Bertram Change

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
"Only real men performs the Bertram Change" somebody here,2010

how true this is? I think the change itself is pretty hard and pretty hard to perform to people

have you ever perform it in other place aside from your room?
do you know how to do it?
do you consider it hard?
 
Sep 12, 2007
153
1
40
Normandy, FRANCE
Very angle un-friendly, but I've been able to perform it a few times for just a few people => awesome reactions !

Btw, it's weird but it's one of the first moves I've learned as I started magic ! It's hard to perform well (as Oz for example), but the practice is well rewarded.
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
I never bothered practicing this move because generally I detest colour changes with a passion, but it does look completely beautiful when executed properly, and I would say it looks worth the practice if you're into that sort of thing. If you think it looks good enough and you would like to be able to do it, it's worth trying to master any move, regardless of angles or difficulty (assuming, of course, that it does actually have some good angles, which the Bertram change does).
 
Feb 17, 2010
194
0
Moscow, Russia
Really found this difficult to do, and there are so many practical variations of this change, I mean they look visually kinda the same, but of course, methods are different. Reccoment ya to go and pick up the Gorilla Change by Dan Hauss (1on1 here), good angles and quite easy to do.
 
Jul 13, 2008
382
0
I never bothered practicing this move because generally I detest colour changes with a passion, but it does look completely beautiful when executed properly, and I would say it looks worth the practice if you're into that sort of thing. If you think it looks good enough and you would like to be able to do it, it's worth trying to master any move, regardless of angles or difficulty (assuming, of course, that it does actually have some good angles, which the Bertram change does).

What do you detest about color changes?
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
What do you detest about color changes?
I'm not entirely sure. I think it's a mixture of a few things really. The first is that, no matter how good it looks and how flawlessly you execute it, a colour change is almost always going to look like a sleight. It doesn't matter if it's a Bertram, a Shapeshifter, an Erdnase or whatever, they all look like you did something clever. The main exception to this is a double lift/top change, where the change can be done away from any other cards, in the spectator's hands, completely fairly.

Another thing is that I don't approve of magic that is about the props over the magician/audience. An oil and water routine, a sandwich routine, a spellbound or coins across, for example. Now it's debatable that this is down to patter and presentation, which is true to a certain extent, but something like Out of this World is always going to be more about the spectator than an Invisible Palm, regardless of how well you dress it up. A colour change is one of those things that is very much about the cards and not at all about the spectator or the magician. This isn't always the case - Derren Brown has a brilliant colour change sequence, for example, that is absolutely about the spectator rather than the cards, but I feel that this is the exception rather than the rule.

Also (and before anybody slates me about this - I know it's a very stupid reason to hate a certain set of moves or whatever, but it does bug me) THEY ARE NOT COLOUR CHANGES! A colour change would be, for example, taking a standard seven of spades and turning it into a seven of spades with red pips. Turning one card into another is not a colour change. It is changing one card into another. There is a difference. Don't call me out on this being a rubbish argument, because I know, but it gets on my nerves quite a lot,

This is a personal choice, colour changes just don't suit me as a performer in the slightest, and I'm not telling anybody else to cut them out of their repertoire at all. I do think that a well placed colour change can be very powerful, but I think that magicians in general are taking the wrong approach - trying to find new and more visual ways of changing a card into another, when by far the best method in my eyes, and the only one I ever use, is a double lift or a top change. If I ever learn a different one (and I do occasionally) it will be purely for my personal satisfaction and not for performances. I can still appreciate a good colour change, and enjoy watching them occasionally and being horribly fooled, but that is purely as a magician, and not something I particularly want my spectators to remember me by.
 

Likenthrope

Banned
Jan 31, 2009
111
0
I'm not entirely sure. I think it's a mixture of a few things really. The first is that, no matter how good it looks and how flawlessly you execute it, a colour change is almost always going to look like a sleight. It doesn't matter if it's a Bertram, a Shapeshifter, an Erdnase or whatever, they all look like you did something clever. The main exception to this is a double lift/top change, where the change can be done away from any other cards, in the spectator's hands, completely fairly.

Another thing is that I don't approve of magic that is about the props over the magician/audience. An oil and water routine, a sandwich routine, a spellbound or coins across, for example. Now it's debatable that this is down to patter and presentation, which is true to a certain extent, but something like Out of this World is always going to be more about the spectator than an Invisible Palm, regardless of how well you dress it up. A colour change is one of those things that is very much about the cards and not at all about the spectator or the magician. This isn't always the case - Derren Brown has a brilliant colour change sequence, for example, that is absolutely about the spectator rather than the cards, but I feel that this is the exception rather than the rule.

Also (and before anybody slates me about this - I know it's a very stupid reason to hate a certain set of moves or whatever, but it does bug me) THEY ARE NOT COLOUR CHANGES! A colour change would be, for example, taking a standard seven of spades and turning it into a seven of spades with red pips. Turning one card into another is not a colour change. It is changing one card into another. There is a difference. Don't call me out on this being a rubbish argument, because I know, but it gets on my nerves quite a lot,

This is a personal choice, colour changes just don't suit me as a performer in the slightest, and I'm not telling anybody else to cut them out of their repertoire at all. I do think that a well placed colour change can be very powerful, but I think that magicians in general are taking the wrong approach - trying to find new and more visual ways of changing a card into another, when by far the best method in my eyes, and the only one I ever use, is a double lift or a top change. If I ever learn a different one (and I do occasionally) it will be purely for my personal satisfaction and not for performances. I can still appreciate a good colour change, and enjoy watching them occasionally and being horribly fooled, but that is purely as a magician, and not something I particularly want my spectators to remember me by.
You are rediculous!
 
May 8, 2008
1,081
0
Cumbria, UK
You are rediculous!
Hahaha, fair enough. They're just not my thing, and to each their own. I don't refuse to use colour changes completely, but in general, I try and stay away from them. Personal taste and all :)

Dude, they've always been called color changes...
even in Expert at the Card Table...
:)

Oh I know, and I'm not trying to change that, it's just a pet annoyance that I decided I might as well mention, given that I was typing a gurt big post about colour changes anyway.
 
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