Effects you are on the edge not to do because of exposure.

[Steerpike]

You try going to school with people you perform for. I'm sure it is fine performing any trick for 20+ year olds. I'm just talking in most of our situations. (Probably not yours)

Your criticism isn't helpful.

That's not an excuse.

I've fooled people with illusions that they knew the secret to. But I had to work to get there.

You on the other hand so one amateur exposed and instead of taking that as a challenge to rise above as a performer you quit like a child.

Well sead Steerpike. I know that with the right presentation, you can fool ANY audience. I've fooled audiences before with a Balducci when they knew it. They said "You aren't just doing this right?" and I quickly replied "No." and performed it. They freaked out and ran away. Now I want everybody here that it's not the trick that fooled them, but the way I presented it. Let's say somebody knows the Balducci levitation and you begin to perform. They might think "Oh, I know how this is done." but then you'll begin to concentrate and breathe deeply. You raise your hands to the sky and act as if you're really trying to break free. I've found that many people will think "Wait. Why is he doing that? I guess he's not doing it the way I thought." and even though you do it the same way, the presentation made it appear as a more difficult illusion and also gave the moment more drama and tension. Just my thoughts.

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

If the audience catches you, it's not their fault. It's not YouTube's, it's not Criss Angel's, it's not Brad Christian's, it's not The Masked Magician's, or whoever else you feel like blaming that day. No, it's you. It's your fault you got caught, and it's always your fault.

You people need to learn to take responsibility. I performed a handful of basic routines all the time on my campus and never got caught. If I saw an effect I was doing was exposed, I came up with a new presentation to keep them all off the scent, and it worked.

Stop making excuses and get to work.

Show people the STS when they know how the STS is done. Hmmmm.

The loud whooshing noise you hear is Sands' point going directly over your head.

Well you must be pretty awesome, because I said I don't do ACR because of YouTube, and you call me and Blindside sad. Seriously, and no offense, but that was a bit pathetic.

I called it sad because you gave up. You just gave up.

If you got caught, then no it wasn't perfect. But instead of admitting that to yourself, you convinced yourself that the performance must have been perfect and it was YouTube's fault you got caught.

 

[pureAstonishment]

By the Steerpike and Sands, I'm completely on your side with this one. Please
do NOT blame Youtube, your teacher, or ANYONE for getting caught. If you
analyze your performances enough, I'll bet 99% of the time you'll find out how
YOU messed something up. It may be something simple and subtle, or it may
have been bad audience management/judgment, but in the end, it's YOUR fault.


Next, how someone can figure out an ENTIRE ACR through Youtube escapes me.
I haven't "researched" this on youtube or anything, nor do I plan to (becuase I
simply don't care), but and ACR is a COMPILATION of sleights. If you structured
your ACR correctly, it should be unique to you and you only.

Over top of that, if you have a theme to your presentation (not dropping the
words "ambitious card" because that's the default/unstructured way to present
it), it would be EXTREMELY difficult for them to figure anything out. If you incorporate
DLs (one of the non "get ready" ones), passes, pop up move, and TONS of other sleights,
trust me they will NOT know what happened.

I really hope the logic in that puts your fear of being caught to rest. I can
understand that after one failed performance (in which no on was impressed),
it can really turn you off from doing an ACR ever again. But restructure your
presentation and THINK about how lay men will react to it. I have never
been caught on my ACR either, and it's not becuase I possess some sort of
unatainable talent. You can get there too..........

Another quick thought on presentation (maybe this one's a little too deep,
but I'll throw it out there ;P), you want your audience to BELIEVE you're doing
magic and not "tricking" them. Do that, and they won't want to run a search
in the first place. They'll just accept the entertainment for what it is. THAT is
the level you eventually want to attain.

For now though, I'd say just carefully dissect the presentation and structure
of your ACR. Intertwine things so that by the end, the spectator wouldn't be
able to pinpoint exactly WHAT you did. Then, when they sit in front of the
computer to search, they'll have nothing to go off of except that they saw
something REALLY amazing ;P

-Jiten

 

[Djmckee]

Don't Call the trick anything? Its simple.if they don't know the name of the effect they won't be able to find an explanation.

Yet another pointless Topic.

 

[Sir FansAlot]

Next, how someone can figure out an ENTIRE ACR through Youtube escapes me.
I haven't "researched" this on youtube or anything, nor do I plan to (becuase I
simply don't care), but and ACR is a COMPILATION of sleights. If you structured
your ACR correctly, it should be unique to you and you only.


-Jiten

Part of the problem could be that if they figure out 10% of the trick they feel like they're not fooled. In this case they think they know the trick because they know how one move is done, which would invalidate the rest of the routine in their eyes.

Balducci levitation fooled someone who knew how it was done? I have trouble believing these sorts of claims. No offense intended but once you know that levitation I would think it's hard not to recognize what's going on.

 

[Steerpike]

Balducci levitation fooled someone who knew how it was done? I have trouble believing these sorts of claims. No offense intended but once you know that levitation I would think it's hard not to recognize what's going on.

Did not one or two of Dai Vernon's students fool him with effects he himself had invented just by changing up the presentation?

 

[Avancer]

Oh, I've had plenty of times when I've fooled someone who already knew how the effect was done, a couple of times the person has caught me and then when I performed for them again, they were stumped....sounds weird I know but why, I cannot understand.

 

[Tempest]

Steerpike is right. When you progress in magic you get to a point where you encounter that problem. So what do you do about it?

1) Create a backup plan. For instance, when I do an effect and someone says "Oh I know that one --" I cut them off immediately to keep them from finishing their sentence by saying, "Yeah it's good isn't it? But you know, there's a hundred different ways to do everything in magic, and that was just one of them. Have you ever seen this one?" And then I do the same effect but with a different method and it does three things:

A) Gets the spectator on MY side, and it becomes a special moment because I've just connected with my audience by being "real"with them. I've taken the challenge and turned it into a moment without opposition.

B) Strengthens the magic because now they realize that I CAN do diabolically clever things and that I am more magical than they realize.

C) Prevents further outbreaks of that situation because now they realize that what they know is nothing compared to what I'm doing, and thus, they enjoy the performance even more, because in their minds, it is special.

2) Practice more. You ever see someone do an old effect so well that it owns you? Happens to me all the time. It's called being so familiar with the effect and doing it so smoothly, it literally has become intense and impossible even to magicians, SOLEY because that person does it SO WELL.

3) Believe you're the real deal. If you're doing STS and you're thinking about how you wish you could do it for real, that thought process will be communicated through your actions and words, and people will catch on. "Oh this guy is acting really suspicious and tricky, it must be a trick." If you believe it, they will too. Furthermore, if you've taken the original effect and made it your own, and created a backup, AND developed the effect further with the exposure problem in mind, you will have a miracle every time.

|| sean ||

 

[Tempest]

Did not one or two of Dai Vernon's students fool him with effects he himself had invented just by changing up the presentation?

Most audiences are very intelligent and you should never underestimate them. However, if you're performing intellectually, they will try to figure it out.

Intellect is a state of mind. So is emotion. The idea is to get your audience to transition from intellect to an emotional state of mind. Then utilizing methods to eliminate reconstruction, you can take them as far as you want, and because they are in an emotional state of mind, they will believe and enjoy magic, instead of figuring out a puzzle or a trick like they would do thinking intellectually.

Copperfield does it. I went to his show and felt like a little kid the entire time. And even when he was doing stuff I could figure out, I found myself following the story and believing. In my mind, I KNEW he had trained that scorpion to read minds.

Eugene Burger owned me with a Magician's Force. How? Eugene is freaking magical. I KNOW the magician's force, but his warm smile and magical demeanor just captivated me into his story. And therefore, I was owned, and I loved every bit of it.

|| sean ||

 

[Sir FansAlot]

Did not one or two of Dai Vernon's students fool him with effects he himself had invented just by changing up the presentation?

I'm sure it can be done depending on the actual effect. I just don't see it happening with that particular levitation. If that was the only trick I knew I wouldn't be fooled by it and don't think anyone with a minimal amount of basic reasoning skills would either, that's all I'm saying. Not to say that it wouldn't be enjoyable to watch and they'd "want to believe" or whatever.

 

[traumagic]

i perform my magic depending on the situation and audience, if i have a feeling they are gonna be burning my hands the whole time cause they are the type of person that has to know the trick then i wont perform many of the decent tricks i know, but also if u present ur magic as true and pure magic ability the specs have no reason to think otherwise, u can also go the other route and show ur magic as pure entertainment and even if they do catch a glimpse of anythin they will still b entertain and it wont even matter. the kind of people that i perform too are old enough to know about youtube but not wise enough to know u can actually learn magic from it so they dont even search for it, it just goes to show altho it is there you can only watch it if u know what ur lookin for. and as for ACR some one has already said that its not just 1 routine that u learn, an ACR is a collection of various sleights and moves that flow in one routine so how can anyone really know what ur doin with out knowin what each sleight is, and without knowin the names of each sleight how can someone search for how its done. and i personally think exposure is a good thing...not a good thing for the creators obviously but i mean for us as performers cause it makes us find new and creative ways of performing tricks, i mean for me i do the 2 card monte a lot and its been exposed so much, its a very simple trick but the way i perform it is totally unique and noone catches on to it, i perform it as a 3 phase routine that totally sets up the audience for the killer ending of changing 2 aces into 2 kings

 

[Steerpike]

Most audiences are very intelligent and you should never underestimate them. However, if you're performing intellectually, they will try to figure it out.

That's the thing. I don't doubt my audience's intelligence. Very few of us do. It's breaking them out of an analytical mindset that counts.

Docc Hilford built his early reputation on pocket tricks. Gary Darwin can own anybody at anytime with nothing but a thumb tip. David Blaine built his earliest reputation off of old standards that every beginner should know.

The problem with saying, "They're too smart, they'll figure it out," is forgetting that humans have second hemisphere of their brains as well.

Why were the Davenport brothers so successful despite being exposed repeatedly? Why did one of their proteges expose John Maskelyne after criticizing them, even though the principles he showed Maskelyne using were the ones the Davenports used themselves? Because in the emotionally charged atmosphere of one of the brothers' seances, the audiences forgot the low points and played up the highs. They drew the distinction between not wanting to disbelieve and wanting to believe.

In the book "The Secret Art of Magic" one of the first chapters discussed in the second half of the book is the old Chinese proverb and war strategy of "Lure the Tiger from the Mountain". What this means is to lead away enemies from their most comfortable, natural terrain and force them to fight on your terms.

In magic, this means compelling people to think emotionally instead of analytically. You have to engage and involve them. It's one of the key reasons I try to do so much of my magic with audience participation, because it leaves them less inclined to try to expose me and also makes it so that even if they want to, they're too involved to give it that much thought at the time.

 

[Tempest]

I'm sure it can be done depending on the actual effect. I just don't see it happening with that particular levitation. If that was the only trick I knew I wouldn't be fooled by it and don't think anyone with a minimal amount of basic reasoning skills would either, that's all I'm saying.

Do you read fictional books? Do you watch fictional movies?

When you're reading or watching, are you or have you ever been engaged in the story, almost to the point where you're engulfed in it and you forget where you are? You're so captivated that you see yourself, in your mind, become a part of it?

Surely everyone has done this in some form or fashion. Santa Clause, Harry Potter, The Matrix, etc.

If I did that to you through MY performance, and I performed a Balducci, you'd be smitten with amazement.

And if I developed the effect into my own style, which is what you're supposed to do, reconstruction would be impossible.

|| sean ||