|
|
Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3~4~5~6 | ||||||||||
davidmilne New user 7 Posts |
Surely the more interesting question is why am I going to tear and restore this playing card?
|
|||||||||
Leo H Inner circle 1332 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 23, 2017, davidmilne wrote: Yes, and the answer to that is to tell your spectator, after locating the selection, that on a previous occasion a prior spectator grabbed the card out of your hand and tore it into piece out of spite. You took back the pieces and restored the card while admonishing that spiteful audience member. |
|||||||||
Leo H Inner circle 1332 Posts |
I prefer to have the card I'm tearing to be signed.
|
|||||||||
normative New user 53 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 23, 2017, davidmilne wrote: Yup. I feel like I often see T&Rs done as just “look at this craaaazy thing I can do, with no real motivation or external points of reference,” which makes the whole thing a lot less memorable and resonant even when it looks super cool. I think Darwin Ortiz’s ideas about hooking effects to something of independent significance are helpful here–because ideally you don’t just want an immediate pretext for ripping up a card, but something that gives the whole thing a kind of narrative arc. I’ve done this with some sciency patter about entropy and time, and for the nerdy/techy types I often perform for, I’ve framed it as illustrating the cryptographic idea of a “one way hash”—a mathematical process that only works in one direction—and the importance of implementing it correctly so it can’t be “reversed” to extract information. But those don’t really hook specifically into the fact that it’s a signed card (and not a rope or a newspaper or whatever) that you’re tearing and restoring. The two obvious meaning hooks there are (duh) the signature and the playing card itself. I haven’t tried to make anything of the card angle, because tearing is such an unusual activity to associate with cards in any non-magical context that if feels contrived. (You could do something about a habitual gambler who resolves to tear up his deck but... it sounds hokey to me, though I guess it could work for a character whose whole shtick is “storytelling card shark.”) The more promising hook (to me) is the signature—there’s lots of easy potential resonances with the image of a handwritten “page” being destroyed and restored. A contract being torn up. (“You know how in old movies somehow tearing up a physical contract somehow nullifies it? Where did those people go to law school?”) Or angrily tearing up a note from an old lover (or a handwritten phone number from a prospective one)... then immediately regretting it. As long as it’s not the first effect you do, it’s not too weird or ad hoc to just repurpose one of the cards you’ve already got out to stand for whatever piece of paper you’re talking about. And then it’s not just some quirky, kinda cool but ultimately sort of pointless demonstration of this thing you can do with a playing card, but has the potential to tap into universal feelings like the wish to undo a rash decision or recover lost intimacy. For me this is actually a bigger reason to prefer a signed T&R than just dispelling the suspicion of dupes: Tearing up that handwritten name gives you a lot more to work with emotionally and conceptually than just tearing up the four of spades. |
|||||||||
Bobby Forbes Inner circle virginia beach, VA. 1569 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 23, 2017, davidmilne wrote: I think Guy Hollingworth, Daniel Garcia, and Brent Braun would beg to differ. Here is 3 of the most popular versions of this routine and they have very minimal presentations. The only real justification for tearing up the card is to put it back together because... they are magicians and don’t need any justification. I remember seeing Hollingworth on worlds greatest magic when I was younger. He just tore the card up and put it back together. No story line behind it. It definitely had a “hook” to me. Stuck with me ever since. Don’t know why a lot of people get caught up with trying to justify doing certain routines. Why have someone pick a card and put it back in the deck only so you can find it? Because your a magician. Why tear a card up and restore it? Because your a magician. I will agree that some presentations that justify certain routines are great and very entertaining but I don’t really think “everything” we do needs to be justified. |
|||||||||
Leo H Inner circle 1332 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 30, 2017, Bobby Forbes wrote: Don’t know why a lot of people get caught up with trying to justify doing certain routines. Why have someone pick a card and put it back in the deck only so you can find it? Because your a magician. Why tear a card up and restore it? Because your a magician. I will agree that some presentations that justify certain routines are great and very entertaining but I don’t really think “everything” we do needs to be justified. Justifying your presentations can give your magic a sense of relevancy to your audience. If the magician mentions that an angry spectator once tore the signed selection, some in the audience can relate to that. They might even pay close attention, a good thing in our current age of short attention spans. Presenting magic with no context, just because you are a magician, can also work but it may not create as much interest with lay audiences. I prefer adding context whenever possible. |
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The workers » » Best Torn and Restored Card (9 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3~4~5~6 |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.02 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |