I recently saw a magician hired at a birthday party perform a trick from YouTube. While he performed it without messing up, I felt that his choice of effect wasn't super professional. The trick he performed was the card force / reveal from the beginning of Now You See Me.
While there were some very minor tweaks (the card appeared on stage instead of on the side of a building, and no Monarchs were used) I felt that as a hired magician he should perform a trick that isn't easily available to laymen.
As an mere magic enthusiast I could recreate the effect that he performed to the T. I think that if a magician is hired to do a show he or she should stray away from widespread free effects. If the professional's performance can be copied by a person with cellular data and one or two bicycle decks I think it discredits the magician.
The way I see it it would be the same as taking an art class only to find out that the teacher is ripping the content from TV's Bob Ross. I think that for certain magicians different levels of effects should be performed. For enthusiasts all effects should be free to be performed. If all the enthusiast plans to do is to perform for friends and family no professional expectations are present.
For street performers a mixture of effects are fine. Since performers aren't obligated to perform and thus make minor tips from passerby's there should be no issue if one of the laymen has seen one of the tricks once on YouTube. For professional magicians who are obligated and paid to perform I think the tricks used should be "protected" in the sense that it wouldn't be free of charge.
By sticking to premium tricks, ones from magic books, or original effects a magician's routine would be bulletproof as laymen wouldn't be able to recreate the performance.
To the professional magicians out there: What do you think about performing free effects for a job?
While there were some very minor tweaks (the card appeared on stage instead of on the side of a building, and no Monarchs were used) I felt that as a hired magician he should perform a trick that isn't easily available to laymen.
As an mere magic enthusiast I could recreate the effect that he performed to the T. I think that if a magician is hired to do a show he or she should stray away from widespread free effects. If the professional's performance can be copied by a person with cellular data and one or two bicycle decks I think it discredits the magician.
The way I see it it would be the same as taking an art class only to find out that the teacher is ripping the content from TV's Bob Ross. I think that for certain magicians different levels of effects should be performed. For enthusiasts all effects should be free to be performed. If all the enthusiast plans to do is to perform for friends and family no professional expectations are present.
For street performers a mixture of effects are fine. Since performers aren't obligated to perform and thus make minor tips from passerby's there should be no issue if one of the laymen has seen one of the tricks once on YouTube. For professional magicians who are obligated and paid to perform I think the tricks used should be "protected" in the sense that it wouldn't be free of charge.
By sticking to premium tricks, ones from magic books, or original effects a magician's routine would be bulletproof as laymen wouldn't be able to recreate the performance.
To the professional magicians out there: What do you think about performing free effects for a job?