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Aus Special user Australia 996 Posts |
Here is an e-mail I posted some time ago to a young persion that wanted to get some advice on street magic. I'm posting it here in hopes that it might help someone else. The effects referenced are ones that this individual wanted to choose from. If you want any further information about any of them just reply to this post.
What style of street magic are you doing? What I mean here is, is it going to be parlour style or David Blaine style? This is important because each has its own set of issues. Because with walk around style you're going to have an issue with the amount of tricks, because you will be stopping people and taking away their time, which is valuable to some people. A whole routine is probably not the best but showing individual tricks may be better. This is different in a parlour set-up, as people give their time rather than you taking it so a whole routine will suit. With the walk around approach you have to make each trick a performance piece in its own right. So each effect must have its own individual patter and presentation. This is possibly the only situation were a unified act is not the best approach. However, in parlour the whole act is needed. Because you don’t seem to grasp what unity between effects is, I’ll explain it again for you. The point of putting together an act, is whenever you perform more than one trick, the cumulative impact of the effects should be more than the impact of the individual trick. Doing this can be done through theme, props, and characterization. The theme is the underlying message of the performance. Another way of putting it is that the theme is the reason for performing the act. Say you showed your first trick and in your patter you told how much of a problem it was when this happens, for example, the rising card effect. Every time you do card tricks one card always rises from the deck then after that effect you did a card on the ceiling to show what the extreme is if the card is not contained. This links the effects together and creates unity. An act may be tied together by the practices of employing the same prop in every effect. Cards are a good example of this, money is too. Also using props from the previous effect that are requirements for the next effect e.g., a cutting aces effect, to a twisting effect. This makes a great routine. Characterization is another topic, where unity is gained here by having a persona that is consistent throughout the performance. You can’t perform your first effect as a serious mentalist, and then perform your next effect as a corny practical joker. Here is my take on each trick. Ball: This is a great place for this effect as it is visual and these make for great openers. Sponge Balls: I feel this is a good place for this as the relationship of the ball aspect can be easily related to the first. I’ll give the patter to show this later. Spoon Bending: An idea that strikes me here is an egg and spoon presentation, using a sponge ball and the spoon which will give a nice link from the sponges. Invisible Deck and Anything Deck: I think these two would work well together as the Invisible deck would take the place of the prediction written on the case. The Invisible deck is a quick effect, so it shouldn’t prolong the whole outcome. I have excluded the Silk routine and Professor’s Nightmare, mainly because I feel they don’t seem to fit into the act well enough and the amount of effect already talked about should be enough. Using the Matrix theme, let's see how things go. PATTER Has anyone here seen the movie, The Matrix? Not only is it a great movie, but it offers interesting possibilities. Have you ever dreamed about the possibility of life contained figments of your imagination? Like this ball, what if gravity is false and this ball could float despite our perceptions. (You then proceed to float the ball as per routine). This means that other things that people had perceptions of as impossibilities and elongated processes are not really that way at all. Say eggs for example, (showing a sponge ball), vets say that eggs take at least seven (7) days to incubate but I can do it in five (5) seconds. Hold out your hand and I’ll show you (you proceed with the routine, showing how they multiply). Then the next effect is performed. Eating foods like eggs would become interesting. For example, how many people eat boiled eggs with a spoon? I guess many of you crack the top of the egg off with a spoon , but say the spoon was softer than the egg. (Then you proceed to tap the spoon softly against a sponge ball then show the spoon bending.) Bending cutlery would present a problem for restaurants and Cafés, but ordering would be the easy part for them. (Then use the Anything deck to spell out a random food they choose). Magically Aus |
Scott Xavier Inner circle 3672 Posts |
Denny's charges me 50 cents a spoon. Watch yourself.
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