Random object battle

Nov 20, 2007
4,410
6
Sydney, Australia
The idea is that the community judges it and gets feedback... Or at least it was. With that in mind, let me take a stab (no pun intended) at each of these effects...


General comments:


I was really really hopeful that someone would go beyond the obvious, and perform an effect that did NOT feature an object inside a balloon. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed that no-one did (my solution to the effect appears at the end of this post). There are MANY ways to use a balloon! Think OUTSIDE the proverbial box (in this case, outside the balloon, literally)! What else can a balloon be used for? What purposes does it serve in life? To think about a balloon simply as an object to put something else in is a way of thinking only magicians would take.


MagicofAdam...

Yours was the video I watched first, and generally, I liked it. It was reasonably well done, and you were probably the cleanest when it came to the sleights. Every motion looked and felt pretty natural. Unfortunately, your effect suffered from one main flaw, namely that I don't think it's convincing enough that the ring is inside the balloon, which weakens the effect somewhat.

I thought your use of the items was predictable, but overall, the effect made sense. You also have the bad habit of narrating what you're doing, which is pretty much a no-no when it comes to presentation. However, in a trio of what I felt were uninspiring presentations, I thought yours at least felt most natural, even if nothing really stood out.

Portillo...

I had to watch your video three times to understand what on earth was happening. I really didn't understand it, and as some guy who was mildly famous once said, "Confusion is not magic". The reason I was confused was because you had no presentation, and you lost a lot of metaphorical points for being the only person who did not attempt any presentation. Magic is nothing without presentation, and your effect really suffered. After realising that the ring appears on the pen... I wasn't really impressed, mostly due to your camera work - the fact that basically everything happens off camera. Nothing stops you from shoving the balloon in front of the camera and reaching down and taking the pen and ring with one hand... Which is exactly what it looked like. You need a wider shot because we can't see what's going on and so it just looks like you're eternally hiding something. You should come up with a better way to load the ring.

The appearance didn't do anything for me, and neither did the pen in balloon. Apart from being wildly predictable, it also made no logical sense. Why does a ring appear and a pen penetrate the balloon as a kicker? Overall, your effect made the least sense out of the three. In Adam's effect, an object penetrates a balloon, and it is popped to retrieve it. In Alex's, writing materialises into an object that penetrates a balloon. In your effect, a ring appears, and then a pen penetrates a balloon. It's not a smooth effect, nor is it a very logical one. Magic shouldn't happen "just because". The best magic has meaning, it has rhythm, and it makes sense.

Magicman...

I will begin by saying that I liked your video best. Of the three videos, it was the one that most creatively used the given objects. Having a deck with items on it was a nice touch and more or less the only truly creative deviation from what was expected in these three videos. That said, there are some things I didn't like as well, and I'll mention them briefly for the sake of feedback.

As with the other two, your presentation was alright, but nothing impressive or interesting. It was on par with the general level of presentation present in all three videos, but that level wasn't set very high. You have a tendency to narrate what you're doing as well - as mentioned above, this is a presentational no-no.

I didn't like the moment when you slammed the card against the balloon. It was almost shocking in an absurd way. It looked like you were squeezing the cheeks on your favourite teddy bear and speaking to it in a baby voice. Speaking of which, was that a pet in the background? Just curious... I feel that the effect would have been more conducive to simply rubbing the card against the side. Rub it against the side of the balloon, and after a moment, pause, then gently begin to shake the balloon. Then, reveal the blank card, but DO NOT offer an explanation. Do not say, "It's as if..." No! Let the audience realise what has happened themselves, they are smart enough to understand! I liked your video because it was the most creative in terms of plot, and it had a twist to a generic effect. By explicitly stating what has happened, you take away from the beauty of what has happened and are weakening the best part of the trick. Let the audience realise for themselves. It's a nice moment. Try not to speak too much during it. Just rub, pause, and shake. "Do you hear that?" is probably the only thing I would say from the beginning of the card rubbing to the revelation of the blank card.

On another presentational note... I hate to say this but you almost adopt a creepy voice when you perform. Look at your video at 0:14. You take a deep breath, and then suddenly put on your "performer mode", and suddenly, you start speaking in an entirely different tone to who you were a moment ago! You need to be consistent between when you're performing and when you're not performing. If you turn on your persona like that, people will turn off you because it just comes across as putting on a cheesy magician personality (one of the biggest reasons people hate magic). Oh, and I hated the walk-off. Finish your effect properly!

Overall, creativity was the biggest factor in my mind when I watched the videos though, and Magicman's a step ahead in that regard.


My solution...

So with all my notes about creativity, I thought I would be slightly hypocritical if I didn't offer an effect myself. I'm certainly not parading this around as an ideal effect or anything like that. I just thought it would be nice to offer a solution that used the three items in a creative way. I wanted an effect that a) was not a typical effect with these objects, e.g. a balloon penetration, b) used each item in a different and meaningful way, c) I have a practical method for and could actually perform in a real world setting and d) used a strong presentation to give logic and meaning to the performance.

In case you guys are interested, this is what I thought of doing with a pen, a ring and a balloon...

The performer begins in front of his audience. Three chairs are set up behind him, labelled 1, 2 and 3. To the side, a balloon sits in a translucent vase.

The performer speaks about the town in which he used to live as a child. He displays a small ring and explains that it was given to him when he moved away as a memento of his childhood memories.

He then walks into the audience, and one by one, picks out three audience members to assist him. Each one is, in turn, asked to sit in one of three chairs that have been set up, numbered from one to three. Since the third person does not have a choice of seating, they are given the opportunity to switch seats with either of the other two participants.

The first participant is given the performer's ring, and is asked to either hold onto the ring, or to distribute it to either of the other two spectators while the performer's back is turned. That spectator is asked to hide the ring in one of their fists. Each of the three spectators is then asked to hold out both fists, before the performer turns back around.

The performer asks where each of the participants is from. As they answer, he opens one of the fists. No ring. Ideally, they will be from diverse backgrounds. He asks if they know the feeling of familiarity when they arrive home after a long absence - the rush of memories, the nostalgia, and the attachment. He opens another fist. No ring. He notes that people often have a connection with their hometown. A third fist is opened. He even mentions that his mother seems to have the uncanny ability to feel when certain close relatives are nearby. A fourth fist is opened. No ring.

Finally two fists remain, one of which holds the ring. The performer correctly divines the fist with the ring in it.

The performer invites the two participants who do not have the ring to return to their seats. Before the final participant is released, the performer notes the balloon in the vase. He pulls the balloon out of the vase, and the audience sees that there is a piece of string attached to the balloon. Attached to the bottom of the piece of string is a small rolled up piece of paper. The final participant is asked to remove it and read it out loud. The note correctly identifies the seat that that participant had been sitting in, and concludes with, "Don't think about it too much. Stay young".

Finally, the performer removes a marker from his pocket, and writes on the balloon, "Stay young". The balloon is given to the final participant with thanks and they return to their seat.
 
Aug 1, 2009
136
0
Praetoritevons:
Before I start I want to say thank you for watching and I have the up-most respect for you. I'm saying all I am saying out of wanting to make myself better as a performer and to better understand magic as well, and to also understand where you're coming from. I mean no dis-respect in any of this at all. Please know that.

I appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration. I agree with your points about my piece(Except the only reason I narrated it was because its to a camera and I want the people in Internet land to be able to understand if they can't see it) Also, how can I prove anymore the ring being in the balloon? You can hear it, see it, feel it, and also hear it when you take the ring out of the balloon yourself. So I would just like you to elabborate on that so I can make this piece better. I also completely agree with Portillos as well.

But at magicmans I disagree some. I agree with the creepy thing. I noticed that and automatically was turned off to whatever he was doing. Although, he was creative in what he did, I do not think a audience would connect with that. Blank cards and words disappearing? People already think gimmicky or just fake. But unlike my effect which was with real everyday objects and used a borrowed ring which someone already has invested personally in the effect because it's THEIR ring. They will care about what your doing. Unlike magicmans where why would people care you wrote stuff down on cards?.... They wouldn't. Overall his might be more creative but as for more practical and stronger for REAL people. I would have to go with mine. Also, I think performing wise, people want someone just wanting to have fun and allow the spectator to experience a "magic" feeling and have fun doing so. Its not about the performer but about the spectators experience. In magicmans I got the feeling that it was more "O, watch what I can do" and that just turns people off and it wouldn't matter how creative or awesome a effect is. If your not able to connect and personally involve someone than why should they care? And I can promise you they wont. Also, no patter was really used and no spectators were used either to gauge the effect. Overall, I just felt it was weak, impractical, and kinda creepy. Yes it was creative, but not a strong hitter and it could not be used for REAL people in my opinion.

Thank you once again for your time and I really do think this will help all of us a lot!
I would love to see you performing this piece you described! Sounds like a very neat effect
 
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