YouTube For Magicians

[imayur]

Hello Magicians !

Like any other curious person i started to look up for magic on YouTube. Although there are few great content creators in terms of magic and I would like to know is YouTube is the best platform to present your magic to the audience ?
Your suggestions are welcome !!!

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Short answer: No.

Longer answer:

Magic is something that is really only experienced live. It is a conversation between the performer and the audience, and it really only achieves its true potential when there is a connection between the performance and the audience. Watching it on a screen of any sort puts a literal barrier between the performance and the audience, reducing how much the audience can effectively connect to the performance.

There are ways to minimize that barrier, such as putting the focus on the audience/volunteers and using normal people as audiences so the watcher at home can really relate to them, but in my opinion magic on a screen will never achieve the same impact as magic in real life.

Conversely, this is why it is often very easy to impress people who've never seen magic before, or who have only seen it on TV/YouTube. Because they're not used to that connection being there, as soon as it is established they are automatically more drawn in than any previous experience and that is impressive.

There is value to having performances in video format for a variety of reasons, but I think those who focus primarily on video performances are selling the artistic potential short in almost all cases.

 

[MattieuZ1]

It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. In my opinion, there are two aspects to magic-intimacy and presentation. I agree with most of what Christopher T said, magic is first about intimacy with the spectator-generating that closeness and amity so that instead of just doing cool stuff with your hands/trying to fool them, you’re giving them an experience. There are fantastic essays in the Art of Astonishment series on this concept.
However, magic is also an art form. Here’s where videos can be good. For example, the aesthetics of card manipulation or cardistry can be amplified through good editing and music, though too much always ruins a video. Performance videos are also good for reaching out to a larger audience, though you’re trading a larger audience for lost intimacy. It’s why if you show someone a video of a trick you did, they’ll never be as amazed than if you just did it for them, EVEN if you messed up live and did it perfectly in the video.

One thing to never do on YouTube though-make tutoriels on magic that is a) not yours or b) not public domain, and even that’s taboo. It’s not up to you to release those secrets to laymen and it could come to bite you in the ass later on.

As a final note, Jibreezus is the exact opposite of what you want to be if you go into YouTube.

 

[imayur]

Short answer: No.

Longer answer:

Magic is something that is really only experienced live. It is a conversation between the performer and the audience, and it really only achieves its true potential when there is a connection between the performance and the audience. Watching it on a screen of any sort puts a literal barrier between the performance and the audience, reducing how much the audience can effectively connect to the performance.

There are ways to minimize that barrier, such as putting the focus on the audience/volunteers and using normal people as audiences so the watcher at home can really relate to them, but in my opinion magic on a screen will never achieve the same impact as magic in real life.

Conversely, this is why it is often very easy to impress people who've never seen magic before, or who have only seen it on TV/YouTube. Because they're not used to that connection being there, as soon as it is established they are automatically more drawn in than any previous experience and that is impressive.

There is value to having performances in video format for a variety of reasons, but I think those who focus primarily on video performances are selling the artistic potential short in almost all cases.

Absolutely true !! Magic is intimate and the greatest magic lies in the mind of the spectator and not in the hands of the magician.

 

[imayur]

It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. In my opinion, there are two aspects to magic-intimacy and presentation. I agree with most of what Christopher T said, magic is first about intimacy with the spectator-generating that closeness and amity so that instead of just doing cool stuff with your hands/trying to fool them, you’re giving them an experience. There are fantastic essays in the Art of Astonishment series on this concept.
However, magic is also an art form. Here’s where videos can be good. For example, the aesthetics of card manipulation or cardistry can be amplified through good editing and music, though too much always ruins a video. Performance videos are also good for reaching out to a larger audience, though you’re trading a larger audience for lost intimacy. It’s why if you show someone a video of a trick you did, they’ll never be as amazed than if you just did it for them, EVEN if you messed up live and did it perfectly in the video.

One thing to never do on YouTube though-make tutoriels on magic that is a) not yours or b) not public domain, and even that’s taboo. It’s not up to you to release those secrets to laymen and it could come to bite you in the ass later on.

As a final note, Jibreezus is the exact opposite of what you want to be if you go into YouTube.

Sharing a secret of the trick on YouTube might get you the views and subscriptions but if you can share the experience of a intimate magic that stays there in the mind of the spectator !!