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Brad Burt Inner circle 2675 Posts |
What you want is overall awareness of what is going on around you. That's why mirrors are great for a quick check, but they do NOT impart the awareness of multiple angles that only working live can give you.
But, I developed an idea that really works quite well in practice. If you have access via a daughter or wife who collects such things take about 12-20 stuffed animals and set them up a props at all kinds of differing angles around your actual work surface or area if you do not use a table of any kind. Have some at normal eye level for various adults and children even if you have to prop them up on books, boxes, etc. Put some off to the side very wide, etc. Now, just work for them as you would a live audience. Watch their eyes. You'd be amazed how well this works this to give a fairly real sense of what real life angles are like. And, it speeds the process of learning same by quite a bit. Best,
Brad Burt
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Loopback Veteran user Lincoln, Nebraska 359 Posts |
In my 4th edition of The Amateur Magician's Handbook by Henry Hay there is a nice section on coaching yourself using video tape by James Randi. He had an interesting suggestion of placing the camera in front of you and having two mirrors set at 45's so that when you record you are seeing three angles.
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Herr Brian Tabor Special user Oklahoma City 729 Posts |
A camera has good advantages, because you can pay attention to other things as well, such as body movement, swaying, etc. Gives you a better idea what to watch for. A camera can also do an important thing many magicians over look. LISTEN to your performance afterwords, as well as see it. Presentation is very important, and this will help you work on scripting, and to cut out unnecessary words and lines, and help you notice if you hesitate when doing a move, etc. If you do use a mirror, be careful of blinking. A lot of magicians tend to blink right when the sleight is done. This might make the trick look great to you, but not to anyone with their eyes open. Just take special care to pay attention during the sleight. I know not all of us have a camera, and mirrors will work, but a camera helps much more. Either way, remember that the more you put into practicing, the more you'll get out!
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vpatanio Special user 515 Posts |
Personally, I am just wwwwaaaaayyyy too lazy to set up the camera all the time. My mirror is always out...
I like the way DWRackley put it: (obvious paraphrase...sorry if this is not the way you intended it to be interpreted) "You should practice with whatever makes you comfortable; mirrors, cameras, bratty kids, whatever...use cameras...for finishing touches." |
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RussoMagic.com Loyal user 241 Posts |
Hi Dan -
Don't listen to Harry, he just wants you to buy a book - lol - Anycase, I found a triple mirror like vpatanio's, but it was a old jewely setup. Had drawers that were felted and little comparments to fit (cards, coins in). Painted it all black and there is about a 1 inch space from the the 3in. table top for my Dean Dill Close-up Pad to fit.. its a great setup. I will take a pic and post it here! Best thing, it was $1!!! (at a garage sale) I would look at some garage sales and save you some money. |
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danhughes Regular user Champaign, IL 115 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-09-25 12:41, RussoMagic.com wrote: Russo, you must know me! Virtually everything I buy comes from garage sales, flea markets, and the dollar store.
---Dan, http://danhughes.net
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highcard New user 48 Posts |
I don't use a mirror for practice. I tried that when I first started learning and found that I actually screwed up more. My brain just doesn't process the reversed image well, I guess, and it would mess me up watching myself.
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thatmatt New user 51 Posts |
You can't really compare using mirrors with filming yourself and watching it afterwards. I know that generally actors practice in front of a mirror, and since magic involves acting, I suppose the mirrors idea is somewhat helpful, but I prefer to use a camera and spend some time in front of my PC analyzing my body movements and listen to the fluidity of my presentation...
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Michael_MacDonald 1964 - 2016 Washington 2034 Posts |
I use a full length wall mirror to practice my body moves and slights. the reason why is you can see from many levels. low middle and high. as you turn it shows you all the possible perspectives from floor to ceiling. once I have found the natural hand positioning and angle proof my movements I switch to camera. this lets me focus on the presentation more. that done I put a live group of spectators in front of the camera and do the full performance. this lets me work with real interaction, and shows me any weakness of my scripting and presentation. a mirror is a tool like any other it has benefits and draw backs. I use it to find the angles, and watch the fluidity of my hand doing the slights. then move on to another tool. if you feel comfortable using it this way great if not then find another way that helps you. no one learns the same as others, so stating a right and wrong way to do anyone this is extremely limiting. I also use creative visualization. I sometimes do my whole act in front of a camera with my eyes closed, this lets me feel the moves, get into their flow. it helps me get that balance when moving.
the mirror lets you feel what its like when you do the natural hand movement. you cant get that with a camera as you have to rewind and view. |
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Dougini Inner circle The Beautiful State Of Maine 7130 Posts |
The only mirror I have is in the bathroom. I learned to put "the lid" down now, after fishing
my Ike Dollar out of the "bowl". YYYYuck! Doug |
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Michael_MacDonald 1964 - 2016 Washington 2034 Posts |
Lmao Doug!
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Dr Art Regular user 170 Posts |
My two cents:
You practice the move on you own for hand eye coordination. Along the way you do mirror checks to check for flasing the move. Then you can do mirror checks for angles by turning your body in different directions and placing the mirror at different angles. Then you can move to video once you have your angles and moves down. You can work on movement, patter etc. with camera. Now it's time for showing it to a person, preferably someone who can critique the routine. |
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vinh.giang Regular user Australia 132 Posts |
Someones already said it but I just thought I'll add my two cents in as well
Ok I used to practice with a mirror a lot and you know what it was great! I really learnt the moves well and really had a deep understanding about my angles which was really important (Proud to say I can hold a tenkai anytime these days without any detection from the audience). Now that was the good thing about practising with the mirror, the bad side is that you always look at your hands when you perform, which is a bad habit, too many magicians only focus on the sleight of hand and nothing else. The next thing I did was I purchased a video camera and this is when I started to see massive improvement, not only in my sleight of hand but also my performing character. I was able to see all the flaws in my performances, the flaws don't only lie in flashing the cards/coins, the flaws also lie in your performance/character/script/body language etc The camera will help you pick up all the other little errors. Finally after all this I got sick of it and went out to perform for people and bloody oath that was the best thing I ever did. Performing to others to me is the best way to improve at an exponential level! When you practice in front of real people you get instant feed back on everything, if they see you flash trust me they will point it out! (unless you have built rapport, sometimes they let it slide ). You are practising so many other things when you are performing in front of real people. OK enough blabbering! so what is my conclusion? I believe that you need to go through all three steps, first start with the mirror and then gradually move to the camera method of practising. Finally get out of your comfort zones and go out and perform. If you do all these three and don't stick to one particular method you will give your self the best chance at really mastering this wonderful craft. Ps. I know this post was a little all over the place but I hope you can see what I mean! I am in between flights at the moment and may be heavily jet lagged.
"Rather a mind opened by wonder, than one closed by belief."
_________________________________ www.vinhgiang.com.au www.facebook.com/askvinh www.twitter.com/askvinh |
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djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-08-08 15:19, Brad Burt wrote: I learned about this by making mistakes :o)......so will you most likely :o) |
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bobthemagicdoerguy Regular user I can't remember where I left my 186 Posts |
After exhausting the benefit of mirrors and videos, don't forget real practice. Every magician should have someone they trust for their first performance of something new. It can be a fellow magician, a spouse, a good friend, whatever. The whole point of mirrors and so forth is to get feedback on what it would like in practice. Nothing beats real people for that.
...but make sure it is just one person... don't start showing all your mistakes to large groups in an effort to get some feedback... |
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TeslaTao New user 65 Posts |
Quote:
the good thing about practising with the mirror, the bad side is that you always look at your hands when you perform, which is a bad habit. When I practice with a mirror, it's often to practice making eye contact with the volunteer while I'm doing the slight, not so much looking at the sleight itself. Working with a mirror doesn't have to necessarily lead to bad habits, depending on how you practice. |
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