I know my hands are terrible-looking and I know sometimes they get out of view, but please tell me what you think.

http://www.radioactive-lizard.com/files/MagicX.wmv

Your technique's clean in most cases (work on Matrix, though). What comes to mind is much(!) less(!) and slower movements. The color changing chips is just one example. Hey, it's just chips! The effect can be very strong and visual if you don't wave about with your hands all the time.

You can do the chips for one more year, but after a certain age, we just don't work with "brass gimmicks" any more ;-)

And: never, ever "point" with your fingers!

Keep it up, good stuff,
C.

Thanks for your advices, what part should I work on in my matrix ?

And what did you mean by "What comes to mind is much(!) less(!)" ?

Xargos, the video is great in my opinion. A few of the effects need practice, but then again nothing is ever so perfect that practice is not necessary!

And Christof, I'm not sure about never ever "pointing". If you mean pointing in an overly obvious way that screams "Look at my finger, it's pointing!" then I agree with you. But a quick natural looking point adds greatly to misdirection in my opinion as long as it's not overused.

Xargos, keep up the good work!

Understood the "What comes to mind is much(!) less(!)" part ... I was just distracted by the (!)

I really like your video.
I think what you need to practise I smotheness.but hey we nevere get as smoth as we whant.
Good look.
Oh by the way I no this isn't constructive a all but what is the music you use in this video.

Technically, the moves were good. But that's only part of the presentation. Much of the entertainment value, the misdirection and even the magic comes from the patter you present with the tricks. Unfortunately, this often tends to be the weakest link in the chain for many new magicians. I would have loved to hear your patter and presentation for these effects as well as viewing your technical proficiency.

Kent

Yeah but you wouldn't have understood my french

The music is Alan Stivell "Back to Breizh"

You have considerably nimble fingers for a guy who does heavy mechanical work.


Regards,

-jjg

Nice video man. I enjoyed it. like the guys said , you need to work on the technique of the matrix effect. you should work on your gesturing a lot. look at other magicians do it and then practice in front of a mirror. you tend to overact and that isn't good at all for your act. be natural , loose and try to do everything smoothly.
best of luck to you

-Matt

p.s. I liked the little lighter routine

Nice video. Very good I liked the music and I think that is what intreged me. better then my videos but hey ive never made ne lol. Please update us on when you have made another video to share with us. Thankyou

Relax, your moves look very forced, like you are trying to tear the magic out or something. The moves are quite good, but it simply looks forced. Practice til you can do it very relaxed. Being so up tight will make your audience up tight too and suspicious. As you relax I think ur timing will greatly improve. You are doing all the moves just fine, now just practice til you do them relaxed.

I agree on the moves looking very forced, so now that you have Practice the magic, next Practice the moves more relax.
And always keep them smiling with magic.

Maro

I actually was distracted/attracted to the exposed coins during your Matrix(I liked it)! Nice twist with the lighter routine! You are off to a great start, take everything with a grain of salt and post up at magicvideodepot dot com to see other routines and get yours rated.


Jay

Your Matrix routine was good....i have to agree that slowing a bit would make it look better....

That was a good video. thank you for posting it.

It looks like you are off and running with magic and having fun. Keep up the good work.

Mike

I have to disagree about slowing down the Matrix.

The transpositions look great.

The problem is in the moments after the reveal, when there is an suspicious handling of the cards off screen. Makes it aparent that you are hidding something.

Good job. There are a few constructing suggestions I have.

1. Slow down. You move very fast and it forces your technique not to shine through as much.

2. Show you face. I understand the language barrier if it is present but I like to see who is performing the magic.

3. You take your hands off camera quite a bit, this to a lay person means you could be reaching for something or doing the "trick" where they can not see you. A common mistake I see in webcam style videos.

4. Just relax. You seemed tense in the first few tricks.

Overall, well done. Just think about the points I mentioned and this should help you, I hope.

For point number 3 : this video isn't meant to be shown to lay persons so this isn't a problem

for all the other point I agree and will work on this.