Anybody else dislike gimmicks?

Dec 5, 2007
376
0
Why does it matter if it does all the work for you? Magic is not about showing your skills its about entertaining.

I will go even further and say it needs more skill as a good performer and magician to use gimmicks then sleight of hand. Its hard to get away with using gimmicks without people wanting them to cheek them out and not to flash and get questioned about them.
 
Sep 4, 2007
1,251
0
30
Antioch,CA
I don't like em because you might get caught. Like my Coin bite, my friend was behind me and he was smiling and I was like *****

The ONLY gimmicks I use now are stoff from FOUR, double backers, STS, and EZ money.
 
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Sep 1, 2007
648
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30
Canada
The only reason I never use gimmicks is because I'm to lazy to make them work correctly. I would rather just stick with my trusty deck of cards and keep practicing the sleights I know well, until they get better and better.
 
Sep 1, 2007
3,786
15
I dis like gimmicks because You have to bring them into play and also takes space from your pocket. I think gimmicks just make you lazy because you barely have to practice for them i am not trying to say anything bad for you gimmick users but people who do impromtu magic definately work much more harder i think.

I call bullcrap. Do you know how much time in an average week I spend practicing with my thumbtip?

This exemplifies a theory I've been working at that seems to be a universal constant among artists. We all go through a series of phases in our development toward mastery of our art and skills.

1. The beginning. We start with the promises of easy results and instant gratification, usually going with what we believe will make the biggest splash. Guitarists play nothing but pop singles, filmmakers screw around with special effects endlessly, and magicians rely almost entirely on gimmicks.

2. The first plateau. We begin to see the amateurish mistakes we were making and usually feel a little embarassed. We now have more life experiences to talk about. In our effort to distance ourselves from our past mistakes, we go to the opposite extreme. In the case of magicians, we become sleight of hand purists.

3. The plateau to mastery. Eventually, we hit a brick wall and don't seem to improve at all. After much frustration, we finally come to embrace our past and present and incorporate a seemless whole of the techniques learned in our early days and the more advanced material we used more recently. A magician at this level deftly uses the most basic and elementary gimmick with the same style, aplomb, and ease as he does the most cunning knucklebusting sleights.
 
I like gimmicks but I don't like the self-working ones. I like the hybrid tricks. The ones that use slight of hand and gimmicks to make a perfect trick.

i agree 100% i like gimmicks like prophet, because even though there's a gimmick, you have to practice a lot, because it's not self-working. I don't like gimmicks like the raven (i have it, i've never publically performed it) because they are self-working
 
Dec 4, 2007
1,074
2
www.thrallmind.com
I dis like gimmicks because You have to bring them into play and also takes space from your pocket. I think gimmicks just make you lazy because you barely have to practice for them i am not trying to say anything bad for you gimmick users but people who do impromtu magic definately work much more harder i think.

I LOVE my thumb tip. The amount of work that goes into the misdirection of it alone can be considered the same amount of work that purists spend getting that one sleight just right. I forgot which, but did you know one of our founding fathers of magic dipped his thumb tip in black paint and would perform that way? Imagine the amount of time he spent so no one would see his thumb through an entire performance!

Secondly, as has also been said, gimmicks do not make you lazy. Here's how I look at it, because this is what's been irritating me recently about new magicians. The whole point of magic is to amaze audiences. Not to fool other magicians. Not to be able to pull of a knuckle busting sleight so you will be looked at as elite. It's to, if even for a short few minutes, allow someone to enjoy that moment. How you go about achieving this is irrelevant!

Gimmicks, while also making your magic look like actual magic, also have the added bonus of allowing you to work on patter and performance more, since your time doesn't have to be on getting the finger placement just right and pulling off a certain move invisibly. I've gotten some of the best reactions from my bubble trick (blow bubbles, then grab one out of the air, solidifying it) then from almost any other effect in my repertoire.

Remember, sleights are meant to be invisible. Gimmicks are also meant to be invisible. The audience will never know the difference if you do either correctly. However, it doesn't matter if you actually pulled off a sleight, it wont stop the audience from thinking you used a gimmick. Once the audience thinks of a way the effect can be done, it doesn't matter if its correct, thats the way it's done to them.

Just my really large bowl of .02

-ThrallMind
 
Aug 31, 2007
238
0
This is why I love flourishes, actually takes skill. :)

But I think the audience can tell when a gimmick is being used. Everytime I use a gimmick they ask to see the deck, but that has never happened doing card in hand or stigmata. Just thought it deserved a mention

Its all in how you handle the gimmick if you hold the gimmicked, card, coin, ect.
like there is somthing to hide, your spectators will realize that somthing is up, "don't run it your not being chased".
And also just becuse you can do some sleight is extremely difficult to pull off doesn't mean it will impress your spectator.
 
If you don't use gimmicks, you're limiting yourself. It all looks the same to the spectator (when done properly), but gimmicks allow you to do things even more mind-blowing and impossible than with sleight of hand alone - things that truly make the spectator question reality. When used wisely and sparingly, they can bring your magic to an entirely new level.
 
Sep 1, 2007
378
0
UK
Gimmicks aren't just there to make things easier, they are there to make things possible that might not be otherwise. A lot of the time, gimmicks can even make things harder, so I don't think it's fair to say that gimmicks should be avoided because they require no skill. It seems to me a lot of the time that people use this as an excuse to avoid gimmicks because they'd rather stick to their basic sleight of hand and call it skill, rather than becoming skilled enough to correctly use a gimmick.

Also, gimmicks vary so much in shape, size, mechanism and practicality in so many ways. There is no absolute definition of what a gimmick is, it could be anything, so I don't see how anybody can say they dislike all gimmicks.

For me, whether an effect is gimmicked or not really makes no difference at all. Sometimes gimmicks can be impractical, yes, but you could say the same for certain sleights. You need to weigh up the practicality with the strength of the effect, and the extent of the reactions you are able to achieve with it.

Huruey
 
Dec 14, 2007
817
2
Have not read the whole thread, but wanted to throwthis out here:

Should it matter what "WE" like? Shouldn't we really be focussed on doing whatever it takes to provide the most magical experience for our audiences?

Brad Henderson
 
Sep 17, 2007
84
1
This is very true. However, I think we must realize that there are many people posting here who don't actually perform for people. It's actually pretty obvious if you read between the lines. A lot of guys just do card tricks simply to entertain themselves. They just like practicing moves. There's nothing wrong with that. I just wish more people would admit it and stop claiming that they are out there performing magic for other humans.
 
Jan 11, 2008
216
0
New york
I don't know why, but ever sinse I started magic, I have hated gimmicks and never use them. Don't get me wrong, I fully respect magicians who use them and some of them are just ingenious. But I have a friend who uses nothing but gimmicked cards (svengali, Invisible) and I always stick to normal cards. But we are at a school and he made me look second best (until I realised he had no presentation). But anyway, anybody agree? Feel free to criticize the hell out of me too.

I bet it ate you up so bad inside you even told someone behind his back in that group "Yea but he uses a fake deck". Im right thats what you did ,you just could not take the fact that this "friend" is stealing your spot light with "NO real skill"tricks with a poor presentation.... right? your a heckler Tumbleweed arnt you? you told someone he uses a trick deck and you on the other hand dont need to. your a Heckler of the worst kind.
 
Jan 11, 2008
216
0
New york
bahahaa... no I'm not. Though I'm not sure if you're serious or not. Don't worry, he stopped performing long ago... yeah he's one of those guys who gets "sick of it". BLEH

I dont even know you Tumble my friend ,I wasnt serious.

I love my fales shuffles
I love me forces (all 3)
I love my top change
I love my "In a Flash "by Jay Sankey. http://www.sankeymagic.com/detail.aspx?ID=48025

Im out to blow minds I dont care how I do it,but if you can find a slight of hand only version of this i love to see it. Its a great way to "Destroy" your cards so logically you have to go right into coins or whatever you do next.
 
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