by bmat » Oct 31st, '07, 17:14
I hate to say this (again) because it is not what you are going to want to hear. It is never the trick, it is the performer. There is simply no way around it. With that said I'll give you a shining example.
One really great performer who was in BC absolutly killed with a simple version of Coin in bottle. By the time he was finished...well he could make a believer out of you. go watch Ricky Jay do anything. Al Goshman with his sponge balls.
For me if I have to do one shot {well it depends on the venue and who I am performing for} But lets say just somebody at work, I kill with colour monte. I love the effect, I put my heart in it and it pays off. I can change the routine on a dime. If I want to go through the bother of setting something up I like Floating cig. Only I use a tiny little disco ball and float it off the spectators hand. If I am at home and want to start a new religion I have an effect that failed for the most part in the creators hands but I got it to work. I pull out an arcane book. Start to read the incantation and large demons materalize out of the pages as I call up the evil spirtits. But these are things I've worked on for a very long time and I close to my heart.
Your question cannot be answered by naming an effect. Only by naming an effect and the person doing the effect because really its in performance. And it also depends on the audience.
I saw David Coperfield perform the snow storm, it moved me, and little in the magic world moves me. It just hit the right chord. Odd thing was it also moved my wife and the person sitting on the opposite side of me. So, who knows.