Talent Show

[tsarothpaco]

Every quarter my school has a tlaent show. It happened once this year so far (they had to cancel one) and I performed. I do card magic and for the most part it was ok but I wasted like 3 mins showing my Raven Card Revelation to the audience (never using gaffs on stage again). Well anyway its not a stage, just a table in the cafeteria 10 feet away from a circle of students.

So I just want to know if you could reccommend any stage CARD effects. The show is in April so I got some time to practice and receive ( i live in CT anyway so it'll get here fast).

Please reccommend some tricks for stage work.

~PaCo

P.S. If anyone reccommends it greatly I was thinking about the Hummer Card.

 

[FatalAce]

Hey man. I think it is great that you are performing for people. I face the same problem. I practice close up card magic but performing for a large audience with cards can be tricky. I think the hummer card would be great. I also recomment any Gregory Wilson tricks. The ones in Card Stunts would be great. It can be found at Penguinmagic.com

Um...Transposition effects could work if you could transpo like 2 cards from people sitting at different ends. I'm sure that would get strong reactions. These are just a couple ideas. If you want more, PM me and we'll talk. Be sure to tell us how it goes!

~FA

 

[Mxtt]

Planting a card somewhere impossible and forcing that card, then revealing the plant is always good.

If you can get your hands on some old looking cards or even E's 1800s, you could even throw in time travel patter. =]

 

[princehidalgo]

Whats your style like?

 

[samuelmshin]

I recently did a performance in front of a seated audience. It was my first time in that environment; I (like so many of you, I'm sure) love to perform in walk-around situations more than anything else, but I was requested to do this so I decided to take on the challenge. The key is being stunningly visual. If you can get away with jumbo cards, do it. Simply find an effect that's sleight-free and run with it. The key is showmanship more than anything else.

To go over what effects I performed, I did 2 impossible card transpos (which someone else mentioned; on a side note, be very careful when repeating a theme, because while the effect will still confuse, the surprise can be killed by the audience half-knowing what's coming), a color-changing deck effect, and a shuffle-bored variation by Bannon. All the while I took advantage of an 18"x24" sketchpad and a chisel tip sharpie to make sure everybody was in on the effect.

If the people in the back of the room get the full effect, you've done your job right. Make sure everybody's in on the magic, and volunteers are always a big help. They take the pressure off you, and since they're coming from the audience, everybody can relate a little bit better to your effects.

 

[samgold89]

I just did a talent show performance at my school. It was a HUGE success. I actually have a friend who does magic too and goes to the same school, so we decided to do a show together. It was advertised as a "Magic Battle," but most people knew it was just a show. Anyways, we got a projector from the school and I brought a video camera from home with an extension to hook it up to the projector. One of us filmed (and knew the correct angles to film at) while the other performed. We went back and forth and although not all angles were covered on stage, no one cared because everyone was watching the projection.

I admit that the back and forth thing wasn't ideal and took away a little from the connection. The show had a "street" feeling because of the types of tricks we were able to pull off with the help of the camera, yet we FULLY utilized the fact that we had a camera to secure angles etc. For example, Lennart Greene's liquid in cup move was a great success, and Twinsplit Remix was great and got huge reactions too.

The projector idea is a suggestion if you can come across the materials needed. Sorry for the long post...

SG

 

[samgold89]

Oh, and a riffle force, to a card spring straight into the air, to "catching" their "thought of" card is very visual, and highly impressive. I did that one for a talent show when I didn't have a projector. That, and a force to a planted card.

SG