Anybody else dislike gimmicks?

timsilva

Elite Member
Nov 18, 2007
404
43
California
timsilva.com
Good topic :)

I am on the fence with this one. To be honest though, I say use em' if they work well with your style! Personally, I only use a few gimmicks, and over 90% of my performances are done with ordinary objects & cards. I would never close myself off to gimmicks or tools because of how powerful and visual they can be, but I definitely enjoy the feeling of finishing up a performance with people speechless across the board knowing full well that I only used a standard deck of bycicles and maybe some coins that people had on them.

One thing to remember though, it does not matter how you deal with the ethics about your magic, it is all about how it all translates to your audience. I should clarify what I mean in the last sentence by the way :p I mean, if you don't like to use invisible decks because you feel like you are deceiving people, then I really think you should analyze what magic is all about. Don't worry about the guilt or annoyances of using gimmicks, if people around you are having fun, and you are having fun, and if you are willing to practice enough to become comfortable with gimmicks, then there is no reason not to use them ;)

But now, it's time to play devil's advocate (because I stated that I was on the fence about this...) I know a handful of gimmicks that I try not to use too much because of how strange it makes me feel. One of the first tricks I learned was the coin vanish with The Raven. Even now, after perfecting the effect, I still don't like to do it. The only reason I ever perform it is because of the feeling it gave me when I first saw it performed, knowing how it is done is enough reason to want to pass on the brilliant effect to anyone who would appreciate it. Even with that mindset, I still simply do not like using it. I can say that about many gimmicks as well. Some "guilt" is difficult to get rid of, different gimmicks have different levels of intensity. As for the invisible deck... I will use that anyday :D

peace
-Tim
 
Oct 28, 2007
453
0
Sydney Australia
But now, it's time to play devil's advocate (because I stated that I was on the fence about this...) I know a handful of gimmicks that I try not to use too much because of how strange it makes me feel. One of the first tricks I learned was the coin vanish with The Raven. Even now, after perfecting the effect, I still don't like to do it. The only reason I ever perform it is because of the feeling it gave me when I first saw it performed, knowing how it is done is enough reason to want to pass on the brilliant effect to anyone who would appreciate it. Even with that mindset, I still simply do not like using it. I can say that about many gimmicks as well. Some "guilt" is difficult to get rid of, different gimmicks have different levels of intensity. As for the invisible deck... I will use that anyday :D

peace
-Tim

Couldn't have been said better!
Personally I do not perform with gimmicks, but I do highly respect those who can handle gimmicks and maximize peoples reactions.
I don't perform with gimmicks because I get self satisfaction, knowing how I can walk into a room, and do amazing things with regular objects eg cards/ coins.

However nothing annoys me more than some inexperienced magician, who bought a gaff deck, performing a trick poorly laking patter, and yet getting better reactions than someone who uses pure sleight of hand, and works up the crowd.
 
Sep 1, 2007
3,786
15
However nothing annoys me more than some inexperienced magician, who bought a gaff deck, performing a trick poorly laking patter, and yet getting better reactions than someone who uses pure sleight of hand, and works up the crowd.

I think you're looking at the situation the wrong way.

If a professional can't get better reactions than an amateur, there's something wrong with the situation and the first issue I would address is whether or not he's connecting with the audience.
 
Dec 5, 2007
376
0
However nothing annoys me more than some inexperienced magician, who bought a gaff deck, performing a trick poorly laking patter, and yet getting better reactions than someone who uses pure sleight of hand, and works up the crowd.

Maybe he didn't lack patter and maybe he did a great performance? Its quit hard for an artist to judge another performance becaus we have our own ideas what we think is right or wrong or good or bad.

If you get a good reaction your doing something right even if you think he didnt do it well.
 
Dec 4, 2007
1,074
2
www.thrallmind.com
Couldn't have been said better!
Personally I do not perform with gimmicks, but I do highly respect those who can handle gimmicks and maximize peoples reactions.
I don't perform with gimmicks because I get self satisfaction, knowing how I can walk into a room, and do amazing things with regular objects eg cards/ coins.

Just curious, do you carry a deck around with you?

-ThrallMind
 
Nov 29, 2007
46
0
33
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
Well first of all, I like gimmicks, they make a good opener or closer, so people can really remember you.
Second, I do make my own, so I get more pleasure out of performing it.
Third, if some of you guys stop to think about it... With you'r MAD SKILLS and AMAZING PATTER, don't you think you could put the potential amazement output of you'r routine to the maximum?

Just some of my thoughts.
 
Dec 28, 2007
325
0
31
Finland
Some said that they like to be able to perform impromtu. This is irrelevant.

Using gimmicks doesn't mean relying only to gimmicks. I use some gimmicks, but I also do impromtu stuff, relying on "pure" sleight of hand, and some impromtu stuff not relying sleight of hand.
 
Oct 31, 2007
57
0
35
I like gimmicks somewhat... I usually just carry around a regular deck with nothing special in it. There are some gimmicked effects that are actually pretty amazing though. I think about it this way, it is alway nice to have a self working trick in my routine every now and then because it allows me to kinda sit back and develop my patter with the audience. I find that if I'm constantly doing tricks that take extreme concentration and skill, my patter suffers considerably. Even though gimmicks can seem cheap to a magician that puts all the work into sleight of hand, they have their place and I don't think magic would be the same without some of the effects and their gimmicks that have been dreamed up.

Orin10
 
Mar 3, 2008
431
7
Sweden
I use gimmick if the gimmick looks normal. For example, the audieence dosen't know about the gimmcik in the invisible deck, but if you use some strange looking thing and begin to float it for example they maybe think theres something funny :)
 
Oct 12, 2007
546
0
Orlando Fl
Your friend made you look second-best, doesn't that tell you something, method doesn't matter what matters is the reactions, and if you can get better reactions with gimmicks then go for it, I get awesome reactions with the Inv Deck and I learned Prophet not a long time ago and performed it yesterday and it was awesome at first, but then there wasn't enough lighting to see "something" and I had to drag it out and not change 20s back to 1s which kind of ruined it, but the gimmick worked great, and I got an amazing reaction.
 
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