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ldl1017 Elite user 476 Posts |
I'm looking for a source of illusions that do not require an assistant? I am looking for something that can be used in a fair/festival atmosphere and that does not use any livestock. It's not necessary, but if it could work in a trade show setting, that would be a plus, but not a requirement. What can you guys come up with? I am single guy show, so I need something that "Wows" them and is something I can do by myself.
Lou
“I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.”
Billy Joel |
eb02 Special user 680 Posts |
Suspension chairs - use an audience assistant, easy to use, play big, not expansive...
Eran Blizovsky
www.magic4business.net |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Eran is right. a chair suspension illusion would be ideal for you for many reasons. My wife and I also work primarily the festival and fair markets and this illusion we perform more times then any other. It gets a great reaction every time out.
I own a chair suspension and probably perform this illusion more times then any other effect I own. I believe so strongly in it that I use it every chance I get. Let me try and give you some honest information and try and answer some questions and concerns. Now you CAN use an adult and still have this as a single person illusion and be able to use it at a trade show with an adult person from the audience or part of the sales force. You just would need to have the get the version that Bill Smith makes as it is geared towards adults and can handle the weight much better. Benefits: - You can piratically perform this effect totally surrounded without anyone catching on to the workings. - You can perform this in any lighting condition and even outdoors. - It packs down flat and makes for easy carry and travel. - It weighs less than a lot of the suspensions like a flying carpet. Because the weight is not an issue, set up is easy and can be done by one person. - It sets up very fast and breaks down in literally seconds - in fact you can even set it up during the show if you had to. - Floating of the child is an excellent selling point to any parent. Disadvantages: - The board is long so you may have to have room in your vehicle to account for this and the chairs when folded up. - It will take you a trip or two to bring it in from your vehicle to the show. Although this is not really an issue much at all. the weight is not heavy and it is not bulky at all. - You must be careful with getting a child who does not exceed 100lbs. It says it can handle 150 but I do not go over 100 to be always on the safe side. Other Notes: - I have never had a child sit up during the effect in the hundreds of times performing this. I think it is because of the way in which I perform and present it. I make the child feel comfortable first through my talking with them in the beginning of the routine. - I make it easy for them to get on it by using a step stool in front. This allows for them to step up and sit right down on the board. - I ALWAYS tell the child what I am going to do before I do it. This eases their minds and gets them to know I am going to have to touch them in order to help them up or move them into place. At this day and age I ALWAYS ask if it is OK if I help them up. I get their permission to do so, so I earn their trust. It is also a way for me to tell if the child is scared or is excited about doing the effect. In all the years of doing this, I usually can pick the perfect helper. - The child has no idea of the workings of the trick and sees nothing at all. That is what is so strong about this. As long as they follow your directions to 1) not move 2) keep their eyes closed throughout the illusion and 3) use their imagination, you will not have a problem at all. - I also take a Polaroid picture at the exact moment the child is suspended on the chair. This makes for a great souvenir from the show for the child to keep and show around. - The routine can last anywhere from a minute up to six minutes or more depending upon how you routine it for your show. Personally I use it as the ending for my b-day shows as it is just that strong and it makes the b-day child feel like a star. - I have never built one as it seems just way too hard to do the welding needed and the modifications to the folding chairs. I think by the time you went out to spend the money on materials, etc., it would be cheaper just to buy it. Besides a few good paying gigs pay for the entire thing. I once thought people would see the gimmick, but they really do not. The reason for this is because of the way I handle it in several manners: 1) I angle it so the back chair is slightly further back towards me than the audience. This keeps the chair not dead on but allows for a clear view of the suspension when it takes place. 2) If you wrap the cloth properly, the cloth covers the gimmick that connects to the main chair. This cloth covers it completely. 3) The girl or boy that is on there I position properly, so that their shoulder blades are farthest up on the board towards the chair. This is proper placement of the weight, and it also allows for them to simply lay their heads back and close there eyes. This does two things as well: 1) the head itself covers the gimmick and the position prevents them from moving easily or prematurely. It does not hurt as the neck is still supported. I do this at every single birthday party, and I have never ever had anyone even notice anything at all. It really is that deceptive even up close. I think practically because of the above reasons in my presentation of it. With mine, I can remove the first chair and the board will remain attached to the bottom of the child. I then remove the final board and the loose wrapping of the cloth really indeed looks as if the child is totally floating. The effect is so great that it always gets the adults and kids alike going.. oh wow whoa.. look at that. It takes time to really understand this illusion, so I really say to PLEASE practice and rehearse this a lot before ever doing it to a volunteer. There are ways in my routine, and the way it is structured that ensures the child feels comfortable and safe and wants to perform it. This is critical for me, and I only learned this from constant practice and revamping the routine I now use. My 2 cents worth. I love the illusion and because I do, I researched as much as I could on it. The only problem was that I could not really find anything written on it in detail. this is why I started to write down all my own notes from research and from the sheer fact of performing this so often over the years. It has become a 15 page ebook I now use to refresh my mind on things from time to time and it also has helped a lot of other folks who think of getting the illusion or who already own one themselves. Hope this helps. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
Magic Patrick Inner circle Minnesota 1591 Posts |
Snapillusions does a single person modern art. Just my 2 cents.
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Great illusion but it comes down to how much do you want to have to carry and load in and out and how much room do you have to perform it.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
motivationalmagic Regular user Pennsylvania 179 Posts |
Other ideas for a one-man illusion are Twister, and the Lester Lake Head Chopper. Jason Byrne used to do a nice one-man Twister in his corporate shows. Both of these illusions are good, too, because you can do five minutes of presentation with them.
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Amazing Magic Co Inner circle 1715 Posts |
Don't forget The Web from Jack at Dream Illusions.
Dan. |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
The web is also good to do and is not that bulky and packs down nice. it certainly qualifies for an illusion you can do by yourself. The only problem I would have is if his main market is fairs and festivals (as is my wife and I) then you have to worry about angles a bit more. So something to think about. In most cases it is not too bad. However when I work a festival, I like to try and stay with illusions that I can do surrounded without risk of angle problems. You never know what staging you will get or where people will be standing.
This is why I love the chair suspension so much. I can literally do it completely surrounded and in full daylight and no one sees or suspects anything. I have even developed a handling for it where I can set it up right before I perform it if spacing is an issue. Good stuff. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
chmara Inner circle Tucson, AZ 1911 Posts |
Sommers Lights through Girl --
Harbin Style bow sawing Losander Table Various Head and Arm Choppers Sword through Neck (get a good one Straight Jacket Escape (An exercise inverter can be used instead of crane to hang by feet upside down) Wiz-Kote if angles are controlled Various escapes
Gregg (C. H. Mara) Chmara
Commercial Operations, LLC Tucson, AZ C. H. Mara Illusion & Psychic Entertainments |
Terry Owens Inner circle Ft. Wayne, Indiana 1707 Posts |
Yes, I would recommend the web too...also you could do a mail bag escape using the audience as assistants.
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Lance Richardson Loyal user 246 Posts |
You can use a 4 sided cloth with The Web illusion; all you need to do is have your 2 volunteers hold up the cloth. It would work much like the Rope Tie effect.
Lance |
Terry Owens Inner circle Ft. Wayne, Indiana 1707 Posts |
That's what I use with my web Lance...I use one that is made for a subtrunk. It helps since I'm a little larger guy too.
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Lance Richardson Loyal user 246 Posts |
Terry, what’s that line, something about great minds. Well I know yours is great mine is like mush lately. If you’re ever in Indy performing drop me a line, I would love to see your version of The Web.
Lance |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Great stuff Lance and Terry. I was just going to chime in with using a sub trunk style curtain for the web. It is a work around that would work perfect for the web.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
jcmazzolado New user 51 Posts |
Clavert Spirit Cabinet..
Packs flat plays very big. Have volunteers hold up 4 sided curtain as noted above. |
Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
The Stock Exchange can be most effective when performed as a solo escape. You have a spectator come up to check out the stock, and "just for fun" lock her inside. She verifies that she can't get out. You then give her mystical powers to be able escape, and hold up a cloth in front of her. Suddenly she is out of the stock and you are locked inside.
David Ginn performed it this way using a kid from the audience. His routine is written up in "Professional Magic for Children" under the title "Houdini's 1910 Stock Escape." It's easy to build the stock yourself. Jim Gerrish made one for his Wiz Kids that locked in both the head and wrists of the spectator. But if you don't want to make one, you'll find one here: http://www.aleena.com/tilford/stockExchange.html
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
Terry Owens Inner circle Ft. Wayne, Indiana 1707 Posts |
I'm just glad I've got a mind Lance...lol
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ldl1017 Elite user 476 Posts |
In everyone's opinion, what is the best chair suspension? I've heard some horror stories regarding the spectator falling off them. I would imagine the better the craftsmanship the better the odds are that something like that will not happen.
Lou
“I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.”
Billy Joel |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Lou,
There are two main categories of chair suspension and it is mainly based on what your intentions are for the illusion. There are many versions out there that sell around $450 that are geared only at floating a child from the audience or someone under the weight of around 140lbs. Although I never go over 100lbs for safety reasons. There is also other models that are made mainly for usage of an adult from the audience or an assistant from your show. Obviously these versions are much more costly to buy. So the real key here is first asking yourself how you intend to use it. The other key element for why some folks have trouble with the illusion is just the fact that so many magicians perform the illusion incorrectly and do not spend the proper time to really understand the illusion and the psychology of how to use an assistant on it and how to do both effectively. This is why I have spent a lot of time over the years researching the chair suspension and writing notes on the vary subject of it. It ended up in a 15 page ebook solely on the chair suspension illusion and is geared towards helping people out who own one or who are thinking of getting one. In the way of the chair suspensions mainly for a child, the Mak Magic version and Klamm versions are not bad at all. They will work fine for you if you know how to use them properly. In the way of the adult version, then the one manufactured by Bill Smith is a really great one. Hope this helps. If you or anyone has any questions on the chair suspension, please do not hesitate to PM me. I would be happy to help and assist in any way I can. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
Laszlo Csizmadi Special user From Hell 868 Posts |
Before you decide you should look around on Peter's site you might find something:
http://www.masterofillusions.ca/ Best, Las |
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