talkmagic.co.uk

...pation

I saw an advert a credit card the other day which featured those little sprung suckered monsters which you push down and then they spring up after some indeterminate amount of time.

I remember having them as a child and the feeling of anticipation and positive tension which preceded the excitement of them going off. I was wondering if I could encapsulate that as part of the feeling of magic with a spectator.

My girlfriend rightly pointed out that this particular feeling was based on the fact that you knew exactly what was going to happen and you were just waiting for it, unlike a number of magic tricks in which you don't know what's going to happen.

So, I got to thinking. I took my favourite effect which has a patter that I hate (and don't user) and set to work on building in some anticipation.

The effect is one of the spectator and yourself placing your cards into a face down pack, a couple of shuffles and cut later and the bit I don't like and the cards have been inverted.

The bit I don't like is a seeming mistake on the part of the magician. You reveal a couple of cards and find they are wrong, before acting embarrassed and spreading face up to find the cards face down.

Now, I prefer to miss out the sucker bit and go straight to the point, via some magical buildup. I tend to take off the top card and say "well, this isn't your card" ... "and it's not mine either" ... "is it" and turn over the card. A bit of this and I spread the pack face up, ignoring the face down pair and concentrate on not being able to find eachother's cards. This, I have found, is quite unbearable to some spectators ... now they know what's going to happen, but they are just not going to be able to get to it until I let them.

I now draw my attention to the cards in question. We both know they are our cards, but we must see it to believe it. So I carefully clear away all the others. Are place slide one of the cards towards the spec. I've marked or crimped my one, so I know which it is. I actually show a little excitement myself, like it's a shared experience.

I've still not decided if they should reveal mine or I should, but in any case, mine comes up first or they both come together (in which case we have our own).

All in all, I have managed to bring anticipation followed by relief at the reveal, with positive effect.

I wonder if others think anticipation of the known (or unknown, for that matter) followed by subsequent release is a useful facet of a magical experience or that it is something to be avoided and I've just been lucky with my limited experience.

I think there's a post I made in about 2003 about using one of those rubber hemispheres (which do the same popping thing) beneath a hank for a 'haunted' effect.

Trouble is, they are too unpredictible.

Nice plan, tho!

"All in all, I have managed to bring anticipation followed by relief at the reveal, with positive effect. " are we really talking about magic here?

i think everyone owes it to themselves, and the audience more importantly to build anticipation...if you watch the derren brown lecture he talks about that..im sure he does in his books too...

but its all about the experience...hang on! that ring just...just dissapeared...

its at this point, people usually rush like eager children to xmas presents to the "Oooooh aint i clever! its here look you idiot...HERE!"...

but just that vanish should be wonderous enough...let them enjoy it for what it is....let them enjoy the moment...then you can open an envelope/find the ring under a previously selected card...or maybe even the ring has bent slightly? oooh yeah, thats more like it...

what happens to the ring when it dissapeared eh?!

Here's something to ponder - kenton knepper always takes off his rings when he spoon-bends...why? ah the answer is simple...but often overlooked....

abraxus wrote:Here's something to ponder - kenton knepper always takes off his rings when he spoon-bends...why? ah the answer is simple...but often overlooked....

A very good point.

People pick up on the finer points...