talkmagic.co.uk

Hello,

Here is a portion of the routine I competed with last week at the CAMaraderie Close Up Competition. Hopefully, this routine is a unique version of a classic. Enjoy, and comments are appreciated!

Michael Kras

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=486JnW-zgDg

pretty good nice flow but be wary of some of your pickups there being telegraphed, by that i meen you spend a few seconds too long retrieving them and you look at what your doing.
try to make a pickup when you put something down and you might want to employ jar lids for your aquires if that makes sense.

your loads are fine and your strike vanish is improving no end try to loosen your palms a bit, look at the diference between your hands in the vid its not much but it will make a diference.

static camers angles are a pain but you may want to try a more look down angle for the camera rather than straight on as this will help mask your pickups and ditches and is more how the audience will see the show anyway.

Hate to say it but i quite enjoyed watching that so will give credit where it is due

Only thing i would complain about would be your hands fidgeting behind the briefcase, this brings instant suspicion to the act. Also the fake cover was fairly obvious but that may be because i knew what i was looking for.

The patter was quite nice and i enjoyed the grater ending

one bit of constructive crit from me,

when your doing the penetrations (balls through the top of the cups, it is painfully obvious that you have palmed them even to a layperson.

other then that its nice to see some inprovments

Thank you for that advice. I will work on the cup penetrations and the fidgeting behind the case, as you have all brought up. Glad you like it!

I liked it Michael. It's nice to be able to actually see one of your effects for a change instead of darkness!!

I think you should have kept your head in the shot which might have given us a little misdirection, a little glance to the camera and we might just look back at you instead. As it is we're burning your hands all the time and we're seeing more than we should.

Best

Martin

Definately your best video yet. I would say loading the larger balls should be done a little quicker and not so much fidgeting, but if I was watching you live instead of through a computer screen, your patter would have led me away from your hands and up to your face, but of course I couldn't see your face

If anything you could do a different vanish when the balls are ontop of the stacked cups. Might be because I know whats going on, but I still don't think a spectator would see how you did it, especially when you did it twice in a row.

But definately your best video, well done.

I enjoyed that. Your best performance by far

The routine itself was very nice. However, I would recommend refining your loads a bit more, and the "penetrations" of the balls was a bit obvious. Your strike was very good as well.

For your next video I would recommend you filming it in front of a live audience, i think it would be better misdirection wise

Very good!

it was alright, although my sound doesn't want to work so i was watching it without any patter (assuming there was some).
as for that penetrating the cup bit all i was thinking was "er.. yeh... you just picked the ball up" and 'some' of the loads were a touch on the obvious side....

...oh yes, the point i was actually going to make...
It wasn't quite "unique" now, was it? it was a cups and balls routine.

Congrats on uploading a video we can actually see.

I'll be frank, though (well, I'm Rob, but I'll be Frank for a moment)... Your presentation is still pretty poor. Far too many vocal fillers and your voice is still incredibly nervous. You're holding your breath as you speak, which is distracting and very amateurish. You've told us that presentation is something you pride yourself on, but it doesn't often show in your videos.

Rob

P.S. I got a kick out of "are these balls big enough for you at home?" I know it wasn't intentional, but that should do in the "Innuendo" thread from a while back!

1. The quality of recording is much better

2. Your ditches and loads are far too obvious

3. Your patter is still nervous, jerky and unrehearsed, it breaks the flow

4. Who have you studied in cups and balls? I think you need to re-pace the whole routine and get it a lot smoother and snappier. Cups and balls is a beautiful thing done properly. You make it slightly tedious.

5. The premise of having the 'stage' raised on your briefcase looks really odd, and begs the question 'what is going on behind it'. Of course, we all know that's where your stash is.

Basically, you need to VERY MUCH polish your routine and patter. All the 'umms' and 'errs' and pauses while you remember your lines is another example of why you can't really call yourself a professional.

You seem to have the basic moves down, but it's all in the presentation. And sadly, your presentation may appeal to a roomful of patronising grandparents, but not to your average Joe.

You're nearly there, but practice makes perfect.

I recommend you try and obtain Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants and watch the pace and flow of how it SHOULD be done.

Thank you for the advice. I will re-study the works of Michael Ammar and others, and work on my patter.

Lawrence wrote:as for that penetrating the cup bit all i was thinking was "er.. yeh... you just picked the ball up"

You should use the Miller move for the penetrations. It'll look much smoother.
But yes, the videos are definitely getting better.

hey michael!

great flow, nice easy pace, easy to follow! keep up the good work!

Michael, I do believe this is how the cups and balls should be performed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gdnN08JY5I