Can i just add that everything Kalin and Ginger did was great, amazing showmanship from each of them.
Teens on Masters of Illusions
- Thread starter TheJoo
- Start date
The reaction Zach got from the girl was real - not the dubbed over laughter which for some reason this show insists on using- but what you actually saw her do. That is the face of someone who has experienced magic. It's not this stupid, staged nonsense you have been brainwashed into believing by every one-off-magic-trick-DVD produced in the last 6 years. It's not the gleaned highlights pulled from hours of burned tape on the latest magic special. It's what she did - that stunned look, that moment of attempted comprehension and that light that goes on behind their eyes.
You think the cutting edge close up magic stars you worship would have done better? Well, James Black was THE street magic guy for a while, no? You would think his performance would have been representative of the finest of street magic artists, would you not?
Well, it was.
The thing is, this street magic thing doesn't exist like you might think it does. The really great closeup guys out there - they aren't working the street. They are working real gigs for real money. They don't get multiple takes. They don't get to edit out the slow sections. They have to entertain and deliver. Most of them you have never heard of, because they also aren't pimping $30 one trick DVDs.
The stuff you are presented as the bar to aim for is manufactured. It's a wonderful idea, and I am sure it is a fun fantasy - but it troubles me that there is probably an entire generation of magicians who have no idea what real magic looks like when it is experienced by a real world audience.
Sure, we all get screams. Heck, I've had someone take out an entire table. But the possibilities of "magicial reaction" are far greater, and far deeper, than someone showing off for the camera. That girl will remember what happened to her for a long time. That moment - that internalization - is the most powerful gift we can give an audience. But it doesn't make for exciting TV (or so some think) so instead of making people care, magicians seem more concerned about making them scream.
Here's something to consider - a well timed fart in a crowded room will make them scream, too.
Another the other side of the coin, many believe that these edited clips where all the set up and clean up are cut out is a realistic goal. In the real world, performances look like what Zach did. You talk to people. You warm them into caring. Then you give them a moment of magic. There is no soundtrack. There are no jump cuts.
The tricks some listed as what they would do makes me smile.
I think there has never been a greater disconnect between the fantasy of magic and it's real world applications than ever before. The funny thing is, it's a lot of the magicians who are being deceived.
Great job Zach. You did real magic for real people on tv. You got a real reaction. Great job.
Brad Henderson
You think the cutting edge close up magic stars you worship would have done better? Well, James Black was THE street magic guy for a while, no? You would think his performance would have been representative of the finest of street magic artists, would you not?
Well, it was.
The thing is, this street magic thing doesn't exist like you might think it does. The really great closeup guys out there - they aren't working the street. They are working real gigs for real money. They don't get multiple takes. They don't get to edit out the slow sections. They have to entertain and deliver. Most of them you have never heard of, because they also aren't pimping $30 one trick DVDs.
The stuff you are presented as the bar to aim for is manufactured. It's a wonderful idea, and I am sure it is a fun fantasy - but it troubles me that there is probably an entire generation of magicians who have no idea what real magic looks like when it is experienced by a real world audience.
Sure, we all get screams. Heck, I've had someone take out an entire table. But the possibilities of "magicial reaction" are far greater, and far deeper, than someone showing off for the camera. That girl will remember what happened to her for a long time. That moment - that internalization - is the most powerful gift we can give an audience. But it doesn't make for exciting TV (or so some think) so instead of making people care, magicians seem more concerned about making them scream.
Here's something to consider - a well timed fart in a crowded room will make them scream, too.
Another the other side of the coin, many believe that these edited clips where all the set up and clean up are cut out is a realistic goal. In the real world, performances look like what Zach did. You talk to people. You warm them into caring. Then you give them a moment of magic. There is no soundtrack. There are no jump cuts.
The tricks some listed as what they would do makes me smile.
I think there has never been a greater disconnect between the fantasy of magic and it's real world applications than ever before. The funny thing is, it's a lot of the magicians who are being deceived.
Great job Zach. You did real magic for real people on tv. You got a real reaction. Great job.
Brad Henderson
**** yeah!!!
THAAAAANK YOUUUUUUUU!!!
Brad knows his stuff and he couldn't be any more right. Zach did do a great job and he's - correct me if I'm wrong - like 13? 13!?!?!? C'mon people, 13, most other 13 year old's I know doing magic are still rockin the plastic cups and balls. - not that there's anything wrong with that, I personally can't even rock cups and balls in any way shape or form. Also, I can't necessairly comment for Zach's experience, but when I filmed I had:
2 1/2 days to come up with 10 "street magic" tricks/routines that involve NO cards and NO coins
2 hours to shoot on hollywood blvd at 7pm at night these 10 tricks/routines
Have any of you been out on hollywood blvd at 7-9pm at night?? its a freakin' circus of psychos!!! We had people jumping in and out of frame, flailing around, talking gibberish, etc. It was the most chaotic conditions I've ever experienced and then ontop of that being literally surrounded and getting sometimes only one take it was VERY stressful. I was ready to stab 99.9% of the people that were around right in the neck and then squeeze the seeping wound like a garden hose when we were kids and paint the pavement red.
Although I don't agree with SOME of the choice of material for the street magic segments - and I'm not saying mine are going to be gold either, but Zach is an exception and did an excellent job and delivered. Put yourselves in that situation I just described above, at Zach's age, and tell me what you would have done. He held his own and did ****ing magic. NO fancy bull**** cuts, spins arounds, flips, and other nonsense. He did a trick and with the limited amount of time he had, it was in my opinion, a good choice of material.
But what do I know...
THAAAAANK YOUUUUUUUU!!!
Brad knows his stuff and he couldn't be any more right. Zach did do a great job and he's - correct me if I'm wrong - like 13? 13!?!?!? C'mon people, 13, most other 13 year old's I know doing magic are still rockin the plastic cups and balls. - not that there's anything wrong with that, I personally can't even rock cups and balls in any way shape or form. Also, I can't necessairly comment for Zach's experience, but when I filmed I had:
2 1/2 days to come up with 10 "street magic" tricks/routines that involve NO cards and NO coins
2 hours to shoot on hollywood blvd at 7pm at night these 10 tricks/routines
Have any of you been out on hollywood blvd at 7-9pm at night?? its a freakin' circus of psychos!!! We had people jumping in and out of frame, flailing around, talking gibberish, etc. It was the most chaotic conditions I've ever experienced and then ontop of that being literally surrounded and getting sometimes only one take it was VERY stressful. I was ready to stab 99.9% of the people that were around right in the neck and then squeeze the seeping wound like a garden hose when we were kids and paint the pavement red.
Although I don't agree with SOME of the choice of material for the street magic segments - and I'm not saying mine are going to be gold either, but Zach is an exception and did an excellent job and delivered. Put yourselves in that situation I just described above, at Zach's age, and tell me what you would have done. He held his own and did ****ing magic. NO fancy bull**** cuts, spins arounds, flips, and other nonsense. He did a trick and with the limited amount of time he had, it was in my opinion, a good choice of material.
But what do I know...
Hollywood blvd has always a been a circus of nut jobs. I guess they did that to test you on your nerves or "heckler" defenses. Then again they could have just filmed it in different parts of the country and sent the video feed via satellite. Which would have worked better for them and probably been easier.
Reminds me of when Jeff McBride was doing that celebrity magic special. How he was standing right behind them watching them. When I was thinking "Dude, couldn't you just sit in the Magic Castle and watch them perform via live video or something.. It would make you look less goofy."
Reminds me of when Jeff McBride was doing that celebrity magic special. How he was standing right behind them watching them. When I was thinking "Dude, couldn't you just sit in the Magic Castle and watch them perform via live video or something.. It would make you look less goofy."
Most likely because Card and coin magic is something EVERYBODY has seen in their life. So they wanted them to come up with something original and test their creativity.
Correct...
Also, they chose Hollywood Blvd because it is a convenient location of a high traffic area of the type of demographic that the network is gearing this series towards. It honestly had nothing to do with heckler handeling, mainly since there were no hecklers, and why waste time and tape on that kind of thing when the game plan is to go in like gangbusters and try to get the shots and get out...
So far Zach's material is the ONLY street stuff I have liked.
Hollywood Boulevard is full of nuts... but if yer used to that you can handle it.
However even if yer used to it that doesn't stop you from wanting to do what Dan said. PAINT THE TOWN RED!!!
Are you implying that who ever doesn't get paid to do magic suck? Just because we don't do magic for a living doesn't mean we aren't good.
Anyways, i wasn't criticizing Zach. in fact i thought his routine was the best out of the street magic segments so far. I was just saying they should add stuff with gaps or screams. A simple, low-energy "Woah..." really doesn't entertain me. It may to some people, but not me.
If this forum was a forum used by laymen, then your opinions would matter in this subject. However, none of the people who have posted here (I assume) are laymen. Like Zach said, this is meant to impress lay audiences, not some kids on a magic forum. So shut yer trap and let everyone enjoy the superb job that Zach and everyone else did.
I think the point was to entertain with the routine performed not the reaction from it.
Besides, some of the best reactions I've gotten were'nt the ones where people were screaming like crazy and running around like a chicken that just got their head cut off. They were the ones where they were just stunned, standing there, brain scrambled like eggs on Sunday morning.
Thats when you know it hit hard and you did good.
Ok, people still dont understand me. I liked Zach's routine. I liked the reactions. I said it was GOOD. Understand?
I was talking about the other street magic segments whose reactions i didn't like. Like the 3 card monte trick and that thing where the guy stuck a pencil thru his tongue.
I was talking about the other street magic segments whose reactions i didn't like. Like the 3 card monte trick and that thing where the guy stuck a pencil thru his tongue.
Ok, fine i give up. Think what you want to think. I really dont care.
And this, gentlemen, is why TV magic has become what it has. (And it's something to remember.)
MagicShadow's opinion of the magic has nothing to do with the magic itself. It is entirely based on the reaction.
David Blaine was a genius. He realize that the viewer at home - seeing the crazy reaction - assumes that the trick must have been "crazy." Watch his first special again. Good tricks. Solid tricks. But nothing that the average trade show worker wasn't doing.
But by doing good magic and showing these crazy reactions - the vicarious experience of the audience translated into the assumption that the trick was amazing.
And thus was born the era of screaming homeless people who are just happy to be on tv.
It says a lot. It says that many magicians (at least online) are really lay audiences who enjoy getting a peek behind the curtain. (These are the same people who applaud the explanations of a trick at a lecture for being clever). And it tells us that many magicians have no concept of how magic actually plays out in the real world, or how to navigate the wide variety of reactions one will encounter in a performance career.
MagicShadow isn't watching the magic. He is watching the reactions - and is apparently entertained by them. (And so, are many of you.) This is TV people. There is nothing real about reality TV.
Remember that.
Brad Henderson
I agree with Brad in many ways. I am too much into big reactions. Maybe that's a bad thing.
But i was actually paying attention to the magic. I was (despite what others thought) extremely impressed by Krystyn's 3 card monte. I thought it was a very neat routine. Although Krystyn's presentation wasn't the best, i was still fooled very badly.
I guess i'm just too influenced by David Blaine-type shows.
But i was actually paying attention to the magic. I was (despite what others thought) extremely impressed by Krystyn's 3 card monte. I thought it was a very neat routine. Although Krystyn's presentation wasn't the best, i was still fooled very badly.
I guess i'm just too influenced by David Blaine-type shows.
It's possible to get the loud boisterous reactions David Blaine gets. You just have to present your magic in a way that connects with the audience.