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I know a lot of people hate the phrase, "reputation maker" although there are a few examples of them. What really annoyes me, though, was seeing someone perform really routine tricks to a completely unsuspecting audience...and getting a reputation from it. I have watched a few of the TV programs called the Virtual magician, where a guy called Marco Tempest does tricks that rate at about 2 on the 'easy-to-do' scale at emagictricks. AS a matter of fact, a lot of the tricks he has, he probably got from somewhere similar - he does the pen through coin trick and anyone who knows the trick can watch his other hand grasp onto an important part of atrick. How did he get on TV with such simple tricks, especially when his audience doesn't even look impressed? I suppose David Blaine does similar simple tricks, but with great style and also has a load of really impressive trikcs. Have any of you seen Marco's tricks?
Finally, he has the nerve to claim that 'at the beginning of the 21st century, magic is long forgotten'!
Of course, if he's making money from this, good luck to him!

Thanks for that ste175. It's always good to be aware of, how shall i put this, intrigueing performers.

No offense, but to be honest, having a go at a performer, no matter how bad he seems, doesn't get us any where.

You're right in pointing out that some performers get away with murder, especially in the magic world because of the inate secrecy of our art. And it is frustrating to see somebody kick start their career through what seems unfair means.

However, don't let it get to you; just be aware and be genuine in your performance and forget about the low lifes who steal the show!!

Ste175

That's a really odd stance to take...

Anyone who is performing effects to an audience—no matter how hard/easy they are, deserve some credit, no matter what they do.

You have fallen into a very unfortunate position, by the sound of it—you are now a non-lay person.

You are criticising a performer because YOU know how the tricks are done. This is a very odd reaction.

What counts is the audience's point of view—and usually this is awe and respect.

Give them a break, as Goldfish says—it's frustrating, but unless you are able to write your own totally unique stuff, you are going to use other people's stuff to get famous.

As for reputation makers—we all need a foot on the ladder at some point. Don't criticise this method—it is entertainment for 'the rest of them', i.e. the non-magi.

And any magic exposure media wise is great! Even better if it is poorly executed or simple. Makes those of us who are more competent seem even more amazing and mystical.

Marco Tempest hasn't just turned up out of the blue, he's been around for a while; the first time I saw him on TV was on the Eurodisney magic special a good ten years ago, at that time he had a video screen routine that while it was more a piece of choreography than magic per say, was definitely entertaining and well executed. In short, the hi-tech multimedia thing has always been Marco Tempest's character. He also seems an amiable chap and has posted a short but useful article on doing magic on camera at http://www.virtualmagician.com/camera_magic_101.pdf

As for the series itself, while the premise is patently ridiculous with the capacity for humourless pretention that the Americans seem to have a flair for in this sort of thing, Marco himself comes across as a likeable eccentric who often brings something extra to each effect and certainly does the art no harm at all.

An effect of the street magic trend is that many standard effects have become overexposed overnight; can there be anyone with a TV now who has not seen Pen Thru Anything at least four times? But then there's the way Fay Presto put it when asked in a TV interview whether her tricks were her own or passed around within the Magic Circle, she compared magic tricks to songs; some you write yourself, some you have written for you and others are common standards that you make your own. This is as apt a way of putting it as I've ever come across.

The other thing I tried to point out in the "reputation makers" discussion is that many of the actual bona fide reputation makers were already old and well worn effects before the performers concerned found ways to make them their own. It's easy to miss the point of why they made reputations; people have been doing Russian Roulette for years, it's a stock mentalism effect, but it took Derren Brown to base an entire special around building up that one effect, getting in every newspaper in the land and becoming a household name in the process. Now if you ask any British non-magi (I hate the word "layman" so avoid using it where I can, but that's for another discussion) about Russian Roulette, chances are Derren's name will be mentioned.

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic1219.php age and profile link.
first the all important link.

second with tv it not what you know its who you know and when you are performing on telly you need to do tricks that are selfworking and more importantly repeatable as by the very nature of telly things need to be shot at diferent angles and again and again.

yes you have the power of the almighty edit but you have so much more to worry about.

also remember magician's know were to look the general population dont for the most part, you don't have to be a good magician to be on telly, you just need to know the right people and grease the right wheels.

The virtual magician, is the incredible French performer, Marco Tempest.
His way of melding traditional magic, and manipulations with breathtaking visual s if just Great.
And thinking about it, he's been around quite a while now. Many of my generation will remember his performances on the best of magic some years ago. He also guest spotted on Paul Daniels more than once, with his creation of life, and the two man zombie routine done to Yello's " the race".
I have not seen any of this series yet.but have seen him perform live. His television effect " disk me" being a personal favorite.

I've been taping the series, but it seems Sky aren't showing the last of the six episodes (apparently because there are only five weekdays) which is very annoying.

The five they did show this week are being repeated next week on Sky One Mix in the evenings at 7:30pm.

http://www.virtualmagician.com/ and the servey says....

http://www.virtualmagician.com/html/shop.html season one dvd

http://www.virtualmagician.com/html/tv_series.html the tv series info.

and for infomation only iv'e never heard of him either.

OK, I'm really getting told off for having a go at him. I have to agree that his showmanship is great and he is likeable, but I find that it conflicts with this weird "I have been sent back in time to show everyone magic" act. I agree with siege that if people do a trick and do it well, then they deserve credit...and since he seems like such a nice guy, I'm not trying to insult him, I'm just surprised that a guy can get to the top with normal tricks and with no particualr angle (David Blaine's weirdness/mysticism, Derren Brown's blend of everything and hypnosis, Paul Daniel's cheekiness - I think that Marco must have introduced the whole time travel thing AFTER he got the TV act). It IS refreshing to see a normal magician on TV who knows what he's doing.
But I am still annoyed with his statement that no one does magic tricks any more!

Surely you've just hit on his angle? Something a little different to get people wondering.

Of course as far as effects are concerned, the reason we call them effects is that that is the important part, not the method, the magic is what the audience experience not what the magician does.

I can't coment on the series as I haven't seen it, but I know the feeling that goes with seeing someone do easy stuff on TV. When I was first starting out it used to annoy me, but once I got into it I realised that I wasn't really important, nor was it important that what he was doing was easy, it was important that it was being done and being watched.

I have seen the show, it is good. It is not the run of the mill magic show. It has Jeff Mcbride and Lance Burton commenting on the history and nature of magic and then shows Marco demonstrate something along the themes talked about.

For example........Jeff Mcbride was talking about magicians in the past and their nature towards trees and then Marco did the effect by PAul Harris where you plucka leaf of a tree and it is then restored back on. Lets face it, no matter how hard or easy the magic is. He is still entertaining.

And thats the reason we are here, well i hope it is anyway .

ste175 wrote:I'm just surprised that a guy can get to the top with normal tricks

I'm surprised about a lot of people that have made it 'to the top' the way they have, but that's how success stories sometimes work out. I don't know if you watch TOTP, but that guy who's been presenting that the last year or so is absolutely awful - but he's 'made it.'

It's not about Marco's magic, it's about him and the way he's presented himself to TV bosses, paying customers, etc etc.

His agent probably helped a lot too...

Its all about showmanship to be honest. I mean there are two main fields i think. Being a magicician towards other magicians and performing infront of laymen.
It is possible to be a fantastic at sleight of hand but not make a fantastic magician. You will of course gain respect from your peers due to the long hours of practise it has taken to perfect this sleight but to laymen they do not usually see the sleight and therefore have no knowledge of it, meaning they relie on you presenting the trick in an intresting and endering(sp!) way. I mean when I'm performing my juggling based show on the streets people don't really care if you do a 5 ball mills mess (which is pretty hard and technically difficult) ...but with a build up and audience interaction they go wild when you do a 3 torch cascade (which is by far easier). The main thing when it comes to performing is that....
Its not what you do its how you do it!

I havnt seen his show but there is definetly a reason why he is on TV, even if it was he was sleeping with the producer......probably not though .
ste175 does make a good point thou, that there are alot of the same tricks and effects knocking around on TV at the moment and the public are bound to get bored of them soon.....?

sorry for ranting man,
you have raised a good point thou.

Bean

Marco actually produced this show entirely himself, using state of the art camera technology. He raised the funds by selling the broadcast rights in advance to (among others) Sky UK and NHK Japan.
What "gets him on tv" is partly a keen understanding of how to make present magic on the small screen, partly his extremely good post-production work (graphics, editing etc) which he does himself.
It was not through "who he knew" - it was through hard work and great skill that he achieved this.
He's also an extremely nice guy who loves and respects the world of magic and tries to help young magicians make it. There are 2 longer episodes in the series, for example, where he focusses on young up-'n-coming musician in the New York scene.
And no - I'm not him (; but I work with him.

By the way - if any of you out there hold the rights to tv shows on magic, I'd be interested to hear about them. There's a lot of demand out there (in Asia they're magic mad - in France a variety show including magic performances and acrobatics etc. got the highest rating of any show last year).
And if you don't - you might wanna consider doing it. Word of advice - read Marco's article linked above.

Cheers,

Adam Weiner

Who cares if a magicians effects are easy to do? Who cares if they are self working and have no sleights whatsoever.

Marco Tempest is good at what he does (Not my style but I admit it is clean and smooth)

His presentation is his skill.

How he promotes himself is by the by also. David Copperfield, when he promotes himself, does not mention once the massive backstage crew he must use for some of his effects. Why? Because it is not important.

With Marco Tempest his "gimmick" for want of a better word is his future, matrix style perfromance.

(My wording is a little blunt. I apologise it is just the way I am, I do not mean any offence at all)