talkmagic.co.uk

I dont know if this has been discussed before or if this is the right place to discuss it.
But I've recently discovered that there are alot of videos teaching magic tricks and sleights on youtube. When I first found out I was kind of shocked, I immediately scolded the guy( The one I saw, he was teaching the pass).
His reply was that he was helping out new, or young magicians.

What do you guys think? Should this be allowed? I actually think that he means well, but these videos are made public and anyone can see them. how much more difficult will a magicians job be if laypeople know about double lifts, passes etc?

I must say, there are a lot of spoiler-ish sites on the internet, not only youtube. I myself find it completely unacceptable that people would do this. I myself posted a lecture video on youtube for the classic pass but if you don't know the pass, I did it in such a way that you can't really figure out how to do it. It just refines technique in a way.

But all in all...quite honestly, to find these things, you have to already have some sort of passion for magic. For instance, I would never type DL or Pass into google...without knowing what they were in the first place. And if someone does learn from youtube or whatnot, chances are they're probably a magician just scoffing at it or a beginner who will learn it anyways.

Just my 2 cents. As a parting note there was a show called the Masked Magician I believe on a TV channel which gave away the secrets to almost all of the best effects from the magic giants. Things such as cutting people in half and whatnot. Yet these things still amaze people to this day.

[Edit] *chuckle* I love how these forums automatically shorten the phrase double - lift to D/L

I have to agree, I don't see anything wrong with posting a better way to do a DL or pass. There are magic books with basic sleights of hand in every public library. Is that exposure too? Come on! Now kids doing someones original creation badly so everyone sees what theyre doing is the real problem. AND WHO'S FAULT IS THAT? When you sell your magic to the highest bidder, they now own it and are going to do what as they please. Selling downloads to anyone who can afford to buy it is the worst kind of exposure. The whole idea is to not reveal magic to anyone that is not a magician and more importantly respects the need to protect the mystic behind magic. Sure, people deserve to get paid but, they have forgotten the first rule of sharing magic. So who is the real offender? Don't blame an 8 year old for doing magic they are not good enough to do, blame the magician that sold it to them before checking if they were capable and respected the need to practice and protect the mystique.

Now the thing is that, even if there are non-magician persons who watches and just want "know-how" I dont think its a huge problems. Even if they know some methods, they dont when we, magicians, use it in tricks.

Just a thought..............

I agree with fireshower. People will only find these things if they are specifically looking for them, therfore planning to become a magician (or already is).

I dont believe they should teach anything on youtube. Us magicians spent years practicing these moves and spending our money on books and dvds and videos etc... to find out how to do moves such as the pass, DL, color changes, fans etc... They shouldnt just teach this on the internet. That ruins the art of magic to me. If you want to learn these moves use your money, that way it shows you are actually into magic if you spend your money and give your time and patience to learning some of these sleights. But to have just anybody go on the internet and see a video of how to force a card to the top is such B.S. Maybe some wont agree with me, but thats my oppinion.

I agree with PickAnyCard that it doesn't matter if people know about certain sleights, if you perform correctly they won't know you're doing them. That's the point. My girlfriend knows what a pass is and how it's done but that doesn't stop me using it on her all the time and she never notices.

Exposure sites aren't a good thing but they're an inevitable part of the net that aren't going to go away. At the end of the day despite their existence no one I've ever performed to has yet said "Ooh that was tilt you did there, I saw about that on youtube". A very very small minority of the regular public is going to have seen these media so don't worry and get on with magic.

I did Sinful the other day and someone told me they knew how it was done, cos apparently David Blaine had done a bit on a show exposing the effect. Its the only time its happened with sinful but it really annoys me when 'professional' magicians expose other peoples work (I haven't seen this myself, the spec may have been wrong) has anyone else seen this or do you think this person was just trying to get me to say something that would expose the trick to him???