Melt Vanish Feedback

The Shadow Shinobi · Sep 15, 2009

I am rather new to coin magic and have started to work on a coin routine using various effects like iVanish, Syn, Sick etc.

And for the opener I've developed a kind of mixed effect between Homer Liwags Melt Vanish (Trifecta) a couple of hand washes taught by Doug Mckenzie and finish with the Flicker Reveal.

I have filmed this and uploaded it to Vimeo, and was wondering if people could give me some feedback and critique.

Ino this still needs a lot of work, but I'm kool with that because like I said, I'm very new to coin magic.

So yeah, leave me some feedback, I'd be much apreciated (Y)

http://www.vimeo.com/6600828

(side note: Don't ask me about the glitches on the video, I didn't edit those in, they appeared through Vimeo's "converter" I imagine)

magicman1040 · Sep 15, 2009

All I can say is practice and get a better camera angle because you flashed a lot

penguincdude · Sep 16, 2009

Well I didn't like the way you vanished it. It was a bit choppy and instead of waving your hand over it, you should do it like Homer Liwag and rub it.

Jack · Sep 16, 2009

try to relax a little more. there was tension which made it easy to follow where you had the coin. it will look more natural as well.

Cheers!

The Shadow Shinobi · Sep 16, 2009

penguincdude said:
Well I didn't like the way you vanished it. It was a bit choppy and instead of waving your hand over it, you should do it like Homer Liwag and rub it.

Cheers. I never really noticed how differently I did it from Homer. N now I look at it your right, I'll work on that. Thank you.

The Shadow Shinobi · Sep 16, 2009

Jack said:
try to relax a little more. there was tension which made it easy to follow where you had the coin. it will look more natural as well.

Cheers!

Yeah, I get what you mean. I realise I'm rather robitic atm. I guess it was cause I was trying to film it n so was focusing on getting it the best I could. I'll just practise alot to get it good.

Thanks all you guys for the feedback!

chriswiehl · Sep 16, 2009

yea just practice, the fluid motions will come with practice. it will be second nature. just make sure when you learn anything, you learn it right the first time

cedwards90 · Sep 16, 2009

Looks like more time was spent on editing then practicing..

The Shadow Shinobi · Sep 16, 2009

cedwards90 said:
Looks like more time was spent on editing then practicing..

Well I've been editing much longer than I've been doing magic, let alone coin magic.

And like I said, theres hardly any editing there really.
The glitches arn't me, something went a bit wrong when it was writing.
All I did was put in a couple of black screens, fades n the titles. N then added a soundtrack.
Can't help it if I wanna combine my two passions, if that doesn't sit right by you, then thats your problem

The Shadow Shinobi · Sep 16, 2009

chriswiehl said:
yea just practice, the fluid motions will come with practice. it will be second nature. just make sure when you learn anything, you learn it right the first time

Wise words, and much apreciated

Chaseman27 · Sep 16, 2009

I loved the presentation of the melt vanish with the whole waving idea.

Just some finer points:
1. Do not handwash like you are trying to prevent H1N1 virus transmittion. A simple front and back of both hands sequence is more than enough, not some 8 shows of the hand. That gives the audience a chance to pick up on the fact that you are in fact hiding something. Watch the handwashing tips on Flicker and notice how breif and fair his handwash is. Practice that every second you have a coin in your hand. Fluidity will come with time, patience, and practice.

2. Open your hands up (to an extent) after the vanish! Thats the entire selling point on the vanish! Watch how Homer, the second he covers the coin, opens his hands, showing empty palms and spaced fingers without missing a beat. The idea is the fact that the vanish is instant. The fact that you went immediately into the drawn out hand wash sequence is what killed it for me. Wave the hand, immediately open hands and extend outward showing open palms, hand wash for a brief 1.3 seconds (not 123 seconds) and then...

3. WORK ON FLICKER! Your Jimmy Wilson grip was, well... terrible. I think you already adressed that in realization, but I will try to offer some tips. Never turn your hand palm up when pushing the coin into the grip. Keep your palm towards you and allow the action to occur in one smooth motion. This motion should be a reverse "scoop" with the hands. Once into the grip, make sure you get that pointer finger at a much less extreme angle! It looks like you are trying to grip a penny! The pointer finger tip should not be behind the distal joint of the middle finger. You have yours in between the two joints, making the concealment obvious.

4. Flicker Grip: This is where I cringed a little bit (not much but a little bit

) work on working the coin from Jimmy Wilson to the Flicker grip for the next month, each and every time you have a coin in your hand. The idea of flicker, like the Melt Vanish, is the open palm subtlety. Why in the world are you curling in all of your fingers?! The only finger that should be curved in flicker is the pointer finger, even then it sould be only bent slightly, not where your nail is basically touching your palm. This is the knacky part of flicker, but also the only reason flicker looks like magic, and not a game of hide-and-seek the coin.

5. Relax, relax, relax. They already hit the nail on the head with this, but it is credible advice.

I hope this helped and I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this sequence. Keep practicing, and watch Homer, and Doug's performances again and again to study hand position and timing. I would also suggest password protecting this, so that nobody picks up on the flashes and learn the moves.

All the best,
-Chase