The purpose of this web page is to give you some pointers and ideas on how to structure your act and give you some useful phrases that you may wish to use, should the opportunity arise. The actual "Magic Trick" is still the focus of the performance but even a very simple trick can be greatly enhanced by a good performance from the magician. Don't forget that your audience have given up their time to watch you. Although they don't know how the tricks are done, they are willing to let you convince them that you can successfully perform a miracle or magical feat, much the same convincing that people might get from viewing a good movie. This is your moment, polish it and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you have created an entertaining magic experience for your spectators.
Practice Practice Practice!!!
Why the repetition ??? Quite simply, practice is the only surefire way that you can get your tricks up to a polished standard. It is not so much the difficulty or simplicity of the trick that counts, it is making sure that you are competent in performing it in front of an audience. It is embarrassing to forget a part of the magic trick half way through or to mess up the handling. Lots of practice should also enable you to chat away to your audience while performing and (importantly) not have to keep your eyes on the cards or trick, all through the performance. ( See paragraph on Misdirection, further down the page)
Structure
To assist the success of your magic act, you should try to structure your performance by planning your tricks so that one trick leads onto another, either by theme or by some story line that you may be telling.. Also make sure and save your strongest and most impressive tricks until the end of your act. This will prevent an anticlimax, as, if the audience were to view them before then, their expectations for the rest of the act would be of the same standard or higher.
Misdirection, Your Greatest Friend In Magic
The importance of misdirection incorporated into your act can not be stressed enough. Misdirection is the skill that can really elevate your act and give it the polish that it needs to have a really professional feel.
For the best entertainment value for your magic tricks it is important to learn to control everything going on during your performance. Factors include where your audience are positioned, where and when they look and what they are thinking about. Basically. misdirection is making sure that your audience say sufficiently entertained by your act to stay focused on the magic and don't get distracted enough to start trying to figure out how the trick is done. This is not usually a problem as more often than not, the audience are completely oblivious to the actual workings of the trick.
Incorporating misdirection into your act can be done physically with the use of props such as a magic wand or even tossing a coin into the air at the precise moment where you want the audiences focus of attention to be diverted. Even things as subtle as running your fingers through your hair ( or rubbing your scalp, if your are follicley challenged like me, can be enough as can drawing attention to a member of the audience with a cheeky comment to distract your guests without them realizing this.
Time misdirection is another useful sleight in your arsenal. This is where you leave a little time to pass between the actual deception move and the final revelation. A classic example where time misdirection is successfully used is in the Cross Cut Force which is one of the simplest but most effective card forces there is. I have only touched on the subject of misdirection. It is an ongoing thing and is limited only by your creativity. Try and think of ways to incorporate it into your performance to get you on the road to success.
First published here: Tips Tricks And Hints For A Successful Magic Performance
No comments:
Post a Comment