talkmagic.co.uk

With some friends, I wish to realise a short amatourish video which involves 1m or so of card stuff. The video does not relate to magic but it is meant to advertise a scientific progress. Specifically, I'll be using playing cards to explain how people react to panic in public places.

Now, the performance I got in mind begins with extracting the 4 jacks, then 4 queens, then 4 kings. I am after some sort of sleights that would allow me to extract multiple cards (that is, four) in a fancy way. I'll be performing on a table clearly, with a camera recording from the top. I am aware of some nice ways to extract a single card, but do them in a row four times makes the performance slow and I need the extraction part to be quick.

My current routine involves two four-lifts, using a thumb count, and two cards palmed in each hand and then shown.

Some advice / clip to suggest ?

Cheers,
Ll.

You probably won't like my suggestion. Learn some more card handling skills. There are techniques in Royal Road to Card Magic, The Expert Card Technique books and really too many to name.

If you just look up "Ace productions" you'll find a million different ways, just substitute the cards.

Since magic isn't really the purpose of this video, can't you just use camera editing? Shuffle the deck, pull out four cards in whatever manner you like, cut to a close up of your face as you keep talking,, cut back to long shot and flip over the cards to reveal four jacks, repeat.

Thanks for answering, actually I wasn't clear in my post.

My issue is not about the difficulty of the sleights, that I could fix by using video editing or simply by practising / studying more.
I was simple asking about some fancy way to produce multiple cards from the deck.

For instance, one I am going to use is the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhBxSSh47Yc

I am looking for similar ones, if you have anything nice to share, please do.

Ll.

Stripper deck.

Yes -- using a stripper seemed a good idea to me as well. Although the control of the cards via false shuffles and cuts is actually feasible.
My question is really more centred on which production adopt.

Ll.

Llewlyn wrote:Yes -- using a stripper seemed a good idea to me as well. Although the control of the cards via false shuffles and cuts is actually feasible.
Ll.

It's more than feasible. I wrote a book about it back in 2006.

Okay so if I've got this right, you're less interested in the method and more in recommendations for a flourish-y way to produce the cards?

I'm not sure where it's from or what it's called, but I liked the move where you cut the deck and one or two cards seem to fly from the middle as you do.

So you are looking for flourishes. Hmm there are dozens of books on those two.

Since magic isn't really the purpose of this video, can't you just use camera editing? Shuffle the deck, pull out four cards in whatever manner you like, cut to a close up of your face as you keep talking,, cut back to long shot and flip over the cards to reveal four jacks, repeat.

This is a cheat's way out, and it would be easy to use this excuse for every filmed performance of magic. Even if magic isn't the main part of the presentation, if it's part of it, it deserves to be done right.

It is used in every filmed performance of magic. Every T.V magic show has at some point used clever editing to 'improve' the reality of what was filmed.

Jing wrote:

Since magic isn't really the purpose of this video, can't you just use camera editing? Shuffle the deck, pull out four cards in whatever manner you like, cut to a close up of your face as you keep talking,, cut back to long shot and flip over the cards to reveal four jacks, repeat.

This is a cheat's way out, and it would be easy to use this excuse for every filmed performance of magic. Even if magic isn't the main part of the presentation, if it's part of it, it deserves to be done right.

All of magic is cheating. The coin isn't vanishing you are manipulating it. What is the difference if you are manipulating it through sleight of hand and the audience doesn't know, or through editing and the audience doesn't know? Either way what they don't know, they don't know. And if they assume it is editing then it doesn't matter if it is 'pure' sleight of hand because they already believe it is in the editing. And if they believe it is sleight of hand then the reverse is true. Magic happens in the spectators head. It is the magicians job to create that experience with any means at our disposal.