Performance Style

[Mouseff]

Hi,
so I need a bit of advice from you guys
I am more the laid-back kind. I usually let the others talk and observe instead and then throw in a comment of some sort. And that's the problem of sorts: I usually direct the attention away from me.
And I had a couple of bad experiences from that. For example a guy literally stole my control and trashed my whole trick.
It was this Mindreach thing where I tell the spectator a couple of cards and he selects it, then I select the last and somehow every named card was selected. He convinced the crowd that I had to show after the second card. Which means one right, one wrong, damnit.
I really couldn't talk my way out of it
So now can give me some tips on staying in control or give me some videos in which someone got out of trouble like mine?

thanks guys,
Mouseff

 

[greenstickman]

I need help in this area too, so I'm looking forward to what everyone has to say.

 

[ReservoirRed]

No matter what your presentation is, everyone meets hecklers. If you want to keep performing that trick using the one ahead principle, look up bad influence by daniel madison, it's on a dvd sold here on theory 11, im not sure if it's available on it's own. He has a brilliant way to do a similar trick where only the spectators take out cards, it's in their hands, so that heckler would have eaten his words.

 

[shinichikudo992000]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from your OP, your asking for help about how to recover from messing up a trick, right?

 

[RDChopper]

I really recommend a book called "the art of seduction" by robert greene, it doesn't only talks about seduction in a romantic way, but also how to seduce your audience in general.

There is one particular example that the authot gave that I liked.

"There was this politician, that prepared a speech, when he gave the speech, people of the other side started calling him out, yelling, and making a mess of things. The politician didn't react to it, he just keep with his speech.

At the end of the day, he thought that the speech was a total faliure, but later he discovered that it was a total success. Once people saw him as the victim, they sided with him opposing the resistance and seeing him as the man to follow."

We can use this to our advantage, If I have a bad heckler, I don't call him out, I don't argue with him, because that would mean going to his level. Instead, I play the victim, I let him do his stuff until it's the other people that shut him down, no me.

But of course, for this to work you have to be a nice guy and someone with somewhat of a nice social reputation, otherwise, people will not see a reason to defend you.

Also it depends on how are you presenting the trick. If you are presenting the trick as a challenge(Subcionciously) people are going to see it as a challenge. For example the classical patter of:

"I do this(wave hands) did you saw the move!?". I have seen a lot of people do this stuff in their ACR.

In other words, don't give the heckler the tools to bring you out.

 

[YRAMagicMan]

I always make sure I have a way out. In the case of this trick, I would look at the heckler in the eye and ask him whose show it was. This should put him in his place. I have found that just ignoring some questions works quite well in some situations. You could also make it look like you never looked at the cards. This is certainly MUCH more difficult, but with the proper presentation this would solve your problem because it would appear that you don't even know what cards have been picked.

I always have something to say during my performance. Usually it's pulled from my "stock patter" and strung together in an off the cuff fashion. I'm in the camp that says that what you say powerfully guides the audiences interpretation of you magic. (Was a similar statement in Magic by Misdirection? I'm sure this is nearly a direct quote from someone much smarter than me.) In the case of Mindreach I usually make up some bogus stuff about ESP. It's hard for me to give a written example of what I'm talking about here because almost everything I say is impromptu.

I also like to let my audience provide a good amount of my script. This may seem contradictory to what I said in the previous paragraph, but it's not. Usually someone will say one of the classic "spectator lines" like "I wouldn't want to play cards with you" or "that's weird!" I use these statements as my transitions from trick to trick. Generally I'll hear a line about playing cards, then I'll go into a poker trick, or I'll use the "that's weird" as a transition to Stigmata. To put it simply, I talk during the trick, my audience talks between tricks, and I find a way to tie everything together in a sensible manner.

Hope this helps.

 

[MagicZack24]

Mindreach is one of my favorite tricks, but it is a pain to perform for hecklers. Sometimes you can just ignore a heckler and focus on the other people in the group, but in your case the heckler is convincing other people to get you do something. There are a couple of ways you can handle this scenario. You could say "we'll reveal the cards after I pick one too, because I want to show you that I'm also a psychic". But if he absolutely insists that you MUST show immediately, pull out your invisible deck and tell him that the card predicted incorrectly is actually the only face down card in your other deck. So the trick really did work. Invisible decks are a great trick saver when something goes wrong. If he's one of those really bad people that still isn't convinced, then just leave. Some people are just impossible to control. Today I had this @$$hole in my 7th period class snatch the deck from me, ripping not only cards but the skin off my hand. I ended the performance right there. Some people can be controlled though. Simply don't let them touch any of your props unless they're instructed to. Most people won't touch your things anyway because they don't want to be invasive and will follow directions well. They just want to have a good time, whereas hecklers don't. So just leave if you come across one. Magic is supposed to entertain people. If all they want to do is try to ruin the trick, it isn't worth dealing with them. Nothing is going to impress them. Let me know if you have any more questions and I hoped this helped.

 

[rich23]

You Said "I am more the laid-back kind. I usually let the others talk and observe" now as a performer you NEED to take conrol of your aduience if they smell weekness they will heckle, just like a comiedian if he is not funny he will get heckled, its all in YOUR perfomance There are many books and videos out there to help out but i would suggest. Magic by Misdirection by Dariel Fitzkee and tommy wonders dvd set.

 

[tjf]

You have something working against you right now, and that's your age, from the sounds of it. I remember my days of doing magic in school and there was always someone who tried to mess with you. I went through a phase of only doing stuff that was impromptu and examinable.

Something to look forward to: It does get better. As your peers mature they'll start to have respect for others and lot of that crap will stop. Magic in college will be more rewarding.

The best suggestion I can offer as someone who has 'been there and been through it' is to work on audience management and try and work your routines to bring them into it or as part of a story you tell. Another poster's suggestion of getting the audience on your side is also huge. Speaking a little softer also helps as it will make people tell the guy to shut-up so they can hear you.

Good luck!

 

[ReservoirRed]

I always make sure I have a way out. In the case of this trick, I would look at the heckler in the eye and ask him whose show it was. This should put him in his place. I have found that just ignoring some questions works quite well in some situations. You could also make it look like you never looked at the cards. This is certainly MUCH more difficult, but with the proper presentation this would solve your problem because it would appear that you don't even know what cards have been picked.

I always have something to say during my performance. Usually it's pulled from my "stock patter" and strung together in an off the cuff fashion. I'm in the camp that says that what you say powerfully guides the audiences interpretation of you magic. (Was a similar statement in Magic by Misdirection? I'm sure this is nearly a direct quote from someone much smarter than me.) In the case of Mindreach I usually make up some bogus stuff about ESP. It's hard for me to give a written example of what I'm talking about here because almost everything I say is impromptu.

I also like to let my audience provide a good amount of my script. This may seem contradictory to what I said in the previous paragraph, but it's not. Usually someone will say one of the classic "spectator lines" like "I wouldn't want to play cards with you" or "that's weird!" I use these statements as my transitions from trick to trick. Generally I'll hear a line about playing cards, then I'll go into a poker trick, or I'll use the "that's weird" as a transition to Stigmata. To put it simply, I talk during the trick, my audience talks between tricks, and I find a way to tie everything together in a sensible manner.

Hope this helps.

Never look a spectator in the eye and ask him who's show it is. Ever.

 

[saborfang17]

Before clicking the link I've posted, read the entire post. Trust me. Now:

Outs, Precautions, and Challenges for the Ambitious Card Worker - C. Hopkins

If you can't find the paper pamphlet, here's a pdf version you can buy for $5:

http://www.lybrary.com/outs-precautions-challenges-p-27987.html

This book, the Robert Greene book (RDChopper mentioned it earlier) and Five Points in Magic by Juan Tamariz are what you need. If you aren't sure in what order to read them in, try this:

Five Points in Magic
Outs, Precautions and Challenges
Art of Seduction

Alternatively, the Greene book can be read 2nd, followed by the Hopkins book. I don't really know about Greene's book in actual details - I only know of his reputation. That being said, Five Points is still definitely the first book that'll help the most.

 

[TeeDee]

Something I've used before when someone's constantly jumping in, asking to shuffle the deck at an inopportune moment or whatever, is, "I'll let you in on a bit of a secret. I'm not really doing actual magic...obviously I'm just demonstrating an illusion, so I'll let you [shuffle/examine the cards/whatever they want to do] afterwards, if that's OK." This, delivered, with a bit of a smile, tends to shut them up. My thinking on this, is that someone trying to catch you out like that, their assumption is that you're pretending to have supernatural powers, which makes them want to play the role of debunker. When you make it clear that you're not really asserting paranormal abilities, they no longer feel as though you're trying to make a fool of them. In fact, these people then often change into brilliant spectators, offering warm congratulations and applause at the end.

This line can be abbreviated to something along the lines of, "Who do you think I am, Harry Potter?", which, in the right context, can get the same idea across.

 

[RickEverhart]

I have always had success with posing the effect as mere entertainment and everyone is having a good time. Never make it a challenge or you are bound to get a heckler. Just this past weekend I was out filming street magic with a professional and in one of the last performances a heckler started making comments....so the pro...stops and looks at him and says, "I see the Waffle House let you off your shift early tonight huh?" Everyone busted up laughing at the heckler and they told him to knock it off. His own friends turned on him and he immediately stopped and got the hint.

 

[Slicke]

Something I've used before when someone's constantly jumping in, asking to shuffle the deck at an inopportune moment or whatever, is, "I'll let you in on a bit of a secret. I'm not really doing actual magic...obviously I'm just demonstrating an illusion, so I'll let you [shuffle/examine the cards/whatever they want to do] afterwards, if that's OK.

This line can be abbreviated to something along the lines of, "Who do you think I am, Harry Potter?", which, in the right context, can get the same idea across.

But are you not diminishing yourself by doing so, people usually refer to me as a "magician" ... and what's worse than a "magician" admitting what he does isn't "magic". I like people to think what i'm doing is magic, but if their beliefs are different, i'm not there to change it. If a heckler wants to shuffle my deck, its because he wants me ... "the magician" to use my skill and find it, and if magic is infact my speciality, i should have no problem finding it. And obviously if i didn't want him to shuffle, its probably because i am keeping track of the selected card, and if i know where the card is ... how hard is it to just peek at it ? When the heckler is done shuffling, i spread the cards face up and say "are u happy with the shuffle" and somehow cut the card back to the top. Everyone is happy and you just accomplished a miracle

 

[TeeDee]

But are you not diminishing yourself by doing so, people usually refer to me as a "magician" ... and what's worse than a "magician" admitting what he does isn't "magic". I like people to think what i'm doing is magic, but if their beliefs are different, i'm not there to change it. If a heckler wants to shuffle my deck, its because he wants me ... "the magician" to use my skill and find it, and if magic is infact my speciality, i should have no problem finding it. And obviously if i didn't want him to shuffle, its probably because i am keeping track of the selected card, and if i know where the card is ... how hard is it to just peek at it ? When the heckler is done shuffling, i spread the cards face up and say "are u happy with the shuffle" and somehow cut the card back to the top. Everyone is happy and you just accomplished a miracle

It's down to individual style, but I think we're fooling ourselves if we expect a modern audience to feel anything other than patronised if we pretend to be doing anything supernatural. My character is one of a sleight-of-hand artist, and I think that elimates a whole class of heckler, without diminishing my ability to create "magical" moments. Just to clarify though, I would only use the line I suggested following continuous interference and interrupting by a spectator when it became clear something needed to be done to shut them up.

I believe that the best time to deal with hecklers is in rehearsal. By this, I mean, you should plan your routines to ensure that your audiences are given something to think about at any vulnerable moments. Basically, make sure your audience is laughing, concentrating on a memory, or thinking of the answer to a question at any moments when they might otherwise interfere and ruin the trick.

 

[Mouseff]

Thank you guys for all the advice

But I have a little question: Does anyone know a European shop for the Five Points In Magic book or an ebook Source since I live in Germany and it takes some time till something gets here if I order in the USA...

 

[JButterfield]

what's worse than a "magician" admitting what he does isn't "magic".

One who pretends he does the supernatural, and fosters that belief.

That sets up the challenge that you're breaking natural laws, and almost dares people to prove that you're not. A bit of fun trickery, or a display of an extraordinary skill that just can't be figured out is just as entertaining, and doesn't challenge people to prove it's just that.

 

[saborfang17]

One who pretends he does the supernatural, and fosters that belief.

That sets up the challenge that you're breaking natural laws, and almost dares people to prove that you're not. A bit of fun trickery, or a display of an extraordinary skill that just can't be figured out is just as entertaining, and doesn't challenge people to prove it's just that.

Off-topic (sorry, I know, but still - have to say it):

JButterfield,

Your signature is quite possibly THE most helpful contribution to this forum at this time. Probably one of the most useful ones to the internet as a whole, too.

 

[JButterfield]

lol thanks - just my way of giving back to the community.

I figure at least some part of my posts should be helpful.