What do you think is the most hard hitting effect?

Jul 13, 2010
526
34
I agree with Mat.

I also think that presentation should serve to strengthen the effect, not the other way around.
Sometimes magicians focus so much on presentation that it casts a damp over the effect.
 
Nov 8, 2007
1,238
3
Though you most likely can't fool an adult audience with the finger trick you can still make it an entertaining experience by doing it as a joke by building it up as something that takes all your might and then just do it. It is fun for everyone and therefore (at least in my eyes) I think it is a magical moment.

Amazement and amusement are not the same feeling.

"Our task is amazement, not amusement. Always amazement first." -Rene' Levand
 
Sep 1, 2007
1,395
8
37
Belgrade, Serbia
Amazement and amusement are not the same feeling.

"Our task is amazement, not amusement. Always amazement first." -Rene' Levand

True.
If we want to amuze, we can go with a lot easier path, like telling a joke or a story. Even juggling and ventriloquism. If we want to do magic and astonish, we must amaze. Why do I always see people taking the easy road?
 
Jun 10, 2010
1,360
1
True.
If we want to amuze, we can go with a lot easier path, like telling a joke or a story. Even juggling and ventriloquism. If we want to do magic and astonish, we must amaze. Why do I always see people taking the easy road?

You guys are all hypocrites, to be honest. You're all looking at it as magic being only to amaze people, and if you don't want people to drop their jaws at your magic, then you're not doing it right.. I don't consider myself so much of a magician, more of a trickster at times (like Eric Jones). It's only when they start to be like "How did you do that?!" and stuff that I start delving deeper, looking for more then just a laugh to make their day. Not everybody sets out to astonish, but rather, works their way up to it. Maybe people just do it for the hell of it and like to make people laugh, because it makes them feel good seeing others entertained, regardless of whether it is by blowing their minds away with French Kiss or telling them a joke of the Rabbi and the Priest.

I just think that you guys assume everybody has to take the same basic path with their magic, when it should really be done however the magician wants to do it. (In this sense, not like the towtox "i'ma buy erdanase and rct marlo and then critique dis vid pl0x so i can haz fel gud" kind of path)
 
Sep 1, 2007
1,395
8
37
Belgrade, Serbia
You guys are all hypocrites, to be honest. You're all looking at it as magic being only to amaze people, and if you don't want people to drop their jaws at your magic, then you're not doing it right.. I don't consider myself so much of a magician, more of a trickster at times (like Eric Jones). It's only when they start to be like "How did you do that?!" and stuff that I start delving deeper, looking for more then just a laugh to make their day. Not everybody sets out to astonish, but rather, works their way up to it. Maybe people just do it for the hell of it and like to make people laugh, because it makes them feel good seeing others entertained, regardless of whether it is by blowing their minds away with French Kiss or telling them a joke of the Rabbi and the Priest.

I just think that you guys assume everybody has to take the same basic path with their magic, when it should really be done however the magician wants to do it. (In this sense, not like the towtox "i'ma buy erdanase and rct marlo and then critique dis vid pl0x so i can haz fel gud" kind of path)

I don't think you know what a word hypocrit means. And I don't think that Eric Jones is just a trickster, or refers to himself as one, because what he does, and the way he does it, actually IS real magic.
And you just prover my point of you guys wanting to go down the easy path. And I don't think that "basic" path is to amaze. It's supposed to be, but these days the basic path is to dress up like a punk, and flash people on the street with your deck (yes, a penis joke).
 
May 15, 2010
493
3
28
With Gerard Way
Amazement and amusement are not the same feeling.

"Our task is amazement, not amusement. Always amazement first." -Rene' Levand

Note that I did not say it was AMAZING in any way. Please don't switch my words around. I feel that we are very different in our way of thinking and though I agree with most of the things you say on theory I FEEL that it is becoming a bit of a "I'm right you're wrong" deal when it comes to us. I did not say it was "amazing" I said it can be entertaining. There is a difference.

Thanks,

–Anna
 
Nov 8, 2007
1,238
3
Note that I did not say it was AMAZING in any way. Please don't switch my words around. I feel that we are very different in our way of thinking and though I agree with most of the things you say on theory I FEEL that it is becoming a bit of a "I'm right you're wrong" deal when it comes to us. I did not say it was "amazing" I said it can be entertaining. There is a difference.

Thanks,

–Anna
Anna,

I did not mean to insinuate you were wrong, or to "switch your words on you," but you equated amusement with magic, which I do not feel is the same thing.
Though you most likely can't fool an adult audience with the finger trick you can still make it an entertaining experience by doing it as a joke by building it up as something that takes all your might and then just do it. It is fun for everyone and therefore (at least in my eyes) I think it is a magical moment.

I agree such an effect can evoke laughter and be entertaining, but I do not agree with you when you say that a joke routine that does nothing more than get an audience to chuckle constitutes the feeling of magic. To me magic is amazement--astonishment--and I assumed others believed the same thing, so perhaps I was wrong in assuming everyone is on the same page with semantics. I thought I was clear with my words initially, but if I wasn't, I apologize and I hope this post cleared it up. Happy Thanksgiving. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jun 6, 2010
796
0
Nashville, TN
I don't think you know what a word hypocrit means. And I don't think that Eric Jones is just a trickster, or refers to himself as one, because what he does, and the way he does it, actually IS real magic.
And you just prover my point of you guys wanting to go down the easy path. And I don't think that "basic" path is to amaze. It's supposed to be, but these days the basic path is to dress up like a punk, and flash people on the street with your deck (yes, a penis joke).

Nice Towtox reference :)
 
Aug 27, 2008
283
0
Tijuana bC
french KISS is definitely the hardest hitting card trick I got... its my opener it sets the bar... high enough so they are glued to my performance ... I believe performance a tricks go hand in hand ... good performer + good tricks = magic
 
Dec 18, 2007
1,610
14
64
Northampton, MA - USA
I've not waded through this thread so what I'm saying may be an echo to what others have already shared. That said... the most spellbinding effect going is the one that YOU manage to get the strongest audience reaction from... it's that simple. Fortunately, it will not be the same effect for everyone in that "the trick" isn't what makes the "magician" but vice-versa. Let me give you a couple of examples, starting with the Vanishing Bird Cage of Blackstone fame (both, Sr. & Jr. performed it regularly)

98% of those that present this trick will get a positive reaction from the audience as the result of both, surprise and impossibility. If you executed it properly (which very few do) you may very well have your fellow mage at the club, shocked & amazed (and of course, pumping you for pointers so they can do it as good). BUT, in all of history there are only three major personalities that will forever be linked to this same prop; the Blackstones and Bill McComb.

If you never got to see Billy present this particular trick live, you missed out on one of the most uncanny, enchanting bits of pure magic that ever was. My first encounter with it was from the second row center at the Magic Castle... I was completely awe-struck as he made the cage visibly melt into nothingness in a very slow and quite deliberate manner.

In these two examples we have an effect that has been commercially popular for well over 75 years if not longer and yet, it is only the Father & Son factor that held reign for close to four generations, with the McComb variation being the first to steal their thunder... a bit.

Why?

There must be thousands of those things strewn about the globe and featured in dozens if not hundreds of decent sized stage shows over the past century; so why is it that this single simple effect is only mnemonically tied to three world-classed entertainers?

ANSWER: It's as I said in my opening spiel... IT'S THE PERFORMER THAT TRANSFORMS A TRICK INTO SOMETHING MAGICKLE.

Granted, there are those bits that give you certain advantages, classic effects like the Linking Rings, Asrah, Broom Suspension, or a Guillotine type bit all have "stock" modes of presentation that the majority of us "borrow" simply because THEY WORK. But, it is not until you put your own spin to these bits, that they become "more". Leroy, for an example, had the hardest time getting a reaction from the public when he presented his "Asrah" levitation for the first time (1914 NOT 1902 as some sites suggest) but, when others started working with the piece key elements started coming together and within a few short years, he had a masterpiece... one that still leaves folks dumbfounded when they see a team that knows how to do the effect "right" and using the most deceptive equipment they can find (my personal bias being that Kirby VanBirch has the most impossible little couch and cleanest switch you're likely to run across. He's managed to make things happen fast, smooth and free of the more common drawbacks associated with the effect... but this brings up another point when it comes to the question of "What is the hardest hitting?"

I can promise you, using a John Gaughan "diamond" table Thin-Model Sawing (see Mark Wilson's World Expo-Seattle footage) is far more bewildering than seeing someone working with an Abbott version of the same effect. The point being that craftsmanship as well as prop design & finish can make or break an effect. If you build a pretty glass box on top of a table big enough to hold a small elephant, you're not going to get the gasps of amazement when the girl shows up in it... on the other hand, if you have that same production prop set on a nice clean base, you'll leave them staggered... if you have the pizazz that makes it all come together.

I'm more than aware of the fact that the majority of us can't afford Gaughan, Bill Smith or Owen props and when it comes to the big stuff, most of what we end up with will be used, home-made or possibly purchased from one of those companies that tend to be a bit more "primitive" in their construction techniques. This is however, something that affects us when it comes to smaller stage props, hand props, etc. Even gaffed coins have a quality factor about them that is akin to investing into a Steinway for your home vs buying "a piano" (store brand)... certain gimmicked coins retain that "ring" to them that detours the audience from thinking you are "cheating" somehow... but they are bloody expensive! They are an INVESTMENT and not just a curiosity purchase however.

Ok... another long winded post from Craig, but I hope I've managed to shine a bit of light on this question and the more honest truth when it comes to the answer... but ignoring what I've said, I still have to list the following as my favorite shock inducing effects...

* Card from Magician (mine)
* Asrah
* Impaled
* Buzz Saw
* Spirit Cabinet (mine)

When it comes to Mentalism, my list is very short...
* The Q&A
* Muscle Reading

Laters...
 
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