Question for Daniel Madison

[AllanLuu]

Hey guys,


First off, I was very impressed with this DVD set, it was well worth the wait. Secondly, in motion, I noticed that when Daniel talks about is flourishes, he uses the words "spectator" and "audience" a lot, is this implying that he performs his flourishes to a lay audience? If so, how does he implement flourishes into a magical routine, I mean, noticed some fancy little cuts but in no way did I see sybil in the rain used to shuffle/cut the cards (a little bit of exaggeration but I hope you get what I mean).

Anyways, I hope to hear from you soon!

 

[Squirrel_Magix]

This would be great SNC- RoundTable Discussion question.

-SM

 

[d+M]

We could very easily drift into a heavy discussion of magic Vs flourishing here but i know how may times this has been covered so i'll keep my distance from the battle and pay focus to supporting the two as positive equal opposites.

I think flourishing deserves an audience so i never just flourish for myself or my own dexterity, it's something magical and deserving to watch and very satisfying to achieve a skill such as flourishing and the reactions it can cause.

(Hopefully) you'll never see a video of me performing flourishing and magic at the same time, although I do flourish in performances, it's always at or toward the end and there's a very good reason why...

If you perform a series of elaborate and astounding flourishes for your audience and then follow it up with a trick, you can't expect good - or as good as reactions that you would have got from doing the trick without first flourishing. People who see you flourishing won't be surprised that you can manipulate the deck with a simple magic trick, as magic next to multiple-packet flourishing just seems okay and not amazing.

In most of my performances i'll act like a stranger to playing cards because I'm not out to show my skills of manipulation or control, I want my spectators to see me as one of them, not only does this offer a serious level of rapport, it also diminishes expectations opening a perfect platform for something unexpected.

Toward the end of the show i'll then display a few flourishes, which will play as a bonus "wow, not only is he a great magician, he can also do crazy things with the cards" this is so much more rewarding than "he's great with cards... oh, and he does magic too."

If i didn't respect my audiences enough to think this way, Dangerous would have probably been one mashed up version of a magician showing off between his tricks, magic deserves it's own ground that shouldn't rely on the attention grabbing basis of flourishing. I see a lot of magicians flourishing between performances, but all it does is confuse my decision on the spectators reactions, are they reacting to the magic or the flourishing?

In summary, it's all about expectations, id rather play with my spectators expectations with magic than instantly fulfill them with flourishing

Savvy?

 

[Aris.SA]

Savy????.......

 

[Breen]

Savy????.......

He probably means satisfied with this?

 

[forane]

Savy????.......

Savy was also what Jack Sparrow said in pirates of the carribean to see if somebody understood him. Its a nauticle term i think. But i know Jack Sparrow did say it.

 

[Ben Long]

Oh my god.

You really are Johnny Depp.

 

[beanzmagic]

Oh my god.

You really are Johnny Depp.

we already knew that, duh

 

[indiana508]

Daniel you ar eso right when you performe you should never do big flourishes first great answer thats why you are one of the best my friend and savy is not just a term jack sparrow used I use that term all the time it has been used for a long time.


INDIANA.C

 

[Deleted member 2755]

I completely agree with Madison on that. I usually think the same way when performing. Flourishing is NOT meant to just be something that you film for a camera and put music to. Is it awesome? Yes. Does it make you look like a beast? (in a good way) Yes. Does it show you have some skill? Of course. However, just doing it for a camera lense is boring and does not show people in real life what you can really do. Believe me... I get reactions from a charlier cut.

-Doug

 

[timsilva]

Anyone else impressed by d+M's response? For a 5th post, that was pretty helpful imo

Toward the end of the show i'll then display a few flourishes, which will play as a bonus "wow, not only is he a great magician, he can also do crazy things with the cards" this is so much more rewarding than "he's great with cards... oh, and he does magic too."

I agree completely, it plays an ENORMOUS role when it comes to the expectations of the spectators. It's too easy to forget how they are experiencing it when you are performing so much, and doing too much flourishing can hurt people's reactions if you start off too strong.

With magic, it is important to start small and big, I think flourishing in itself should be near the end because it is up there with the hard hitting effects in terms of how people interpret and enjoy it. It is visual and skillful, people will appreciate it more if you wait a little bit before showing off how well you can handle cards.

Savvy?

Yup.

 

[Shanku]

There's this guy called Jerry Cestkowski... I don't know if you know of him but he makes a living off doing flourishes (or what he and a lot of people like to call XCM - which is a valid term because it's nonstop flourishes - just not as "Xtreme" as the Mortal Kombat style editing).

 

[PlethZorb]

Good logical thinking from d+M.

 

[TeeDee]

There is a contrary, and equally valid school of thought though. Maybe you want your spectators to put your effects down to an almost supernatural dexterity. When you do an ambitious card routine, maybe you want them to think that you controlled the card to the top with an incredible and invisible move with one hand, when all you've done is a double-lift and stuck an X card in the middle. In this kind of presentation (which I favour), flourishes can act as convincers for the impossible moves that you are purporting to perform. They leave the audience with the impression that you can probably do anything with cards.

This style of presentation has it's parallels in a Derren Brown school of mentalism. Rather than pretending to have psychic powers or anything, Mr Brown allows his audience a glimpse into the world of genuine psychological techniques, and then takes it further with traditional mentalism chicanery. The fact that the audience have a supposed explanation for the effects doesn't lessen their impact. In fact it increases the wonder at the performer himself. Rather than being someone who can do some mind-reading tricks, Derren Brown has made himself and his own character the subject of fascination. Rather than "How did you do that?", he evokes a reaction of true wonder that such things are possible.

In this way, by openly confessing to and displaying skill, a well-structured and acted performance can make the magician much more than the sum of his tricks, rather a godlike figure with vaguely-grasped-but-not-quite-understood powers, in exactly the same way as the wizards and witches of the Middle Ages must have appeared when they demonstrated their skills, with their false explanations.