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- Thread starter ~Ryan Fox~
- Start date
Ryan gets my vote all the way. idk but magicman- yours didnt feel much like an acr to me idk why. it was prolly to flashy and acr's strength comes fromhow the card rises up with no funny moves. also you had a big flash on the second rise to the top
@ Ryan: Congratulations on getting a video of a live performance! First and foremost, a lot of brownie points for that, well done. Technically, no issues, although be careful during the pop-up move about the bent card in the middle. I'd drop that hand entirely to the side so that it's not anywhere near vision - I know that my eyes were drawn to it.
Another quick note, I'd let the spectator at least hold onto the card as much as they want. Let them give it back to you. You held your hand out very prematurely (which is, incidentally, a great way to ask for cards back when you DON'T want them shuffling too much - just silently hold your hand out and they will give you the cards back), which forced him mentally to give back the card. Being the object of the effect, I would let him hold onto it for as much as possible; you often find specs staring at the card blankly in amazement, for example.
Now, this is the big thing. Presentation wise, I think the effect could still use a lot of work. Overall, you said "Right? Right?" a few too many times, with a bit of hesitation between phases. And when I say presentation needs work, I don't mean "And we place your card into the middle of the deck." Once or twice is fine to get the idea of the effect. It goes in the middle, they check it, it comes to the top, fine. But by the fourth and fifth phase, the spectator has eyes and a brain, they know what you're doing, they don't need to be told. The reactions were fine, but I think that that's the one thing stopping you (at least in that performance, I can't speak of you generally as a magician) from progressing to the next step up with magic - a congruent presentation.
I'll give you an example actually that I just realised of what I mean. At the end, it was nice that you asked him how he felt. And he said: "You're one of the best card trick guys I've ever seen." Now it's debatable how deep you should or even could read into what laymen say, but I find this particularly interesting. He didn't say you were amongst the best magicians he'd ever seen. He didn't enjoy magic. He enjoyed tricks. And there's a big difference between tricks and magic, obviously, and I think presentation is one massive bridge between the two. Magic is an experience, tricks are moments. Magic incorporates moments to create the experience, but the same is not true in the opposite sense.
Anyway, I don't mean to preach, I'm sure you've heard much of this stuff before, so one more thing.
I'd also have a look at the structure of the effect as well - important in particular for ACR since it by definition incorporates the same effect through many phases. Make sure that each phase links into the next one seamlessly, and also makes sense. I felt that towards the middle, you were just showing different ways to do the next thing; that is to say that the effect became repetitive.
Oh, one last thing. Try and look at the spec and communicate with him more; I don't have much to go on since from the camera I couldn't see if you were or not, but I get the distinct impression that him saying that you were amazing was due to your skills rather than your character. Again, small but important difference which means a lot towards magic, the experience.
Aaand yes, they were the main things - well, the main thing was just presentation, is all. Don't get me wrong, you did a lot of things right too which I won't mention, but you did; just that presentation is such a big and undervalued thing.
@ magicman1040: Err, it's Ambitious by the way, two i's. The first thing I would say is this: you obviously prefer a D&D style of handling the cards, which is fine. But don't confuse technical elegance with speed. A lot of your handling was visually appealing but ended in you performing too quickly. A recurrent example would be displaying the AoS. Honestly, display it once, and keep it up there for a moment. No need to flip it over for half a second, drop it on the deck with a flourish, then pick it up again and drop it onto the table with a flourish. Elegance in handling is a fine style if that's what you like, but just make sure it doesn't transfer into pacing issues.
As far as presentation goes, you have the same issue more or less as Ryan. So I'm just gonna copy and paste, more or less, what I wrote for him:
Presentation wise, I think the effect could still use a lot of work. When I say presentation needs work, I don't mean "And we place your card into the middle of the deck." Once or twice is fine to get the idea of the effect. It goes in the middle, they check it, it comes to the top, fine. But by the fourth and fifth phase, the spectator has eyes and a brain, they know what you're doing, they don't need to be told. We can also obviously see that the AoS is on top again. The reactions were fine, but I think that that's the one thing stopping you (at least in that performance, I can't speak of you generally as a magician) from progressing to the next step up with magic - a congruent presentation.
As someone above noted, you also flashed on one of your sleights, although I'm not really fussed about that. It happens, and it's not so important - though for future videos, where you have the chance to reshoot, I would.
I do want to mention that I like that you push the top card off the front of the deck. It's a nice finesse. Also, your routine was structured slightly better.
On a completely unrelated note, how many magicman-number usernames are there? I know of at least 3, or maybe 4 now. Weird.
Ok, so considering all that, both of you did well but both really have similar flaws - little issues here and there, technically, structurally, etc. But the biggest thing was that you both had the same big problem, which was presentation, and I honestly think that it's one thing that's stopping you guys from improving a LOT - which is not to discourage you or to say that you're bad, you're not, either of you. But it could get better.
So in light of relative evenness in terms of both mistakes, good points and bad points, etc., Ryan did, in all fairness, have a lot more to contend with going out to perform for a real person and on the basis of that live performance, vote goes to Ryan. Again, skill, where you guys are in magic, etc., for the ACR, are roughly about equal, but you can't underestimate the added difficulties in performing live either.
Another quick note, I'd let the spectator at least hold onto the card as much as they want. Let them give it back to you. You held your hand out very prematurely (which is, incidentally, a great way to ask for cards back when you DON'T want them shuffling too much - just silently hold your hand out and they will give you the cards back), which forced him mentally to give back the card. Being the object of the effect, I would let him hold onto it for as much as possible; you often find specs staring at the card blankly in amazement, for example.
Now, this is the big thing. Presentation wise, I think the effect could still use a lot of work. Overall, you said "Right? Right?" a few too many times, with a bit of hesitation between phases. And when I say presentation needs work, I don't mean "And we place your card into the middle of the deck." Once or twice is fine to get the idea of the effect. It goes in the middle, they check it, it comes to the top, fine. But by the fourth and fifth phase, the spectator has eyes and a brain, they know what you're doing, they don't need to be told. The reactions were fine, but I think that that's the one thing stopping you (at least in that performance, I can't speak of you generally as a magician) from progressing to the next step up with magic - a congruent presentation.
I'll give you an example actually that I just realised of what I mean. At the end, it was nice that you asked him how he felt. And he said: "You're one of the best card trick guys I've ever seen." Now it's debatable how deep you should or even could read into what laymen say, but I find this particularly interesting. He didn't say you were amongst the best magicians he'd ever seen. He didn't enjoy magic. He enjoyed tricks. And there's a big difference between tricks and magic, obviously, and I think presentation is one massive bridge between the two. Magic is an experience, tricks are moments. Magic incorporates moments to create the experience, but the same is not true in the opposite sense.
Anyway, I don't mean to preach, I'm sure you've heard much of this stuff before, so one more thing.
I'd also have a look at the structure of the effect as well - important in particular for ACR since it by definition incorporates the same effect through many phases. Make sure that each phase links into the next one seamlessly, and also makes sense. I felt that towards the middle, you were just showing different ways to do the next thing; that is to say that the effect became repetitive.
Oh, one last thing. Try and look at the spec and communicate with him more; I don't have much to go on since from the camera I couldn't see if you were or not, but I get the distinct impression that him saying that you were amazing was due to your skills rather than your character. Again, small but important difference which means a lot towards magic, the experience.
Aaand yes, they were the main things - well, the main thing was just presentation, is all. Don't get me wrong, you did a lot of things right too which I won't mention, but you did; just that presentation is such a big and undervalued thing.
@ magicman1040: Err, it's Ambitious by the way, two i's. The first thing I would say is this: you obviously prefer a D&D style of handling the cards, which is fine. But don't confuse technical elegance with speed. A lot of your handling was visually appealing but ended in you performing too quickly. A recurrent example would be displaying the AoS. Honestly, display it once, and keep it up there for a moment. No need to flip it over for half a second, drop it on the deck with a flourish, then pick it up again and drop it onto the table with a flourish. Elegance in handling is a fine style if that's what you like, but just make sure it doesn't transfer into pacing issues.
As far as presentation goes, you have the same issue more or less as Ryan. So I'm just gonna copy and paste, more or less, what I wrote for him:
Presentation wise, I think the effect could still use a lot of work. When I say presentation needs work, I don't mean "And we place your card into the middle of the deck." Once or twice is fine to get the idea of the effect. It goes in the middle, they check it, it comes to the top, fine. But by the fourth and fifth phase, the spectator has eyes and a brain, they know what you're doing, they don't need to be told. We can also obviously see that the AoS is on top again. The reactions were fine, but I think that that's the one thing stopping you (at least in that performance, I can't speak of you generally as a magician) from progressing to the next step up with magic - a congruent presentation.
As someone above noted, you also flashed on one of your sleights, although I'm not really fussed about that. It happens, and it's not so important - though for future videos, where you have the chance to reshoot, I would.
I do want to mention that I like that you push the top card off the front of the deck. It's a nice finesse. Also, your routine was structured slightly better.
On a completely unrelated note, how many magicman-number usernames are there? I know of at least 3, or maybe 4 now. Weird.
Ok, so considering all that, both of you did well but both really have similar flaws - little issues here and there, technically, structurally, etc. But the biggest thing was that you both had the same big problem, which was presentation, and I honestly think that it's one thing that's stopping you guys from improving a LOT - which is not to discourage you or to say that you're bad, you're not, either of you. But it could get better.
So in light of relative evenness in terms of both mistakes, good points and bad points, etc., Ryan did, in all fairness, have a lot more to contend with going out to perform for a real person and on the basis of that live performance, vote goes to Ryan. Again, skill, where you guys are in magic, etc., for the ACR, are roughly about equal, but you can't underestimate the added difficulties in performing live either.