Pictures – Page 3 – MagicShow.Tips

Summer Camp Magic Shows

The final summer camp magic show of the year is done. That means my busy season is starting to end! I still have a very full September; however, it’s not as crazy as it was since mid-May!

I’ve been doing summer camp magic shows for a couple of decades. At one point, they were my main market in the summer; now they are mostly shows that fill in holes in my schedule between five (or longer) day contracts.

These shows are a ton of fun; it’s interesting how they’ve changed over the years. When I first started doing them, there were a lot more older, school-age kids; now they’re predominantly younger kids in the 3-6 year old range. That means the style of material has really shifted from what was more of a school assembly type of material, which was a bit more sophisticated, to a lot more silliness. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can be a very different gear.

-Louie

ProMystic Inception Repair!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about a magic prop that broke. That prop was ProMystic‘s Inception, so not a prop that can be easily fixed. I’ve had this prop for probably close to a decade, and this is the second time I’ve sent it to them; the first time, I cracked the screen. That’s a long life for a prop that performs as much as I do!

I just got my unit repaired until back from ProMystic and it works great!

They do a great job servicing their items, and the fix plus shipping was super cheap…and fast! It’s always great to have people who make products that can provide service for them after the initial sale. Many magic manufacturers will just tell you to buy a new one, which I understand; sometimes it’s cheaper/easier to replace than repair. It’s always a bonus when when I can just have the existing one fixed!

-Louie

How to Make it Play Onstage

The last couple of days, I’ve written about my idea for a three shell game style routine to be done onstage. The basic premise is that the prize is put into a tennis ball that has a slit cut into it and it’s juggled with two other balls and the audience has to follow the one with the prize.

You can read about the idea here and how I solved one of the problems here.

A challenge that I didn’t think about with using a two dollar bill and a couple of one dollar bills is that they are visually similar when viewed from a distance. The different formatting of a five and higher value bill looks different, however a $1 and $2 have the same layout.

How Can They Look Different From a Distance?

This is the challenge, making the trick play to the back row. Here’s an idea for the solution to that: What if on the back of the two dollar bill in bright, sparkly ink/paint I wrote “LUCKY”? I could introduce the two dollar bill and say it’s my lucky one, then turn it around to show the word on the back. That visual difference would make it play further back in an audience.

When I create routines, I always try to think about the back row!

-Louie

Why Not Make it More Deceptive?

Before I start, I want to mention that this is not a knock at the performer in the picture below. OK, so now that that’s out of the way, look at the picture below:

This is an image that’s heavily edited (before I blurred out the faces), which is fine; it’s a show poster. The Zig Zag Lady illusion uses an optical principle (black art) to make it more deceptive. It’s not really black art in the sense of a black art act, but it’s used to make something less prominent.

My thinking is, as long as we’re altering the picture, why not remove the black art part? I’m sure this poster was made from an actual picture of the illusion, and the marketing person for the event didn’t notice…but why would they?

Is it Ethical to Alter the Picture of Illusions?

Is doing little things like removing something that the audience doesn’t realize they see from a promo picture OK to do? I think so. In promo pictures for shows, typically you aren’t doing a live show, so it’s already an unrealistic situation. You can retake the picture dozens of times. I think as long as the illusion is presented accurately, it’s OK. If you Photoshop out the chairs in a chair suspension, that’s not ethical, as you’ve substantially changed the illusion.

That’s my opinion on that!

-Louie

What is the Greatest Packet Trick of All Time?

Of the hundreds of packets tricks I’ve learned and tried, last week I took out an old one that I really haven’t done since I was a teenager, and was amazed at how much people loved it! That packet trick is COLOR MONTE!

While it’s not my style to do, I also can’t deny how great it is! It’s really the sponge balls of packet tricks!

There’s so much action in it; you get a lot of magic effects in a short amount of time. Plus it has a story that’s easy to follow and makes sense. Not some wacky story about bigfoot or splitting breakfast with a football team.

This post is just a shout out to an amazing routine!

-Louie

Making a Juggling Routine

A few days ago I had an idea for a magic routine, and in that routine there is a juggling element. I can juggle, but am not a juggler and needed to work out a sequence. Luckily, in the performer house that I’m at, there are two jugglers and a physical comedian there. Last night we had a little workshop on the routine!

I’m a huge fan of workshopping with other performers. It’s a way to get a lot of ideas quickly, or to get expertise that you don’t have. I can juggle, but I don’t know the best way to put together a juggling sequence.

Workshopping with performers who don’t just do magic brings in a lot of different thinking and ideas than just magicians.

-Louie

Workshops for Variety Acts

Whenever I’m performing at a multi-day event with other variety acts, I try to put together a workshop night. This is where performers try something new, talk about an idea, or do some troubleshooting about a problem. Then we all brainstorm ideas or solutions for them!

These are a great way to get thinking that’s outside your normal box. It’s even better when you have acts that aren’t all magicians, or whatever you are. Everyone brings a different experience and backstory which will give you ideas that you may not have thought of.

You can be very creative when you create by yourself, but I think most of the time, when you create with others, you get more ideas faster!

-Louie

Performing on a Difficult Stage

Sometimes there are stages that are more challenging to work than other stages. This stage and audience configuration is a good example of that.

First, let’s tackle the obvious: there’s a walkway between the benches and the bleachers. Unfortunately, that’s just how it is, and there’s not really anything you can do about that.

The bigger issue is getting on and off stage; it’s a high stage, so a lot of stairs, and the stairs are off to the side. It’s good that they are on the side; if they were on the front of the stage, the handrails would be a visual distraction. It just takes a lot of time for me or someone from the audience to get on and off stage.

I have a spot in the show, right after my introduction, where I need to hand something to someone in the audience. That’s dead time while I walk on and off stage.

Here’s what I did:

Opening bit, then walk into the audience to give the thing to someone in the audience.

2nd trick happens on the floor in front of the stage.

After the second trick, I bring someone from the audience to the stage with me for the third trick.

For the fourth trick, it happens on the floor in front of the stage. This trick needs access to people so they can hold things at different points.

When the fourth trick is done, I bring someone from the audience back to the stage with me and send them back to their seat when the fifth trick is done.

The final trick happens with me solo onstage.

There are a lot of ways to deal with the “long walk to the stage“, however for this situation, moving my show between the floor and stage worked great; it reduced the dead time a lot. This makes the show feel tighter!

-Louie

Magibank by Tony Chaudhuri and Johnson Products

A few weeks ago I got this cool coin box set when I bought a box of vintage magic tricks.

This is a really cool and rare coin box set. I can’t find any reference to it online, aside from a couple of old sites that offered only the instructions.

There’s not one main effect, but several that you can do and a lot of cool moves to switch the boxes!

I just listed this for sale on my Vintage Magic page.

-Louie

What Do You Do When A Magic Prop Breaks?

When a magic prop breaks, what is your plan? I’m not talking about if it breaks during a show, but while you’re on the road traveling. Recently, I got to a gig and was setting up, and the prop wasn’t working. It’s an electronic prop, and if you’ve read this blog, you know that I try to use analog methods whenever possible. However, there are times when an electronic prop is the best way to do it. I’ve planned what to do if they fail during the show.

Here’s an example of my “out” when something goes weird with my Promystic Inception prop. I should note that when things haven’t worked with this particular prop during a show, I’m 99% sure that it’s not the prop, but the person from the audience.

Here’s What Happened Recently

At the show recently, I was setting up and noticed that I had left my Inception unit on, so it needed to be charged. After charging it, I got this screen:

That’s not good. That’s where my backup plan kicks in. I have a Blackbox Magic Mental Voice in my case. This is my emergency backup unit, as my routine is an 8 minute chunk of my show, so a large part of the show.

I really don’t like the Mental Voice, when compared to Inception, you can read my comparison of the two here!

I’ve had the Inception since it came out; I was part of the preorder, so I’ve had this for a long time! I sent it back for a repair once because I managed to crack the screen. I have a feeling that it may be time to buy a new unit. This one has served me well for YEARS! I’ve contacted ProMystic’s customer support, so we’ll see what my options are for repair. They do a good job supporting their product after the sale, unlike many magic companies!

-Louie