Hey guys,

Just made another one of my magic music videos to a song which I feel is one of the greatest songs ever written.

I love MJ's 'Billie Jean', in my opinion, no other song is written so exquisitely. Considering it was written in the early 80's and still sounds so fresh today; speaks volumes about both the song and its performer.

I find it artistically inspiring and upon hearing the Exequiel Espinosa Viale Mix of the song, I decided I wanted to do a trick that went with it.

This is what I ended up with.

An invisible palm routine (Yannick Chretien's version) performed to the song Billie Jean; who would have thunk!

Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0s0FjJqoJY


P.S. Yes I am aware that the routine was done rather quickly, in reality I do it with proper patter, but I needed to keep up with the music and even then, I audibly slowed the song down as much as I could.

Interesting video. Love the idea behind the name.

Thanks Father Photius,

Very glad you enjoyed it!

The routine was very nice.

Good work with the video, Logan.

I can hardly identify the faces of the cards, The glare or reflection and also you are not using the standard bikes faces and backs which is more identifiable.

Agree... can't tell one card from the other. Also... not to be critical, but the appearaance of a card under the hand doesn't seem magical. When the hand slides to the side it doesn't work for me. I'd like to see the fingers spread and hand move up vertically for the appearances.

James & Pete,

Please bear in mind that this video I made is more of a magic music video than anything else; where the song is equally as important as the magic. Because of that, I had to work within the time limitations of the song and I did not have the time to show the Kings as clearly as I would have wanted. I tried to compensate for that by having the cards already set out on the table and also incorporated the word 'Kings' into the title.


Stay safe,

Logan

The video is NG...

Too distracting, what's with those cards? Can't tell one from the other. The song was a remix??? Did NOT match the moves, ditch it. Here's a good test, watch it without the voulume up and see if you still like what you see? Waaaaay too much hand washing.



Thanks for sharing.

I couldn't see a thing in that video.

As far as the effect itself goes, I agree with the statements about the cards being hard to identify, but at the same time, the change from kings to aces is easily identified. And while I appreciate some found the excessive "hand washing" annoying, I also can understand you were doing it to fit the song. Perhaps with a song that has the beat of Billie Jean you could do a shorter effect and stretch it out and save an effect such as the one you performed for a song with a slightly slower BPM and longer play area.

With that being said however, I'm a big Michael fan as well and enjoyed the performance.

Whateverisisright,

Thank you! Yeah, the glare off the cards couldn't be helped no matter how much I adjusted the contrast levels sadly. And yes, the excessive hand-washing is part of the keeping in sync with the song, so glad you noticed

It only dawned on me after I made the video and watched it over and over, I felt myself more drawn to the music than the performance and soon the music took precedence. Unsurprising really, considering it's one of the most amazing songs ever written!

The whole concept was to have a MAGIC music video that accompanied the song; where the cards and hands do the dancing and expression.

And don't ask me which are my favorite MJ songs man, the list is endless!!! Haha, but to summarise, it would be Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal and Leave Me Alone.

Stay safe,

Logan

Logan thank you for taking the time in sharing with the Café, The Café needs more Logans ..........
vinny

The Café needs more Vinny's if you ask me! Haha!

Good to hear from you again old friend, I hope you and yours are well!

Stay safe,

Logan

Logan, Pete above is correct. I see that the sliding move rather than just a lifting move is done by a lot of magicians doing this effect, pros included. It is a dead giveaway as to what is transpiring.

Logan,

There are some routines that is better presented with patter instead of music.

Regarding the music... I have been a songwriter/producer and recording artist for 25 years now. Of course I started young. I have been a victim of theft many times over.

In my humble opinion....the record label and the artist....in this case MJ, EMI or whatever it is.. will not view this as a case of theft. If anything...it is great promotion for MJ's material. The mere fact that Logan is not making any profit from this say a lot. This is actually a casual ad for MJ and his company...no ad/promo cost on their part.

I did a search on MJ in you tube and I found many videos .... tributes etc.... by fans...could they be in the wrong too?

Logan is in a way paying tribute to MJ. In that light ...I see nothing wrong with it.

Nothing could be more flattering.

If there is any mistake by Logan....His routine could have stand out better had he just worked on the patter and give it the ol' Logan touch. Logan has the gift of connecting with the audience. Sorry Logan The song was too good even for the trick.

WE all have reasons why we do things. Only the individual would know the real intentions for doing this or that. Was it Logan's intention to steal or to honor his idol? We must not decide for the gentleman.

I have been a victim of musical theft for 25 years.... I know what it is and I also know when it is not theft.

Logan...a brotherly advice......Just to end this fiasco,,,,,you shared a great routine. Those who mattered saw it.... I say you just remove the video and make a new one with your great patter. Thanks for sharing.
There is always good in every situation. At least we all learned a few things here. We are all reminded again about, intellectual rights, theft, and the freedom of expression.

Peace from Manila!


Rannie

Edh (& Pete!),

Thanks for the tip on the reveal. I'll see if I can change the handling to make it appear more magical.


The One,

Definitely! Billie Jean recently got voted best dance song ever made, just FYI!

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/art......_1074390

Rannie,

Mi hermano, thank you for coming here and injecting some sense into this whole mess. I too agree that the magic takes a back seat to the music and why wouldn't it? Anyway, it's merely my expression of the song. I was sitting down practicing my Invisible Palm routine and this song came on my playlist, and it just looked amazing timed to the music; well, perhaps to me anyway!

You will be happy to hear that this only exists as a video. I don't perform my routine this way to an audience. In fact, I've just recently filmed my audition for a talent competition here in my university. I'll post the link up in another thread a little later. I use proper patter there and that is the normal way I perform it

I was always under the impression that one was "stealing" music by using it, in some form or another, to make money. It never occurred to me that putting it in a measly video is considered stealing, heck, I STILL don't think it's stealing. I KNOW my intentions of using that song and I'm glad you do too.

I'll keep the video up, however, because the only person to ever complain about it is Tom and I figure one person out of 6.7 billion isn't too bad. Besides, if the company which holds the rights finds it offensive or whatever, I'll take it down no questions asked. I somehow have the feeling that Tom will do whatever he can to make sure that happens. Just a hunch



Logan

It's really a shame that the popular songs heard in so many YouTube videos are being used without permission of the copyright holders. Even worse, an entire generation seems to have adopted the attitude that if no one stops them then they haven't done anything wrong (see above). If you think this is an insignificant matter, think again. Recently Viacom, Inc. filed a $1-BILLION+ lawsuit against Google and YouTube for copyright infringement(s), even though these companies are merely hosting the infringing videos. Believe what you will, the copyright holders do care.

Viacom Suit

Ignorance of the law, good intentions, and/or personal opinions about the law notwithstanding, unauthorized use of copyrighted material is still a federal crime - and, in my opinion, unethical and immoral behavior. Facts are facts.

Every magician who performs in public should consider himself an emissary of magicians as a whole, and of our art form. When any one of us openly ignores the law and treads on the rights of others he does damage to the entire magic community. We should all be above that.

TW

Is it me or is there a whole bunch of stuff missing from this thread that was here before?

I remember posting that he used the "tides" music in his goldfish routine just like David Did.

Make performances your own!