My thoughts on Books or DVD's?

Hei, i am aware that there are a lot of threads on this but i more want to focus on the post practicing part of both.

To elaborate, which one really is the best to get the tiny details and get the most info on how to present it, how to perform it and what little things to add that will help?

Okay lets take that sentence and think through every step.

Which one is the best to get the tiny details:

Now i think everyone of us will agree that the most detail is gotten from DVD´s because you can learn everything while seeing everything and looking for little nicks which you really cant from pictures because in books there is a paragraph of text for about 1-2 pictures.

So DVD´s are more detailed than Books. But is that really what we want?
Every last bit given to you on a golden plate?

This is what i believe has messed up some of the new generation. The fact that you get everything you can and there isnt much thinking needed in learning an effect.

And thats why most of us perform the same stuff and can talk about stuff on our own experiences. Its easy, come to the net, look for an awesome thing. Buy it, download it and watch it, practice it for a few days/weeks and go do it.
But that means you have bought a stock effect and never give thought into making it you, you adopt the presentation given there and the way you do it from the dvd.

How to perform it and what little things to add that will help?


I touched it in the end people don´t think for themselves. Okay the method is ingenious and you want to keep it that way, keep that "stock". But what about the Presentation? Alot of us don´t take the time to redo the whoooole effect. We buy it and do it, its as simple as that. I can talk about this with my own experience.

I bought the Andy Nyman dvd set "Get Nyman". And there was an extra trick there. Im not shure what the name was, ill edit when i find it but i made my own version of it using simple methods and i looked at the presentation for a million times and my subconscious remember the performace. I made a new patter and all but the way i presented it was exactly the same as in the DVD, a funny thing i adapted was that while i was doing it i was pulling my sleeves up constantly, i didnt do that while doing other things. Andy Nyman did the same thing on the dvd, he messed around with his sleeves and that stayed with me. Now while i had made it with my patter i was very uncomfortable doing it, not because it was un practiced or i was nervous on stage, it wasnt mine. It wasnt me doing it, it was Andy Nyman. At that moment i figured out that i had to do something about that. And i got a lot of info from Paul Brooks book, Alchemical Tools. He says that the only way to get feeling comfortable on a "stock" effect is to strip it to bare bones and rebuild it.

This makes you more confident in the piece you are doing because you have made it and you know everything that has to happen and everything has been thought out.

I now went a bit offcourse from the book and dvd thing but really do we want to be someone else or be ourselves? Do we want to be confident or unconfident in the pieces we do? Do we want to do someone elses pieces for our carriers or think up our owns and contribute them.

Books and DVDs are not for giving you tricks to get money with, but to help you get ideas, inspire you and help you make up your own stuff by getting information off someone else and using that to simplify your routine.

Now ive seen alot of you say that im not a book guy, im more of a video guy. Wtf dudes? The info you get off books is much more than you get from dvds. I have yet to see a DVD like Paul Brooks book, something that teaches you the way you can improve and simplify your presentation, how to make the effect magical not in the cards but to make it magical in the head of the spectator.

The big dilemma, books or DVD´s?


There are pros and cons for both thats because i say that both are vital. You really get the feel for how something works on real persons on advd and alot of artsists talk about some cool details on an effect. The details that make it full. You get the thoughts of maybe what direction to take the effect and some good tips on how to make a presentation for it, what parts to look out for and what to highlight.

In books however you get the most important thing "Thinking". You get actually very few detail parts in a book and thats a good thing because then you can make it yourself and think of a whole new method of doing some parts of the effect which bounds you more and more with the effect.
By reading you also get much more info on the effect itself because you have to read the same thing multyple times and that already makes practicing more easyer because your mind already knows what comes next. It helps memorize the effect better and helps you get the fine detailed way of doing it. You think through everything and understand the effect and method in a very deep way.

So buy both, although i suggest books more but watching only DVD´s is not good. How much books you read and how much dvds you watch is up to you i keep it on a 50/50 level.


This post is probably very confusing in some parts but i hope someone gets some help out of this because i shure did when i was thinking about this.

Thanks,

Mikk
 
May 2, 2008
753
0
Pennsylvania
Awesome post. I can't agree more. Hopefully other members will take the time out of their busy performing schedules to read this post as well. :rolleyes:

With thanks,

-Sanj
 
Jul 25, 2009
48
0
I don't like books because your eyes get tired after a while so I buy mainly DVD's. These are my thought's though: If you buy a DVD, look at what move's and such it has on it and then find a book that teaches the same things. So you can see what the sleight is acually supposed to look like on the DVD and you can get the little details from the book. Personally I think both are good sorces to learn and develope in magic. Books give you the details...in detail and DVD's show you exactly what those details look like...in detail. Most of the time whoever is teaching on a DVD can't go into extreme detail because of time restraints. In Books time isn't an issue but with books you never see the slieght, move, or whatever how its supposed to look in motion. They only give the depictions on what its supposed to look like in the begining, middle and end not how its supposed to flow from begining, middle and end.

Those were just my thoughts on the whole Book vs. DVD debate. Again I think both great sorces of knowledge.
 
Great post man:D I like to get a mix of both but some books are a little confusing to me. I really wish there was video clarification on some of the moves in By Forces Unseen:(

Also, I got ETACT early in my magic career and was super confused by it so it was great to have a DVD set to go with it, even though wesley james is terrible.


-Dan
 

P8NTBALLDADDY

Elite Member
Dec 1, 2008
94
0
San Antonio, TX
Books, DVD's both are cool I give a little more time to books and learn a bit more. I gotta say though unless I print them out to hold them and waste tons of ink cause most are black backgrounds PDF's are hard for me to concentrate on.
 
Oct 12, 2008
38
0
Books!

Personally, I strongly recommend books. Not only becaue they require you to think about your magic (which much of this forum seems to have forgetten how to do) but also for the monetary value. Buying a $30-40 DVD will give you somewhere between 1 and 5 tricks. Buying a $50-60 books give you a hundred tricks and months of work time.

My personal belief is that DVDs are fine for kids trying to get a few tricks under their belt, but if you want the most bang for your buck and the best (and most hidden) secrets of magic, buy a book, you wont be dissapointed (unless you hate thinking, in which case: Why are you here in the first place?)

Just my thoughts
Daniel

(BTW, expert at the card table costs 6 bucks BUY IT!!!)
 
Jul 13, 2009
1,372
0
33
I like both books and some dvd's.

Dvds are good if they have multiple effects at least 5 different routines on them, that is really my only criteria for dvds.

I use books all the time I reference plenty of little tibbits and routines all the time from books. Now with the magic of internet I can use video sharing websites theory11, magicvideo depot, youtube, vimeo, etc. to reference how a certain sleight should look. If I can't find the video I usually research effects that use the move and watch those.
 
Jul 14, 2008
936
0
Personally, I use both books and dvds. Most of the time, I read the books and if the description are not very clear, I usually see the video of what it looks like. For me, books all the way.
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
Now i think everyone of us will agree that the most detail is gotten from DVD´s because you can learn everything while seeing everything and looking for little nicks which you really cant from pictures because in books there is a paragraph of text for about 1-2 pictures.
That depends on the instructor on the DVD and how it is produced.
Not every DVD is the same quality or taught the same.

In the end,buy the effects that you want to perform and it doesnt matter if its on DVD or not.
But I dont buy into that bull crap that people are 'visual' learners.
That just means they're just too lazy to read a book.
 
That depends on the instructor on the DVD and how it is produced.
Not every DVD is the same quality or taught the same.

In the end,buy the effects that you want to perform and it doesnt matter if its on DVD or not.
But I dont buy into that bull crap that people are 'visual' learners.
That just means they're just too lazy to read a book.

I have to agree on you though you do get more visual info on the stuff if you watch it.

But yeah, the "visual" learner thing was what i was driving to prove wrong. :)

Thanks to everyone else for theyr comments.

Mikk
 
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