What does absolute silence as reaction to a trick mean?

[The VIP Gentleman]

I just learned Midas Touch, which I performed at a family gathering.

When I did the first touch, people started audibly gasping and laughing a bit, but when I was done, there was complete silence. People where just staring at me and the participant.

When the participant learned that I had never touched her, and that I had never been near her at all, she flipped out, and everyone else started laughing.

So I’m wondering. Is complete silence a good sign? Like, people are so amazed that they have no words?

 

[RealityOne]

Typically silence indicates the audience doesn't know how to react or doesn't understand what happened.

PK Touches (Midas Touch is Peter Turner's version) can be presented different ways. Often, it is viewed as a "trick" (like paper balls over the head) where the audience is in on part of it. It can also be presented as something very powerful (Walt Alexander's Lettie's Feather presentation which is about a mother and son taken to a Nazi death camp) or emotional (being done between two good friends or sisters). Much of how it is perceived is what goes before it or after it. If you just finished a card trick, it will be perceived as another trick. If you just did a Q&A routine, it would be perceived as something more (what it is is up to you).

My sense is that you didn't give the audience enough information within your presentation for them to understand the meaning of the effect. This is one effect that cannot speak for itself... you have to tell the audience what it means.

 

[The VIP Gentleman]

I'm not sure that's it.

They all told her (the participant) exactly what I had done afterwards, and the fact that I touched someone else.

Afterwards, the reactions were pretty good. They all thought it was amazing. There was just those 4 seconds of silence.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

"They don't know how to react" also covers ... well, just not knowing how to react to what they are seeing.

It's not uncommon for me to get dead silence after a phase of a routine. Depending on the situation I will let that fester, or I may make a comment that they are being dead silent. Depends on the reaction I am after.

 

[obrienmagic]

"They don't know how to react" also covers ... well, just not knowing how to react to what they are seeing.

It's not uncommon for me to get dead silence after a phase of a routine. Depending on the situation I will let that fester, or I may make a comment that they are being dead silent. Depends on the reaction I am after.

I agree. Sometimes it is best to let them be silent for a few seconds and truly process what just happened. A lot of us are scared of silence and try to run through it. If the effect is powerful enough then silence may be the appropriate response.

It depends though. The routine may not have a difinitve punchline so they may not k kw they should be reacting at that point. If that makes sense. Depends on the situation and structure of the routine. If you can get this on video it will help us pinpoint the exact timing and when/ where you should adjust if at all or to see if the silence reaction is the best one. In some cases it is.

 

[Josh Burch]

"They don't know how to react" also covers ... well, just not knowing how to react to what they are seeing.

It's not uncommon for me to get dead silence after a phase of a routine. Depending on the situation I will let that fester, or I may make a comment that they are being dead silent. Depends on the reaction I am after.

I agree with this. I would add you should know what type of reaction you are going for. This takes time. Just like a DJ might chose a song that they want the crowd to dance to, you should be able to control the tone of the piece so that you can elicit the right reaction.

There are types of silence though and not all are equal.

Awkward silence could mean that they are not aware that the effect has finished. It could also mean that they didn't understand what has happened. It could also be that they weren't impressed or just didn't like it.

With PK touches it is very possible that they didn't realize what had happened or that the trick had ended. Many PK touch routines lack real punctuation at the end. It's a challenge to bring it to a successful conclusion and stopping it from fizzling out.

Tense silence is more positive, but could be negative. It could be that the audience is anticipating something amazing, or painful. They are worried about something or that they are scared that it will end incorrectly. They could also be shocked and stunned.

The silence could also be contemplative. They could be thinking, reflecting or dissecting the routine. They could also be distracted.

Silence could be positive or negative, it's difficult to say what you experienced in your performance without being there.

 

[RealityOne]

This brings up an important topic — how to guide your audience’s reactions.

The first part is clarity of effect. I like to have the audience realize what is about to happen just before it does happen, have a moment to think about the impossibility and then to see the impossible actually happen. This isn’t possible with all effects and doesn’t work well with multiphase effects. Ultimately, the audience should be able to describe the effect in a sentence.

The second part is the building of tension. This is the process through which you lead the audience to understand what the effect is and how it is impossible. The direct way of asking “wouldn’t it be impossible if...?” is not that effective. The better way is to get the audience to ask, “ wouldn’t it be cool if... and then dismiss that idea because it is impossible. You do this through presentation.

The third part is a clear release of tension. The audience needs to know that the effect is over. For some effects it is easy and the audience will react by yelling OMG!, turning away in disbelief or just smiling. For other effects, there is contemplative silence. For multi phase effects you need to convey that you have completed the last phase (and hopefully is is distinct enough and more impossible than the prior phases).

The fourth step is more for parlor and stage performances and that is to give an applause cue. As strange as it sounds, most audiences need to be taught to applaud for magic. If you are using music, the stopping of the music is a cue. A bow by the performer or the performer standing still can be cues. And yeah, sometimes you have to prime the audience or ask for applause (it is a little less obvious if you ask in behalf of the people helping you out as volunteers).

In a PK Touches routine, you should confirm with the formerly blindfolded person that they felt you touch them three or four times and where the felt the touch. Then ask the other person where you touched them. Then explain that there is a secret that the formerly blindfolded person needs to know. “The touches you felt weren’t physical, maybe they were imaginary, maybe they were emotional or maybe they were psychological, do you know why I’m saying that?” Then turn to the other person and ask “how many times did I actually touch [insert name of formerly blindfolded person]?” As they answer “none” pause and look at the formerly blindfolded person to see their reaction. If you look the audience will look and vicariously share the formerly blindfolded persons reaction. After a moment (you want to retain control and not make it uncomfortable), say “I’m going to ask [non-blindfolded person] to escort [blindfolded person] back to her seat and I’m going to ask all of you to give these amazing people a big round of applause.”