How many moves should there be in an ACR? I think four. But what is a good amount to you guys/gals?
How many moves should there be in an ACR? I think four. But what is a good amount to you guys/gals?
Personally I don't like anything remotely long in an ACR any more. I used to like the move-monkey, 12 phase ACRs, but as I step back and look at magic as a spectator, even I get bored by that these days. My own ACR is 4 phases, and ends with the deck either turning into a block of glass, or a steel deck (Hondo's Pass Trainer). It's short enough that no one ever gets bored, and it ends strongly enough that they don't need to see more.
The place where I can expand or contract it is the speed at which I perform it. I can, if I so desired, knock it out in about a minute. That would be very fast for me. I generally converse a lot with my spectators, joke with them, etc. My 4 phase ACR takes me upwards of 3 to 5 minutes if the audience is digging the jokes and banter.
Never watched Cyril's, so I'll take your word for it.
A lot of my performance is talking with the spectators and joking with them. Even my simple, short tricks like Chicago Opener take at least a couple minutes if I'm not just showing something quick.
Oh, another thing with ACR, in my opinion there shouldn't be any phases that repeat. Maybe, maybe the first two phases can be just "I take your card and put it in the middle, then it jumps to the top. Ok, that was too fast maybe, I'll do it again. I take your card and place it in the middle. There! Back on top!" With mine, every phase is different. The card appears on top of the deck face up, then the card comes from the middle to the top, then Card to Mouth, then the deck transforms into something else (except their signed selection). I've gotten very good responses to this routine.