Making an effect "your own."

[eostresh]

Okay so first off, kudos to William Draven for inspiring this post. Last Saturday night contest he took an effect I have used many times (23 to be exact) and completely changed the patter and presentation. There were many great effects that night but that one was my personal favorite because he really "Made it his own."

I am currently trying to do the same with Derren Brown's "Zammiel's card." I find it is one of the most underrated skills of a good magician. We use that term all the time when dolling out advice to the newbies, "It's a good effect but just make sure to make it your own, kid. Good Luck." And then we just leave it at that. So the idea here is to talk about the process of making it your own. If you have done this, what advice do you have for others. If you are trying to do this with a particular effect but are having trouble, post your questions here.

 

[Randy]

I remember reading that an effect doesn't really become your own till you've performed it around a thousand times or so.

 

[eostresh]

I remember reading that an effect doesn't really become your own till you've performed it around a thousand times or so.

Hrmmm...Seems a bit arbitrary. I can think of some people who would never perform an effect once until they have thoroughly practiced it, rehearsed it, scripted it, and added their own personal touches to it. Then I can think of others who have performed effects more than a thousand times without bothering to add any personal touches to it.

Perhaps I should clarify. Not talking here about being known for an effect. I'm talking about the process of altering a specific effect, either through handling, patter, or both, to make it fit your character and the theme of your performance.

 

[notsoltd]

I think that before you can make an effect your own, you have to know who you are. For instance, I'm not a comedian but I'll throw jokes into my magic. I don't throw magic into my jokes. When I think of myself as a performer, I picture myself as a laid back, young guy that's funny, and amazing, but is also just like everybody else. I'm a fun guy, that is no celebrity, and no better than anyone in my audience. I want to be an approachable, relatable guy.

Let me give an example - I am building a sword basket at the moment. Sure, I could perform it to some music, and stick to the normal routine. I've decided on a few things that I'm going to do to make it just a tad different, and to fit myself better. For one, my beautiful assistant is my sister. When I introduce her I'm going to say something like "for all you ladies out there, no worries, this is my sister" with a sort-of charming smirk. Then I'll completely change my face to a stern, kind of straight forward face and say "and for you guys, this is my girlfriend" as a joke.

The second thing I'm going to do is instead of 5 swords, I'm going to introduce umbrellas. Right before I stab the first in, I'll open it as I say ladies and gentlemen, these ARE in fact REAL umbrellas." I'd say this as if they were supposed to be dangerous. I'll stab two umbrellas in, THEN grab a sword, chop a watermelon in half and then proceed to stab 3 swords through.

This by no means makes the sword basket my effect, but I feel like it makes it fit my personality and style much better.

 

[RickEverhart]

Making an effect your own and tweaking it is a very fun and rewarding process, but be very cautious of allowing too many magicians to see it or next thing you know they are performing "your" routine...patter and all. I've seen this happen quite a few times since we have about 35 guys in our magic club.

 

[ReservoirRed]

I remember reading that an effect doesn't really become your own till you've performed it around a thousand times or so.

Never heard that. But I know that you cant cook a dish till you've cooked it about a thousand times.

 

[WilliamMckeehan]

Don't copy patter word for word! I hate that makes the performance so ... unnatural. I think making a trick yours is simple as making it feel natural when YOU perform it but idk.

 

[RyanUnMasked]

What I do is make it personal. Your patter can't work in EVERY situation. Make it a personal story about yourself or add your own personality to the effect. If you know the spectator or you've seen him/her doing or saying something that you over hear/see, use that. it might even add to the effect. I like to add a flirty and playful charm to the effects I perform. Try not to do the same story for every person you perform for. You won't care after 200 times of performing it, and the spectators will know you don't care. If you have a cute flirty effect and you get hired for a biker bar, it's not necessarily going to go over well. Use your instincts make the effect personal to them. Remember magic isn't for you. It's for them.

 

[William Draven]

When I think about owning an effect, or making it my own I always think to myself: "Is this something my character would perform? If so: Then how would I perform it?"

For me it is more than just a sequence of moves, for me it's finding a presentation that rings true to my nature. I want to be entertaining, but I also want to be true to myself. Sometimes that can be a very difficult thing to do!

 

[Goldmos]

Well, I'm not what you guys can consider a magician yet. I'm learning the in and out and practice the "fondation". But, I already think about some things to incorporate or change in some sort of way. I'm a "scientist", so I love to do some synthesis. I see sleigth of hand as compound and see what I can mix up to do an effect. For me, the best to make something of my own is thinking backward: what do i want to achieve (effect), after seek each part that will lead to the effect (sleigth). Of course I'm not an enough good magician to "change" some sleigth yet, but I already "design" some combination of effect that I know to create some routine.