How You Name Your Effect's

[TheoryOfTheAngels]

Hey peeps, with all the effects a magician creates do you have any particular way to name your effects, most of my effects are named after things im fond of such as, wrestling, tv shows, and sayings, i have an effect called "18 miles out", "the swanton bomb", "9Lives", and alot more so i'd like to know how you name your effects

 

[Randy]

Usually it depends on if I can think of a interesting change of presentation for the routine that ties the whole thing together. Though sometimes I don't always give new effects a new name.

 

[popchris3]

Ooh, this is an awesome topic.

While the names aren't essential for the tricks, I do thoroughly enjoy seeing thought being put into different names. For example, there was a wonderful serial number prediction by Jay Sankey a few years ago called Onion. I went months wondering why he called it that before finding out that the way that you fold the bill around a coin makes it look like the vegetable. Then there are others that are just cool (like The Prism Deck or Vertigo).

When I name my own effects, I'll typically choose something that does two things:

1) Sounds cool.
2) Has to do with whatever happens in the magic effect.

When I released my download with Trcky called Mute, it was called that because the logo on the pen got softer and softer until you couldn't see it anymore... but it also (in my opinion) made it sound quite cool.

 

[D ICE R]

I have never released anything, and I am not sure if I will ever. So basically my effects are called my variation on ..... .

 

[TheBlack&WhiteIllusionist]

I don't really have any set way. Most times i'm just fooling around with whatever it may be, and something just kinda hits me, or I try and base it off of the name of whatever my trick is based off of. For example; I've got an effect I based on Jumping Gemini and Dorian Rhodell's Recon. So the initial name I came to was Leaping Libra. At some point I also thought of calling it Alice Embly (or Alice Embly's Secret Assembly).

Since it's just for me, it technically doesn't matter what I call them (Mr. Pickles Sticky Slammin Salmon Prediction) but I enjoy trying to come up with something fun for whatever I got.

 

[Bizzaro]

I think naming effects has become more prevalent because of the marketing of magic. There is the school of thought that the name has to allude to the effect somehow. There of course is the other where it doesn't have to match because magic is a visual art and you have to watch the trick to see if you like it regardless of name. However an interesting name will want you to do that more.

As for myself it's whatever makes sense to me or is funny. Something I have on an upcoming DVD is a self contained bill change. I call it Hidden Cash which is a word play on hidden cache. My effect Bamf! (on the wire here) was named after the sound effect Nightcrawler makes when he teleports.

There are so many ways to name effects. Everyone has their own method I think, but rarely is it necessary unless we are going to put it in print or sell it. Other wise they are just called "Hey check out this cool thing I came up with".

 

[JButterfield]

The name I give a trick is what will help me remember it the most... I don't plan to market anything, so I'm not really concerned with the names. If I decide to, I'll give them much flashier names

"The Three Coins and a Purse Trick" helps me remember it far more clearly than something like "Xplicit".

 

[Oliver Addams]

It's all really up to what you wanna call your tricks. I am with JButterfield on naming them to help me remember 'em. I can remember the slights better than the performance so I name my effects according to the plots of the tricks. For example, I perform a version of the egg bag to go with my science fiction theme and just call it the Alien Bag of Area 51.

 

[PurpleMustache]

all performers usually have their own method to naming tricks. it can be totally random or it can describe the trick in a phrase. some names for effects dont make sense until after you know the secret. for example: daniel madison has something called the swing change. that name doesn't make sense unless you learn the trick.