Ideas of effects that are relatable to daily routine

[Brian L.]

Hi all,

I'm currently putting together ideas for a video I will be doing. In short, it will be a short of a magician going through their daily routine. He/she comes across situations in their daily routine that he/she solves naturally by magic. Such as if his/her shoelaces were untied, instead of bending over, he/she would perform STS & be on their way.

I have a couple but I seem to have hit a writers block as I can't really come up with anymore than what I already have. (e.g. Dresscode, Coffee to Coins, etc)

Can anyone suggest any effects that would be relatable to a daily routine such as the effects above? It would be extremely helpful.

Thanks,
brian.

 

[CAndrew]

Instant Radio?

 

[RickEverhart]

Going to pay for something and running short on money. Extreme Burn.

 

[~Illogical_Illusionist~]

^^ . . . . Then when they give u the receipt, do a quick vanish to get rid of it.

 

[greenstickman]

^^ . . . . Then when they give u the receipt, do a quick vanish to get rid of it.

or you could like tear up the receipt and be like, "I don't need this." and be like, "Oh, wait yes I do." and restore the receipt and then vanish it.

 

[~Illogical_Illusionist~]

Good one.

Another idea is get an empty can laying around then do the healed and sealed can for a quick drink

 

[Steerpike]

Sweet Satan, this is hard to read. This all sounds predictably contrived. Why vanish the receipt when you have pockets? Why tear up the receipt only to restore it? Come on, you couldn't have taken 2 seconds of thought to just saying, "Yeah, I should probably hold onto this."? And who tears up their receipts on the spot in the first place? I've worked in retail. Nobody does that! It's just showing off.

Here's the gist of it. There is a word in German that does not have a proper English analog: backpfeifengesicht. It roughly means a face that needs to be slapped. The kind of person who every time they open their mouth, you just want to slap the bejeezus out of them for being so socially clueless and irritating. Whenever I see magicians trying to come up with convoluted, nonsensical excuses to justify showing off some entirely irrelevant effect while trying to make it appear natural and motivated, backpfeifengesicht is the first word that leaps to my mind.

Moving on, this concept was done before by Alexander Herrmann. He never broke character and had a penchant for practical jokes. Do some research on his life and career. You can find info in The Illustrated History of Magic and some other tidbits in Hiding the Elephant.

So far, Instant Radio is the only reasonable suggestion. Why carry an iPod or Zoon when you can just turn anything you want into a music player? That one has a real motivation that doesn't require some half-assed nonsense for a setup. Forget Extreme Burn while you're at it. Just use your favorite palm and production for the cash. Boom! Simple. Done.

As an aside, Geoff Williams already has an effect out that's basically the same thing as Instant Radio called Everything's a Radio. I don't know if the method is the same, but I picked up Geoff's version on the Miracles for Mortals DVD, volume 2. Volume 1 uses the same principle to create an effect where you use a drawing of an electric outlet as an actual outlet. If you're interested in comparing methods and presentations, I advise you to look into those DVDs.

You don't need to buy a lot of extra crap to make this work though. Cyril may be using variations on classic magical principles to achieve many of his illusions, but that's just it. They're variations on things we already know. It's how you dress it up that counts.

 

[Ssnshyn]

go onto the bus or something, and you only have a 5 dollar bill. ball it up into your right hand and magically make change

if you can throw cards decently, you should be walking towards a door that is always locked, asking someone to hold it for you, but they dont hear you, so you just throw a card (camera cuts, and then continues as a close up shot of the door) in between the door and the door frame (door still closes, but when you get closer, the audience realizes that you got the card RIGHT beside the doorknob so that the latch didnt close)

sitting at a coffee shop, drinking a coffee or whatever, but dont feel like finishing it, just put some newspaper over it, and then crush it, bam, cups gone.

on your way home you go to get onto the bus again ,but you cant find your transfer, so you just "produce" one. OOOORR, but driver tells you its expired, just do a quick colour change, voila, new one, valid.

if your young, and you are still in school, you could be playing with a single playing card, and have a teacher yell at you, make it vanish, and then when she turns around pull it out of your shoe

(if you dont already have extreme burn, get prophet, because having a multiple bill change in your video is a MUST)

if i think of anything else i will let you know