any feedback on how I'm doing please......??

formula

Elite Member
Jan 8, 2010
968
5
It's obvious you're new to it by the way you handle the cards but it all looks good to me after only a week. I suggest you learn a proper technique for the double lift though. My only problem is posting videos like that on youtube for everyone to see, in my opinion public practice videos like this are not good for magic.
 
Feb 4, 2008
959
3
Pretty blocky at this point. Too much tension in all your moves. That said.....you have been practicing a week. Don't worry about it for now. You just need to get the feel for the deck. Eventually you will get to the point where you have to stop and think for a bit "Okay so my false shuffle is looking pretty good but....how do I shuffle for real?...huh...I forgot?"
 
Nov 30, 2008
249
1
31
Ann Arbor, MI
Hi, I started learning properly about a week or so ago, after I was given the recommendation of a couple of books.

I've been practising this week, just wondered if I could get some feed back on how I'm doing and if I'm doing anything really wrong.

Cheers guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyujYnaozM

Brendan,

Looks like you've got a good start! The foundation is there, things just need to be refined.

With the classic color change, if you haven't yet go check out this. It's Jonathan Bayme teaching the change and it's completely free. He gives a lot of good advice on how to make the classic color change look the best it can. It'll say this in the video, but make sure you never completely cover the face of the card; that's extremely important. You always want the spectator to be able to see some/most of the face.

As for your pass, you did pretty well for how long you've been practicing. Passes are hard to judge over a webcam though. The move is much harder to hide when people are staring at your hands watching for it. As long as you can keep those angles when performing in front of people you should be set. One thing that doesn't just pertain to the pass but most of your video... try not to move your body/torso around as much. I did the same exact thing when I started, my entire body moved along with my pass as if it was trying to help hide the action. Doing that only makes it more obvious something is happening. Practice just doing the pass slowly and calmly while keeping your body naturally still.

Practice the flourish slowly as well. Again you're on your way, but you want to have smoothness before speed. Make sure you can do it slowly over and over without any hiccups and the speed will come much easier. A slower, smooth, controlled flourish looks 100 times better than a fast, uneven, jerky one.

Lastly, the double lift looked.... odd. I could see you pulling up the cards in the back to get a break, and for some reason the way you held it up seems unnatural. But then again I don't know how you regularly turn a card over. Pick up a deck and turn the top card over as if you were showing it to someone; your double should match that as closely as possible. If you turn a single over one way and a double a completely different way your spectators will notice something is different. They may not come to the conclusion that you have two cards but it will seem off.

Keep practicing! You're well on your way. Keep at it for a few more weeks or a month and show us how much you've improved.
One last thing, loosen up too! When you handle cards it should feel natural; just grip them comfortably. When you squeeze or hold on to the cards harshly a spectator can see the tension, plus a light grip makes most moves easier.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sep 16, 2011
57
0
Leeds, UK
Pretty blocky at this point. Too much tension in all your moves. That said.....you have been practicing a week. Don't worry about it for now. You just need to get the feel for the deck. Eventually you will get to the point where you have to stop and think for a bit "Okay so my false shuffle is looking pretty good but....how do I shuffle for real?...huh...I forgot?"

Yeah, I still struggle with proper shuffling, but I'm working on it.
 

formula

Elite Member
Jan 8, 2010
968
5
No need to remove videos you want to share just make them unlisted so all of us can still watch and give you feedback but your videos won't turn up in random searches.
 
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results