think about what you are doing. Look at it from all angles. Don’t just buy views, buy likes and comments. Now look at your tricks from all angles, what do you need to cover? Is there a bad angle to that palm? Can you fix it?
Make your magic better than just “good enough”!