NEW 1-on-1 : The Spello Change by Jesse Feinberg

Jesse Feinberg

creator / <a href="http://www.theory11.com/1on1/#n
May 21, 2010
14
0
Boston, MA
www.jessesmagic.com
Hi Sky lark, thanks for your questions.

A. You will have to draw on a card box with a permanent marker. Spellochange will not ruin the function of your card box. The card box remains completely examinable.

B. You could have two setups on one box, maybe even more. I only use one...

Lu Chen still performs this trick, but the clip that was linked is over a year old. For me, 1 year is recent because I have been alive for over 3000 years. "Time is an illusion" - Einstein
 
Jul 12, 2008
192
0
Kendal
Lu Chen still performs this trick, but the clip that was linked is over a year old. For me, 1 year is recent because I have been alive for over 3000 years. "Time is an illusion" - Einstein

OK I'm sorry to burst this happy little bubble etc, but Jesse - the above comment is f*cough*ing weird. Also this trick seems to be massively lacking in any form of sense or reason. Why on Earth would you write a prediction in the form of some random squiggles? Magic needs to have a point, and with your presentation, you even go so far as to ask if "that makes sense to them" which is both patronising and stupid. If you're going to sell something, at least make it look like it is a good trick to begin with. I strongly suggest that you rethink your presentation. Have some random squiggles turn into a picture of a rose or some such. I don't know the method so I don't know how well that example would work, but I hope you realise how pointless you make your demonstration.
I'm sure you're a perfectly nice person and a great magician, but I would be lying if I were to pretend that I consider this trick
a powerful, visual masterpiece
Certainly it is visual, but magic is what you make it, so a trick with this much thought put into it (or lack of) would struggle to be powerful, or a masterpiece without some considerable alterations.

I'm not just flaming this effect for the sake of it - I genuinely hope that some of you reading this take something away from it and realise that magic is what you make it. and this trick is currently an insult to the spectator's intelligence and thereby to every magician who performs it this way.
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
OK I'm sorry to burst this happy little bubble etc, but Jesse - the above comment is f*cough*ing weird. Also this trick seems to be massively lacking in any form of sense or reason. Why on Earth would you write a prediction in the form of some random squiggles? Magic needs to have a point, and with your presentation, you even go so far as to ask if "that makes sense to them" which is both patronising and stupid. If you're going to sell something, at least make it look like it is a good trick to begin with. I strongly suggest that you rethink your presentation. Have some random squiggles turn into a picture of a rose or some such. I don't know the method so I don't know how well that example would work, but I hope you realise how pointless you make your demonstration.
I'm sure you're a perfectly nice person and a great magician, but I would be lying if I were to pretend that I consider this trick

Certainly it is visual, but magic is what you make it, so a trick with this much thought put into it (or lack of) would struggle to be powerful, or a masterpiece without some considerable alterations.

I'm not just flaming this effect for the sake of it - I genuinely hope that some of you reading this take something away from it and realise that magic is what you make it. and this trick is currently an insult to the spectator's intelligence and thereby to every magician who performs it this way.

Sorry guys, but I am inclined to agree with this. There's no point showing a prediction which quite blatantly isn't a prediction. I think The Wordsmith is right when he says that this is just insulting to the spectator. There's a lesson in this post, if you choose to take it, rather than just ignoring it. Too many people these days are inclined to think about the method and forget what the trick appears like to the spectator. Please, please take something away from what The Wordsmith has said here, because he is right, regardless of whether you want to hear it or not.
 

Mike.Hankins

creator / <a href="http://www.theory11.com/tricks/
Nov 21, 2009
435
0
Sacramento, Cali
Hey Jesse awesome job.. a perfect close up effect for any performers arsenal.. i mean c'mon guys its a card box we all have a card box on us everyday.. well at least i know i do..super convenient! i love things that pack small play big.. it's definitely an effect that will make your spectator say What the hizzf**k!! :eek:

Emran,
if I EVER have someone say what the hizzif**k!!, I will actually poop myself right where I would be standing...

Jesse...
Sexy effect! You are a genius!

Mike
 

CaseyRudd

Director of Operations
Team member
Jun 5, 2009
3,393
3,801
Charleston, SC
www.instagram.com
Sorry guys, but I am inclined to agree with this. There's no point showing a prediction which quite blatantly isn't a prediction. I think The Wordsmith is right when he says that this is just insulting to the spectator. There's a lesson in this post, if you choose to take it, rather than just ignoring it. Too many people these days are inclined to think about the method and forget what the trick appears like to the spectator. Please, please take something away from what The Wordsmith has said here, because he is right, regardless of whether you want to hear it or not.

Who says you have to make it a prediction!!! For God sakes, come up with your own freaking presentation. I use an eye test presentation. They think their eyes are messed up, so when you shake it to give a better look, the lines form the card. Then, if you want, you can go back to the squiggles as they were before they formed to make it look like an eye illusion. Dont have presentations spoon-fed to you. Make up one that fits you.

Cheers,

Casey
 

Mike.Hankins

creator / <a href="http://www.theory11.com/tricks/
Nov 21, 2009
435
0
Sacramento, Cali
OK I'm sorry to burst this happy little bubble etc, but Jesse - the above comment is f*cough*ing weird. Also this trick seems to be massively lacking in any form of sense or reason. Why on Earth would you write a prediction in the form of some random squiggles? Magic needs to have a point, and with your presentation, you even go so far as to ask if "that makes sense to them" which is both patronising and stupid. If you're going to sell something, at least make it look like it is a good trick to begin with. I strongly suggest that you rethink your presentation. Have some random squiggles turn into a picture of a rose or some such. I don't know the method so I don't know how well that example would work, but I hope you realise how pointless you make your demonstration.
I'm sure you're a perfectly nice person and a great magician, but I would be lying if I were to pretend that I consider this trick

Certainly it is visual, but magic is what you make it, so a trick with this much thought put into it (or lack of) would struggle to be powerful, or a masterpiece without some considerable alterations.

I'm not just flaming this effect for the sake of it - I genuinely hope that some of you reading this take something away from it and realise that magic is what you make it. and this trick is currently an insult to the spectator's intelligence and thereby to every magician who performs it this way.

...something, something...take it and make it your own...something, something.

Seriously, if you do not understand how much potential this actually has, then Houston, we have a ...nevermind.
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
Who says you have to make it a prediction!!! For God sakes, come up with your own freaking presentation. I use an eye test presentation. They think their eyes are messed up, so when you shake it to give a better look, the lines form the card. Then, if you want, you can go back to the squiggles as they were before they formed to make it look like an eye illusion. Dont have presentations spoon-fed to you. Make up one that fits you.

Cheers,

Casey

This is exactly what I'm saying. You should definitely make your own presentations. But as a lot of magicians gain inspiration from the video they learn the effect from (and I'm by no means endorsing this) it would be encouraging if the presentation was worth copying. I have no problem with the effect itself - in fact it's a great effect in theory, but only as long as you put the work in and make it magic yourself.
 
Jul 12, 2008
192
0
Kendal
...something, something...take it and make it your own...something, something.

Seriously, if you do not understand how much potential this actually has, then Houston, we have a ...nevermind.

Mike - I am not saying that this trick does not have potential - I have already thought of a number of ways in which I could use this effect myself. The point I am making is that the way in which it is presented in the video is utterly and diabolically crap. This trick has huge potential. I have no desire to deny it, but the fact is, what could have been an amazing effect is spoiled because
...a lot of magicians gain inspiration from the video they learn the effect from...
A great deal of magicians will be performing with the patter/presentation given and therefore doing the effect no justice.
Even if every magician who ever purchases the effect, and goes on to perform it, does make up their own presentation then Feinberg is still going to be performing this in the way shown in the video. He should be setting an example of how really good, strong magic should be done, because most people on T11 look up to the artists.
 
Sep 10, 2008
915
3
QLD, AUS
This is exactly what I'm saying. You should definitely make your own presentations. But as a lot of magicians gain inspiration from the video they learn the effect from (and I'm by no means endorsing this) it would be encouraging if the presentation was worth copying. I have no problem with the effect itself - in fact it's a great effect in theory, but only as long as you put the work in and make it magic yourself.

This is the problem with magic today. No one wants to put in the work it make it their own.
But if they don't want to, that's their problem, not yours. So why complain? Less proffessional competetion for us who actually work to make our acts unique.

A great deal of magicians will be performing with the patter/presentation given and therefore doing the effect no justice.
Even if every magician who ever purchases the effect, and goes on to perform it, does make up their own presentation then Feinberg is still going to be performing this in the way shown in the video.


No, he damn well shouldn't. Why would any artist show how the present their material? Do you think they want to spawn clones of their own presentation style? That's not advancing the art. That's reducing the art to copycatting.

He should be setting an example of how really good, strong magic should be done, because most people on T11 look up to the artists.

If someone really wants to get a good example a proffessional style of performing, then they should watch PERFORMANCE videos, not INSTRUCTIONAL videos. This one on one was released to teach the MOVE, not the presentation.

Look at the "David Blaine Guerrilla Street Magic Style". So many people have copied it, that now it's a joke to present magic that way.

Who says you have to make it a prediction!!! For God sakes, come up with your own freaking presentation.

This^^

Isn't the skeleton of an effect enough? Why do we need presentation? Are we really that incapable?

This is how magic has been, up until ~10 years ago. Read some damn books. They have the skeleton of the effect, and maybe some suggested patter. That's it. Nothing on presentation, because that's the performer's duty.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but people who take patter and presentation word for word, and don't change it, shape it, rethink it, and rework it to fit them, don't deserve to be performing. They're just a sham. An impressionist. Not an artist, and not a magician.
 
Sep 7, 2008
608
0
Can I ask what the difference is between this trick and Hieroglyphics by Jay Steffen that was published in Genii Magazine?
 

danwhite

theory11 artist
Sep 1, 2007
72
0
TheatreHead hit the nail on the head. There IS no performance in the Spello instructional video. There is a demonstration. In fact, Jesse presents multiple ways of presenting this in the video - not just one. The possibilities are endless. In it's simplest form, Spello is just a revelation. A damn good revelation, but just a revelation. Be creative - think outside the box.

There are some incredible applications with this principle. CK is using it as a trick Zoe will do - where unintelligible baby writing turns into the card. I have my own presentation idea for it that I have already performed and it gets great reactions. I love the trick and see it as a great tool to allow you to find your own presentation for it.

Best
dw
 

Jesse Feinberg

creator / <a href="http://www.theory11.com/1on1/#n
May 21, 2010
14
0
Boston, MA
www.jessesmagic.com
Hi Jeff Prace :) Thank you for your question. Hieroglyphics by Jay Steffen uses a completely different method. Spellochange is much more versatile in my opinion, and the cellophane is examinable at all times.

Mike Hankins, you're the man! Thank you so much, you made me blush. hehe

TheaterHead, thank you for the amazing insight. Couldn't agree with you more! BTW, are you a carpenter? Cuz you just hit the nail on the head like a 1000 times in a row! haha
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
This is the problem with magic today. No one wants to put in the work it make it their own.
But if they don't want to, that's their problem, not yours. So why complain? Less proffessional competetion for us who actually work to make our acts unique.

I know it's their problem, but if nobody had complained and told me how appalling my magic was, I'd still be stuck saying "And now I put the coin in my right hand and look, it disappears!"
I'm just trying to encourage people to think about things like this, in the hopes that it will improve even just one person's magic :)
 
Sep 10, 2008
915
3
QLD, AUS
I know it's their problem, but if nobody had complained and told me how appalling my magic was, I'd still be stuck saying "And now I put the coin in my right hand and look, it disappears!"
I'm just trying to encourage people to think about things like this, in the hopes that it will improve even just one person's magic :)

If someone's at that stage of magic, they shouldn't be purchasing stuff like the Spell-o-change. They should be getting resources that teach them the basics of magic, which include presentation, patter, script, and character.
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
If someone's at that stage of magic, they shouldn't be purchasing stuff like the Spell-o-change. They should be getting resources that teach them the basics of magic, which include presentation, patter, script, and character.

They should, but that doesn't mean they will. Loads of people would sooner get a visual trick than a book of presentation, which goes back to what you were saying a few posts ago about too few people putting the work in to make effects their own. These are also the sorts of people that will copy the presentation straight from the dvd, and in this case, the best we can do is encourage them to make up their own presentation, and hopefully one that makes sense. It's sad, but true. Anyway, we can keep pointing out the flaws in each other's posts until the cows come home, but we do essentially agree with each other.
 
Sep 10, 2008
915
3
QLD, AUS
They should, but that doesn't mean they will. Loads of people would sooner get a visual trick than a book of presentation, which goes back to what you were saying a few posts ago about too few people putting the work in to make effects their own. These are also the sorts of people that will copy the presentation straight from the dvd, and in this case, the best we can do is encourage them to make up their own presentation, and hopefully one that makes sense. It's sad, but true. Anyway, we can keep pointing out the flaws in each other's posts until the cows come home, but we do essentially agree with each other.

Well then, will you agree that the 1-on-1 was an acceptable instructional video, despite the fact it doesn't teach presentation?
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
Well then, will you agree that the 1-on-1 was an acceptable instructional video, despite the fact it doesn't teach presentation?

I'd agree that it's acceptable in terms of teaching the move, however I do still feel that they should either demonstrate a sensible presentation or not demonstrate a presentation at all...
 
Jul 12, 2008
192
0
Kendal
This is the problem with magic today. No one wants to put in the work it make it their own.
But if they don't want to, that's their problem, not yours. So why complain? Less proffessional competetion for us who actually work to make our acts unique.

TheatreHead - you seem to be under the impression that you are disagreeing with me, but this is not true. I completely agree that people not wanting come up with their own presentation is a major problem in magic, but if you just step back and look at the bigger picture then you'll see that it IS our problem. All of us. Anyone who is a magician stands to be affected by other practising magicians, because when you are in a restaurant and you introduce yourself as a magician, there will be those who become immediately disinterested because of the impact others of our trade have made on them.

No, he damn well shouldn't. Why would any artist show how the present their material? Do you think they want to spawn clones of their own presentation style? That's not advancing the art. That's reducing the art to copycatting.
Why should the artist show how they present their material? Because presumably the way that they perform it is, to their mind, the best way of presenting it to make it the most entertaining; and the more entertaining a trick can be made to seem, the more sales they are likely to make. Also it would seem to make a sort of intuitive sense that if one knows a trick and is planning on teaching it, then you would show it in the way that you use it rather than making something up that is less good than the real thing to advertise. That, my friends, would be counter-productive!

Isn't the skeleton of an effect enough? Why do we need presentation? Are we really that incapable?

This is how magic has been, up until ~10 years ago. Read some damn books. They have the skeleton of the effect, and maybe some suggested patter. That's it. Nothing on presentation, because that's the performer's duty.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but people who take patter and presentation word for word, and don't change it, shape it, rethink it, and rework it to fit them, don't deserve to be performing. They're just a sham. An impressionist. Not an artist, and not a magician.

OK I'm almost done. When you read a book, they typically describe the effect and then go on to explain the method. In a book, would you expect to find a description that played the effect right down to a sh!tty trick, or would you expect to see it being explained as something more? Obviously the description is there to make it seem really awesome and if spello-change in the video is as awesome as Feinberg can make it then he is doing neither himself, the art, or yourself any favours. As you said - it is the performer's duty. Something you all seem to overlook is that allowing the bad magicians to remain bad does not reduce competition and make us seem better by comparison - it simply means that we will have diabolical magicians, calling themselves magicians and trying to get gigs making us ALL look bad.
I'll say it again - I am not saying these things in order to stir up anger, but instead to try to make just a few of you realise what an effect you are having on others and what an effect they are having on you.

There IS no performance in the Spello instructional video. There is a demonstration. In fact, Jesse presents multiple ways of presenting this in the video - not just one. The possibilities are endless. In it's simplest form, Spello is just a revelation. A damn good revelation, but just a revelation. Be creative - think outside the box.
...I love the trick and see it as a great tool to allow you to find your own presentation for it.
Best
dw

Spello-change has the potential to be a "damn good revelation" but, as stated before, if you simply use it in a trick like the one that Feinberg uses it is still rubbish. I like what you said, Dan, about it being a tool to allow people to find their own presentation for it, but what I am saying is that there will be a catastrophic proportion who don't come up with their own presentation, use the one in the video and thereby reflect badly on us all.

Well then, will you agree that the 1-on-1 was an acceptable instructional video, despite the fact it doesn't teach presentation?

I think we are all agreeing with one another in many ways, but I still don't think I would agree with this. Or at least, not if you mean what I think you mean. I would not say that the 1-on-1 was an acceptable demonstration
video, but as for the instructional video - I am not planning on buying it. If, in the instructional video, it is emphasized that magicians should come up with their own presentation and not use the one in the video then perhaps I can see it as acceptable, but I don't honestly think that is very likely.

Naturally I only speak for myself and Randomwrath may disagree. I say this only because it seemed like the question was directed in his general direction...
 
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