For my English GCSE...

[Sam Hardy]

For a part of my English GCSE, we have to do a presentation on something. Anything. Preferably "something you know a lot about, which no-one else will do." Of course, it's obvious what I'm going to do - magic.

The talk has to last for 15 - 20 minutes and can include visual aids (videos, pictures etc.)

I was thinking I'd start off with the history of magic and then slowly build up to how it is today. Mentioning, of course, cardistry and flourishing, other branches of magic, magic in the media (David Blaine's in the media a lot, I'm also going to include the Blackjack advert that was done based on flourishing, and a friend of mine said he saw a Dizzee Rascal video with a guy standing against a wall also doing cardistry. I have that clip downloaded too).

I was thinking at the end, I should perform an effect. This is where I have trouble. I don't know what to perform. I need an effect that's pretty much angle-sensitive, suitable for 25+ people sitting down, and it has to be crazy. Nothing easy to figure out.

I've thought over some effects so far and these are the ideas I've had;

• Angle Zero
  Trouble with this is the setup needed. I'm not sure that'd be particularly easy - if not impossible.
  
• Witness
  Problem with this effect is it's good for about 2-10 people, but after that showing the joker in the bag before it changes could be difficult because of distances.
  
• Indecent
  Only thing putting me off performing this effect is, well, it going wrong. I can't say how or why, but you should know what I mean. Then again I haven't practiced it much yet. I guess it'll just come with practice?
  
• Lennart Green's Poker Deal
  So far this is my best idea - simply because it's easy to do, hard to mess up and really quite devastating. Only set back is that the theme of the trick is cheating at poker, but I will have just spent 20 minutes babbling on about magic.

I really appreciate any help I can get with this.

Thanks very much guys.



-Sam H

 

[Bijlogg]

Hey Sam,

From a guy who's been there and done a presentation for GCSE English (although the topic was chosen for me) I would say skip the performance, it probably won't get you any more marks on top of the presentation and it will waste time, let's face it, you have 15-20 minutes to tick all the boxes, you don't want to eat into that with a lengthy effect.

I would also not go into too many different areas, maybe just present a timeline of how magic has evolved, this would be particularly easy to do as there is an entire BBC documentary on youtube (which I can link you to if required) on this very subject meaning research would be a doddle for you.

While it may seem like an ideal oppurtunity to perform, I would strongly recommend against it, this presentation is your chance to get a good grade, not to show your classmates some card tricks, leave that for lunchtime.

Sorry to be a bore.

Tom

 

[Sam Hardy]

Hey Sam,

From a guy who's been there and done a presentation for GCSE English (although the topic was chosen for me) I would say skip the performance, it probably won't get you any more marks on top of the presentation and it will waste time, let's face it, you have 15-20 minutes to tick all the boxes, you don't want to eat into that with a lengthy effect.

I would also not go into too many different areas, maybe just present a timeline of how magic has evolved, this would be particularly easy to do as there is an entire BBC documentary on youtube (which I can link you to if required) on this very subject meaning research would be a doddle for you.

While it may seem like an ideal oppurtunity to perform, I would strongly recommend against it, this presentation is your chance to get a good grade, not to show your classmates some card tricks, leave that for lunchtime.

Sorry to be a bore.

Tom

Hey,

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate the input. If you could message me the link to the video, that'd be great too.

Thing is, one topic we have to tick off on our list of criteria is Audience Involvement. And after a conversation with my English teacher, she recommended performing something to liven it up and make it stand out from the rest.

But I do agree with what you're saying - I don't just want to "perform a couple of card tricks to my mates" - which is, in fact, something that should be left for lunchtime.

I hope with the right introduction I can present the effect as sophisticated and totally detatched from the common thought that card tricks are for little kids with nothing better to do.

Thanks again.

-Sam H

 

[Sam Hardy]

Sorry for the double post, but does anybody else have any other ideas?

Need a bit of help cos it's sometime soon.

Thanks

-Sam H