Senior Project

[RazorAce]

Okay, i have like 3 days of school left until im out. My senior project is due tomorrow and i chose to do it over magic. We have to talk about our topic for 10 minutes in front of the class. Thats where im stuck. I haven't started anything yet. But i was wondering if you guys had any ideas on what i should talk about? I was also going to throw some card tricks in there at the end.

Heres what i have so far. Im hoping i can talk about all this for 10 minutes.

"What is magics appeal?" - My topic question.

History - 3m
- What is magic
- Who performs it
- Where it came from

Magicians - 3m
- Talk about some famous magicians of all types, and their backgrounds.

Types of magic - 3m
- Talk about all the different types of magic these days.

My magic background - 2m

Questions - 1m
- Answer any questions anyone may have.


I also have to have a graph on some random question. So i have two. Answer them if you will please.

Who is your favorite magician?

A. Houdini
B. Copperfield
C. David Blaine
D. Criss Angel
E. Other

What is your favorite type of magic?

A. Stage
B. Street
C. Mentalism
D. Close-up

 

[PolyMon]

I like all your ideas, if you take your time with all of them it should take up the 10 min that you need. But maybe you could also talk about how you personally got into magic, and what you like about it and things about magic that pertain to you. Just a thought

 

[RazorAce]

Yeah, good idea. I'll probably throw that in there right before the questions. Thanks.

 

[Rmana]

Hey... I'm a teacher so I hope I can help. Your topics all look good, but you didn't tell us what class this is for and how you're gonna be marked.

Honestly though, 10 minutes is not a lot of time, and you can certainly do 10 minutes on the history of magic alone.

What I think would be cool would be a presentation on the different types of magic... or what are the "magical" things that magicians do. And maybe you can show your class examples.

 

[RazorAce]

Thanks, this is for English class, and were graded on how well we present our info, our visuals, how long our presentation is, and our bibliography.

And yeah, ill probably throw some of that in there too, and for sure some examples.

 

[gmgfan]

My favorite type of magic: Stage Magic
My favorite magician: other (Jeff Mcbride)

Here are some things that you might want to say in your project:
History:
Talk about how sleights in card magic came from card cheating. If you would like, give examples.
Mention Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin. I might have hyphenated that word incorrectly. Make sure that you say how he changed magic with both presentation and with methods. He was an important person in magical history.

Magicians:
Blaine started when he found a book about Houdini at the library.
Angel started when his aunt showed him a card trick.
Copperfield started when his grandfather showed him a card trick.
Houdini started when he found a book by Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin.

Types of magic:
Close-up:
This is how all magicians started.
Breaks down into cards, coins, ordinary objects, etc.
Same tricks as street magic.

Stage Magic:
Most magicians who are famous in the public (with the exception of Blaine) do stage magic.

Mentalism:
A magician can do mentalism, but a mentalist can't do magic. Explain this statement and why you do or do not agree
Many psychics use mentalism techniques to make it appear as if they have psychic powers. Mention James Randi if you wish.

Your magic background:
If I were doing your project, I would leave this part out. I believe, though I could be wrong, that you are supposed to have researched information and that is the information which you should present. Also, talking about yourself in a presentation can make you sound egotistical. By including yourself, you are making it all about you. You can probably talk for half an hour about yourself, and you will probably end up saying a lot about yourself since it seems like you're doing this at the last minute. If you talk about your magic experiences, people might leave class thinking that you're an egotistical jerk. Also, talking about yourself will bias your presentation. It will no longer be expository. It will become either a narrative or a persuasive. It's your choice, but I wouldn't talk about myself if I were you.

Hope this helped,
Kevin

 

[RazorAce]

Thanks, thats a lot of information, it will definitely help. And it looks like that would take up the 10 minutes, meaning i wouldn't need to talk about myself. I see what you mean about the "egotistical jerk" part.

Edit:

I almost forgot, but i need to come up with 4 careers that relate to my topic, and what type of background they need to become one of these careers.

I cant really think of many besides a magician, so maybe i could use different types of magicians as different careers? idk.