It seems quite a few people have been going and trying different types of magic, specifically mentalism but I would like to talk about everything as a whole.
Going into a different field can be a rewarding experience or a painful journey that leaves you right where you were before you started. To make sure something like the latter doesn't happen to you there are a few questions to really check first.
First question, is this within my technical skill level?
Cards are very simple to get into for the variety of effects that are sold now. Some effects are self working, and others from the ecentric artists are quite difficult and require sleigths you haven't really seen before. If you aren't very good with practicing or getting stuff down with your clumsy hands then you are still in luck but you will have to limit yourself, if only for a bit, to the easier effects. Of course the best effects are simple, direct, and magical looking.
Going into something new like coins from cards is fairly simple if you can figure the skill level that you are able to perform some effects. If you can do some DnD effects fairly well and know the little subtleties to make them work then you probably have a good chance to make it happen.
If you are like me and do mainly the most direct and simplest of effects like a two card transpo with a dupe then coins may not be the best step. Coins are difficult to really train with and make work if you just do almost self working effects.
Going into mentalism isn't very difficult and most mentalism effects require no sleights and if they do then be prepared for how silly and easy they are. Don't assume you can do it though as I will explain in a bit. However, if you are able to do the simplest of sleights extremely well, like a very clean and simple looking DL or second deal even, (Don't know what uses a second deal) then you're in good shape.
It's really good to check on your skill level you can do with something like cards or some other sort of manipulation to know if it's going to be a rough or smooth journey.
Second question, Am I going into this for the whole nine yards?
So you allowed yourself to think that you can perform the technical level of w/e you are trying to perform. Now you need to understand going into this fully will make it easier for the full journey.
With cards it's a difficult subject for any question because of how much stuff is in cards. If you are going into cards with just the basic sleights then you need to work your way up to more difficult sleights that will produce more effects. I'm not saying learn all of DnD type of sleights. If you are going into this then you need to excel on trying to learn w/e you can about the types of sleights and perhaps different methods to card magic.
Coins, many people get into this only looking for a few sleights they saw and thought were the "super diggity awesome cool chicken wings." Well with coins you need to go far, because they are numerous sleights to learn to make everything magical. Only learning a few will reduce not only what you can do obviously, but in a bad situation you are stuck with something the audience already knows or suspects.
Learning what you can about producing coins from your hands can assure no solution to your audience. Produce one coin in your left hand one way, and your right hand a different way. This needs you to go beyond what your initial plans were and try to strive for something much more.
Mentalism is something that is not looked at properly by many people. This is not another magic trick that is supposed to be real. You are going in or out on this one, chances are, you'll be looking at the same methods again and again for many different effects. Understanding that mentalism is all about HAVING to establish a connection with the audience, and going all out to make it a true experience of something out of the Twilight Zone.
Half a$%ing something like this will just make you regret going in and wonder why you can't make it real like Maven or Derren. Chances are you just learned the effect and not understanding everything as a whole that makes mentalism real.
Third and last question, Can I perform this, really make it magic?
Cards are not going to be easy, for it has a medium you must reach for spectators and establishing where it is for each spectator. Doing a whole bunch of fancy sleights for one person will turn them off and make it look like a babbling of incredible card skill and not magic. While others will be intrigued for your control of skill but still look upon it as being real magic.
This is why learning all sorts of sleights and different effects will help your performances tremendously. Doing the transpo I talked of earlier against Tivo 2.0, which one is more visual and looks like crazy magic, which one looks clean and like direct magic? This is a question you need to ask yourself depending on spectator reactions.
Coins are in my true opinion pointless but since nobody seems to fully agree I will try to convey on how you can perform this, because it's very simple. Make every single action, every single little thing you do be as unnoticeable and real as possible.
You have to make every little thing be as real as possible, for even though they may initially think "it's in the other hand" you have to take that thought and shove it so up in a place so far that only the crazies would find it. The retention vanish needs to be silky smooth, but not only be seen as to be putting it in that hand but have that feeling also. Spectators are human and will sometimes have that thought or feeling that it's going into the other hand, make it impossible for that thought to even reach them.
What I am about to write is what I was really making this thread for and of course I'll explain.
SO many people trying to go into mentalism are going to fail and wonder why. Spending money on a whole bunch of stuff that they will later on never use in life. Well it's because you can't perform it and don't understand it. Now obviously mentalism isn't necessarily to look like magic but to be as real and impossible but possible in your audiences head.
You need to understand that magic and mentalism are on two different levels. Not saying one is above the other but it's like playing a different game, where the actions you do and how you go about them result in much different experience for everybody. Going into this thinking that your idle patter will pass is not going to work, neither is fancy work with your hands. This is as direct as it can get, understanding that you are the reason behind it working is the first step.
Work on everything else first, your coins and cards, everyday objects, all that is just a preview, a warmup before you get to mentalism. Understanding the performance and presentation behind it and everything you need to do to make it look real is just overlooked by so many. Mentalism is a different step and will require more than just answering the question I wrote before, it will require time, effort, and maturing of age to be looked at and judged by others as "the real deal."
Anything else to add?
Going into a different field can be a rewarding experience or a painful journey that leaves you right where you were before you started. To make sure something like the latter doesn't happen to you there are a few questions to really check first.
First question, is this within my technical skill level?
Cards are very simple to get into for the variety of effects that are sold now. Some effects are self working, and others from the ecentric artists are quite difficult and require sleigths you haven't really seen before. If you aren't very good with practicing or getting stuff down with your clumsy hands then you are still in luck but you will have to limit yourself, if only for a bit, to the easier effects. Of course the best effects are simple, direct, and magical looking.
Going into something new like coins from cards is fairly simple if you can figure the skill level that you are able to perform some effects. If you can do some DnD effects fairly well and know the little subtleties to make them work then you probably have a good chance to make it happen.
If you are like me and do mainly the most direct and simplest of effects like a two card transpo with a dupe then coins may not be the best step. Coins are difficult to really train with and make work if you just do almost self working effects.
Going into mentalism isn't very difficult and most mentalism effects require no sleights and if they do then be prepared for how silly and easy they are. Don't assume you can do it though as I will explain in a bit. However, if you are able to do the simplest of sleights extremely well, like a very clean and simple looking DL or second deal even, (Don't know what uses a second deal) then you're in good shape.
It's really good to check on your skill level you can do with something like cards or some other sort of manipulation to know if it's going to be a rough or smooth journey.
Second question, Am I going into this for the whole nine yards?
So you allowed yourself to think that you can perform the technical level of w/e you are trying to perform. Now you need to understand going into this fully will make it easier for the full journey.
With cards it's a difficult subject for any question because of how much stuff is in cards. If you are going into cards with just the basic sleights then you need to work your way up to more difficult sleights that will produce more effects. I'm not saying learn all of DnD type of sleights. If you are going into this then you need to excel on trying to learn w/e you can about the types of sleights and perhaps different methods to card magic.
Coins, many people get into this only looking for a few sleights they saw and thought were the "super diggity awesome cool chicken wings." Well with coins you need to go far, because they are numerous sleights to learn to make everything magical. Only learning a few will reduce not only what you can do obviously, but in a bad situation you are stuck with something the audience already knows or suspects.
Learning what you can about producing coins from your hands can assure no solution to your audience. Produce one coin in your left hand one way, and your right hand a different way. This needs you to go beyond what your initial plans were and try to strive for something much more.
Mentalism is something that is not looked at properly by many people. This is not another magic trick that is supposed to be real. You are going in or out on this one, chances are, you'll be looking at the same methods again and again for many different effects. Understanding that mentalism is all about HAVING to establish a connection with the audience, and going all out to make it a true experience of something out of the Twilight Zone.
Half a$%ing something like this will just make you regret going in and wonder why you can't make it real like Maven or Derren. Chances are you just learned the effect and not understanding everything as a whole that makes mentalism real.
Third and last question, Can I perform this, really make it magic?
Cards are not going to be easy, for it has a medium you must reach for spectators and establishing where it is for each spectator. Doing a whole bunch of fancy sleights for one person will turn them off and make it look like a babbling of incredible card skill and not magic. While others will be intrigued for your control of skill but still look upon it as being real magic.
This is why learning all sorts of sleights and different effects will help your performances tremendously. Doing the transpo I talked of earlier against Tivo 2.0, which one is more visual and looks like crazy magic, which one looks clean and like direct magic? This is a question you need to ask yourself depending on spectator reactions.
Coins are in my true opinion pointless but since nobody seems to fully agree I will try to convey on how you can perform this, because it's very simple. Make every single action, every single little thing you do be as unnoticeable and real as possible.
You have to make every little thing be as real as possible, for even though they may initially think "it's in the other hand" you have to take that thought and shove it so up in a place so far that only the crazies would find it. The retention vanish needs to be silky smooth, but not only be seen as to be putting it in that hand but have that feeling also. Spectators are human and will sometimes have that thought or feeling that it's going into the other hand, make it impossible for that thought to even reach them.
What I am about to write is what I was really making this thread for and of course I'll explain.
SO many people trying to go into mentalism are going to fail and wonder why. Spending money on a whole bunch of stuff that they will later on never use in life. Well it's because you can't perform it and don't understand it. Now obviously mentalism isn't necessarily to look like magic but to be as real and impossible but possible in your audiences head.
You need to understand that magic and mentalism are on two different levels. Not saying one is above the other but it's like playing a different game, where the actions you do and how you go about them result in much different experience for everybody. Going into this thinking that your idle patter will pass is not going to work, neither is fancy work with your hands. This is as direct as it can get, understanding that you are the reason behind it working is the first step.
Work on everything else first, your coins and cards, everyday objects, all that is just a preview, a warmup before you get to mentalism. Understanding the performance and presentation behind it and everything you need to do to make it look real is just overlooked by so many. Mentalism is a different step and will require more than just answering the question I wrote before, it will require time, effort, and maturing of age to be looked at and judged by others as "the real deal."
Anything else to add?
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