A couple of days ago I wrote about doing the vanishing birdcage for virtual shows. You can read the post here. The thought I had was that a virtual show is the ideal venue for doing the vanishing birdcage. The nature of the venue will allow you to ditch the cage in a manner that isn’t really possible in a live, in-person show.
I was just watching a streaming magic show and someone did the birdcage and used shifting of cameras to unhook and ditch the cage. It’s a great logical moment to get rid of the cage. I’m glad to see someone thinking along the same lines as me.
Personally I think a title card is a great way ditch the card over a camera shift, but both work great.
Category: Tricks
Vanishing Birdcage…
I’m fascinated by the Vanishing Birdcage trick. I remember hearing stories of Bert Allerton doing the vanishing birdcage close up at tables. The story I remember reading was that he took the sides off of his cage so that it would vanish quicker and have less bulk in his sleeve.
There have been many other people that have done the cage, and solved many problems. For example, using a Take Up Reel to allow you to do the cage later in your show.
The biggest challenge is how do you deal with the cage after the vanish (if it’s not your closer)? There are a lot of solutions ranging from using a small, flexible cage and just leaving it in your sleeve, to having a secret pocket in your pants your ditch it in.
Recently it hit me, that a virtual magic show is a great place to use the cage in the middle of the show. After the vanish you could have a title card that says “no rubber birds were hurt in this trick” or something like that. Then in the few seconds that plays, you ditch the cage. As long as you use title cards previously in your show, it won’t feel out of place.
Shell Game Ending…
When I perform and have tried doing the solid shell kicker, it never played how I’d like. I think there’s a disconnect between the shell game and when the solid shell is reveals, it’s a little out of left field. I was playing around with an ending as a topper to the kicker of the solid shells that I found in an old notebook of mine.
You can read this post about it from about a month ago.
I don’t think I ever posted video of it. Here’s the first version of it. I need to remake it, but you get the idea
I’ve done this a few times over a livestream and so far it’s playing really well. I can’t wait to try it out for real people, whenever that will be!
Scripting Magic Book…
My current book that I’m reading is Scripting Magic by Pete McCabe. This book is interesting and I’m only about 145 pages into volume one and it’s pretty good. When I was younger I used to have a loose script, but nothing formally written down. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized the huge advantages to writing down what you say in your show.
For me writing out a script makes it a lot easier to see where jokes should be. It also makes it easier to work on them. One thing I don’t like very much is the script format that this book uses when it’s showing scripts. I find them hard to read, however I’m 99% sure it’s simply because I’m not used to that format. I think the more I use it the easier it will get to read.
I’m working on my Polaroids to Envelope trick that I wrote about a week or so ago. I decided to write out the script using the format in Scripting Magic. What I did was simply use a practice video and wrote down what I said and added the actions.
In the version in the document above it’s pretty basic and narrative. It’s got a rough presentation hook, and a chuckle in it, but it needs more work.
Practicing Progressive Anagrams…
Awhile ago I wrote about using progressive anagrams for streaming shows. Here’s a test show I did with the routine that was written up in those posts:
I should have handled the envelope a lot less, I’m way too fidgety with it. That and scripting it out better would have tightened it up. One of the cool things about right now is that there are soo many of these live stream shows you can get on and work out the bugs to routines before you take them in front of a paying audience!
Omni Bear!
In yesterday’s blog post I wrote about Omni Style Tricks and how I think most versions are lazy creativity. That got me thinking about what could I make that’s an Omni type trick, but actually put some thought into it. I
I decided to go the Silver Extraction type route for the trick. The removing of an element that logically leaves you with a clear prop. I also wanted more of a “routine” over purely visual trick. I didn’t try too hard, but here’s what I came up with:
In the trick above you have the appearance, vanish and second appearance of the cinnamon stick. These three tricks are setting you up for the kicker ending of the clear cinnamon bear. Pulling the cinnamon out of the bear leaving it clear is a logical ending. It’s not one of those kicker endings that doesn’t make sense.
Ok, so is the trick that I created the best trick ever? No.
Does it go beyond simply making a clear prop? YES!
Lazy Creativity…
Over the last 5 or so years there have been a lot of “Omni” magic props put out. The basic idea behind the trick is that the prop you are using turns into glass, or clear plastic. A quick Google search shows that recently there have been Omni Pens, Omni Cellphones, Omni Coins, Omni Credit Cards, and more!
Here’s the thing, unless you have an amazing switch of the prop you’ve come up with , it’s lazy creativity. I think that Jerry Andrus and Danny Korem’s Omni Deck was ground breaking and still has a lot more going for it that most other Omni props are lacking. In most other Omni tricks, the magic trick is that the prop turns clear, that’s it. In the original Omni Deck, the clear deck is the kicker ending. You are turning the deck that’s been handled by the spectator clear. Now only that it happens in their hands and to all the cards except theirs!
Now let’s look at another old school Omni prop, the Silver Extraction coin trick. In this trick, someone holds a coin. You then pull the silver of the coin through the back of their hand and they end up holding a clear coin. What makes this trick good is that there’s another element to the trick beyond simply turning the prop clear. Also the prop turning clear is an obvious, but unexpected ending to the coin trick.
Before you put out an clear prop, think about what you are contributing to magic. Are you moving the art forward, or just making a clear prop?
Final Loading Sequences
Many years ago I remember watching a VHS tape with Dan Fleshman who did his Fleshman Flash as part of his cups and balls routine. This is a cool loading move for cups and balls that is a virtually invisible way to load two balls into the cups.
It looks like he teaches the Fleshman Flash on The Restaurant Magic of Dan Fleshman DVD vol. 3.
I remember rewinding that VHS tape over and over, the move was virtually invisible. Early on, that got me thinking about loading sequences and how you need to do more than simply put something into your pocket and steal it out the load.
Here’s and early version of my Cee-Lo Trick and at the end you can see the how the load of the second jumbo dice isn’t from my pocket.
And here’s another loading sequence that I’ve put together:
I think that varying your loading procedure is important. If they all come from the pocket at you put things away, it’s still surprising to an audience, but not as amazing. The more you go to your pockets the easier it is to backtrack. Start to think of clever ways to sneak the large production items in that aren’t all from the pocket.
Force Dice…
Many years ago I made up some force dice for a couple of magic lectures. These dice force two numbers on command. I’ve had a few of unsold sets kicking around my office for a few years. About a week ago I was jamming with some magicians over Skype and we were talking about forcing items online. I remembered these dice and how they’d make a great way to for an object in a virtual show.
Here’s a video that I made that explains how to use them in a virtual show:
The cool thing about these dice and gimmick is that you can let the person change their mind after the first roll and reroll. That makes it seem super fair, however it doesn’t change how the force works.
The leftover batch of dice sold out immediately after listing them for sale. The demand was there and I made a second batch and those also immediately sold out. I may make another batch of the dice and gimmicks in the future. If you’re interested in a set of the force dice, contact me and I’ll put you on the list.
What’s in a Name?
The last week I’ve been working on a trick where four Polaroid pictures disappear and reappear under an envelope. Something the trick will need is a name. Giving magic tricks a name is something that I really hate doing. If I just write “Polaroid” on a set list I know what trick that is.
Where the name becomes relevant is if I decide to release the trick or to publish it. When I publish a trick in my monthly column in Vanish Magazine I don’t put a lot of thought into the name. I pretty much just put something at the top of the page. For product I put a bit more thought, but still no where near as much thought as I probably should put into it.
This week I realized another reason to name a trick. I’m on an episode of Masters of Illusion and in the show description of the trick I’m doing it says what I emailed to the producer. The title I gave them was a pretty horrible title. I’ve learned my lesson and in the future I’ll put a bit more thought into the name of the trick!