Thoughts on color changes
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My favorites are the Bertram Change, a variation of the classic color change I came up with, and the Be Kind Change by Tony Chang.
But I don't perform them for other people. They are visual, yes, but I don't think visual magic is the best way to go, personally.
But I don't perform them for other people. They are visual, yes, but I don't think visual magic is the best way to go, personally.
I love color changes. My favorite is a move I created called I Love Trains. They can be a ton of fun to do and watch for sure.
Yes, I do agree that color changes are amazing and super visual, when done well. I have been working on two in particular for years, and can't say I'm satisfied yet; still feel like I have a ways to go. I practice Marlo's snap change a lot. It totally fried me the first time I saw it performed in person and up close - by none other than Bill Malone. It is a dazzling change, but super angly, so you've got to pick your spots carefully. My other favorite is to do a steal of the top card of the deck with the deck face up (so, actually it is the top card of the deck that is stolen) and change the face card with a wave of the hand. Very magical. I like the move because it at least simulates the way a real magician might change a card. Of course, the steal must be undetectable, and the card must be replaced perfectly square, or it won't look magical. As is so often the case, misdirection is important, or just stealing it when they are not looking. I'm sure most would agree that color changes always look best, by far, when the color (not just the card) actually changes.
I love color changes. Mostly because I remember exactly how I felt when I first saw one. I bought the trick and down the magic rabbit hole I went....
This is what I saw and is my favorite effect to perform to this day: http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/644
This is what I saw and is my favorite effect to perform to this day: http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/644
I love the snap change! I do it whenever I can for people, which is surprisingly often.
Are we talking about just visual single card (or maybe a small packet) color changes?
If so, FLAP by Hondo Chen looks stunning.
If other things count, Marlo's Miracle Change is amazing, especially when used as a utility move to switch out something really quickly.
If so, FLAP by Hondo Chen looks stunning.
If other things count, Marlo's Miracle Change is amazing, especially when used as a utility move to switch out something really quickly.
My three go to changes are some of the most basic lol
i use the Classic (erdnase) change, the twirl change, and the bottom shift/side steal into classic palm.
Funny thing is i usually do not change the face of the card, i use my changes to do random things like visually remove the signature from a signed card, make the signature appear on another card or do a color changing deck/blank deck.
i use the Classic (erdnase) change, the twirl change, and the bottom shift/side steal into classic palm.
Funny thing is i usually do not change the face of the card, i use my changes to do random things like visually remove the signature from a signed card, make the signature appear on another card or do a color changing deck/blank deck.
I honestly feel like that's where the power of colour changes lie.
I personally love color changes aswell. What i like to do is combine them into a routine that makes a drastic change. Example is a routine i do when it looks like a mentalism trick and i guess their card by writing it on a blank one, then visually changing the written card to their selection, it happens in an instant and always get good reactions. Another thing i have been fiddeling around with when it comes to color changes is to anitially show a deck with one back design and then changing a selected card, then the entire decks back design. It really layers the illusion and leaves the spectators mind boggeled.
I am sometimes a bit unclear as to the distinction between mentalism and mental magic. If Daniel performed the effect as just making a prediction that he hand-wrote on the blank card and the prediction turned out to match the spectator's card, and did not do the sleight of hand/color change part, would that still be considered mental magic, or would that be within the realm of mentalism?
I think it's kind of like squares and rectangles. All mentalism is mental magic, but not all mental magic is mentalism.
Mental magic would be anything in the catagory.
I believe mentalism is actually more so on the presentation - you present it as if you have psychic powers. As a result, things like Electric Touch and even a few effects using ITRs can sometimes qualify as mentalism (though I'm willing to bet it is very rare).
Please correct me if I'm wrong!
Eh. No.
Magic and Mentalism are related, but separate genres of performance art. There are two very significant and important differences between them -
1) Magic encourages the suspension of disbelief, willing or unwilling. Mentalism creates belief.
The difference here is that magic is basically watched with an unspoken social contract that everyone involved knows there's tricks going on, and it's fun to just let that happen and enjoy the show. The very best magicians create moments of borderline belief, but in general everyone knows it's just all fun.
Mentalism creates belief. No matter what your claim is - whether you're claiming to be a telepath, clairvoyant, psychologist, or intuitive - you perform it as if it was real. The very best mentalists use premises and methods that seem just real enough to make people question whether they really are tricks. There are so many people that think Derren Brown is genuinely doing what he claims to be doing, even though he always says he's not.
2) Magicians perform tricks, mentalists employ systems.
Because of that unspoken social contract that it's all tricks, magic is expected to succeed. The magician is the all powerful god character, who, eventually, will always win. The journey through that challenge can be really beautiful and fun, but the end result is generally known as soon as the performance begins. That's a big part of why audiences always know it's tricks. Tricks always work. Mentalists employ systems - sometimes systems don't work out. That's why mentalists don't mind the occasion miss or failure. It can be leveraged to make everything seem more real, and create more belief.
Mentalism is much more character and presentation focused than magic is.
Because of that, you can't just "put a little mentalism" in a show. You can do mentalism, or you can do magic - I don't honestly believe you can do both in the same show - it will tip one way or the other. That's a more nuanced discussion for another time, though.
So, if you do things that are clearly impossible - like change a written guess into the actual card selected - you're doing magic with a mental theme, which is mental magic. A mentalist would do it in such a way that it seems genuinely possible - having the actual card in an envelope that's been in plain view the whole time, or writing a prediction detailing the actions that will be taken, or just showing the correct card out of the deck rather than drawing and changing it - depending on the premise of the mentalist's powers.
Magic and Mentalism are related, but separate genres of performance art. There are two very significant and important differences between them -
1) Magic encourages the suspension of disbelief, willing or unwilling. Mentalism creates belief.
The difference here is that magic is basically watched with an unspoken social contract that everyone involved knows there's tricks going on, and it's fun to just let that happen and enjoy the show. The very best magicians create moments of borderline belief, but in general everyone knows it's just all fun.
Mentalism creates belief. No matter what your claim is - whether you're claiming to be a telepath, clairvoyant, psychologist, or intuitive - you perform it as if it was real. The very best mentalists use premises and methods that seem just real enough to make people question whether they really are tricks. There are so many people that think Derren Brown is genuinely doing what he claims to be doing, even though he always says he's not.
2) Magicians perform tricks, mentalists employ systems.
Because of that unspoken social contract that it's all tricks, magic is expected to succeed. The magician is the all powerful god character, who, eventually, will always win. The journey through that challenge can be really beautiful and fun, but the end result is generally known as soon as the performance begins. That's a big part of why audiences always know it's tricks. Tricks always work. Mentalists employ systems - sometimes systems don't work out. That's why mentalists don't mind the occasion miss or failure. It can be leveraged to make everything seem more real, and create more belief.
Mentalism is much more character and presentation focused than magic is.
Because of that, you can't just "put a little mentalism" in a show. You can do mentalism, or you can do magic - I don't honestly believe you can do both in the same show - it will tip one way or the other. That's a more nuanced discussion for another time, though.
So, if you do things that are clearly impossible - like change a written guess into the actual card selected - you're doing magic with a mental theme, which is mental magic. A mentalist would do it in such a way that it seems genuinely possible - having the actual card in an envelope that's been in plain view the whole time, or writing a prediction detailing the actions that will be taken, or just showing the correct card out of the deck rather than drawing and changing it - depending on the premise of the mentalist's powers.
Actually, it was invented by Houdini.
Although I generally agree with @ChristopherT , I'll disagree on some specific points.
I think the distinction is that magic is the illusion of the impossible and mentalism the illusion of the possible.
If we define "tricks" as methods, I think both magicians and mentalist use tricks. In a mentalism context, you can enhance those tricks through methods -- or as Banachek terms it, subtleties. I know what you do does rely more on the employment of methods (cold reading, hypnosis, "energy", etc.) but I think that is the exception rather than the rule. A Q&A is the use of a method with subtleties. A Dead or Alive routine is the use of a method with subtleties.
Yes and no. Both magic and mentalism should be focused on character and presentation. Too often the performers of both genres fall short.
My distinction is that mentalism is a demonstration of a psychic skill where mental magic is the demonstration of a magical skill with a psychic presentation. For example, mentalism is determining the word that someone has selected from a book, mental magic is having that word appear on the person's arm. Mentalism is telling someone how much money they have in their wallet, mental magic is having someone order from a dinner menu with the resulting bill equaling the money in your wallet.
@ChristopherT - We have to write that book, "The Mentalist and the Magician."
