Tag: magic promo video

Magic Promo Video Question

In a facebook magic group someone asked this question:

magic promo video question

The problem the person has is really a non-issue. Who really cares if a video editor knows how a trick works? They are someone you have hired to help you. It’s like having a topit sewn into your jacket, if the person doing the sewing knows you have a secret pocket, does it matter?

No it doesn’t.

Another when hiring someone to work on a video for you or for when you work on TV, let them know what to not record or what to be aware of. I was lucky my first local TV show that I was on, the director worked on one of Siegfried and Roy‘s videos and he asked me if there were any bad angles or things he should be aware of to not show. That taught me it’s better to be proactive and tell them what not to show than try to figure it out in the moment when you know the camera is in the wrong spot.

-Louie

My Eyes Hurt…

Oh man, someone sent me a video a Rich Freeman performing at a sweet 16 party. The guests seem to enjoy what he’s doing…but the video is unwatchable:

Here’s the thing, I’m not trying to crap on the guy, but he made the video publicly available and out there. There are a lot of things wrong with this video.
After the title screen, he opens with an immediate transition. That transition then ends with him yelling at a kid about toilet paper with no context. The constant shapes that appear in the video make it impossible to see anything that’s going on. Outside of his control, you have a kid sitting behind him the whole show that looks bored as hell.

I’m not sure of the purpose of this video. Is it to try to get him work, or for social media content? It’s listed on the video section of his website, so I’m guessing it’s promo to get him work. Whenever you put a video on your site, you need to think about what it’s purpose is. Is it a fun video or is it to get people to book you? If it’s fun, it belongs on your social media. If it ends up taking off and getting millions of views, then you might want to move it your main site.

Upload videos with a purpose…and make them watchable!

-Louie

Commercial Magic…

Normally I don’t watch a lot of TV, especially live TV, so I don’t see a lot of commercials. I just saw a Therabreath commercial that came out in June that has a magicians in it. Here’s the commercial:

What I like about this and the current trend with magicians in commercials or TV shows is that they are using actual magic tricks. It’s way better than doing a quick cut and then showing someone pull out bunny out of a hat. I think most people can tell the difference between CGI or a camera trick and someone actually doing it.

Also I think it’s worth looking at how that 15 second commercial frames the magic. It’s just the “punchline” not the “set up“, we really don’t see the whole trick. We don’t need to see the guy show the card on both sides before it floats, we just need to see it float. Now think of how you can apply that to your promo video.