Category: Video

Vanishing Birdcage For Younger Kids…

Not too long ago I was doing a virtual show for a summer camp. They wanted me to do one live show and that show would then be shown to the other classes. That’s fine, however they gave me the youngest group first. Normally I’d recommend doing one of the older groups first, but given the current state of shows, I can’t be too picky.

Once I knew I was going to be performing for the youngest kids, I figured I’d play a bit more. I’ve been wanting to figure out how to present the Vanishing Birdcage for younger kids, and looked at this as a chance to work on that. I really didn’t have anything preplanned, aside from the vanish.

I put the whole thing together as I did it. The hand towel I normally use to wipe my sweat, and just grabbed it and produced the bird from it. Then playing with asking what it ate, and manipulating it a bit like a spring puppet. I’m glad I got just over 3 minutes out of it, without really planning anything.

Hopefully if I sit down and do some writing I’ll be able to get 4 mins out of it! It’s fun to be using my Take Up Reel in shows right now!

New Book Day!

Today I’m starting to read Paul Romhany’s book Stand Up Magic. He’s my editor over at Vanish Magazine, and I’ve been a fan of the stuff that he puts out before I started writing for Vanish. It’s all solid real world stuff.

I’m one trick into it so far after reading the introduction, etc and he does a great job explaining it. It’s a number prediction and not only goes into the work in great detail, but also covers variations and afterthought on the routine.

What I like about the first trick is that it’s clearly put together by someone who is actually out there working. It’s got a solid method. One thing I’ve learned to be able to spot in books and DVD’s are methods by people who aren’t out there working all the time. The may be great for a one off show (which isn’t a bad thing), but aren’t solid if you’re out on the road performing all the time.

I’m excited to read more of this book!

Magic With a Message…

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.

Flattening The Curve…

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.

Fooling Myself…

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.

The Darkest Corner…

A few months ago Master Payne turned me onto a book called The Darkest Corner by Ben Hart. I wasn’t familiar with Ben, but Payne told me the book has some unusual magic trick and some unusual methods in it.

I ordered the book right way and have been doing one trick in it at my shows (virtual and in person) this summer. That trick is his Silk in Peach, where the effect is a signed silk reappears inside of a peach. It took some playing to come up with a fun routine, and I think it’s a perfect trick for in-person, no contact, socially distant magic shows.

My solution to having something signed when you can’t get 6 feet from someone and they can’t touch any props is that I ask them to name an animal. I then draw the animal on the silk and write their name. Pretty simple. The production from the peach is visually amazing and that quickly made this trick the “meat” of my summer show.

Look into the book, it’s great!

Bad Magic…

Howard Hamburg D Lecture notes

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.

Now go out and do good magic.

Small Changes…

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.

Elements of a Virtual Guest Spot

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.

Working On It…

One of the hardest things about creating magic right now is that due to restrictions I can’t really audience test things. I’ve written about my endings to the three shell game on this blog before and one that I’ve started doing post-COVID is the solid shell game.

One way to break things in are on live streams. My buddy was doing a live stream a few night ago and needed a guest, so I popped in, hung out and worked on some material.

Here’s the shell game from that live stream:

It’s coming along, just being able to do for something and not the wall at home makes a big difference! If you’ve got stuff you’re working on, go out and be a guest on someone’s live stream. It’s a much better space that doing your own live stream show, and there’s a lot less expectation for you to carry the show.