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m.ruetz Veteran user Peoria Arizona, USA 378 Posts |
Interesting article, making you long for the "good ol'" days:
http://magicgizmo.com/home/General/telev......-go.html
MagicGizmo: Magic Articles, Classifieds, Videos, and more
http://magicgizmo.com |
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Philemon Vanderbeck Inner circle Seattle, WA 4694 Posts |
I am of the small opinionated group that believes that all magicians should stop performing on TV and return magic to its live performance art roots. The only way you should see magic is live.
And if you do appear on TV, you must not use any stooges or illusions that require special camera set-ups. TV should document a live show, not be exploited to create effects that cannot be done in the real world.
Professor Philemon Vanderbeck
That Creepy Magician "I use my sixth sense to create the illusion of possessing the other five." |
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Steve_Mollett Inner circle Eh, so I've made 3006 Posts |
Agreed.
Author of: GARROTE ESCAPES
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. - Albert Camus |
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m.ruetz Veteran user Peoria Arizona, USA 378 Posts |
I believe that the magic art can be advanced via Television and really enjoyed watching Doug Henning in his various magic specials. Many people do not have the resources to attend a live show (especially children). I always felt that Doug Henning's specials were like watching a live show and when he said no camera tricks, I believed it. I later did see Henning live but can't say I would have if it weren't for the TV specials.
MagicGizmo: Magic Articles, Classifieds, Videos, and more
http://magicgizmo.com |
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Steve_Mollett Inner circle Eh, so I've made 3006 Posts |
Yes, Henning's specials were live, as were Copperfield's and Mark Wilson's "Magic Circus" specials. That's what made the difference.
Author of: GARROTE ESCAPES
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. - Albert Camus |
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Domino Magic Special user 999 Posts |
Henning's first 3 specials were live, as in they went out on the air at the same time they were being performed. Copperfield never did live specials, everything was pre-taped and edited.
There is a lot of criticism about Criss Angel and how he does his shows - and I agree with that criticism, however Copperfield really pushed it in some of his TV shows. What I mean by that is not everything Copperfield did on TV could be done live. He certainly took advantage of the medium when creating some illusions. |
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Steve_Mollett Inner circle Eh, so I've made 3006 Posts |
I stand corrected. I do remember a local who said that Copperfield, in one of his specials, did three different levitations with three different audiences, and then edited it together to give the impression of one, continuous, 'impossible' levitation routine.
I now also recall "levitating over the Grand Canyon."
Author of: GARROTE ESCAPES
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. - Albert Camus |
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m.ruetz Veteran user Peoria Arizona, USA 378 Posts |
I was also a bit disappointed in the Televised Copperfield illusions where he clearly had confederates working on the illusion who were supposed to be innocent participants joining arms around the big vanish. Heck if it's going to be rigged why not just do some wild CGI effects and really blow people away.
MagicGizmo: Magic Articles, Classifieds, Videos, and more
http://magicgizmo.com |
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gaddy Inner circle Agent of Chaos 3526 Posts |
Magic on TV is garbage.
It's no wonder at all, to me, that someone like the masked magician is one of the more "successful" TV magicians... Ever since (or even before?) David Blaine, it has been, in a word, simply impossible to take magic on TV seriously. Between the possibility of simple camera tricks and creative editing that stretches any pretense of credulity, TV magic simply can no longer be "believed". A person like Chris Angle will even go so far as to have a nonsensical and blatantly, obviously dishonest "continuous shot cam" in a desperate attempt to clutch at the fleeting sands of credulity that can even strain the naïve minds of his "loyals"... TV certainly is a lucrative venue for proper magicians to showcase their works for a larger audience, and kudos to the magician who is savvy enough to convince a producer to put him on the air- that magician tacks zeroes onto the end of his paychecks, and there's nothing wrong with that! But magic on TV will always be a "redheaded stepchild" and unworthy of any sort of critical acclaim. Obviously there are a select (very) few who are exceptions to this rule, ( and I do not claim to be a judge!) but I think for the vast majority of magicians on TV this holds true. simply my opinion (as if I even need that caveat...)
*due to the editorial policies here, words on this site attributed to me cannot necessarily be held to be my own.*
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Heres Tony Loyal user Orlando 259 Posts |
Well said Gaddy.
In the last ten years or so I simply can't stand to watch magic on television no matter who is performing it. Obviously neither can most people, otherwise there would be lots of magic on television. |
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Merlin! New user 63 Posts |
@Steve_Mollet, are you referring to the lady-levitation in "The Magic of David Copperfield V: Vanishing the Statue of Liberty"? It's a beautiful effect, but sadly, rather impossible without some sort of camera trick like multiple audiences.
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longhaired1 Veteran user Salida 316 Posts |
I taught myself magic in the late 70's and early 80's, living in a small lumber town (population 52) in Northern California. I feel very fortunate that my family had thrown away the television set several years prior to that.
Ironically, 30 years later I feel fortunate that I can go to Youtube and see some of the great acts I had only read about. Channing Pollock, Norm Nielsen and Barclay Shaw just this past week. |
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Moore Majik New user 9 Posts |
I'd say one magic tv series I saw that was aired on the sci-fi channel a few years ago is Derren Brown's Mind Control. If he could just have more episodes that would air over here in America, that would be a great start, as he does have a credible, entertaining show, a million times better than Mindfreak. & he is proof that you can have an entertaining magic tv show without doing expensive, ridiculous stunt or escapes every week, as well as do a show on a low budget, as its pretty much all a unique brand of mentalism with random spectators off the street, along with all kinds of psychological experiments involving the mind. I highly recommend anyone to check him out on Youtube if you havent already.
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Ola Loyal user Australia / Sweden 245 Posts |
Mr Berglas on tv was great.
Some art forms can only be truly appreciated live. Magic being one. There is a difference between seeing Mona Lisa "live" as opposed to a photo in a book.
You laugh because I'm different. I laugh because you are all the same...
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Pakar Ilusi Inner circle 5777 Posts |
For all that, most here would not even have started if it was not for watching TV Magic.
It isn't going away no matter how much you wish for it to... If it was not for TV, Paul Daniels, Henning, Copperfield, Derren Brown would never be known so widely imo... But it's simple really, if you don't like it, don't watch it...
"Dreams aren't a matter of Chance but a matter of Choice." -DC-
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goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
Magic does not work on tv any more. There is You Tube and DVR that make it a nightmare.
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MitchellMac Loyal user 210 Posts |
Quote:
And if you do appear on TV, you must not use any stooges or illusions that require special camera set-ups... done in the real world. Agreed. |
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MitchellMac Loyal user 210 Posts |
I think that anything that you don't do to a real person (yes that's right real) isn't real magic
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Magic is tough to capture on TV simply because it is tough to get at what really IS the magic in the first place. To me so little of why a great magic show is magical is the tricks. It is tough to trancend the TV medium and bring that sort of live performance energy even through live performance. It HAS been done yes. No doubt.
What most variety entertainers do is tough to transend the meduium of television. Unfortunately that is what rules the day now.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Pakar Ilusi Inner circle 5777 Posts |
That much I agree...
It is tough to sell Magic well on TV nowadays.
"Dreams aren't a matter of Chance but a matter of Choice." -DC-
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