talkmagic.co.uk

Here's a new video of my performance of an excellent visual card effect by Ernest Earick called JackSyna(ps)ces. Comments, feedback, and advice are, as usual, very much appreciated. Enjoy the video!

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=01wQAXK311s

Michael Kras

not a cardie so i'll leave the sleighty bits to the pros, performance wise it had flow and logic, both good things but at the start there apeared to me to be too much playing with the deck and sometimes in the first few seconds the cards go off shot a bit, pedantic i know but a critque non the less.
to use a wrestling term you apeared to me as a non cardie to "telegraph" your get readies, i was asking my self what was so important with the back of the deck that you needed to "burn" it so much, I'm told this is a habbit that looks 10x worse on camera than live.

I liked the flash of the bottom jack but again make sure everthing is in line before you turn the deck over, it wasn't realy a flash as such but distracting none the less.
the actual card work was in shot all the time and centerd on the cards as it should be but your voice did give away a few instances of not 100% confidence in your abilities, that dam camera stuff again, that you can't realy be blamed for.

I liked it and will give the performance a 9, almost there a little tiny bit of work left to do. (in joke for black hearts readers).

Thank you for your thorough thoughts, magicdiscoman! I always appreciate your comments. I agree about the vocals sound unconfident... usually I'm much more articulate but I filmed this in the morning while I was still relatively tired, hence the occasional slurring of words. It wasn't the camera's fault, it was mine.

Gonna have to repeat a lot of what discoman said I'm afraid.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the effect and your performance wasn't substandard or anything.
Just a few little niggles:

1) You don't need to fiddle with the deck so much. I understand when you're on camera it's boring to watch a deck just sat there but all the dribbles and turns? I'm sure they're not necessary for the effect

2) The Aces. The get-ready when you put the aces on top could be seen a mile off. I suspect people may ask what you're doing a pinky pull down whilst laying the aces on the table would work just as well surely?

3) The Jacks. Again, like discoman I found the flash to be a nice subtlety but it seemed very overdone the first time and as such never really believed it was the Jacks going into the deck at all.
The final flash showing just one Jack didn't do much for this opinion either.



Things I liked (because it sucks to just say bad stuff), the overall flow of the effect was very nice. There were no awkward stops or moments of silence (not that there ever are with you ).
Also the final reveal was nice.

Anyway, like I said originally - I liked it. Just a few small points and it's perfect

Thank you very much for your point. The sole reason I was dribbling and fiddling with the deck was just to kill dead time in which nothing was happening except patter. I'll be more careful with it in the future, it was definitely over excessive.

The get-ready is also a good point... I suppose I decided to take the easier way out first, but I definitely agree that a pink pull-down would be more desirable.

Thanks again!

I have to disagree with the others. I don't think you were too fiddly. Yes, in the beginning you're playing with the cards a lot - but I personally didn't find it distracting. I'm putting that down to fidgeting because you don't have a real spec to interact with.

For your get-ready on the aces, Ecko and Disco are spot on. These are dead giveaways. HOWEVER - they're really only giveaways to another magician. The get ready here will and always does fly right by a lay audience (which is why we all use it). There's a little something extra you might want to do to get set up here. I won't mention it here, but if you're interested - pm me about it.

Ecko's advice with the pinky is sound. It's always a good idea to listen to Ecko...he's smart.

I disagree with the Jacks display. Again, this is us being magicians - picking it all apart. The only problem I have here, is I think the basis of the effect itself hurts this display. You've basically told the audience that the Jacks and the Aces will switch with the way the presentation goes - so yes, the display of a single jack just might not convince all laymen. However, this is not down to technique, this is a flaw (in my opinion) with the presentation.

My only actual handling comment, would be your VST. Your handling of this seemed a bit awkward. Remember - when you're pulling cards out of a deck - it shouldn't be difficult. It should be fluid and quick. Your slight hiccup and hesitation doesn't give the game away, but it's just something to keep in mind. I think I may know what the hesitation was, but again - pm me to keep sensitive info off the board.

Overall, I think the effect was nicely done. I've only seen one other performance of this effect, and this was far better than that one. I have to say - your performances and technical ability has come a long way. You're starting to find your own voice, and your skills are top notch. Fantastic effort, Michael.

It would've been a lot nicer to pan out a bit so you could see your face - then you wouldn't have to fiddle with the cards so much.

However, technically I thought it was very nice. Watching with "laymen eyes" I wouldn't have spotted a thing I don't think.

Thank you all very much! Especially Demitri, for the excellent advice and critisisms. I agree about the VST... I had a bit of diddiculty with that which is obvious in the video because of my "hiccup".

Thank you for also pointing out the "final display" of the jacks... I agree now, it was overkill to flash it a second time and maybe even the first time. I'll be wary of that in the future.

Well I was very impressed by the video. That effect is my favourite effect from BFU and is also my favourite plot for an effect in general. I would probably go as far as saying it was in my top 3 effects of all time so I was a little anxious when clicking the link. There is nothing worse than seeing your favourite effect being performed badly.

But hark not! I think you did it the justice it deserves because the technical side of it was very good and the presentation was also spot on! I can see you have taken earlier advice on board and have slowed down a lot and have nothing really to criticise about other than an echo of what has been already advised.

I agree the VST needs just a touch of work and some subtleties that are suggested in the book are not done. Things like immediately spreading the jacks when they are removed from the deck and the adding on with the Aces. A lot of care went into removing the suspicion of add ons and drop offs that are suggested in the book. I don't want to go too far into it due to exposure, but I think you will know what I mean?

Other than this, excellent video! Probably my favourite video from you actually, and I would just love to see some more effects from Earnest Earick by you. Good work!