talkmagic.co.uk

bmat wrote: A good magician will help and encourage and do nothing to hinder or belittle you, we are a brotherhood. The magicians that do not support you are not worth the time or effort to worry about I don't even classify them as magicians"

I will never forget those words.

Wow bmat, that's an amazing point. Thank you all. I'm in a much better place now thanks Now I'm able to focus on a very fun gig I have coming up based on the book "The Night Circus"
I really do appreciate the support here. I knew logically that repeat business is the true goal (well for me truly enchanting someone is my main goal, but repeat business is a quantifiable goal if that makes sense). But I guess I needed wiser magicians to slap that into my head
Thanks everyone

yep didn't get in would be devastated but the gigs keep coming so I know I'm doing something right
Had a fantastic night last Friday in Colchester. A tea shop turns into a night club once a month. They themed this night on "the Night Circus" and hired me as a magician. Fantastic night.

Thats a shame Do you get told why you didn't make it?

dean.allen.jones wrote:yep didn't get in would be devastated but the gigs keep coming so I know I'm doing something right

Take this as a boon. Strike out on your own, and you will be original. All of the great names I can think of (e.g. Lennart Green, Derren Brown) honed their craft sans magic clubs. In this regard, I totally agree with the venerable Mr Lewis.

Being bloody minded, I wouldn't try again. It's their loss really. You're doing just swell without them!!

K

Sounds like you're doing just fine without any need for MC membership - as has been said, their loss, your gain!

What a shame. Unless they tell you why you were rejected, it's a pretty pointless exercise.

If you're doing real shows for actual money (especially repeat bookings), then I think you must be doing something right.

I think this would be a good time to let us know who the examiners were. I will be delighted to tell you if they are qualified to give an opinion on these matters. On another note I rather think it would be a good thing if in future someone in charge should put in writing to the applicant why they were rejected.

It took 12 weeks for the result, and then it was done through unofficial channels. My paper work got lost, these things happen so I'm not upset about that. As a result the chap in charge of giving feedback has only just received the paperwork himself. So I won't know why I'm didn't make the grade for a few weeks yet.
I was feeling pretty confident about my magic anyway, but my last gig on Friday made me realise I'm on the right path with my presentation style. I get the impression they like a faster presentation style than the one I used. I did 6 effects in 10 minutes and someone told me that was too much chat not enough magic. I like to take things slow, introduce comedy and drama in with my magic (heck I often get a massive reaction when is finish with "out of the world" and that takes AGES, I just make sure I tell a nice story to go along with it). SO I'll just re-work what I do with a faster presentation next time. Until then I get to take my refund of £185 and go to Dude That's Cool Magic for some retail therapy:)

Many thanks for the kind words and support though guys, it's all really helped me. The biggest danger was losing my love of magic, thanks to this place and some great gigs there's no chance of that

Which effects did you do mate?

Opened with a deck vanish (Panic) to explain worm hole theory,
Elmsley 4 card trick (instead of a joker and 3 blanks I had 3 blanks and a stick man, a magician from a 2 dimensional world called flat land. I turned the f-card trick effectively into a cabinet illusion)
Cups and balls (showing how the balls can travel in different dimensions to get to the bottom (back in time, or wormhole etc)
Dave Forest's Wee Wee Mentalist (using the stick man again, he reads people's minds)
Ambitious card (parallel universe theory, "switching the deck" with another from a different universe where the card was already at the top
Professors nightmare (perspective, the short rope looks bigger than the long when when 10 feet away, so if we keep then 10 feet away AND next to each other at the same time they end up the same length).
The whole routine was built around a science demonstration, in the same way the Million Dollar Illusion was original presented as "the 5th dimension" about 100 years ago.
TO be honest it was probably nerves making my performance sub par. I'll be better next time

The theme sounds brilliant! I wouldn't dare end on Professor's Nightmare, but I can see how with the theme it'd work.

It's likely you're right about the nerves thing, better luck next time (c:

how long did this act run for?

daleshrimpton wrote:how long did this act run for?

dean.allen.jones wrote:I did 6 effects in 10 minutes and someone told me that was too much chat not enough magic. I like to take things slow...

Personally I think that six effects in ten minutes (less than 120 seconds for each trick) is pretty pacey! Go any faster and I wouldn't be able to follow you

Of course, maybe for a magician's club they want you to crack on through, but my memory is that the MC is more interested in potential members demonstrating at least a basic set of skills, plus some presentational abilities. I doubt that breaking the record for number of effects done in ten minutes is what they want.

But I'm not a member so I could be wrong!

T.

Apparently the thing most people fail on is presentation, not skills. SO it's most likely that nerves meant I didn't present things as well as I could have. I'm pretty sure mechanically I was fine. I wont get feedback proper for a while though. Still no problem, just keep hitting the books, working on my own gigs and popping down to visit on club nights more to see if people think my next audition set is going on the right track.

Right now I'm working on thread work, I will be a Jedi one day!