talkmagic.co.uk

Hello fellow magi

I used to be relatively active on Talk Magic, but have not posted as much as I used to back in the day.

After several years of performing magic, in the first step of getting a website together, I think one of the most important aspects is to sort out the video. Please check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ImJlYbxWw

The next step is to sort out the website!

ok minor criticisms here:-

firstly sack the sound guys and rehire them with better equipment, there doing you no favours.

secondly let your cameraman know what your going to do a head of time so he can focus in were needed on the reveals and on the audience for the reactions, even better if you have two mates have one film you with a camera that has a microphone input and the other film the audience.

apart from those two points the rest was great...... PS the titles were a tad fast.

Thanks for the feedback magicdiscoman. It was just a friend, who is also a magician as well, who did the filming. Admittedly, there was no lapel mike in play, just the inbuilt mic of the camera, but still pleased with it, considering. Apart from the wind swept scene, the sound was ok ish - it was never meant to be a glitzy professional video, but quite raw, and I think that may partly be due to my first experiences of editing using Adobe Premier Elements (it was cheap on ebay!).

Not sure how to adjust the rolling credit speed, but this is a good point.

The reveals on the reactions was something that was picked up later, so whilst it is not ideal, as we filmed over a course of two days, and had about 2 hours or so of footage (battery issues initially), and this video shows a better degree of focus on spectators, but your idea of two cameras would be ideal. Overall, it was my friend's first outing with the camera.

Looking back, there are other effects that could have been used, and in hindsight, perhaps non card material would have been better, as it does look repetitive on film.

Thanks. Being someone who is often not satisfied, do want another stab at a promo: it was great fun to record on the day. Hope you enjoyed the effects.

great first effort, theirs no better experience than throwing yourself into the public arena and performing.

in your next try we would like to see more of you after all you are selling yourself in your promo, please take all my criticism as if Morgan freeman was talking to you i.e. polite and friendly.

keep at it and good luck too you.

Good first effort.

I watched the entire 5 minutes and 49 seconds which is too long for a promo video. An agent or promotor or anybody going through a bunch of promo vids to find somebody to hire will generally watch the first minute or so and if they are 'grabbed' perhaps another three. You easily established you are a good magician, but so has everybody else in their respective demo's. What sets you apart? There is really nothing in that video that tells me anything about you and why I should choose you over the other magicians or any entertainer. In fact it is not till almost the end of the video that I get to see what you even look like except for a profile shot.

Okay lets go back to a previous statement about the video not telling me anything about you, it does. It makes you look like a street performer. You are dressed in a hoody and jeans performing in a park or tables outside a restaurant. Which is probably good if you want to book outdoor festivals and such.

So the thing to think is what exactly do you want this video to accomplish? Who do you want to see it? How do you set yourself apart.

Here is one of Shawn Farquhar's promo video's. Sure he may be full of himself and it shows. But this went out to agents, big time bookers and he got the point across, and when you are selling yourself the gloves have to come off. He is the two time magic champion of the world it sets him apart he is a professional that has fun on the stage. And he is hugely successful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nE0lvkf0Do

Don't get me wrong, there were parts of your video that I really enjoyed, but does it sell you? no.

Find magicians you admire and try seeking out those promo vids and see whats what.

Hi bmat, yes looking back it is regrettable that I do not feature heavily in the actual video. My logic was I wanted to show spectators having a great time, with winning smiles, all looking like happy shiny people on a summer's day. I do, however, briefly pop up 15 seconds at the start and for some 1 min 30 secs in there is a relatively lengthy time where I am in shot, but from a side profile. Looking back, given that I had limited video material to work with, I can't change this, as the video footage shown is pretty typical of what is on offer, video wise.

There has been many limitations, as I do not perform professionally as much as I would like to, so would not have been able to have had people film me around professional gigs dressed in a business attire. For this reason, as the second best thing to being filmed whilst gigging is to perform for strangers around the city (there were many obstacles, such as various shops that did not give permission to film instore, such as the Apple shop, which would have been ideal had we perfomed an iphone trick on an instore "Genius"), it would have looked strange filming in business attire. I think business attire / suits, etc would only be appropriate when performing a professional gig - I have done quite a few corporate events where this is the expected look of the hired magician. Of course, dressing up in jeans would be entirely inappropriate.

Shawn Farquhuar is an internationally successful magician, and has a lot of resources at his disposal, as well as being a magic champion of the world on two occasions. Even less internationally successful magicians, such as David Penn, on their website / promos they are able to cite the fact that they have been on national TV. I think there are a lot of magicians who fall in my bracket, who have day jobs, but wish to have the occasional monthly gig, and it is hoped that combined with photos on the website, the audience will see what I look like, perhaps in some appropriately coiffured pose: mysterious, yet accessible. However, the target audience isn't agents and promoters. The aim is for those considering hiring for their wedding, or other events, such as celebrations, corprorate events, etc. to be able to see typical magic that may or may not be performed at their event. I think someone planning a wedding (usually the bride these days) will have time to watch a long video, as long as their attention is sustained. On this point, that person, having spent several months on the preparation and having been planning psychologically for several years will want to see as much of performance as they can so as to gauge whether to hire, rather than a 2 minute promo.

Having said all this, it is really constructive hearing feedback from others, although it does make me want to completely redo the footage (with different effects!). Perhaps it is a vanity thing, but my hair looks awful on these.