MagicShow.Tips – Page 229 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

What Me Worry…

It really cracks me up when magicians worry about exposure of tricks where the method is technological. The “exposure” they are worried about is when this similar tech becomes used in applications for the general public. A good example is someone makes a die that you assign tasks to, and have an app linked to it. You put the side up when you are working on that task. The app knows what side it up and tells you how long you devote to each task. This is essentially a tech that’s been used for magic for a long time.

I think there are two reasons that people that are upset with magic tech becoming everyday tech. The first is that when it’s magic, it’s a niche market and very specialized, so it’s expensive. These people are upset that the value of their investment has been decreased. The second reason is that these people aren’t willing to put in the time to learn to do it any other way (i.e. Sleight of hand).

Here’s a good example, many people make a little cube that has different colors on all of the sides. Due to the tech, you always know what color is on top. However if you are aware of a similar device to keep you on task at work, then the impossibility of the trick is diminished. How can you do the same trick?

Here are two ways:

1. Instead of the cube, they write down a color on a business card and put it in their pocket. Using standard mentalism techniques you can easily know their color.

2. You put a prediction on the table. The pick a color on the block and it’s covered up so you can’t see it. You turn over the prediction and it’s the color they picked. Methodwise this is simply using the block to tell you what color was picked, then you use nailwriter for the prediction.

Both methods will have the same impact as just using the tech, but won’t become obsolete when the magic tech becomes everyday tech. The moral of the story is to go out and learn some sleight of hand.

Sometimes You Have To Compromise…

One of the things that I’m proud of is that when I do kid shows, I don’t really do any standard kid show tricks. There are no sucker tricks, or “clown props”. My show for kids is fun and funny, but the most important part is that the show is amazing.

That said, this week I’m making a compromise with my inner artist. I’m making a deal for cash. I’ve taken on a run of shows and two of them will be for groups of kids ages 2-3 years old. You can’t do magic for them, the concept of magic doesn’t really exist for kids that young. I’m dusting off my old Tipple Topple Wand, Nest of Wands and other clowny props for these two shows.

Unfortunately these two shows were part of the contract and if I wanted the contract, I had to take them. The compromise that I made was going against what I want my show to be for 10% of the shows, but for the other 90% I get to do share my art my way.

Is it worth it? I think so.

I Don’t Get It…

Frequently I’m befuddled about why magicians love to do “throwback” acts. Not period shows like at a Ren Faire or Civil War Reenactment, but recreating things like the medicine pitch, or the riverboat gambler. Most modern audience have no idea what they are. They may be aware of them from brief little scenes in movies, … Continue reading “I Don’t Get It…”

Over the years I’ve worked with many people that do a Medicine Show Pitch. I’ve never seen one that the audience was super into. I worked with one the other night, and while the act was fine, it didn’t resonate with the audience because they don’t know what it is. No one ever gives a historical background on it before they start doing the pitch.

That’s the problem with the Medicine Show Pitch, people have to figure out what it is. Also people don’t know that there really isn’t a payoff, it’s just a lot of unusual, olde tyme talk. A simple introduction about what it is would help a lot. Something like, “A hundred years ago, adoctor would roll into town on the back of a horse drawn wagon, or wood paneled station wagon. He’d be selling a medicine that would cure everything. It would cure the common cold, it would cure ricketts, it would cure social media addiction. By the time you realized that what he sold you didn’t work, he was long gone. This is the 1912 version of the guy on TV selling Sham-Wow’s“

Now there’s a little bit of context to what’s happening. The audience doesn’t have to figure out what the hell you are doing and it’s historical place. Context is KING!

All Sizzle, No Steak…

About a week ago I wrote a blog post about working with a guy that did a superhero character. His show was an “anti-bully” show and unfortunately it really couldn’t hold an audience at a fair. I’m sure there are venues where it can hold an audience, like at a church youth group for younger school age kids, but not at the fair.

The show had a great costume for the main performer, and all of the other performer’s costumes were really an after thought, and not much energy was put into them when compared to the main performer’s costume. Consistency across the board with your props or costumes really makes a difference. Think about having a brand new suit, and wearing old faded, scuffed up shoes with it, that just doesn’t look right.

The anti bully, superhero show had a video intro, which really didn’t make sense. They were lugging a big TV and screen for a 30 second intro that didn’t add to the show. It’s a prop that felt like they bought simply because they had seen other shows that used video intros. To me it felt like the kind of intro that church’s use for kids youth groups for programs that they buy. Many summer bible day camps have themes and some makes and sells “canned” camped, where the church gets everything they need from videos to props, to decorations. This intro felt like it was trying to be that.

The show felt like it had a lot of energy put into things that didn’t matter, where the energy should have been put into the content of the show. I’ll write about what was actually in the show another day. My theory is you should build the substance first, then put the fluff around it later.

One or Two Spots…

When working in a show with multiple acts and an intermission, the show producer frequently splits up my act into two spots. One before and one after the intermission. Usually this happens in shows that have a burlesque background. The reason is the dancers can’t do one long set, they do two shorter ones. The producer then lines up the show so that everyone does two short sets.

Personally I prefer to do one longer set. The reason is that it allow me to build momentum. As a talking act, I can build to a big ending in 10 minutes. In two 5 min chunks, essentially you’re doing two openers. Sure in the second set, people already know you, but you can’t build off the energy you built in the first set.

Another thing with split spots is that your second spot is building off of the energy of the previous act. If the act before you is super high energy, and your closer is a slow burn, it makes it much harder for the audience to get into it.

The final reason I prefer one spot is that if your have a rough first spot, you don’t have time to win the audience back. You’re finished before you get a second chance, then when you do come back for the second spot, you are starting in a huge hole. It’s so much easier to dig yourself out of a hole in one long spot.

My advice is that if you are a talking act the best thing to do is a single spot. Just because everyone else is doing split spots doesn’t mean you have to!

Internal Script…

Something that’s important to doing magic is your internal script. What that means is what you are thinking when the magic happens, or how is it happening. A good example is when Lance Burton made a lady float, the energy he had coming off his hands was almost like he had strings going from his … Continue reading “Internal Script…”

Something that’s important to doing magic is your internal script. What that means is what you are thinking when the magic happens, or how is it happening. A good example is when Lance Burton made a lady float, the energy he had coming off his hands was almost like he had strings going from his hands to the girl.

In my three ball routine, where balls travel from one hand to another, I imagine that they get sucked into my palm, then go up my arm, down the other and finally out of my other palm. I was doing it the other day, and a kid asked me if they went through my arms. That meant that my silent script worked.

For a silent script to work you, the audience doesn’t have to know what it is. What it does it help you sell the trick to the audience. Sometimes it can be obvious, sometimes it’s just something internal that helps you act out a part of the trick and sell it to the audience.

That Was Unexpected…

Within magic (and most variety arts) it’s difficult to keep people from stealing material. Simply because there’s really not a lot you can do. Sure you can claim copyright…but that can’t be enforced until it’s registered. Registering a copyright takes time and money, and it’s no guarantee that it will be enforceable.

So what do you do?

Earlier today a magician went on a TV show and did a couple of stolen bits from some well known magicians. One of the magicians called him out and magicians from around the world rallied. They gave him bad reviews on his facebook business page, dropping his rating from a 4.8 to a 1.5.

It also turns out the guy that was stealing material is at the IBM convention when this all went down, and many of the people he swiped material from are there. I predict things like this will start happening when someone steals material from high profile people.

Make Them Come To You…

This week I’m doing a lot of local gigs and it’s nice to be home. In the summer I do many summer day camps for kids. Usually I’m doing them for school age kids, but this week I’ve been doing mostly younger kids in the 3-5 age range. This is a smidge younger than my demographic, however the shows are doing fine.

One thing that I consciously don’t do in my show is any standard kids show material. No break away wands or anything like that. I want do make them come up a level. This isn’t something that’s easy to do. Making the wand break is easy, making counting pieces of string entertaining to a kid is hard. I’m purposely taking a harder route, but in doing that it makes me a better performer.

Challenging the kids to be more sophisticated separates me from most other kid shows. It also teaches the kids to be better audiences, and that listening is an important part of watching a show, and more important than screaming. Many kid shows are simply getting the kids amped up, and that’s it. They have one gear. I have some slower parts to the show, and some more high energy parts. Having texture in your show is important, even when performing for kids.

Cards Across…

One of the new tricks that I’m working on is the Cards Across trick. This is a trick I had to do as an “emergency” when I thought I had set up a trick, but hadn’t and didn’t realize it until I already had people onstage. When this happened, I went into my mental toolbox of magic and did Cards Across.

Cards Across is a great trick, however it’s a very common trick. How do I jazz it up and give it my own twist. My thought was doing it with 7 red backed cards and 10 blue backed cards. Then having the packets switch places, not just the number of cards. So it’s a transposition, not a transportation. This is a small change, but one that I like, and makes the trick a little bit more unique to me.

I’ve done this trick three times, twice on Sunday and once yesterday. I’ve learned a lot about doing it in those three shows. First of all, I need to mention the two different color backs at the beginning and not really mention it again until I’ve done the pile displacement. I need to focus on the numbers of the cards, and the transposition is a bonus.

Camera Work…

Good video footage of your act is very valuable these days. It can be used for promo, social media or simply just to get better. With 4K video cameras being fairly inexpensive, you really have no excuse to not have a decent promo video.

I try to record most shows, and that footage can be used however I need to. Normally I do this with the camera on a tripod. If I’m in the same place for a while, I can put the camera in different places and get different looking shots. With different angles of the same venue, in theory I can cut them together and make it look like a multi camera shot.

Sometimes I’ll give the camera to a magician to record. It’s interesting what most magicians tend to focus on. They focus on the trick, not the the bigger picture, or the reaction to the trick. Personally I want a tight shot of the me and the person on stage. This is the beauty of using a 4K camera, you can crop it to the trick, or the reaction, or leave it as is.