I don't care what people say, no matter how much you practice if you are looking for any type of moves Zarrows and the pass are like neon lights.
Making your magic less suspicious.
- Thread starter Sherlock
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Maybe its because when you do the double lift off the face you have an unintentional color change of the next card down. Which would, to the observant spectator, tip the method. So kill your wrist angle as you pick off the top card and maybe that will fix your problemo. If you are killing the angle already and that's still happening then i don't know whats up.
Foolzsight the idea of thinking of misdirection as direction isn't new. Tommy Wonder says that misdirection is a misnomer in his books of wonder and it has been (more or less) universally agreed upon that he is correct. Michael vincent calls it audience attention control which is a term that i think defines what misdirection really is quite well.
Shodan, have you read the magic of ascanio volume 1? Cuzz he has some similar ideas that you have been talking about, like seperating the method and the effect as much as possible etc. . I have to agree with you on everything you've said so far. This whole "audience thinks you tossed it in the mouth" thing is a bit like a spider vanish. When you do a spider vanish you do what looks like a really poor false transfer so that the audience has some level of suspicion that you didn't actually take the coin. Then when you make it vanish they are utterly convinced that you didn't actually take the coin which means (and this is the best part) that they must also be utterly convinced that the hand that is actually palming the coin is empty. So in their mind, the coin is completely gone.
But overall i agree with what sherlock is saying here. It all harks back to vernons ideas of naturalness in everything. Unnatural moves breed suspiscion. And so does tension. So the big point is, find the best way to do something (i.e. most natural and economical way) and practice it over and over and over and over and over and over and over until you can do it effortlessly (i.e. without tension). What i like to do when practicing a routine is and idea i got from david stones restaurant book. I make 50 hatch marks with a dry eraser on my mirror and do the routine then erase a hatch mark until they're all gone.
Heres some advice to lessen the arousal of suspicion.
If your performing with a deck of cards or anything that is "in the hands" STOP BLOODY STARING AT IT!
I see the same thing with these young performers. They keep freaking looking back and forth at the deck. And alot of them most times dont even look up from the cards while theyre performing! its insane. When the audience HAS to look at the cards,then show it to them. Glance at the deck too to make them subconciously want to look. But stop staring at them. They're not gonna run away.
If your performing with a deck of cards or anything that is "in the hands" STOP BLOODY STARING AT IT!
I see the same thing with these young performers. They keep freaking looking back and forth at the deck. And alot of them most times dont even look up from the cards while theyre performing! its insane. When the audience HAS to look at the cards,then show it to them. Glance at the deck too to make them subconciously want to look. But stop staring at them. They're not gonna run away.
Visual read my mind on this one, just go with what he said.
The advice from Mr. Ection is also correct, see which advice is more suited to your routine.
Quick little example of how I perform a double lift with an audience "Talk, talk, double lift, look down and show them the card. Look back up while keeping the card face up also, then look back down as you turn it over and look back up." Shazam here you go, that's all the attention a double should have.
Now just incorporate that into each and every move.
The advice from Mr. Ection is also correct, see which advice is more suited to your routine.
Quick little example of how I perform a double lift with an audience "Talk, talk, double lift, look down and show them the card. Look back up while keeping the card face up also, then look back down as you turn it over and look back up." Shazam here you go, that's all the attention a double should have.
Now just incorporate that into each and every move.
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Also,refrain from uttering the "umm.."whenever performing. Its hard,of course.
But ive seen it makes spectators uneasy when one does it too much and shows that you are nervous. If they see you nervous in their minds they think your "up to something". Therefore,arousing suspicion.
But ive seen it makes spectators uneasy when one does it too much and shows that you are nervous. If they see you nervous in their minds they think your "up to something". Therefore,arousing suspicion.
Well they shouldn't be looking. Misdirect them.
Btw, visualartist, I love your signature.
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Why would your audience look for those moves?? I don't perform for magicians, so unless you do I think it's highly irrelevant to what is being said.
Mr.Ection, in answer to your question, no, I haven't read the magic of ascanio books yet - they're on my list, but there's several other books which I have ended up studying first. I have always been a fan of elegant methodology though; and I believe that one of the qualities an elegant method should have is a degree of separation from the effect.
In dance, we have exercises in which you put maximum tension into your whole body for a few seconds, then relax completely. This is to teach you the difference between being tense and being relaxed - in general you want to be relaxed, as this allows you to move more fluidly. Tension is used very sparingly - sometimes to emphasise the final position of a movement, sometimes on its own as a contrast.
My point is this - if you can perform without creating suspicious moments (the relaxed dancer) then you can every now and then create suspicious moments as an extra layer of sophisitication to your magic (judicious use of tension). But first, it is critical to be able to perform without creating suspicion. In my posts to this topic, I had pre-supposed that the performer was able to do this, but of course if your actions are attracting suspicion without you wanting them to then this is what you should be working on first of all.
One of my major steps forward in magic came from watching the David Regal "Tricks" DVDs. Although it is full of excellent magic, I learned far more from watching him perform and listening very carefully to his explanations and reasons why he does the things he does. I found that I was getting fooled by moves I knew - not because he was doing them any differently, but just because he blocked his routines in such a way as they flew by un-noticed. I thoroughly recommend that anyone who is looking to become more natural, less "suspicious" and so on take a look at these excellent DVDs - "Tricks", "More Tricks" and "Enough with the Tricks Already!".
Cheers,
David.
In dance, we have exercises in which you put maximum tension into your whole body for a few seconds, then relax completely. This is to teach you the difference between being tense and being relaxed - in general you want to be relaxed, as this allows you to move more fluidly. Tension is used very sparingly - sometimes to emphasise the final position of a movement, sometimes on its own as a contrast.
My point is this - if you can perform without creating suspicious moments (the relaxed dancer) then you can every now and then create suspicious moments as an extra layer of sophisitication to your magic (judicious use of tension). But first, it is critical to be able to perform without creating suspicion. In my posts to this topic, I had pre-supposed that the performer was able to do this, but of course if your actions are attracting suspicion without you wanting them to then this is what you should be working on first of all.
One of my major steps forward in magic came from watching the David Regal "Tricks" DVDs. Although it is full of excellent magic, I learned far more from watching him perform and listening very carefully to his explanations and reasons why he does the things he does. I found that I was getting fooled by moves I knew - not because he was doing them any differently, but just because he blocked his routines in such a way as they flew by un-noticed. I thoroughly recommend that anyone who is looking to become more natural, less "suspicious" and so on take a look at these excellent DVDs - "Tricks", "More Tricks" and "Enough with the Tricks Already!".
Cheers,
David.