Spectator thoughts
- Thread starter James555
- Start date
I think various things go through peoples minds. Here's some of the things that I think go through minds in the UK;
1. OMG is that Dynamo?!! Ahh no. It's just some guy doing stuff with cards.
2. What the hell is he doing? Looks impressive.
3. I like it, but he must of had a misspent youth.
4. I wouldn't play cards with him.
5. I wonder if he's a magician
Obviously they're aimed more at people passing while flourishing rather than passing during a performance. Personally I love going to a cafe for a while just to practice flourishing. Someone will always initiate a conversation or show that they want me to talk to them, I've got gigs that way before.
1. OMG is that Dynamo?!! Ahh no. It's just some guy doing stuff with cards.
2. What the hell is he doing? Looks impressive.
3. I like it, but he must of had a misspent youth.
4. I wouldn't play cards with him.
5. I wonder if he's a magician
Obviously they're aimed more at people passing while flourishing rather than passing during a performance. Personally I love going to a cafe for a while just to practice flourishing. Someone will always initiate a conversation or show that they want me to talk to them, I've got gigs that way before.
To me when watching a person flourish with cards...it diminishes the magic because in my mind I think, "If they can do this, this, and that while flinging cards everywhere....then by gosh he better be able to find my selected card." Just my two cents.
If I was a layman just walking by someone flourishing, I'd probably stop and watch for about 10 seconds and move on, however, if I saw a busker with a nice crowd and people cheering, I would be more apt to stop and hang out awhile.
If I was a layman just walking by someone flourishing, I'd probably stop and watch for about 10 seconds and move on, however, if I saw a busker with a nice crowd and people cheering, I would be more apt to stop and hang out awhile.
It kind of bothers me when I see people who try to mix flourishing with magic. I know it get's good reactions, but the thing is people aren't amazed or shocked that their card came to the top or that you could find it. They were merely impressed with your juggling.
Personally, I believe that if you want people believe that you can do magic. Then you must make what you do look LESS fancy and fast. And make it more slow and subtle and also make it look like you AREN'T good with a deck of cards. I'm also the not the only person who went by this theory. Dai Vernon, Ascanio, Juan Tamariz, Rene Levand. Etc all go by that thought process.
Anyways, I really wouldn't do much if I saw a guy doing that. Maybe look at him once and continue walking by.
Personally, I believe that if you want people believe that you can do magic. Then you must make what you do look LESS fancy and fast. And make it more slow and subtle and also make it look like you AREN'T good with a deck of cards. I'm also the not the only person who went by this theory. Dai Vernon, Ascanio, Juan Tamariz, Rene Levand. Etc all go by that thought process.
Anyways, I really wouldn't do much if I saw a guy doing that. Maybe look at him once and continue walking by.
Yes I agree with both you and Rick
Howard Hamburg mentioned the flourishing and magic combination thing to me when I met him.
I guess it cheapens the magic performance, like look what I can do and you can't.
Obviously, because a busker is putting on a show for peoples entertainment and someone flourishing is just flourishing. Flourishing only really interests a small group of people and it's not really a performance art.
I was at a venue last night to make arrangements for an upcoming show, the guy running the event and the woman that runs the venue were there and after we sorted everything out we sat down for a drink. The guy has seen me do a couple card tricks before but I asked them if they know what to expect from the show, they both said they haven't got a clue and haven't seen a magician in person before. While talking about this I was looking in their eyes talking to them while flourishing and the woman was mesmerised. When we stopped talking for a second she said "you're not even looking at the cards while you do that!" with gasp. I then showed them extreme burn and did a coin bend, they were completely baffled and the woman was trying to chuck us out so she could take the bent coin home and show her husband. Point of the story? The flourishing didn't diminish the magic in any way. If anything, it was something on top of the tricks, like a trick in itself.
And Randy, if anyone believes what we do is real magic, they are fools. I market myself as a stylish, modern magician and I get the same reactions any other good magician gets. Society has changed since the Professor's time so I don't think that idea is as valid as 50 years ago.
Valid argument formula. Times do change and perhaps what the Professor and many others from the past did back then, may not survive in our "fast paced" modern day society.
You also mentioned that you performed Extreme Burn and a Coin Bend. Those didn't have any correlation with the cards that you were flourishing with so. I'm wondering if you had flourished, and then went right into a card routine if it would have been as impressive or not. Just wondering...not calling you out or anything.
You also mentioned that you performed Extreme Burn and a Coin Bend. Those didn't have any correlation with the cards that you were flourishing with so. I'm wondering if you had flourished, and then went right into a card routine if it would have been as impressive or not. Just wondering...not calling you out or anything.
Yep, it seems we're going through a hit'n'run phase in magic with the way the world is now. People want to be amazed and time is money so they want it to happen in 60 seconds.
I see what you mean about not going in to a card trick. For me, flourishing helps me judge who genuinely likes magic and who doesn't. If people react to me flourishing in a casual manner, I know they will enjoy actual magic. I do believe that they would have been just as impressed if i went in to a couple card tricks but with David Blaine and Dynamo style, people want to see different magic these days. Card tricks aren't enough anymore for some people. extreme burn has become that trick that every magician does because it engages with the mentality of the current human. People want money for nothing and the idea of changing paper in to money excites people a lot more than a card trick.
I see what you mean about not going in to a card trick. For me, flourishing helps me judge who genuinely likes magic and who doesn't. If people react to me flourishing in a casual manner, I know they will enjoy actual magic. I do believe that they would have been just as impressed if i went in to a couple card tricks but with David Blaine and Dynamo style, people want to see different magic these days. Card tricks aren't enough anymore for some people. extreme burn has become that trick that every magician does because it engages with the mentality of the current human. People want money for nothing and the idea of changing paper in to money excites people a lot more than a card trick.
I think I'll have to side with Formula on this one. I've done flourishing for people and they seem to perceive it as a trick in and of itself, rather than just something flashy. And I don't care if people see what I am doing as magic or pure skill as long as it's entertaining to them.
I could sit here and type a long reason why you are in correct, but right now I can't be arsed. So all I am going to say is that you are wrong in a way, because people are still amazed and there are still performers out there TOP performers who market themselves as actual magic and not trickery or extreme sleight of hand. (David Williamson, John Carney, Whit Haydin, Juan Tamariz, Roberto Giobbi, Michael Ammar, Jami Ian Swiss, etc etc.)
Now if we are talking about a Busker doing card juggling then it would make sense for them, because buskers/street performers HAVE to do things that are loud and flashy in order to gather crowds.
As for you point about people being "fools" because they think what you did is "magic". That's just narrowed minded and silly. What you want people do to is believe that what you did was "magic", because they are left with no other choice but to believe it. Now is everybody going to go down that path? No, you can't win everybody over.
Flourishing looks good before magic and demonstrates skill in doing so, although I think it's actually incorporating a flourish into a card trick that is the problem, flourishing may just downgrade the trick slightly and/or the spectator's experience when combined with the magic.
That might be what you want, but it's not what I want. If someone wants to believe what I do is real magic I wont say otherwise but I would never try to convince someone I do real magic. If you sat down with any of the magicians you mentioned, I believe they would give you a similar answer. The bottom line is that we perform tricks to imitate magic but when magicians start telling people they do real bonafide magic they're no better than psychics.
I can't imagine a busker flourishing, it's too contained and doesn't play as big as something like juggling.
I think I agree with you about mixing flourishing with magic James555. In that sense I agree with a previous post, that when performing an actual trick the card handling should be kept simple.
"They say flourishing takes away from the magic, which is true, but so does comedy" - Brian Tudor.
thanks, yes I believe magic is about connecting with the spectator not showing off.