Talking to Laymen

Nov 20, 2009
22
0
Today was a really really boring day at work, so I decided to take advantage of the slowness and do something that was suggested in another post... (I think by visualartist, could be wrong).

I decided to ask Laymen what kind of effects they would want to see.

I asked pretty matter of factly too, I didn't mention that I was into magic, but just kinda... brought it up.

Anywho, most of them were like "levitate under this circumstance" or "make this vanish"

HOWEVER, I got a few awesome ideas.

One guy suggested having hot sauce, getting the person to taste it, and then chugging the bottle... (actually, I already have a method :) very very easy)

A few girls wanted things to turn into animals... however there are a few effects like this... I personally have one inspired by my girlfriend where I can't find her card, so I say "RATS" and her pet rat appears in place of the deck.

An older lady suggested having something instantly cook itself in your hands... I think this would be really effective with some fake smoke actually, and you could pull it off pretty easily.

And finally a Truck Driver suggested melting a coin... not bending, MELTING. I think if you found a way to do it visually enough, this would KILL, the only method I can think of though is very very carefully sculped dyed water.

Or mercury, but that's a wee bit deadly.

So I definately encourage you to go out and ask some laymen this question, maybe post some ideas :)
 
The coin melting is actually an effect called, um... forgot but it's a very cool effect but it's of course gimmicked and I don't believe you can hand it out for keeps, could be wrong.

I've asked a few people this, and my biggest thing was levitation and I have found that their is just one I would ever use, The One. Great effect, and if I actually felt like dishing out that money for one thing it would be that or TA.
 
Nov 20, 2009
22
0
I think it's because we're always impressed with complex sleights, and things that fool us.

A crazy gambling demonstration with all kinds of impossible to detect false shuffles and bottom dealing impresses us, but laymen are like "oh... how did that happen..."

However some effects that I see and think "oh, whatever" I try and people FLIP OUT.

Best example of this is my all time favorite thing to do to people I first meet..

Force a card, read their mind.

That simple.
 

Jv

Jan 11, 2008
1,223
26
The coin melting is actually an effect called, um... forgot but it's a very cool effect but it's of course gimmicked and I don't believe you can hand it out for keeps, could be wrong.

I've asked a few people this, and my biggest thing was levitation and I have found that their is just one I would ever use, The One. Great effect, and if I actually felt like dishing out that money for one thing it would be that or TA.

For the 'coin melt' I believe, although I may be wrong, you're referring to Liquido (Melting Coin) by JP, which I heard wasn't that great.
 
Well we are limited in our imagination because we know what is possible in our field. Now put out some crazy ideas from some laymen, and while some of them are just kind of crazy dumb, some of those out there ideas are certainly possible.

This is part of my arguement for everyday magic, how many laymen say I wanna see a card trick where the one card goes where the sun don't shine, and the other appears in the girls locker room. You don't hear about people wanting magic to be about card tricks.

They want something else, that's more impossible because they know of sleight of hand, they may not suspect it in a performance but I believe they would rather see something a bit more "organic."
 
Nov 20, 2009
22
0
You know what though... if you set your mind to it, really any effect is POSSIBLE.

We know "okay, someone can't literally see an apple morph into an orange, however if I could just convince them that it was an apple after I switched it out for an orange... then it would work"

and thus the impossible becomes possible, its just how you present it... If you catch people off guard, you can do some crazy things.
 
Mar 9, 2008
87
0
Reading this has got me wanting to expand my magic and do other magic other than card magic. I'm in the process of learning coin magic but i also want to learn money magic and other types of magic such as levitation.

Can anyone give me any good references to learn such effects?
 
Oct 29, 2009
971
0
Just around
I think magic is what people don't see or expect.

Think of a wine bottle production. They are sooooo simple and obvious when you think about it, but it's one of THE most magical things you could do. Producing a wine bottle out of nothing. It KILLS lay people, and it only works because they didn't see what you did. They had a mental picture in their mind of an empty hand with a hankerchief. When you produce a wine bottle, that instantly shatters that reality that moments before, they would have sworn by.

With that in mind, we can do a lot with just random objects. Don't think of magic as a one trick DVD, or something you can always learn from a book...
 
Nov 20, 2009
22
0
Reading this has got me wanting to expand my magic and do other magic other than card magic. I'm in the process of learning coin magic but i also want to learn money magic and other types of magic such as levitation.

Can anyone give me any good references to learn such effects?

Bobo's coin magic for coins... hands down.

I'd venture to say Noblezada's money for stuff with bills... although I don't remember if it teaches the thumb tip bill switch... however that's in SO many Sankey DVD's.

As for other stuff... It's all around, just look... you can even do what I did and take some of the principles that are in card magic, and apply them to other objects.

Like palming things under cards and producing them like a color change.

You also might want to look into some stuff using loops.
 
Nov 20, 2009
22
0
You may be able to make some kind of gimmick out of gallium to melt a coin in your hand.

Excellent idea actually... borrow a coin, shuttle pass it into hand, tell spec to view coin, watch coin melt, as they are looking swap borrowed coin out for a gimmick that looks like a melted coin... somehow switch the liquid for the gimmick, deposit gallium into container for reuse.

Only problem is obtaining elemental gallium.
 
Jan 10, 2008
294
2
I think magic is what people don't see or expect.

Think of a wine bottle production. They are sooooo simple and obvious when you think about it, but it's one of THE most magical things you could do. Producing a wine bottle out of nothing. It KILLS lay people, and it only works because they didn't see what you did. They had a mental picture in their mind of an empty hand with a hankerchief. When you produce a wine bottle, that instantly shatters that reality that moments before, they would have sworn by.

With that in mind, we can do a lot with just random objects. Don't think of magic as a one trick DVD, or something you can always learn from a book...

I absolutely agree scarecrow, Paul Harris's The Art of Astonishment really opened my mind to the idea of doing magic with anything.

Now this is right out of the Art of Astonishment, so it can't be considered "not using a book for magic", but it is an example of using any object to obtain a magical effect.

I used to work in a metallurgy lab, basically studying rocks. I was working with about five people breaking this massive shipment of about two tons of ore with sledgehammers. This is what they saw in the middle of the work day: I started shouting obscenities, when they asked me what was wrong I said, "Oh nothing, it's just a damn rock in my shoe." They saw me take off my shoe and shake a rock about the friggin' size of my head out of the shoe and casually put my shoe back on as if nothing happened. I did that two years ago and people at my old job still talk about that.

Amazing!!!
 
Oct 29, 2009
971
0
Just around
I absolutely agree scarecrow, Paul Harris's The Art of Astonishment really opened my mind to the idea of doing magic with anything.

Now this is right out of the Art of Astonishment, so it can't be considered "not using a book for magic", but it is an example of using any object to obtain a magical effect.

I used to work in a metallurgy lab, basically studying rocks. I was working with about five people breaking this massive shipment of about two tons of ore with sledgehammers. This is what they saw in the middle of the work day: I started shouting obscenities, when they asked me what was wrong I said, "Oh nothing, it's just a damn rock in my shoe." They saw me take off my shoe and shake a rock about the friggin' size of my head out of the shoe and casually put my shoe back on as if nothing happened. I did that two years ago and people at my old job still talk about that.

Amazing!!!
Haha, funny. Actually, Joshua Jay has an effect just like that in his book "Magic".
 
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results