Making a magic effect your own...

[christian1]

Hey Guy's,

I was chatting with a profesional magician who does magic as a living full time. He said something the really caought my interest and hit home. He said that when he gets a knew effect he takes it studies it and makes it his own. He varies the slights to suite his style and he creates patter that fits his persenality.

I realized that this is a extremely important magical principle. I think that do to this wave of modern magic hundered of dvd's have come out. This is fantastic but I think the bad thing about dvd's is that you end up picking up another magicians style for a given effect and become just a robot.

Thats part of the reason sometimes books are better because it further helps you to create your own style. Here are the points I try to remember when I learn a new effect.

1. See if the effect fits my style and if it is something I will use or if it will fit into my routine.

2. Learn the basic slights

3. Try to create patter that suits this effect and my routine.

4. I try to find the pace of the effect. What I mean by this is I try to find out when I should pause and when I should start.

5. Then sometimes I change slights around just a little bit but I only do this if slights don't seem time right or don't look right.

6. The final thing I do is practice the effect make it second nature and hit the streets with it.

I am sure you guy's will have some great commentary on this and I think it is a critcal magical principle. So what do you guy's think? How do you make effect your own? Remember to be original we must not just robot effects but rather make them our own.

Christian

 

[Sherlock]

The easiest way to make an effect is to fit it to your character and what makes sense. If it fits your character and your style, and successfully fulfills your needs and astonishes spectators then I would say your all set.

 

[canadamagic]

I think one of the smartest is to set a goal, something that the effect will accomplish. If you want an effect to do something say a transposition, play with ways to accomplish the goal, check to make sure it is original, practice and test it out.

 

[scarecrow1]

Exactly. Sometimes I will see an effect and think "That's awesome! I'm gonna get that". Then I think "But could I really see myself performing that? No."
Also, about the carbon copies, you're spot on. Because of DVDs, people just copy the patter on the DVD. I see WAY too many Dan and Dave copies on Youtube. It can get quite annoying.

 

[Geoff Weber]

I don't consider an effect to truly be "my own" until 1 of 3 things happen:
a) I can do it better than any other person in the world
b) I come up with a REALLY great line/joke/presentational hook for it.
c) It fits my character so perfectly, that people couldn't picture anyone else doing it after they've seen me.

The perfect example of making an effect your own is Dan Sperry performing his lifesaver trick. I strongly suggest no one else ever try to do that trick because you will pale in comparison to Dan.

The (unrealistically lofty) goal is to have every trick in your act be something you are "known for" and enticing enough that people would want to hire you to see you do THAT trick.

 

[Mr.MadMan]

Its nice to see this pop up.
I have always said that Stock effects are not good, you have to really work with it to get comfortable with it and make its "safe" to perform for yourself.

I use this pattern:

a) Strip it, completely to its workings, to the pure core that make it work.
b) I make a simple patter for it
c) I see what needs to be brought out more and what less
d) Advanced patter and new coating
e) I put it into my act and finish it up with real life situations.

Mikk.

 

[The Tumbleweed]

I don't necessarily think you have to create your own effects to have your own style. I simply create when someone else hasn't, or to find a simpler way of accomplishing an already created effect.

 

[Cedric Taylor]

Hey Guy's,

I was chatting with a profesional magician who does magic as a living full time. He said something the really caought my interest and hit home. He said that when he gets a knew effect he takes it studies it and makes it his own. He varies the slights to suite his style and he creates patter that fits his persenality.

I realized that this is a extremely important magical principle. I think that do to this wave of modern magic hundered of dvd's have come out. This is fantastic but I think the bad thing about dvd's is that you end up picking up another magicians style for a given effect and become just a robot.

Thats part of the reason sometimes books are better because it further helps you to create your own style. Here are the points I try to remember when I learn a new effect.

1. See if the effect fits my style and if it is something I will use or if it will fit into my routine.

2. Learn the basic slights

3. Try to create patter that suits this effect and my routine.

4. I try to find the pace of the effect. What I mean by this is I try to find out when I should pause and when I should start.

5. Then sometimes I change slights around just a little bit but I only do this if slights don't seem time right or don't look right.

6. The final thing I do is practice the effect make it second nature and hit the streets with it.

I am sure you guy's will have some great commentary on this and I think it is a critcal magical principle. So what do you guy's think? How do you make effect your own? Remember to be original we must not just robot effects but rather make them our own.

Christian

honestly its not that complex to me....if i like the effect, i see what it takes to make it happen... if its too risky, i'll see what i can do the make it more "me".....sometimes i'll leave out a lot of stuff and just make it more simple....

kinda like exile....i use the "gimmick" that goes underneath the quarter, stick it to my finger, and mix the effect with the voodoo ash trick, (the some people even use lipstick) and i perform exile without the quarter.......

which means i'll just removes the x's from my hand and toss inside their hands and i get a serious hyper reaction....

 

[wattrone]

That is really such a useful information. I think people also get the knowledge about the it through this forum. And This is the best way to spread out the information.
Thank you.