November 2019 – Page 2 – MagicShow.Tips

Tech or Trick?

I really hate it when people post links to products on magic groups and say things like, “this has to have magic applications“, but then don’t give any of their ideas. They are lazy, and want people to post their ideas. It’s an uncreative person’s way of feeling creative. Right now there are several hologram … Continue reading “Tech or Trick?”

I really hate it when people post links to products on magic groups and say things like, “this has to have magic applications“, but then don’t give any of their ideas. They are lazy, and want people to post their ideas. It’s an uncreative person’s way of feeling creative.

Right now there are several hologram things being posted. These involve a stick with lights in it that spin around and make images. Essentially this is Pixel Poi, which jugglers use. Here’s the thing, the tech is cooler than the trick. I’ve never seen a Pixel Poi routine where the manipulation was what people left talking about, it’s the images. Same with these holograms.

Sure there’s gotta be a way to make the tech cooler than the trick, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. That and the way tech comes and goes, the current holograms aren’t something that’s going to last very long and will feel dated very quickly!

Playing Bigger…

Making the tricks that I currently do play bigger is something I’m always working on. There are a lot of ways to do this, however one challenge has always been card tricks. I don’t do a lot of them in the show, but those that I do are generally limited to poker sized cards.

One trick that I do uses cards in a holder on a pole. This is one of the rare instances where I can use jumbo cards, but haven’t. Last night I 3D printed out a new holder for the trick that will take jumbo cards.

My concern is that the pole won’t be able to hold the larger cards. When the cards on the end, the weight will make the pole bend. I do have a shorter pole than I normally use, and that would help with the bending a little bit.

Larger cards will help solve the problem of cards being visible from a distance.

Get To It!

A couple of the showcase acts I saw recently did a lot of talking before anything happened. By anything, I mean anything, no jokes, no tricks, nothing. They did do a very straight forward autobiography of themselves. It really didn’t move the ball forward.

Yes, the goal is to let people get to know you, and to relate to you, however you need to do that in an entertaining way. Telling jokes about yourself upfront makes it palatable for an audience. Saying you’re 28 years old and from Missouri doesn’t. Telling them about you in the context of what you do is the goal.

Personally I don’t believe you need a quick trick, but you do need to get to what you do to set the tone for the rest of your show. This is even more important when you showcase set is only 12 minutes long!

Three Step Process…

In the last 10 days I’ve been at two booking conferences and I’ve seen a ton of acts! Some I’ve seen more than once, but for the most part I got to see a huge variety of what’s out there. One thing I’ve noticed with newer performers is that they don’t know how to sell a trick or stunt.

It’s a simple three step process. First you tell them what you are going to do. Next you do what you just told them you were going to do. Finally you tell them what you just did.

I know one of the classic rules of magic is that you aren’t supposed to tell people what you are going to do before you do it, so that they can’t “catch you”. This is totally BS, it’s good advice is the trick is bad, but not for doing the trick.

A great example is when David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

When he did this, we all knew what was going to happen. That allowed the trick to have much greater impact than if he just raised the curtain without context and dropped it and the statue was gone.

Just remember the three step formula and you’re good to go!

Be Honest…

Something that’s important is to have a realistic view of your show. A good example is when you’ve just done a show that’s a disaster and you can’t admit it. Owning it is the first step to getting better.

I’ve done a million shows where I know exactly what I could do better and I tell other performers that. It’s not that I’m hard on myself, I’m realistic with myself. There’s an important difference between the two. One is saying, that you top palm wasn’t perfect and the other is pretending you didn’t drop a palmed card when talking about your show afterwards.

Knowing where you can improve and being honest with it is something HUGE you can do to improve your show. Writing this blog has really helped me!

Worst Case Scenario

Oh man, tonight I saw an act that had a really rough time…and by really rough, I mean it was probably the worst case scenario of their show. Seeing an what happened to this act, really made me think about what are the worst things that could happen to my show. We’re talking possible career ending things that could happen to you as a result of your show. It’s not a fun thought, but something we all should think of.

The act that I watched was a circus act. The act started with them having sound issues. It began with someone’s mic pack off, however in diagnosing the problem, they adjusted their levels, so when the mic pack came on, their audio started feeding back. Once they solved that, they were off their game. They kept missing juggling tricks, which further knocked them off their game. They ending with one guy on stilts and someone standing on their shoulders…and that’s where the worst case scenario happened. They fell over and they fell hard!

That was probably their worst case scenario. I’ve had people fall off the stage, trip on the way up, get stung by a bee, I even tore my rotator cuff during a show. It’s how you deal with them that makes you a pro.

What’s your worst case scenario, and how would you deal with it?

A Showcase Tip…

This week I’m at another booking conference and saw a ton of acts. I saw good acts and bad acts. For me personally one of the things that separated them was tightness. I know it’s hard doing a showcase set instead of your regular show. A showcase set is generally somewhere between 10 and 20 mins, and in a variety show type format, with multiple acts.

One of the challenges with these showcases is that they aren’t always scheduled in an order that compliments the acts. Sometimes there will be low energy acts following high energy bands, or similar acts back to back. These are things that aren’t an issue if you are doing a full show as there’s usually a gap between shows, or you have more time to have the switch gears to what you do.

One thing you can do to help in this situation is have walk up music that sets the tone for your show. You can also try to do original material, so that you don’t have to worry about overlap with other acts. While those won’t completely help out an act that super low key, following a high energy act, they do help a little bit.

Being Heard Again…

It’s funny that yesterday’s post was about being heard, and then today’s post is also going to be about that. However today’s post is about not being heard in a different context. Last night I did roving magic at an event for a conference, and the music all night was super loud, I really couldn’t be heard from a few feet away.

This problem is common, especially as we get into Holiday Party Season. The DJ was playing the music loud during the first half and playing even louder the second half. The problem was that this isn’t a gig at a wedding, and we weren’t at “da club”, so no one was dancing. In fact, the dance floor was empty and all of the people were on the opposite side of the room, where it was slightly quieter.

So how do you fix this?

There’s really no way to do it. I guess you can talk to the event planner and ask them to have the DJ turn it down, This may or may not have some effect, but odds are they won’t turn it down to an ambient level. It will still be at a “performance level”.

I adjusted my set, it was a few quick visual things and that’s about it. I also seeked out places that were slightly quieter, and there were a couple which was nice.

Let Them Hear You…

In Seattle we’re very lucky to have what is essentially a magic open mic. It’s a once a month thing, and usually has three to four performers and they all do somewhere between five and fifteen minutes. There’s good acts, there’s back acts, new acts and old acts. Last night at the show it was … Continue reading “Let Them Hear You…”

In Seattle we’re very lucky to have what is essentially a magic open mic. It’s a once a month thing, and usually has three to four performers and they all do somewhere between five and fifteen minutes. There’s good acts, there’s back acts, new acts and old acts.

Last night at the show it was fun. My one piece of advice to the majority of the performers there is to learn to project their voices. In the space that the show in is, you really can’t hear them clearly from about halfway back in the audience. Another reason to be loud is that people in the audience may have hearing issues and if you’re barely loud enough for the audience, you won’t be heard by people with poor hearing.

Being heard is soo important, especially if you’re a talking act.

Pet Peeve #731

Something that drives me nuts and I see it all the time in magicians promo and shows is when they say they “Aren’t like other magic shows”. Then they proceed to do the same magic tricks, the only difference is that they aren’t wearing a tailcoat and top hat. They are trying to break a stereotype that changed in the late 1990’s when David Blaine came on the scene.

The amount of magicians that are the stereotype are very few. What really drives me nuts is when they have to keep telling me about it in the show. Really, I can see that you’re not wearing a top hat, I can see that you aren’t making a rabbit appear. Show me with your content and not your words.

I think the space where you tell me things I can’t see or that I will figure out could be used more effectively in a show. Instead tell me how you got into magic…or better yet, tell me how you fought with your first magic teacher over how you dressed or performed. Then I’ll get some insight into you.