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I've just started re-reading Derren Brown's Absolute Magic, and after the first chapter I have sat down to do some thinking. "Don't do it Will!" the voices in my head scream, but alas the cogs started turning and outwards comes the product of my collective mental ramblings.

When performing should the focus be on the magician or the magic? I am of the persuasion that the focus should always be on the magic rather than the magician and it has been one of my fundamental opinions for some time now. But sitting down and really thinking about it I wonder if the focus really is on the magic when I perform. How can you tell? I sat down and went through a couple of card effects with myself trying to decipher were the focus is. I've now decided that this is a futile effort because I need actual people to perform for before I will be able to really find out where the focus is. While I lie in wait for an unsuspecting flat mate what are people's thoughts on this?

It's a worrying feeling when you stop and look back at your self only to discover that you don't know if you are still following what you are sure of.

(Re reading that last little bit I realise that it's quite profound so I apologise!)

Ok my favorite "Mind Reading" when i do this i tend to focus hard on them more than what im doing, so they will focus more on what im doing than me, it helps for them to believe and you understand them, so i would say Focus on Magic not Magician.

A fascinating topic - isn't getting people to focus on the magician, rather than the magic part of the misdirection?

Perhaps it's both, but at different times?

I believe the focus is always on the magic... the magician makes up just one single part thereof.

...mmm...correct use of the word 'thereof'? I'm not sure either...

To me if your happy with what your doing and you keep focused on the magic they will focus on what your doing.

I will defer to Doc Eason's teaching in this, which is that the focus should be up and out, not down and in...

What this means is that the magic is secondary to the people that you are working for. The magic is not in the card coming back to the top of the deck, or the coin impossibly moving from one hand to the other. The magic is in the how the people are affected by what they see and how it makes them feel.

Another Doc Eason quote, "They won't remember what you did, they will remember how you made them feel."

So, as far as I'm concerned, the focus should be neither on the magician nor the magic, but on the spectators themselves.

Mike.

And with that post Michael, you have revolutionised my thinking.



Thank you.

Michael Jay wrote:So, as far as I'm concerned, the focus should be neither on the magician nor the magic, but on the spectators themselves.

That's exactly what made David Blaine's programs so successful!!
It certainly wasn't his skill - there are hundreds of more talented magicians around.
It was the fact the cameras focussed on the audience reaction.

Remember the young kid standing staring at his arm after being "ravened" and, eventually, gasping the single word "Cool!".

Or the girls running around hysterically after a levitation.

Or the 50 year-old down-and out after seeing a simple ID trick. How he went on and on about life etc....

The important thing is how the spectators feel. Their experience.

I agree with Michael Jay. You want the audience to "feel" the magic.

That comes from the effect, the performance and your audience management skills.


I think the focus is not really on one particular area.