theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Who are you?

worldwideme said:
and theres nothing wrong with having a character either, its a personal choice.
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See, I agree with both of you... I myself be myself, funny and nice... But I also exaggerate my outfit when I perform parties...(See above post from me if you care or want to know what I wear).. But I don't walk around school with dress clothes and black nails and a hot topic wrist band... No, its my character and I'm comftorble with it. But its not like a 180 degree twist... I am not a quarterback at school and then put paint my nails and put makeup on at night... What I wear during the day is near what I wear when I perform... Anyway all I'm trying to say is, yes its ok to be your self and its ok to have a character... But its also ok to have both.. Like me.


Hope all this helps,

-SM
 
We are very much so on topic,
Nickerus said:
I wanted to ask everyone who they are when they perform.


Do you have a character you use when you perform?
  • Evil Genius?
  • Shaman?
  • Washed up magician?
  • Old Gregg?
Is your character an exaggeration you, or an extension of yourself?

Do you just perform as yourself, "Hello I'm Nick".

Let me know.

Also, give reasoning to why you chose the character or lack thereof that you have.
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He asked if anyone had a character or something that is your personality time two. People with the exception of a few have answered with "it's me" Me is not a character and for the last two-three pages a few members have actually been giving actually helpful advice onto how to flesh out who the "Me" character is.

But I have a sinking suspicion that once I finish posting in this thread it is not going to be read by anyone new.
 
scarecrow1 said:
I see your point. But when I say "I'm myself" I just mean I act like I do every day. I don't act different. It doesn't mean "I haven't found who I am yet".
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It's hard to take a person's word on that when they can't describe themselves beyond a collection of bland adjectives. If you can't describe yourself accurately, how do you know you're not putting up certain affectations in different social situations? It's like how I hear guys say, "When I meet a woman, I try to be myself," but then I see them try to talk to a pretty girl and they turn into a completely different person. They don't have the self-awareness to realize what they're doing.

Likewise, I don't believe the majority of magicians who boast, "I'm just me when I perform," because when called to describe themselves they give the same paint-by-numbers answers every time.
 
I presume that all of us here seek to be or to become magicians, rather than people who can do some tricks. For those of you who are "yourselves" when you perform, what happens when you're not in a performance situation? Presumably you're exactly the same. If so, I envy, you, because I, for one, am sometimes upset, angry, irritated, depressed, or one of many emotions not congruent with an entertaining performance persona. I find it impossible to purely and simply be "myself" when performing because I have an unfortunate scruple that tells me audiences deserve some kind of effort on my part to at least put on a modicum of charm if I dare to stand in front of them and expect their approbation. To continue that good-humour and playful banter at all times and in all places would be exhausting and inappropriate in my life. It would seem, additionally, all you "yourselves" that you've examined how best to present your pieces of intimate magical theatre, and by lucky coincidence found the stoical, never-changing "yourself" to be the one character to best convey these effects.

I would contend that this stance is absolute BS. You may very well be a version of yourself when you perform. Indeed, to completely dispense with all aspects of your natural character would be nigh on impossible. However, an audience do not want to see tricks performed by some guy. They want to experience magic performed by a magician. "Yourself" is not a magician, he is some guy who knows some tricks, some moves and some flourishes. If you want to be a magician then I'm afraid you'll have to be something other than "yourself".
 
worldwideme said:
so we have a business thread here. this about marketing "ourselves"
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I missed this, the answer is yes. Believe it or not magic has a business side to it and I find it strange it isn't talked about more often in threads that are about becoming famous and what not. Sure magicians have to be great at what they do on stage or in front of a crowd, but they also NEED TO KNOW how to conduct business. Do you think Mr. Draven doesn't have to do administrative stuff when he lands a gig with an amusement park?


The same misconception goes to interior designers here at school. Outside observers think when they hear interior designers that all they do is pick out what kind of wall paper to use where or do these curtains fit with the room. That is wrong! Have of their degree plan is all business classes, the ratio of design classes to business is about 1:3. Sure if you can decorated an interior and draw out a plan, the real test is can you sell the idea to your client?
 
Nickerus said:
I wanted to ask everyone who they are when they perform.


Do you have a character you use when you perform?
  • Evil Genius?
  • Shaman?
  • Washed up magician?
  • Old Gregg?
Is your character an exaggeration you, or an extension of yourself?

Do you just perform as yourself, "Hello I'm Nick".

Let me know.

Also, give reasoning to why you chose the character or lack thereof that you have.
Click to expand...

This is a good thread, and one that should be explored by everyone with a serious intent to perform magic. I find it a bit of a zen question myself because to answer this is to reach deep within you and pull out something of your own essence.

Since a lot of you have replied "I'm just myself" I want to respond to that first before I answer the OP's question. When you perform it is important to "be yourself" but that statement doesn't mean not use a character or persona. It means that your performance persona should be true to your nature. If you are normally a quiet and intervened individual then your performance character shouldn't be Mr. Energy meets Jeff Hobson. It should reflect who you are, otherwise it won't be believable. I think it's an understanding that the goal of a magician is to entertain. To do that we usually need to be larger than ourselves to be read right from the stage.

In my essay "You've Got Talent" I touch on a subject that a good friend of mine from the Freak Show Deluxe once said to me. You are like a guitar amp. You have a volume switch. Your usual volume level to be heard is around a 4, but when you perform you need to crank up that character personality to be around a 10, so everyone in the room can hear you." You may not go through a drastic metamorphoses to become your stage persona, but you certainly need one.

Now to answer the OP's question. I do indeed have a character when I perform: William Draven: Master of the Macabre. Draven is an exaggeration, and extension of my own love for horror movies, the macabre, paranormal, dark mysteries, and strange truths that used to spell bind me as a kid. Draven presents effects un-apologetically, and with a touch of dark humor. There's a lot of history in magic and Draven often includes a story telling aspect to his effects as he walks the audience through the lesser known facts behind items such as the strait jacket, or effects like the Human Blockhead.

I still do believe that I am being true to myself. But I promise you that I am not Draven every second of my day, only when I need to perform.
 
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I am myself.
I speak to my audience of overcoming yourself. Your physical and spiritual limitations.
I relate it alot to Muay Boran.Muay Kotchasarn, specifically. I mix a demonstration of this martial art with my magic performances.
Thats what Im doing now.
I go in and out of 3 to 4 types of performance characters and acts that are all about things I love to do and am passionate about.
 
Steerpike said:
It's hard to take a person's word on that when they can't describe themselves beyond a collection of bland adjectives. If you can't describe yourself accurately, how do you know you're not putting up certain affectations in different social situations? It's like how I hear guys say, "When I meet a woman, I try to be myself," but then I see them try to talk to a pretty girl and they turn into a completely different person. They don't have the self-awareness to realize what they're doing.

Likewise, I don't believe the majority of magicians who boast, "I'm just me when I perform," because when called to describe themselves they give the same paint-by-numbers answers every time.
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Magic with a magician being himself is bland.
If he isnt acting,then what the heck does he talk about when he does something impossible? Is it the "look,watch" type of guy? Where thats all he says and thats being himself? I hope thats not all there is to his personality.
So,Im sorry guys,but I still dont get what you mean by being yourselves.
Just saying oh well im laid back or I joke around doesnt cut it. Because its seems thats all anyone is who proclaims to be "themselves".
 
whew. all i did was go to bed last night. and here i am at 3:45 in the after noon and i feel like i missed everything!

ok, has anybody considered the tought of a well written resume?

were working on this in one of my classes at school (blowoff class) and i bet my teacher i could get a magic gig at perkins without my resume, and she said that if i used the one i made in class. that i got extra credit.

then i remembered this thread. and a well written resume could solve this problem. or even taking the time to put together a well written resume would make it alot easier to describe one-self in an interview situation. (were still in an interview right?)

so i'm going to be putting together my resume tomorrow and i'll post it in this thread. and see what you guys think.

checklist:

-better use of adjectives

- use more descriptive verbs

- gain a better self understanding.

so far i'm thinking about phrases like

"i try to create a energetic and fun atmostphere"

or

"when doing a show i do my best to make the magic mean something to the people watching."


am i on the right track?-
 
Resumes are rather formal. Are you writing an actual resume or are you trying to write ad copy for a flier or brochure about yourself?
 
when i perform with cards, its like a comedy type thing. i mess with the spectators. i bag on them and what not. they never have a problem with it. if im doing mentalism or geek magic i turn into this serious wacko. lol. its kind of funny. because im not like that at all outside of the persona. Bill malone has rubbed off on me for the dissing on spectators and sean fields got me on the geek magic spectrum
 
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