I find that performances shouldn't be too planned. Then it feels as though you have to follow a set script instead of actually performing and interacting with your audience, as though they are people, not subjects 
April 2009 :: Proudly Presenting
- Thread starter jonraiker
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I was gonna ask you this in a PM, but now that it's come up; Can you recommend some good books on acting, Steerpike?
The book that everyone starting out in acting should read is "An Actor Prepares" by Constantin Stanislavski. It is arguably the first formal text on the craft of acting and what inspired Lee Strasburg to form the style of method acting. From Stanislavski, it should be pretty simple to branch out into different schools of thought in acting and concentrate your research on one or two.
Yes, I have
For about 3 years.However, I find that each spectator is different, and each needs a different type of performance. I may have studied acting, but I've also studied improv, and I find the latter to be much more useful when it comes to magic.
Yes, I have
However, I find that each spectator is different, and each needs a different type of performance. I may have studied acting, but I've also studied improv, and I find the latter to be much more useful when it comes to magic.
Okay, so then you would agree that the point of scripting and rehearsal is to make it look spontaneous and natural?
And while I do agree that ad-lib is an essential skill, I see magicians who don't rehearse and have no structure whatsoever, and they're all terrible.
Oh, ok. I see where you're coming from.
Acting and magic are similar in that you're trying to convince the audience of a lie, a lie which they want to believe.
So it is important to rehearse your presentation, but it's also important to use the ad-lib side of things for humourous purposes. You can rehearse an effect, and its presentation to some extent, but you can't rehearse performing it, because you never know what will happen with your audience.
Ahh, that's what I was trying to get at. You can rehearse an effect and presenting it, but you can't rehearse performing it. The performance is where you have to ad-lib and interact.
What are magicians lacking?
A personality.
Every magician at my school (about three not including me) is either bland as bran or just trying to do magic to get popular or they want to perform, but they aren't themselves.
They want to be someone else.
In the words of Lee Asher, "Why don't you wanna be yourself? If you were yourself, then I guarantee you'd be a better magician! Everbody likes you."
When I perform (this is just me) I try to make it seem to everyone that I believe in what I am doing; that what I am doing is not sleight-of-hand, that it isn't a pass or a DL, in my mind when I perform, those things don't exist. Sleights are not real magic to anyone. And that is how I perform; I am an ACTOR playing the PART of a MAGICAIN.
My job is to perform magic, not tricks.
A personality.
Every magician at my school (about three not including me) is either bland as bran or just trying to do magic to get popular or they want to perform, but they aren't themselves.
They want to be someone else.
In the words of Lee Asher, "Why don't you wanna be yourself? If you were yourself, then I guarantee you'd be a better magician! Everbody likes you."
When I perform (this is just me) I try to make it seem to everyone that I believe in what I am doing; that what I am doing is not sleight-of-hand, that it isn't a pass or a DL, in my mind when I perform, those things don't exist. Sleights are not real magic to anyone. And that is how I perform; I am an ACTOR playing the PART of a MAGICAIN.
My job is to perform magic, not tricks.
If we have noticed,the people who are lacking the personality and all that jazz are people who are just entering magic or have only been into it for 3 years or less.
Or they are the hobbyist.
The magicians who matter,professionaly and artists,know whats what.(i hope...)
Or they are the hobbyist.
The magicians who matter,professionaly and artists,know whats what.(i hope...)
Magicians are lacking many things today because there are too many that don't look into the prestsentational aspect. Anyone with great presentation will be remembered forever by their audience. A knuckle busting move is nothing compared to a card force with emotinal connection and presentation. Suspense and personality are definitely big as well. If you perform enough times you will eventually find yourself and what works best for you an dyour presentation. Note: I'm not trying to copy other posts, this is just a bunch of quick compiled info from my head.
I just wanted to say that beleiving in what you do helps the audience believe also. I know this has been brought up before, but I thought I would share this anyway. I have been in magic for only about 5 months. I know almost nothing about presentation. However, if the magician believes that what he is doing is magic, then others will also.
For instance, what if a hard-hitting piece of mentalism was performed. To most spectators, mentalism comes closest to magic. If the performer displays the effect as magic, then the audience will enjoy it even more. However, there are also some tricks or effects that do not create the same results. Yet they still can. While practicing, the magician reaches the point where they know that there really is no magic. That is why it is important to practice until you can fool even yourself. If you believe and act like what you performed is real magic, then the audience will like it even more. Being amazed at the effect makes the whole piece of magic seem even more real.
Sometimes, when practicing the one-handed-pass or just a normal double lift in an ACR routine, I am surprised when the card ends up on top. If naturally you can get fooled while knowing what you are doing, it is easy to imagine how fooled the audience will be. If you are not fooled, either act like you are, or practice until you can fool yourself. We all know that laymen do not like it when a magician fools them. But if the magician can fool even himself, than the spectator won't mind as much. You are on the same level, and that is what the spectator wants.
Just thought I would put that point out there again. I think it can really make a difference. Sorry for any repetition.
For instance, what if a hard-hitting piece of mentalism was performed. To most spectators, mentalism comes closest to magic. If the performer displays the effect as magic, then the audience will enjoy it even more. However, there are also some tricks or effects that do not create the same results. Yet they still can. While practicing, the magician reaches the point where they know that there really is no magic. That is why it is important to practice until you can fool even yourself. If you believe and act like what you performed is real magic, then the audience will like it even more. Being amazed at the effect makes the whole piece of magic seem even more real.
Sometimes, when practicing the one-handed-pass or just a normal double lift in an ACR routine, I am surprised when the card ends up on top. If naturally you can get fooled while knowing what you are doing, it is easy to imagine how fooled the audience will be. If you are not fooled, either act like you are, or practice until you can fool yourself. We all know that laymen do not like it when a magician fools them. But if the magician can fool even himself, than the spectator won't mind as much. You are on the same level, and that is what the spectator wants.
Just thought I would put that point out there again. I think it can really make a difference. Sorry for any repetition.
Here's an almost completely new thought quite literally given to me by my subconscious.
A while back I had a dream in which I could really do magic. It started in a stadium where I was with a group of friends and was turning on and off lights at will. It was an interesting feeling; the thought had to be of just a certain nature for the magic to work. I was always afraid that the next time I tried it wouldn't work, but it always did. (Or if it didn't, I could just try a couple more times and the light would switch right off.) Keep in mind that I was dreaming, so this experience was completely real for me.
In another scene the group was driving through the forest on a hillside and for some reason we stopped. From the road the land dropped downward, and if you looked a hundred feet between the trees you could see the canopy of the trees further down the hill. Then I walked horizontally off the road into thin air. I was floating. Then I flew. Flying was really, really fun. The stakes were a little higher this time because if the magic didn't work, well... Ouch. And I really hate those dreams where you stop magically flying and find yourself on the floor next to your bed.
A final scene took place in a mall that was also a subway station. (You understand how places get all mixed up in dreams.) I was doing an ACR without any sleights. In truth it was somewhat less exciting than flying, but also very cool in that what I had been acting like doing for so long was actually happening.
But let us imagine for a moment if I went out today, got my pack o' playing cards, and found that I could make a certain card was truly, magically ambitious. In what way would I then go to someone and show them what I could do? What would I say; how would I act? That is exactly how I should behave when doing my fake ACR. (If you're trying to allow people to really let loose of reality and believe what you're doing. If you're more just going for comedy and fun or something like that, which is fine, this doesn't apply.)
To a certain extent this idea hits at the basic conflict I another other prestidigitationists (try saying that word out loud) experience. In this case where you're serious about what you're doing and you fail a slieght, its really bad. Mega failure. And we're rightly afraid of that. But for us to become truly believable in what we do we must overcome that fear (maybe by doing only tricks whose methods come as second nature to us) and do some real acting. And truthfully, a magician who really did this would have to be a really good actor.
That's probably why I liked The Illusionist so much: that guy was really going for people to believe it was real.
Of course, we're not like that guy; we're real people with real friends. Can we really expect for put on a guise, maybe hide in a our rooms for a while acting like we're finally coming up with real magic, then forever holding that secret? That's certainly one way to do it, though doing that for card tricks might be a little extreme. (People can only take card tricks so seriously.) So while we're being "us", we can openly admit that we don't really do magic. But other than that one omission, especially while preforming, we must play the part wholly.
A while back I had a dream in which I could really do magic. It started in a stadium where I was with a group of friends and was turning on and off lights at will. It was an interesting feeling; the thought had to be of just a certain nature for the magic to work. I was always afraid that the next time I tried it wouldn't work, but it always did. (Or if it didn't, I could just try a couple more times and the light would switch right off.) Keep in mind that I was dreaming, so this experience was completely real for me.
In another scene the group was driving through the forest on a hillside and for some reason we stopped. From the road the land dropped downward, and if you looked a hundred feet between the trees you could see the canopy of the trees further down the hill. Then I walked horizontally off the road into thin air. I was floating. Then I flew. Flying was really, really fun. The stakes were a little higher this time because if the magic didn't work, well... Ouch. And I really hate those dreams where you stop magically flying and find yourself on the floor next to your bed.
A final scene took place in a mall that was also a subway station. (You understand how places get all mixed up in dreams.) I was doing an ACR without any sleights. In truth it was somewhat less exciting than flying, but also very cool in that what I had been acting like doing for so long was actually happening.
But let us imagine for a moment if I went out today, got my pack o' playing cards, and found that I could make a certain card was truly, magically ambitious. In what way would I then go to someone and show them what I could do? What would I say; how would I act? That is exactly how I should behave when doing my fake ACR. (If you're trying to allow people to really let loose of reality and believe what you're doing. If you're more just going for comedy and fun or something like that, which is fine, this doesn't apply.)
To a certain extent this idea hits at the basic conflict I another other prestidigitationists (try saying that word out loud) experience. In this case where you're serious about what you're doing and you fail a slieght, its really bad. Mega failure. And we're rightly afraid of that. But for us to become truly believable in what we do we must overcome that fear (maybe by doing only tricks whose methods come as second nature to us) and do some real acting. And truthfully, a magician who really did this would have to be a really good actor.
That's probably why I liked The Illusionist so much: that guy was really going for people to believe it was real.
Of course, we're not like that guy; we're real people with real friends. Can we really expect for put on a guise, maybe hide in a our rooms for a while acting like we're finally coming up with real magic, then forever holding that secret? That's certainly one way to do it, though doing that for card tricks might be a little extreme. (People can only take card tricks so seriously.) So while we're being "us", we can openly admit that we don't really do magic. But other than that one omission, especially while preforming, we must play the part wholly.
I think that magicians need to almost believe in what they are doing because then it will seem more like magic than a trick to the audience. I also think that there isn't a ton of suspense in a lot of magician's presentations. It just like: hey watch this! Then it's over in a minute and no one will ever care about it. The last thing magicians need to use is personality. Find out who you are when you perform and what the style is that suits you.
what the most fatal of a magician is interaction, how to bring the emotions of the audience. Sometimes magician just dont know how to entertain. They just aware of their play but not the surround feels. As a risk, audience just get an ordinary feels of his play, even it was a killer one. We as a magician must know how to drive our audience emotion into our play, make them feel if they was the one who play it. thats the best.