It’s been over four months since the government essentially shut down the performing arts industry. It’s open in a very limited capacity right now in the USA. Last week was the last week I was able to claim the federal PUA in addition to my state unemployment benefits. Here’s a little video I made about it:
As far as a production goes, it’s a fairly understated shotglass production. The tube it’s produced from is about half the size of the shotglass. However as far as scale goes, it’s pretty small on the screen and the magic isn’t as strong as it could be…but the message is solid.
The whole virtual magic show is changing what you can do in your shows. Tricks that really weren’t practical to set up in a venue now make sense. Tricks with bad angles now have a place to be performed deceptively.
A few years ago they Stewart Semple came out with the Black 2.0 paint. This is a flat black paint. It doesn’t have a lot of use in a live magic show because it doesn’t trap light like a velvet does, but it turns out it works pretty well in videos.
Here’s a trick that uses Black 2.0:
I think I wrote this trick up in Vanish Magazine a couple of years ago. It uses the 2d of the screen you are watching on to hide the 3d of the “black hole”. I like the idea of switching a flat object for something that’s round and using that space to hold a production.
I really like the idea of hiding the production in plain sight.
I’m working on a trick right now where an object changes either from something small to something large. In the routine there are multiple phases of it changing, which make me wonder which way is better, from large to small or from small to large? It also changes shape, so that adds a another factor to this If it was simply one change in size and not shape, it’s definitely be from small to large as that has more impact.
It got me thinking about Quick Change Acts, as the act moves along the dresses tend to get shorter and shorter. However most do have some variation and usually the final dress is a gown. When watching these acts on TV my family will always comment on the shrinking of the dress during the act, so it’s something that’s noticed. Not that it’s a bad thing, because I think it adds impact to the final change.
For my trick, I think I’m going from small to large as the final change the object only changes in size. So it’s got a finale feel to it.
One of the first routines that I really thought out and wrote a script for was my Card to Mouth Routine. I published it a few years ago in Vanish Magazine and I’ve taught it in my lectures for a long time.
Vanish Magazine just put out a collection of the second year of their magazine and my trick is in one of their promo pics for the book!
This is a fun routine and while Card to Mouth might not be a trick that’s currently socially acceptable to do, it’s still worth looking at how I put a frame around the card to mouth premise.
When I used to travel frequently one of the things that I did to keep myself busy was invent magic tricks. I has some guidelines, the main one was to use things found in my hotel room. Here’s one from a few years ago:
One thing I really like about this trick is the visual of pulling the bill through the straw. Once I had the idea of the sideways penetration, then I had to figure out a method. I can’t find any notes I wrote for this trick and honestly I’m not 100% sure how I did it. I have an idea of how I probably did it as there are only a few ways you can slide a bill through as straw.
Doing these hotel room videos were a fun creative challenge because you are really limited prop wise with what you can do.
A while ago I picked up a used copy of Howard Hamburg’s D Lecture notes. One of the things the mentions in it was that Dai Vernon didn’t like was kicker endings. Vernon’s thinking was here’s the trick I’m showing you, and now here’s something completely different that doesn’t make sense…ta-dah!
Now let’s fast forward to a magic video that was posted in a facebook magic group recently. Watch this:
Did he get your card?
He didn’t find mine.
Now let me tell you what’s wrong with the video of the trick:
First of all, he didn’t find my card! If you tell me to pick a card and don’t find it, I don’t care what else happens, it’s going feel unresolved.
Next, the switch out of the pocket is sloppy. It may work in a in-person context where you are talking to people, but not in a video with zero presentation.
Finally the reveal of the fan of cards changing is just bad magic. When the hand holding 4 cards drops out of frame multiple times and for an extended period of time right before you reveal the change, it’s just not good magic.
Add these up and it’s a bad presentation of a trick.
This trick needs a presentation that’s not a promise that will be unfulfilled (unless you get lucky). Also, t he performer needs to be aware that their need to keep their props in frame. It doesn’t matter if you don’t need to drop out of frame or not, it detracts from the magic. Or if you do need to move out of frame, try to hide it and don’t to it immediately before the reveal.
In the past on this blog I’ve written about progressive anagrams and fishing as a great methods for virtual shows. Here’s another video of me using the Mind Power Deck by John Kennedy.
The small change that I have made in this trick from the video I posted a few weeks ago is that I’m revealing the card before I ask them what card they are thinking of. I think it’s a way stronger trick because I’ve committed to the prediction before they reveal what they are thinking of.
Yes, there are risks doing it this way, but I think the benefits outweigh the risks.
In my different shows I have many different table tops, but only one main base. It’s a Collector’s Workshop table base and I just screw the correct table top to the base for the show I’m doing. In my small group, no contact, socially distant magic show, I’m using the base on my small case.
A friend of mine saw what I was doing a he had an old base from a Jumbo Sidekick that no longer exists that he gave me. Unfortunately at some point Collector’s Workshop changed the diameter of the pole that screws into the flange that’s attached to the table.
To fix the problem, I made the flange out of clay with threads that match the larger pole. I then made a mold of this flange and cast it in resin.
Here’s the two flanges:
What I made took about an hour to make, and cost only a few bucks in material. It’s probably not as durable as the metal flange is, however the case isn’t heavy, so it works.
It’s nice to not have to keep moving around the table base. The show that uses this case doesn’t have a table, so now the case is totally self contained!
This summer I’ve managed to save a few gigs by converting them to in-person, small group, no contact, socially distant magic shows. I’m doing multiple shorter shows for 10 kids instead of one large show for all of them at once. It’s a difference in thinking when doing these.
I’m learning I need to pack a bit differently. The nice thing about doing a 20 minute show instead of a 45 minute show is that I can fit everything into a pretty small case.
Here’s the gear I’ve been bringing:
When it comes to material selection, I need stuff that resets really quick. In the past reset wasn’t a concern as I don’t normally do shows back to back with only 5 mins between them. The shift in thinking from “whatever to make the trick work” to “I’ve gotta reset the whole show in 5 mins” is an interesting mental challenge. Making me think differently is one of the silver linings of not being able to do my show how I’d normally do it.
Yesterday’s blog post had video of me performing the Three Shell Game as a guest on a live stream. What the camera sees is pretty simple, however what’s actually going on behind the scenes is bit more complex.
There’s more going on that just putting a table in front of a camera. In the next picture I’ve circled some of the things that goes into my online appearances:
Here’s what I’m using:
Purple: iPhone as a camera
Orange: Microphone
Yellow: iPad to show the person I’m interacting with
Green: Laptop which is running my production software
Blue: Table that’s not visible on camera to hold props
Red: Working table that will be on camera
I honestly wish doing a live stream bit from home was as simple as opening my laptop and using its built in mic and camera. Instead I need to essentially set up a studio and take it down afterwards. There is a noticeable difference in quality when done this way.
