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Eshla Inner circle 1239 Posts |
Where is the boundry between how good an effect is, and how hard it is to achieve?
In stage illusion, where the budgets are often tens of thousands of pounds, there are multiple ways of doing effect, some better and some worse, but generally speaking the better and more impressive an effect the harder and more expencive it will be. A simple sawing in half for example can be home-built and requires only one assistant, but if you are willing to spend a lot more time, money and get more assistance involved the trick can be made so much more impressive: suddently the girls feet are out of the box, now she doesn't need to wear shoes and we can see her toes and feet wiggeling around... Where is the barrier between how impressive a trick is, and how costly/hard it is to perform? There have been tricks which have spiraled into costing over a quarter of a million. Personally I think if you can afford it, do it. What are your thoughts? Tom xx
I come from the future to culture you poor sods with fire.
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Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
It boils down to the golden rule... "Whoever has the gold, makes the rules."
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
Pakar Ilusi Inner circle 5777 Posts |
Do check out Andrew Mayne's stuff...
He blurs that line a little with his approach.
"Dreams aren't a matter of Chance but a matter of Choice." -DC-
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chmara Inner circle Tucson, AZ 1911 Posts |
How effective is the effect for WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY!
Too often the magician's mind allows the "trickiness," spectacle or tradition of an effect get in the way of his/her dramatic thinking. Sometimes the time filling use of an illusion to fill out a show becomes more important than it's dramatic statement --- and sometimes -- by gosh -- that darned thing cost me so much I just gotta use it to get my money's worth. I have suffered each of these self delusions... to the detriment of my show of the hour. It has always been my preference to get the best and most stage worthy illusions of an effect -- even if I had to contract for the building to my specification to a licensed builder. In one instance -- my shoe burning - it took the licensed builder more than a year to be able to rework the effect's mechanisms and sizes with an accent on heavy stage use and portability to produce (at much greater cost) something that could be just a common effect when done in children's sizes. But, I have now the only adult sized version of the trick built specifically to be worked for ADULT CORPORATE Audiences with the capability of making removable graphics and using slightly changed patter to make a very amusing 8 minute stage filling one man routine for just about ANY adult corporate audience with clean but direct material and illusion. Sure - instead of in a small prop case I now carry the routine in a wheeled ATA case plus -- but it has earned its price back in corporate shows that were pleased with the sponsor tied graphics and patter -- and use of corporate personnel as "victim-heros." The down-side of such equipment is that when I went to sell it because I am disabled from performing on the road anymore -- I priced it like the original "trick" was a competitor to my special rig, at about 30 per cent of what I had into it. That was a mistake as new magicians would compare it with the small sized common trick --- and figure they could "make do" with the smaller effect for them. So - getting the best or a truly custom build -- if you do it for resale or just inclusion in a show without commercial or dramatic purpose -- may not be worth it if you ever have to resell something. I recently raised the price of my shoe burning equipment and routine to reflect about 50 per cent of what I have in it -- on the hopes of finding a pro who will need solid equipment and use its commercial potential instead of turning it out as a common production model. While I am willing to negotiate its price I will no longer fall afoul of selling too cheap because I know its worth to a pro for commercial and dramatic presentation. On the other hand -- I had a number of audience sawing in half and guillotines in my stock of illusions over the years -- everything from Head Zopper to Wellington's wonderful See Thru Head Chopper. Frankly I got the most use out of Jim Sommer's visible sawing. (I even gad one rig with custom table/case for transportation). Although it was a stock model and much less expensive than its competitors there was nothing I could not fix myself or not handle as a one man act -- and with the addition of a few non-magical extras to them I sold off my Abbott's, Wellington, Head Zopper, Lester Lake Styles before I became ill. Look, for instance, at the Assistant's Revenge -- the swap between magician who has been chained up in a torture frame and an assistant who walks a curtain around the bound magician -- who completes the walk around only to open the curtain and find the assistant bound in the frame. Usually a 2-3 minute segment the beast is a lot of hauling and set-up, regardless of maker. Copperfield, early in his career, had to add a dance and simple handcuff escape before being chained in to make even 5 minutes out of the thing. At that time they cost abut $1200-- and although I used one for a while I found its weight-set-up and time ratio our of step with what I wanted to say dramatically. When I did want to use it to chain up CEOs and swap with them -- they were not available even for the short rehearsal it would have taken to make it work right -- so I sold it off at a loss. I, just before my illness found a thing called the Alcatraz Escape that fits in a car (portability) and does the same thing even more deceptively -- whilst being set up in front of the audience as part of the routine -- and requiring no rehearsal with the CEO. Cost a lot less too, and I am sorry I have to sell it to pay bills since I no longer perform. This is another STOCK effect that I feel can be used more effectively than than the bigger flashier and more cumbersome big special illusion. Too many magicians use sub-trunks without doing much more than making the audience watch what in the Olympics would be the "required" qualification exercises. Two major exceptions to this are Greg Frewin who has rebuilt his sub trunk into a monster illusion of steel and perspex. It is a wonder of modern magic that hel[ed him win the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. Less famous -- but to me much more engaging it the use of a STOCK sub-trunk by Christian and Katalina in their "Slowest Sub Trunk Routine" that takes about 7 minutes to perform -- with the audience in stitches when Christian forgets to leave the key to the trunk out when he goes magically into it releasing Kat in the traditional manner...and then trying to figure how to get him out again. (Used to be an abbreviated version on their site, BTW) SO, I guess the message is this -- get good rugged equipment that suits you -- the best you can afford to create the DRAMA and effect that FITS YOUR WORK. If your show is a pastiche of disconnected illusions and you have a big budget -- have fun -- but I feel your money would be better spent getting a persona with dramatic scripting than many flashy and meaningless (bulky to transport) ways to cut up assistants and disappear from the stage. My guess is that I will be many years before that type of Variety Act without drama or meaning will emerge as a star making vehicle -- where "personality" presentations like Angel will have profitable careers. But - to just make a living -- schlepping big illusions around in tent shows, some corporate work and for fund raising a la Kaplan, Evans and Kramien --- my opinion is to get the best that suits you with no fear of paying too much if you are getting what you want.
Gregg (C. H. Mara) Chmara
Commercial Operations, LLC Tucson, AZ C. H. Mara Illusion & Psychic Entertainments |
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