magic show – Page 51 – MagicShow.Tips

Found Time…

One of the things that I try to do is use any “found time” that I have during my day. This is time when you’re just waiting. Here’s an example, over the weekended I did three shows at a church. There was about a 20 minute service, my show, then 40 minutes before the next … Continue reading “Found Time…”

One of the things that I try to do is use any “found time” that I have during my day. This is time when you’re just waiting. Here’s an example, over the weekended I did three shows at a church. There was about a 20 minute service, my show, then 40 minutes before the next service started. That gave me a lot of gaps in my day that’s bonus stuff to get done.

I packed my laptop and got some work done after my show and before the next service had started.

Essentially that gave me about half an hour between shows to get work done, which is great! That’s time I would have had to find elsewhere in my life. Then after the service started, while I was waiting for my show, I stood in the back of the room and worked on a card sleight. That’s also practice time that I’d have to find somewhere else in the day.

Being a good steward of your time is something that I think is important. Yes, it’s okay to waste time and just chill out, that’s important, however if I can use some time during gaps in my day to get things done, I’m happy to do it!

Little Interuptions…

Over the weekend I performed at a church camp for kids that were probably 10-12 years old. When you take kids out of their normal routine, they push a lot of boundaries that they probably wouldn’t push if they were at home, school, or their normal church. They are figuring out the rules, and the way a kid figures out the rules is to figure out how far they can go.

When the preshow started I had one kid doing yelling out things. If they are going to do that, that’s the time do it, not once we hit the body of the show. Also my preshow has good tricks and one of the reasons it’s there is to get the kid who is yelling out things to shut up.

The kid who was yelling things wasn’t being “malicious”, he was being a kid that didn’t know the rules, or lacked attention at home and needed to find a way to get it. When I was younger I used to be very confrontational with these kids. It worked, but it’s not the person I am any more. Currently, simply ignoring it and doing strong magic, that tends to work in most instances.

See A Show!

I love going to see a magic shows, and recently I drove almost four hours (due to traffic) to see Jason Andrews and Neils Dunker perform in Hoquiam, WA. I’m really surprised more magicians don’t go out and support live magic shows. For $20 the show was an amazing deal! One of the things that … Continue reading “See A Show!”

One of the things that I liked was that they show was two performers who basically did their own solo stuff, however they did interact onstage. That’s the hardest part of two people touring together. You can do it as a two act show with an opener and a closer, or you can intertwine them a little bit.

Jason and Niels did a couple of bits where they both were on stage and that really gives a feeling of a show, and not two people doing their separate acts. There’s not a right or wrong way to do it. Stand up comedy and bands use the two separate act formula and it works. However in this show in a theater it made it “gel” a bit better.

It was a fun show, you should check it out if it’s in your town.

Production Value…

Over the last year or so I’ve been wanting to add more production value to my show. One of the ways is using video elements, the added bonus to using video elements is that using them takes up virtually no space in your case, but can play extremely big! The challenge is that it’s hard … Continue reading “Production Value…”

This is a remote system for music and video. I haven’t used it in a show (yet), but really like how it works at home. I’ll be trying it out at a live show soon.

The hidden bonus with Media Star Pro is that it comes with software to run music, and video with. This software was pretty easy to use, and my first attempt at running something “complex” is going to be for a workshop I’m teaching in about a week. It’s going to have still images and video in the presentation and I’ll be suing the Media Star Pro to run that. We’ll see if I still like it after that!

Live it!

When I was a kid I remember Michael Close in his lecture talking about how to get good patter ideas for your tricks. His advice was to go out and do stuff that’s not magic related. Living a life aside from magic will add depth to you onstage. Personally for me, I love magic and … Continue reading “Live it!”

When I was a kid I remember Michael Close in his lecture talking about how to get good patter ideas for your tricks. His advice was to go out and do stuff that’s not magic related. Living a life aside from magic will add depth to you onstage.

Personally for me, I love magic and it’s a huge part of my life and something that I’m very passionate about. However I do have a lot of other interests. Things like travel, urban exploring and leather craft. Having those interests gives my show depth.

Earlier this week the podcast that I co host did an interview with Carisa Hendrix where she talks about her life.

You can listen to it here:

http://oddandoffbeat.com/podcast/episode-93-carisa-hendrix-in-studio/

Got out and add to your life experience!

Keep Playing…

Another thing that I learned while I was in Nashville was about the beginnings of Elvis’s performing career. I don’t remember who wrote it (it was a band member, or agent) said that, “Elvis got on stage, jumped around and carried on, then the bass player would start carrying on, then the next guy. ” What they were doing onstage was playing around and having fun.

One of the bands I saw in Nashville was had four performers (only three are pictured) and only one of them was having fun onstage. In the band the bass player was having a blast, or at least he did a dang good job acting that he was having a ton of fun. His enthusiasm really carried across the audience.

When you are on stage, have fun and play around. Try something new, be whatever your version of silly is, and whatever your version of comedy is, don’t be so serious.

Community Center Shows…

For some reason this month I’ve done a lot of community center shows. I’m not sure why, it could be that they call me year round, but I’m just not available to do them and this month I was home. These shows are family shows, and the age range will vary from very young to very old. While these shows are geared towards kids, there are usually an equal number of adults and kids. Frequently you’ll have more adults than kids.

I’ve mentioned this in the past, when I do these shows I don’t do a kids show. I do my normal show and make the kids “step up” to whats going on. My show which ran 50 minutes didn’t pander the 4 year olds, and it shouldn’t when they are a minority of the audience. Sure I do some funny things, but they are universally funny across most ages.

The other thing is that I’m doing a show that’s watchable to the people who are in charge of making the decision to go, or buying the tickets. When my kid was young, I didn’t take her to shows that I knew weren’t going to engage me. I was the one in charge of the decisions, and that’s who I’m catering my show to.

Keep Learning…

Yesterday I was at a class on making silicone molds and using them to cast things in resin. Personally, besides learning the skill, I’m always watching for ideas that I can use during my performance. I noticed a couple of things that confirm my current thoughts on audio and video during a show.

The first thing that while we were in a fairly small and quiet room and there were only 25 of us, it was hard to hear the presenter. They should have been mic’d up. This goes for pretty much anything that’s not a close up gig, you need to wear a mic!

The second thing was their use of video. They had a straight down show from directly above the table with the screen directly behind the presenter.

This is the way to do it. In all of the shows I’ve seen when the action is on a sidewall, your attention is torn between the screen and the presenter. With the action on the screen behind you, it really lets you watch both the same time as both are in your field of vision. This is the way to got for projection.

As a bonus to confirming my theories on audio and video during a show, I also learned to make molds and cast things in resin!

Economy of Motion…

Recently I added the Silk in Light Bulb trick to my show. Essentially a silk that has disappeared reappears inside a light bulb. To do this or similar “in light bulb” type of tricks I’ve always used glass light bulbs. I hollowed out real glass light bulbs and used those. These look great and work … Continue reading “Economy of Motion…”

Recently I added the Silk in Light Bulb trick to my show. Essentially a silk that has disappeared reappears inside a light bulb. To do this or similar “in light bulb” type of tricks I’ve always used glass light bulbs. I hollowed out real glass light bulbs and used those. These look great and work great, but travelling with them is a pain as they are fragile.

About a week ago I was talking to another magician and he mentioned he started using plastic light bulbs. These have the metal base that unscrews giving you access to the inside. I ordered some and they showed up a couple days later. They look great, and I’m glad I ordered them, it’s going to make travelling much easier.

One problem with this style light bulb is how long it takes to unscrew it. There’s too much threading on the base:

I took my Dremel and sanded off some of the threading:

Now it unscrews in less than one twist. That speeds up the moment from when the audience realizes it’s the silk in the light bulb to when you are displaying it.

Look at your show and figure out where there’s wasted procedural motion. Once you find that, try to figure out ways to eliminate it. That will tighten up your show.

Follow The Crowd…

In any art form you are taught to be different, and as far as your show goes that’s what I think about magic. Marketing is a bit different. Recently someone in a Facebook group for magicians wanted advice on getting an agent to get them shows around the country. In my career, every agent that consistently gets me work has seen me perform and approached me. Sure, there are more ways to do it than my route, that’s just my experience.

One thing about agents is they’ve come into my life when I was ready for the kind of gigs they book. One of my agents has told me I’m “starting to level up” and I need my promo to reflect that. I’m currently working on taking my promo to the next level. That’s the thing, if you promo isn’t at the level you expected for where you want to work, then you’ll have a hell of a time getting any agent to take you seriously.

Here’s a good example, my core market is performing at fairs. I want to work indoors more, and the first thing I did was look at the websites of people who were doing the gigs that I wanted to do. If you look at a lot of them, you’ll start to see things repeating. Not tricks, but things all of their promo has in common. Things like the length and style of their promo videos. Are they one trick, a sizzle reel, or a combination of the two? Are their headshots studio or something else? There’s a reason they are common things in promo, that’s because that’s what the industry expects.

Now you need to take a moment and look at your promo, what can you do to take you to the next level?