talkmagic.co.uk

A Youtube commenter commented "where's the magic trick?" on my magic video. I thought this video was one of my better videos. What do you think is wrong?

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IbVrggC47Q

You forgot to stretch it up, down, left and right. You skipped to the middle stretch and the "move", but the previous ones are necessary to emphasize the initial condition. Basically, my guess is it didn't have a sufficient expository phase.

Mind you, youtube is full of people trying to mess with people, so don't take any comments too seriously...

Rule number one of YouTube is never listen to the commenters!

sleightlycrazy wrote:You forgot to stretch it up, down, left and right. You skipped to the middle stretch and the "move", but the previous ones are necessary to emphasize the initial condition. Basically, my guess is it didn't have a sufficient expository phase.

Mind you, youtube is full of people trying to mess with people, so don't take any comments too seriously...

There was no presentation. Just hook the bands together, pull them apart. Without presentation what's the point? Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is the reality.

Like @sleightlycrazy I felt there was not enough "cuffed" footage.

The move you are doing very smoothly, it can't be seen unless you know it.

TonyB wrote:There was no presentation. Just hook the bands together, pull them apart. Without presentation what's the point? Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is the reality.

I'd prefer silence to the pant-wettingly awful 'presentations' for that effect I usually see!

Or the 'now I do this' types like this chap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RRTC4QPrLk

As a newbie to magic who has no idea how this is done, I really can't work it out from that video, and it's obvious to me where the magic trick is. I would ignore the other comment.

I would log in and comment myself if I could remember my password. Now if you could help me out with that I'd be really impressed!

Sometimes silence is a great way to present something. But not this effect.

I would ignore the commenter. But I would agree that the effect needs to be presented, otherwise what is the point. Big deal you made a puzzle, not magic.

Knowing what is going on, as it is one of my 'go to effects' I am happy to say you did the actual trick very well.

The guy who commented is just a kid. Perhaps it was a little quick for him to follow or something, who knows.

Sleightlycrazy mentioned 'proving moments' which can be good. Dont fall into the trap that Ive seen others in though and do too many - one or two at most is sufficient, you dont want to clutter the effect. Also, the best proving moment of them all is when the move is done.

On the subject of overproving, I follow the advice of Michael Ammar on this effect, and only stretch the bands apart once (while doing the move). There is no reason to keep stretching them. I show them clearly linked, stretch them (move), and then add one or two proving moments before slowly seperating them.

jim

By "presentation", do you guys mean pattering/talking? I don't like talking in my videos because it looks unprofessional. You see videos of people showing off a few tricks all over Youtube. I want to deliver professional quality videos that look cleaner than most people's (most people use low quality web cams).

Narutodude wrote:By "presentation", do you guys mean pattering/talking? I don't like talking in my videos because it looks unprofessional. You see videos of people showing off a few tricks all over Youtube. I want to deliver professional quality videos that look cleaner than most people's (most people use low quality web cams).

I seriously understand what you are saying here. I just think you are wrong. Most video's that are silent, (no patter) are not performance video's. They are promotional video's, to get gigs, all part of marketing and those video's are usually targeting bookers for companies, cruise ships etc.

I am not saying a full length performance of an effect cannot be done silently. I am however saying there was nothing overly magical about the effect as presented in your video. Was it good? Yes, Will it/did it fool? Of course it did. It is a great trick and you presented the bare bones of it brilliantly. Did I find that it created that sense of wonder? No. As performed it created a puzzle. It kind of looked like a dealer demo if you get my meaning.

Again, I do understand what you are saying. I don't even really know how to get around it. I'm not even sure you should worry about it. I am saying that without presentation, without context there is not a lot of magic. On second thought I don't know what I am saying. Or I am not sure how to get it across.