"This is a trick" vs "I have powers"

[Jv]

Personally, I think that ones audience wants to believe in magic. I don't ever say that I have "powers" or indeed that I don't have "powers", I let my audience decide.

I also think a lot depends on your persona, i.e. if you project yourself as a mysterious, dark, serious sort of person, you are encouraging your audience to believe you are indeed a man of power. Personally, I am a bit on the humorous side, so making someone believe I actually bent that spoon with my mind is harder.

So to sum up, just entertain, enjoy what you do, and let them decide.
Christo

Just thought that I give my thoughts on this, as I believe this is a very interesting and good topic.

I completely agree with 'Christo' in his above quote. I let my audience decide wether they were "fooled", or if I do in fact, "have powers".

My persona IS mysterious and serious, so after I perform, my audience is left with the impression that what they experienced and witnessed was 'real', rather then me trying to trick them.

 

[Simon_Magic]

Without making too finer point of it, the only reason Uri Geller is famous is cause he told the world he could bend spoons with his mind, and has destroyed many in his lifetime doing this under test conditions. However he bends the spoon is not the point, the point is that from just repeating however he does it over and over, someone noticed him and now all his money is spent on cutlery rather than paying house bills.

The man is rich because he claimed he had mental powers, and that seems to have worked for him.

I think the main reason people can't believe that card magic is real is because really there is nothing magical about a card popping to the top of the deck, but there is with a colour change or a transpo, but because its with cards how can it be magic since the spec knows of the existence of slight of hand?

Thats why spoon bending got Uri where he is. His speal on his mind power didn't work with cards, but it sure as hell did with spoons.

So you can't say someone is lying and making money out of the public because he is claiming to do something we all know is impossible and that very bad, cause it might just get you loaded beyond your wildest dreams.

Simon_Magic

 

[Sidekick]

Having a let them decide attitude in my opinion is negative to the audience, I would rather see Uri Geller than a magician just saying you decide. When you have that attitude because the spectators may lose interest but when you see uri geller who claims to have powers they want to see they want the claim to be tested. Or on the other hand some one who says that their card magic is sleight of hand, they still want to see, they want to test your claim of having experience in sleight of hand or whatever, to be tested.

Having a you decide attitude, the spectators would enjoy the trick but they may think well why did you do that....

There are two types of tricks Demonstration and experiment when you have "Let them decide" attitude it wont fall under any of those categories.

This is purely my opinion by the way,

In Pure Effect By Derren Brown, DB speaks about this in greater detail also I think it is talked about in Absolute magic.

EDIT: The thing with Uri Geller he is not like a person who claims the power to speak to the dead which has a very high impact on the audience, while Uri Geller is just bending spoons, in my opinion there is a difference. Uri Geller is not a scam artist, he claimed to have powers, We live in a very scientific and skeptic world so i am sure most know its complete BS.

 

[Liderc]

Real Magik has been around longer then any other "Belief" system known.

i do believe is Psychic powers, the paranormal, aliens, i believe everything has an energy that you can tap into, i believe that yes you can communicate without speaking, move objects without touching them, read minds etc

so it's not like i go up to someone and say hey i can read your mind i have all these powers watch... but i don't say i don't, and i don't present this as a trick i'm going to fool and entertain you for a moment.


i don't have a "character" when i perform.. i'm me. maybe ampped up a bit but still me.. Mysterious, a little dark ( not gothic or emo) serious.. mystical..

 

[Phenomena]

I have mixed feelings, because on one side anybody who even remotely says they have contact or powers with things that i dont (you dont have special powers that me or anyone else doesnt have) should have their head smashed in with a piece of heavy mining equiperment. This includes psychics, astrology, religion etc.

On the other hand, i love money, and there is an endless supply of idiots walking around the world that lack any intelligence to combat these claims, that they throw what little money they have at these people, in hope for some good news, or "miracle". So on a busisness side of it, its smart and makes sense.

I just do card tricks in bars for free beer, every now and then im tempted to dive into this endless pool of morons for some extra pocket change, but then I realize I would only add to this problem.

 

[Mental-State]

the point is derren brown doesnt tell the people he is performing for that its a trick untill after if at all its the person at home he tells at the begging of the show.

he makes them beileve in it and after sday yeah u liked my act?
its like tv ur ment to feel like it is real while u watch. if u didnt see the beggingng of a derren brown show u would think he is going about tellingfpeople he can really mind read. thing about when he would go around to mind read for 10p

 

[Mental-State]

btw, its not about i have powers vs i do a trick. its about what should u do for the effect u want. i made people believe i got mind reading powers (well the people who thought i let them believe) it was set up to make people think that to then show them 'how i really do it' to in press them more. if someone asks after if ur a really power dude i would say ehtier im not or does it matter? im here to entertain or ive got the skill to make it look likei can, isnt that just as good as real mind reading?

 

[deceptioproverum]

I was at Pizza Hut doin walkaround magic and I went up to a table, introduced myself, and asked if they wanted to see a magic trick. The woman at the table declined saying that they are Christian and dont believe in magic.

Now, I am a devoted Christian and I tried telling her that I am christian too and that it wasnt real and I didnt believe in it either but she still declined.

It is for that reason that I dont want people to believe that what I do is real magic. The bible says that witchcraft is not of God and I think its kinda sad that some people still have the mentallity that all magicians think that they can do real magic. I think I worded it badly at the resteraunt.

 

[TheatreHead]

I was at Pizza Hut doin walkaround magic and I went up to a table, introduced myself, and asked if they wanted to see a magic trick. The woman at the table declined saying that they are Christian and dont believe in magic.

Now, I am a devoted Christian and I tried telling her that I am christian too and that it wasnt real and I didnt believe in it either but she still declined.

It is for that reason that I dont want people to believe that what I do is real magic. The bible says that witchcraft is not of God and I think its kinda sad that some people still have the mentallity that all magicians think that they can do real magic. I think I worded it badly at the resteraunt.

In Church/Christian contexts, call yourself an illusionist, and ask if they would like to see some illusions.

In response to the question, my angle is that I am trying to manipulate my audience's perception of reality, so when I start, I ask them if they would like to help me in an experiment.

 

[KeoSilver]

I was at Pizza Hut doin walkaround magic and I went up to a table, introduced myself, and asked if they wanted to see a magic trick. The woman at the table declined saying that they are Christian and dont believe in magic.

Now, I am a devoted Christian and I tried telling her that I am christian too and that it wasnt real and I didnt believe in it either but she still declined.

It is for that reason that I dont want people to believe that what I do is real magic. The bible says that witchcraft is not of God and I think its kinda sad that some people still have the mentallity that all magicians think that they can do real magic. I think I worded it badly at the resteraunt.

Man don't go all deep, there are things called excuse cards. When someone isn't interested they will pull an excuse card out. I have to do chores, I am an atheist, I have found god already, I am sick, my dog died, your sexist all cards that someone uses in a negative situations.

I believe the person that you went up to first off didn't want to see magic, second of all you didn't introduce yourself other then saying "Do you want to see a magic trick?"

Don't take the religion card to seriously like what you are doing now, it is unneeded and you will learn about these cards the more you interact with people.

 

[Justin.Morris]

As a Christian myself, I personally don't try and convince people either way. Those that are skeptical in nature, I'm not about to condescend and try to lie to them telling them it's real magic. Some people are smarter than that, and I just want them to be entertained.

However, If I can blur the line a little bit.... in one prediction routine, I tell people that what I am about to do is not real magic, it is just an illusion. then I make an impossible prediction (prediction in envelope -spectator examines, shuffles, and deals cards and stops wherever they want - that card matches the prediction -I never touch the deck, nor are there any gimmicks).
I remove every possible explanation they can think of before we start. They have no explanation for it, and it makes them wonder.

 

[Marek]

I find in magic there is no right or wrong however you approach it.
There is better or worse but thats a whole other debate

The sole purpose of magic from a performing viewpoint is to entertain
Whether that be by claiming to have magical powers or knowing something the spectator doesn't If you can entertain a person, make their day better you've done your job.

As for me, people like chris angel or people who do take on the whole magic powers approach do irritate me. But thats my point of view as a magician

"we know the secret, We are in on it" Every magician knows that

For the spectator this is true aswell they know that there is some method or slight behind it. It is our job to make them doubt that there is

When i perform i try not to specify exactly what i am doing. I like the audience to play the magic in there head, try and figure what is going to happen before i do it
this always works in my favour.

For 2 reasons
1: IF they do predict what i am going to do for example put a coin through a bottle. They have already convinced them selves that it is "impossible" so when i do proceed to place a coin in a bottle the effect is enhanced so much by there expectation and the suspense.

2: If they prodict something to happen and something different and unexpected happens. They are not prepared for it and that catches them off gaurd and they tend to replay that moment in their head over and over again to try and grasp what just happened

For example i perform the biddle trick religiously becuase it fits my style. I dont go straight ahead and tell them "Watch i'm going to make this card appear in the centre of the deck you are holding" that would ruin the experience for them, it would still be amazing but not as impressive as it should be

I like to say something along the lines of "So your card is one of these 5 cards yes?, Ok here is how i'm going find out which one it is"

Each time i do this the spectator creates a scenario in their head "will it turn face up?" "will it vanish?" "will it change colour"? They are building the whole thing up.

And when the completely unexpected happens and that card appears in the deck. All hell breaks lose.

And if they ask me how it was done? I stay quiet. I dont want to steal this experience away from them. They will continue to exaggerate it in there head till they just stand there stunned

That to me is true magic.