Thoughts on Social Media Magic?

[TylerMakabe]

I noticed there are countless magic tricks, and cardistry flourishes on instagram specifically. Most of the time, people perform tricks such as the acme hole and tricks from Shin Lim/Patrick Kun, etc.
But do you guys feel that performing "original" magic that no one has seen yet will make more people interested in your magic rather than performing flashy tricks that a lot of people have already seen even though they are amazing tricks?

 

[ProAma]

For those serious about the craft it is good for branding and marketing yourself. For those that don't seek to further themselves to something more serious then it's just for fun (sadly those who believe they will just be popular do it to hoard views lol. This does not determine value.)

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

It's a tool. Used well it can be good for branding and advertising. Used poorly it does less than nothing for you, and once it's posted online it's pretty much out there forever. Most people use it poorly.

A lot of folks think it's amazing and it's the next medium to focus on. I disagree. It's a valid avenue, but it's just as hard (if not harder) to get well known on social media. Also, while technology helps a lot if used well, it's not necessary for a performance career. There are some pretty successful magicians that don't do much online. They just advertise through word of mouth (which is the best advertising there is in my opinion)

 

[TylerMakabe]

Right, I completely agree w/ both of you.
Although, I do feel like YouTube has the most potential in making anyone more well-known not just magic.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I don't know. I've seen people build a career out of several different social media hubs. I personally think Instagram and YT are the two big ones right now, but that could change at any time.

The important thing is being able to leverage followers into a real fan base. Hannah Hart is the best example I know of this - she started with My Drunk Kitchen and kept developing new projects. She truly started at the bottom and built herself up and is now worth about 2 million.

 

[William Draven]

Sure. Buy anything from Sans Minds. Most of their stuff looks great on camera, and doesn't really hold up in real life.

 

[JPS]

The beauty of our craft is how little most audiences understand it.
Not in the sense of knowing how to do a trick, but really what they are. They make assumptions like "Ohh its a trick card" but they dont really know about "Gimmicks". I saw a really interesting instagram post which depicted a layman and a magician. On the layman side it said "Show me a magic trick", on the magician side it listed "ACAAN, ACR, CTP, Out of this world, Haunted deck. Ect" it went on. My point is "Magic" is just one concept to people, they dont look at it in pieces like we do. Thus, doing amazing tricks on instagram regardless of how practical they are in real life can help greatly with ones career and reputation. Its all about the follow up, can someone walk up to you and say "Hey, i saw your trick on instagram and it was really cool, can you show me that?", often times you'll say "No, but let me show you something better".

Your real question seemed to be about originality but for lay people? Who really gives a s***. They dont know Patrick Kun, probably not Shin lim, or Daniel Ramsay. Being original is mostly for creators releasing products on an open market so they dont get spat at by the community, but you audience wont notice or wont care if you're performing Shin's dream act. They probably dont know who he is.

 

[Bryson G.]

I do a lot of magic on my personal Instagram. It's not for exposure or branding (the account was private until recently), but just because my friends say they enjoy it. I do a video every Monday. Because it's just for fun, I can be as creative as I want with the method or presentation, without a lot of pressure to appear very professional. Not only does making these videos allow me to flex my creative muscles, but I'm able to get really good feedback about what I perform, which is pretty valuable to me. If I ever want to use the tricks in the videos at a gig or in a professional show reel, I'll know which ones fool people and which ones don't.

As for a lot of magicians performing the same tricks on social media, I don't see that as a problem. As a magician, I follow a lot of other magicians, so I'm bound to see the same trick a couple of times. Laymen, however, probably only follow one, maybe two magicians on social media, so I doubt they would see the same trick twice. Also, laymen would probably not even remember if they saw the same trick, because they wouldn't recognize the trick by name from seeing it on magic websites.

Finally, I'd say that a lot of magicians think it is easier to become well-known on social media than it actually is, and that, I think, is due to the availability heuristic. Rodney, a magician himself, might be able to think of quite a few magicians with big followings on Instagram or Youtube, so he believes that it's easy to become popular on social media. Rodney isn't basing that belief on a true representation of magicians on social media, however, because for every magician with a lot of followers that he sees, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of magicians with very few followers that he doesn't see. Rodney simply doesn't see these magicians without a lot of followers because, well, they don't have a lot of followers, and so they have no exposure. The big magicians on social media, however, are very easy to see because of their large follower base. This means that Rodney sees lots of "successes" that have made it big on social media, but doesn't see any of the "failures." I think a lot of young magicians are like, so they are a little too optimistic that they can easily make it big on social media, and don't realize all the hard work, and luck, that it takes.

 

[Josh Burch]

I love to watch it.

I have shared some of my own original magic but it has always just been to share quick ideas, it has never been to create a brand.

I've said before that I help Rick Lax with his videos on Facebook. Personally I enjoy his videos, I know that there are many who think that he is doing magic a disservice.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I wouldn't say he's doing a disservice. I would say that his videos are very uninteresting to me and due to something that went down a while back I have stopped watching anything he's done.

But the style of video he does is very popular these days. As in, "here's a ridiculous premise, here's a trick, LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE GUYZ". Totally lacking theater, drama, or story. It's the online video version of Blaine style street magic. Guerrilla Videos.

Maybe he's different live, I don't know. I think those hundred day, or a trick-a-day-for-a-year challenges end up resulting in very repetitive magic. There's just not enough time to truly master that many tricks, and pressed for time they end up releasing the same tricks with different objects, or whatever.

I like to see videos that have a sense of theatricality to them, instead of either a framed shot of yourself in Starbucks, or a deck of cards with your crotch as the background, or quick cut clips of guerrilla magic. I hope to be able to do some videos like this myself in the near future.

 

[RickEverhart]

Personally I'd much rather watch someone's "live" performance out on the streets getting real reactions - Not just a trick on FB, Instagram, youtube for followers to like and subscribe to. Just my personal feelings. Everyone enjoys their own thing.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I have seen some pretty amazing YT videos of performances. One I'm thinking of, but will probably never be able to remember the name of the performer unfortunately, was amazing. I remember it being a mind reading effect where the gentleman was seated across a small table from a lady. He created a whole experience for her, it was very intimate feeling, and well recorded (As in he had a camera crew, but this was amateur, not for a TV show or anything). It was at least as good as anything Derren has done on his TV shows.

I like seeing things like that. The street performances usually bored me as they are so repetitive. So many people doing basically the same routines.

 

[Dean Magic]

I have seen some pretty amazing YT videos of performances. One I'm thinking of, but will probably never be able to remember the name of the performer unfortunately, was amazing. I remember it being a mind reading effect where the gentleman was seated across a small table from a lady. He created a whole experience for her, it was very intimate feeling, and well recorded (As in he had a camera crew, but this was amateur, not for a TV show or anything). It was at least as good as anything Derren has done on his TV shows.

I like seeing things like that. The street performances usually bored me as they are so repetitive. So many people doing basically the same routines.

Is the magician you're thinking of Ollie Mealing?

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

No, he was German I think.

 

[Josh Burch]

No, he was German I think.

Was it Bosco Mind?

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Uhm, no. This looks like street performances mostly. The video I am referring to was indoors, in like a personal library. It was more bizarre styled, too. I can't recall if I was linked to it from the bizarre magic, urban shaman, or hypnotist FB groups I am in, or if it was the Cafe or what. Probably won't ever locate it again, as the gent in question didn't post many videos.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Holy crapola I found it.

Note - I have not watched anything else this guy has done. I just remember liking this video a lot (I don't even have time to watch it again now, have to go get ingredients for dinner)

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Sorry for starting to kind of monopolize this thread, but now that the curry is simmering I have been able to watch it again.

So, so good.

Look at her reactions. Look at his characterization. Look at his complete and utter control of the situation. Look how happy she is, despite the fact that half of it is him challenging her directly and her failing. She's amazed at what's happening.

Also, I haven't seen this in at least a year and a half. I have learned so much since then. My original thoughts of how this was done were (probably) SO off base it's incredible. Having dug myself further and further down the rabbit holes I am fascinated with, I have such a different understanding of what's going on in this video.

This is, in my opinion, what mystery performers should be striving for. This is magic.

Anyone who says "magic isn't real" needs to experience something like this.

 

[TylerScottIllusionist]

I've said before that I help Rick Lax with his videos on Facebook. Personally I enjoy his videos, I know that there are many who think that he is doing magic a disservice.

For the Rick Lax video haters you encounter just direct them to Scott Alexander's "Rick Lax" music video! I got that stuck in my head currently.

 

[Josh Burch]

For the Rick Lax video haters you encounter just direct them to Scott Alexander's "Rick Lax" music video! I got that stuck in my head currently.

I loved that song! I get where some of the hate comes from. It gets obnoxious, and it's not the highest form of magic. The likes and shares are annoying. Those things never bothered me in the first place and my relationship with Rick has been very positive.