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LuttinShaun New user 19 Posts |
Hi there,
This is my sixth of ten practice videos for the Slow Motion Aces, from The Vernon Chronicles. In the past, I have been sensitive about criticisms; in recent months, though, I've done personal work, and am ready for whatever you've got. You cannot offend me. How can this improve? |
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MeetMagicMike Inner circle Gainesville Fl 3501 Posts |
Starting to look good. You know the routine and the moves are well done. For my tastes the whole thing needs to be quicker and smoother which will come with time.
Here are a few things that caught my eye. I've worked on this routine but do not perform it so I don't give these as expert opinion but more from the point of view of an observer. :20 - Introduction of the aces by name is very labored. I would not take my hand away from biddle grip to show the full face of each ace. 1:00 - I wouldn't turn up the Ace of Clubs at this point. It draws attention to the fact that you aren't showing the Ace of Hearts in the same manner. The symmetry is much better if you drop them both face down at the same time. I'm basing this on watching Bruce Cervon perform this trick. 1:20 - I wouldn't call out the names of each Ace as you lay the cards on top of them. You've already named each Ace twice. Just do this part quickly and matter of factly. 1:50 - It looks to me like you are doing a buckle before that last ace. Have you tried just doing a block push off? I think it would be much smoother with no pause. |
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LuttinShaun New user 19 Posts |
Thank you Mike. I appreciate that.
Where does one find footage of Cervon performing it? I'd like to reward myself with that when I finish my tenth practice video. |
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ZachDavenport Inner circle Last time I posted I had one less than 1196 Posts |
The sleights were good. The only problem was that the set up was boring. You should speed that up, but then keep the magical part the same pace. The slow, deliberate pace increases the drama when whats happening is of interest.
Reality is a real killjoy.
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Ado Inner circle New York City 1033 Posts |
Commenting as I watch:
- Why put the cards from the table to the face of the deck, then to the back of the deck, then show them again? - Learn to take breaks with the flesh of the tip - You're looking only at your hands - Too much tension in the wrist when you turn the ace of clubs - Too much showing of the aces between the beginning of the effect and the moment they go on the table. Your insisting so much I've become suspicious a while ago. - The counting and dropping of the 12 cards is not open and clean - The display of the first vanish was good. The nonchalance of how you threw the packet was great. - Idem for second vanish. - Except that you're fiddling with the aces pack, and that's obvious. - By showing how you palmed the Ace of clubs, you're confirming that you had a card palmed. Because you fake-palm the same way you palm for real. - Also, doing that palming (of the jack of clubs) to begin with is weird, and does't suit the plot shown so far. - The palm before counting is obvious again. - Your pace was good, given the title of the effect, and so was your speaking. I think you've got the technique, and you've got the ability to present better. I also know that there are different schools of magic. Do you want your magic to look like "a magician doing magic", or "someone entertaining his audience"? Have a look at the Spanish school (Tamariz, daOrtiz, Piedrahita, etc), and see how they handle classics, how their presnetation is made to have you sit back and relax (despite all the energy!). If you always handle your cards, the audience suspects you all the time. Build pauses in your routine, so that you can pause/chat/entertain without bringing attention to the cards nor your hands. P! |
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LuttinShaun New user 19 Posts |
Zach, thank you.
I will find ways to accelerate the setup while keeping the magical part as is. In other words,
Glad to hear the sleights pass muster. |
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MeetMagicMike Inner circle Gainesville Fl 3501 Posts |
Here is the video of Cervon doing Slow Motion Aces. To be honest I am not a fan of his style. In particular at about 2:20 he insults a member of his audience in an attempt at humor that just doesn't work for me.
But there is no doubt he is highly skilled and perhaps this studio performance doesn't do him justice. Personally, I think this trick would require much more interesting patter to entertain a lay audience. There are more expedient assemblies. However, this might be the most convincing gaffless version. SloMo Aces Cervon (VHS) This video obviously influenced most of my comments. Notice that Cervon uses a push off and not a buckle. I don't see any advantage to the buckle. |
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MeetMagicMike Inner circle Gainesville Fl 3501 Posts |
Notice what is happening at 3:20 when he says "There's only one Ace left, one Ace to go". His right hand is partially obscured by his left arm as it reaches for the final packet. This makes his guilty right hand much less obvious. He then freezes it on the table as attention goes to the other hand.
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MorrisCH Veteran user 393 Posts |
For some reasons, the patter " Aces has vanished and joined the leader packet" always leave me cold
I have seen many people using this type of patter over the years Isn't vanish being.. 3 cards left in the packet? as for the aces come to join the leader packet, I would expect the leader packet to have 5 cards, later 6 cards.etc including the aces If one wants to use the above " Aces has vanish" patter, I believe one should look at Ed Marlo Real Gone Aces and Jack Parker Old Fashioned Aces even David Copperfield GodFather Aces. But at the end of the day. What does it mean to bring the Aces into the same pile? if we are playing poker, it means everything. For me personally, poker game presentation is definitely the way to go. |
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MeetMagicMike Inner circle Gainesville Fl 3501 Posts |
That's a good point MorrisCH. How about using this to your advantage? Before the third Ace travels point out to the audience that the Aces are not just traveling to the other packet but are actually transposing with another card. Then it will make sense to them why you ask them to remember the last indifferent card to go.
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TheAmbitiousCard Eternal Order Northern California 13425 Posts |
Bruce Cervon's style on video is horrible and his demeanor when I met him at the magic castle was a bit rude.
That being said... staged videos can seem harsh so I will give him a pass and hope to goodness sake he was more charming in person. RIP
www.theambitiouscard.com Hand Crafted Magic
Trophy Husband, Father of the Year Candidate, Chippendale's Dancer applicant, Unofficial World Record Holder. |
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MeetMagicMike Inner circle Gainesville Fl 3501 Posts |
Yeah. He actually called that blonde gal stupid twice in this one video. Around 1:20 and again at 2:20
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Claudio Inner circle Europe 1927 Posts |
Welcome back Shaun.
I will try to give more feedback later on. A quick tip, however, about your buckles. Though it's taught to buckle the cards with the 1st finger, have you tried to use the 2nd instead, with minimal downwards pressure?. There won't be any movement of your 1st finger (always a big tell) and the buckle wont' be visible as it will be masked by your 1st finger. Performed this way, it looks as good as a block push-off, especially with a fake left thumb gesture. |
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martydoesmagic Inner circle Essex, UK 1666 Posts |
Hi Shaun,
Your technique looks solid and is certainly deceptive, well done. You should also earn some bravery points for asking for constructive criticism here on the Café! I can't offer any additional advice, but I would echo Mike's suggestions and encourage you to study the video of Jack Nicholson-er I mean Bruce Cervon-that Mike has kindly shared with us. Although his presentation is a little brash, he performs the trick expertly. If I recall correctly, this routine is also featured on the Revelations set of tapes. I seem to remember Vernon talking about this particular effect in quite a lot of detail. Regarding presentation, I've always thought that Vernon's "Slow Motion Aces" would work best when being performed as a follow up to a fast-paced Ace assembly, at least that's how I'd frame it if I performed it (which I don't at the moment). After performing the assembly, offer to do it again in "slow motion" for your audience. If it suits your style, you could even perform it like a slow motion action replay; the kind you see on televised sporting events. Marty |
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MorrisCH Veteran user 393 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 29, 2016, MeetMagicMike wrote: Yes, I would suggest the same, in fact, I urge Shaun to study Ascanio 's Father and Son Acess he was the first few people to tackle this problem, he even asked spectator to remember one of the indifferent cards later reveal it as transposition. |
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shaunluttin Special user 759 Posts |
@Ado, thank you for the feedback. It was comprehensive, and it gives me much to consider. Some of it was technical and will be easier to implement (e.g. smaller flesh breaks). Other parts of it, as you noted, were stylistic, and give me food for thought.
Here is a 29-minute live performance of mine: https://youtu.be/lq2Rj1uf05M I used to be quite sensitive to criticism; I am much less so now; so, please do criticize my technique, presentation, and posts. It helps me to grow, and I promise to take responsibility and not to be defensive. |
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shaunluttin Special user 759 Posts |
@meetmagicmike It was good to see that video of Cervon. Thank you.
Odd that Vernon was, as I perceived it, emphatic about the buckle, given that Cervon doesn't use it, and that there seems little advantage over the block push off. Any thoughts about that? Cervon's tent vanish was nice. So was high lightness of technique. His patter, as you noted, could use some work for theatrics and audience rapport. His transfer also flashed. The gaff-less aspect of Vernon's is what I like... bringing gaffs with me is a pain point. The Aces in Excelsis is next on my list, after learning the Slow Motion, because it takes the gaff-less technique to the next level. Here is a 29-minute live performance of mine: https://youtu.be/lq2Rj1uf05M I used to be quite sensitive to criticism; I am much less so now; so, please do criticize my technique, presentation, and posts. It helps me to grow, and I promise to take responsibility and not to be defensive. |
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shaunluttin Special user 759 Posts |
@MorrisCH... It's my sense too that Slow Motion Aces is longing for a good presentation. The Poker presentation could be a solid tie in, especially if performed with five cards in each pile. What Erdnase wrote and Jay later performed was also neat.
The effect has a lot of potential. Since it's gaff-less, having the cards signed has crossed my mind a few times. There's a meaningful hook here somewhere. Here is a 29-minute live performance of mine: https://youtu.be/lq2Rj1uf05M I used to be quite sensitive to criticism; I am much less so now; so, please do criticize my technique, presentation, and posts. It helps me to grow, and I promise to take responsibility and not to be defensive. |
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shaunluttin Special user 759 Posts |
@claudio I'll give that a shot; it's worth a fiddle for a while.
@marty Thinking about your suggestion has me thinking about audience participation and routine. The skill that we're exhibiting is the ability to transpose the location of two cards sight unseen. In addition to faster ace assemblies, other card transpositions could be worthwhile lead ups. Anything that is switching this for that. Imagine the super power to switch the location of two things, sight unseen. Your wallet for mine, this card for that... of course it takes some distraction and and chatter, but it's neat... see these aces, for instance... Here is a 29-minute live performance of mine: https://youtu.be/lq2Rj1uf05M I used to be quite sensitive to criticism; I am much less so now; so, please do criticize my technique, presentation, and posts. It helps me to grow, and I promise to take responsibility and not to be defensive. |
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helder Inner circle Portugal 1065 Posts |
Hi shaunluttin,
First don't bother with negative criticism, if it helps your work take it , if don't , forget. Who give that negative cristicism?! Did he or she know more about magic than you?! Did they understand that you are practicing/learning the routine and not performing it for laymen ?! I say this from experience, I've post some videos of my performances and I always follow this rule. There's a good essay about this subject in Larry Hass - Inspirations. Take a look. Anyway , my opinion about your video. There are 4 things that caught my attention: the lack of interesting presentation, the pacing, the tension and the misdirection. - The Presentation I like performing aces assembly's. It's a plot that I've been working and studying everything I can about it. And one of the most hard things to do with this routines is coming up with an interesting and entertaining presentation. And it's something that needs to be done, otherwise spectators fall asleep even before you finish the routine. You have to look for your presentation and see if it answer this question : Why should they care? In my opinion they should't care if we state the obvious, if we state simple things that they are watching, like for example you do, naming the 4 aces one by one very slowly. It's easy to understand that doesn't add nothing interesting, so must be avoided. - The Pacing and Tension If you see some of my videos on my Youtube channel, you will see that I do the moves slowly but there are limits. Can't be too slow. And if we add tension to it , it's not good. I understand that comes with practice, but it's something that you need to be aware, the elimination of tension and don't perform too slow. - Misdirection Don't look to your hands when you do the moves. Apply this rule not only to Slow Motion Aces but all your magic. Use your body for misdirection , relaxation/tension. Do the moves in the relaxation. At 2:19 for example. When you do these actions you need cover, relax your body , look at them and do the move, and even better, ask a question or do the move while you tell a joke. If you do the moves looking at the hands they will look at your hands too. You don't have spectators there but my advice is practice the routine like if they are there watching. Talk to invisible spectators. It's the close you can get from real performance and it will help you learn to cover each move, each secret action. At 2:22 you move your right hand with palmed cards, there eyes will follow that hand and if you have spectators on your left side , some of them will see the cards. You need to cover this or move your other hand a little bit first. Before finish you can watch here : http://youtu.be/j_zWYXtau8s an example of presentation that I've created for ace assembly's. The routine it's macdonald's aces but I use the same presentation for slow motion aces. Obvious never the two routines for the same spectators. And an old performance of slow motion aces while working on it : http://youtu.be/yrM88FVChvU I've added a little more rythm to it and changed some things, little touches. Hope this helps, you will get there fast. Keep posting Helder
My version of Eddie fetcher "Be Honest What's it?" it's available at Penguin Magic
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