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Advice and Support for Magicians

Social Distancing For Magicians – After The Covid 19 Lockdown

by Jason Dicks 1 Comment

Social Distancing for Magicians

The lockdown is slowly ending and things start a slow return to normal… but it’s a ‘new normal’. As magicians resume performing at events, social distancing is going to be a key issue that needs to be planned.

Social distancing in one form or another will be here for some time so if you are planning to perform magic in live situations, it’s important that you spend time planning how your close up effects need to be changed to suit the new environment.

How can magicians adapt their material when live events resume?

Not so ‘Close-up’ magic

The key here is ‘distance’. Even as things begin slowly returning to normal, many spectators will still have their own level of what feels ‘too close’. You can’t know that in advance.. so you need to assume a level of distance always.. unless invited to be nearer by the spectator.

No Touching

The effects in your performing sets need to be chosen or adapted to remove the need for spectators to touch the props. Having a spectator name a card, rather than pick one… placing props on a small table or just keeping them in your hands… Changing routines so coins jump from one of your hands to the other, rather than to a spectators hands..

Lots of changes and challenges there. But it’s really not as hard as it first appears. We’ve all experienced spectators that like to examine everything.. They usually have to be controlled carefully.. The plus side of social distancing may be a decrease in those attention seekers. Can you use this distance to your advantage..

Can they see you?

Performing magic from a ‘comfortable’ and ‘safe’ distance means you should ensure the magic you do is very visible and clear. For card effects, use​ large index playing cards​ that are easier to see at a distance or even use a jumbo size deck for some effects.

Jumbo Index cards

As you won’t be able to stand too close to your spectators, your effects need to be performed at chest level or head height (rather than at waist level). Effects performed at waist height will not easily be seen by your spectators.

Make small changes to the magic tricks you already perform

It’s easy to panic and think that you will have to change your whole working material, but it really isn’t that hard to adjust, once you relax and think about the small stages within each effect. Tiny adjustments are all that’s needed in many of the staple magic tricks magicians perform close-up.

Magic Tricks For Social Distancing Magicians

Let’s look at some examples of magic tricks that are perfect for social distancing situations. These effects can be used by any magician performing magic after the Covid-19 lockdown ends.

Ambitious Card​ – As picking cards and getting them signed could be problematic get them to choose a card by:

  • Dribbling the cards

  • Riffle and ask to say stop

  • Ask them to name a card and use that one

  • Deal and say stop

  • Use blank face cards and write their name on them. 

Card to Mouth​ – No card to mouth so change to card to top pocket or card under glass.

Sponge Balls

With card tricks, it’s a great opportunity to open it out and perform to a group as much as you do individually. The distance allows you to hold a larger group’s attention. For example: Multiple Selection routines will play well to a crowd or table -​ See Card Revelations

Sponge Balls​ – The staple effect in most sponge ball routines has always been the balls jumping to the spectator hands or multiplying in their hand, but that can be adjusted..

If a table is available you can utilise 2 squeakers, one that works and one that doesn’t.

Can’t use a spectators hand so change the ending to:

  • Changes to large sponge ball

  • Changes to sponge rabbits

  • Changes to a square

  • Something & Nothing sponges

  • For the right crows use a sponge ding dong?

    You don’t get the surprise of the spectator opening their hand, but the effect above each to produce a nice surprise climax that will compensate nicely.

    Bill Switch ​- Rather than borrow money, use blank paper and write or draw on it. Use fake money, you could make up a template that you can add your contact details on.
    Invisible Thread/Levitations​ – If you currently use Loops, consider trying ITR’s instead so the effect/levitation can play bigger

    Sven Pads​ – Go large with a big​ SvenPad A4​ or A5 so the audience can see from further away. Include page numbers on the bottom of each page so rather than flicking and asking to say stop you could just ask for a page number. This could work if every force page (short page) has the next page number written on it i.e. long 1 short 2, long 2 short 3, long 3 short 4 etc. So a number is named (eg 25), you slowly flick through the pages, showing all different, and stop at page 24. Show this page saying, if you said 24 you would have this. Now turn the next page (short 25) rather than flick and show the force page.

    Alternatively you could have the force pages as the long pages so you can flick from the back of the pad (which may be easier and give a better view for the audience). In this case the force (long) pages would be numbered so as you flick backwards through the pad, you stop at 26, then turn the next page to the long 25

Jumbo Invisible Deck – ​There’s not much need for me to go into the reasons why you should perform the invisible deck.. Every magician knows how powerful a device this is.. Time to go for a ​large invisible deck

Ring Flite​ – As you can’t borrow a ring, use your own, but attach a tag to it which you can write the spectators name across. 

Ring on String​ – Again, can’t borrow a ring so why not Go Large and learn a version using a large ring and rope – see David Williamson, Daryl etc.

  • The Charming Chinese Challenge

  • The Houdini Ring

    Mentalism​ – May be a problem getting people to write down information on your business cards or billets/pads etc. If they have a business card use theirs, this could still be placed into a peek wallet​ to gain the information.

Anything By Ben Williams

Ben Williams Anything​ would still work well as this uses a “verbal” peak.

Apps​ – There are many great Apps out there that work with a spectator using their own phone.

  • Wiki-Test
  • Inject 2.0
  • Real List
  • Xeno
  • Picasso

Portable Table/Case ​- Why not use a ​portable magic table​ when performing walk around or table magic. You could even carry larger props in the case that you wouldn’t normally use your close up set eg Large Sven Pad, Magic Square (A4 or white board), Staple Gun Roulette, larger 21st Century Phantom.

You can also use the case/table for a chop cup or cups & balls routine. Also the magic table can be used as an anchor for an ITR routine

Go Stage

For years, close-up magic has dominated magic performance, but now it’s time to look at many of the stage magic effects available, and consider how these could be scaled down for a magician practicing social distancing.

Learn a few stage or parlour effects that can also work in a close up situation such as:

  • Magic Square
  • Heads & Tails
  • Primal Prediction
  • Confabulation
  • Memory demonstrations
Maximum Entertainment For Magicians

Read books such as ​Maximum Entertainment​ that talk about scripting, stage presence etc.

Social Distancing for magicians is not as difficult as if first appears

There are thousands of effects that are perfect for performing magic whilst socially distancing. It doesn’t require you to throw away your whole act and start again.. Just work through it and identify the ‘touch points’, moments when your spectators hold a prop or come close to you. Work around those moments, and look for ways to build a connection with a spectator through the routine itself.

If you have any questions about anything in this post, or would like one of our magicians to help you pick material for your specific act, just contact us and we will be happy to help. 

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  • The Indian Shuffle

Filed Under: how to do magic tricks, Magic in Resturants, performing for the public, showmanship Tagged With: Social Distancing

I want to start performing magic commercially again – How?

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

performing magic commerciallyStuart wants to start performing magic commercially again, but worries that times have changed..

Stuart writes:
Dear Dominic, I thought I would take up your kind offer of seeking advice and ask this:
I used to perform regularly as a walk around, table magician but other factors (children, day job etc) got the better of me. Now my children are a touch older I want to get back to more general/ close-up work in order to generate more income from magic and also simply because I love performing this type of magic and would like to do more of it again.
So there’s the background, but my question would be if you can offer any tips on how to get back in? The world is a very different place to ten years ago when websites, showreels etc weren’t so important and it seemed all I had to do was walk into a place and show the boss a trick.
(Lastly,  I’m 46 years old, still have most of my own teeth and can still muster the energy to do the leg work for chance bookings etc!) Many thanks in advance for your advice and your time.’

 

Hi Stuart

That’s great news that you are thinking of getting back into performing close-up magic.

You may think that the world of magic is very different from a decade ago, but it’s actually pretty much the same when it comes to working locally as a magician. Granted, there are a wave of magic enthusiasts performing and promoting themselves online, but that tends to be it’s own bubble, often aimed at fellow magicians, and is quite distinct from ‘real world’ commercial marketing for work. The core techniques for doing magic commercially remain the same.

Who’s following you?

I often get magicians coming to the magic shop and talking about how many followers, subscribers, or facebook friends they have, yet they complain that they don’t get many bookings from those channels. I usually ask them if they know the percentage of their online followers that are magicians, or magic enthusiasts, compared to how many of them are event planners, venue owners, industry service providers, etc.  It’s usually the case that magicians tend to collect other magicians in their social networks, but that is the least valuable group from a marketing perspective!

It’s not how many people you reach.. it’s who those people are! The most important activity you can do to get more work is:

Meet people that make the decisions about entertainment for events!

This could be a restaurant owner, a venue events manager, or simply people planning a party or wedding. Having a high end website or a huge social media following is great, but it all depends on who visits your website or follows you.. magic fans/friends Vs. people that are actually looking to book a magician.

 

Stepping back into performing magic commercially again

For you, the first move is to brand your service as a close up performer so you can market your services again.

I’m assuming you already have a range of material to perform as you were working as you were performing magic commercially in the past, so it’s mainly the approach to getting gigs that you need to kick-start.

 

First step:

You need a website and magicians business cards dedicated to the market you want to service. A base for clients to contact you and find out about your services. You can set one up yourself easily ( www.weebly.com ) or have a designer build it for you.

Once you have a website and some business cards, you are ready to get out and start promoting your services.

Approach 1 : Performing magic in restaurants : It’s low paid, but will springboard you into other bookings and get you out performing. Find a busy restaurant area and visit a load of establishments. See if you can get a few to allow you to perform for one night free of charge per month, so they can see you performing, and appriciate the effect of the entertainment. In exchange, you can hand out business cards to hopefully get work from it. It’s a hard slog, but you should get some gigs from it, and can go from there.

Do this now: Go online and make a list of all the local restaurants in your area. Set a date to contact or visit each one to introduce yourself.

Approach 2 : Wedding exhibitions. Look at local wedding events going on in your area and book a table. You should get a few gigs out of it.

Do this now: Read my free ebook on how to do wedding exhibitions.

Approach 3: Market to venues and corporates: Visit local hotels and event venues to chat with the event planners.

Do this now: I would recommend that you read this excellent free ebook on marketing as a close up magician. It will give you a load of information and templates to start looking for work and getting gigs: One Minute Magic Business

Hope this helps

Dominic Reyes

 

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks, Magic in Resturants, Marketing for Magicians Tagged With: Marketing for Magicians, restaurants

Event Magicians – Magic Tricks for Long Tables with Low Light

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Event Magicians Performing at long tables in low light

Large event magicians have to perform in difficult situations. Low light and long tables of guests can be a challenge. Here’s some tips to make performing magic easier in those situations.

If you are performing magic commercially, sooner or later you will be booked to perform at an event that is not set up with a magician in mind. Low lighting, loud music and long tables of guests present several obstacles for event magicians.

Dominic Reyes recorded this video at an event with just those conditions. He describes how he deals with the situation to get the best results:

At loud, dark, crowded gigs, event magicians need to have sets of tricks that fit the following 5 standards:

1) Highly visual magic

2) Easy to understand without audible instructions

3) Quick lead in to the first magical event

4) Easy to stop and start if interruptions happen

5) Not dependent on table space

Here’s a few magic tricks that are tried and tested to meet those conditions:

Extreme Burn

Invisible Deck

Sponge Balls

Ring Flight

Chop Cup

Splash Bottle

The Key

Arthur

How Event Magicians handle long tables

A long table presents and interesting challenge for magicians. Access is limited, and becuase of the arrangment of the spectators, it’s simply not possible to present to the whole table, unless there are no distractions and you can perform to the whole table as a ‘show’.

The secret to working a long table is to break it into sections. Devide it into parts of around 6 to 8 people and treat that as it’s own distinct group. Perform to those people than move down the table to the next section. You need to perform 2 distinct sets of tricks, alternating them between sections. Because you are performing different tricks to the next secrion, the material is fresh for each group, and spectators from the pervious group that want to see more, can still watch more new magic. You will be repeating tricks 12-16 chairs down the table, so there is little danger of anyone seeing the same trick twice.

 

 

 

 

  • 6 Free Magic Tricks From Jay Sankey
  • Anniversary Waltz Free Magic Download
  • Approaching Magic Practice Ebook
  • Approaching Tables Ebook
  • Recommended For Magic Beginners
  • Cagey Tutorial
  • Choose Magic Set Kids
  • Cloud of Smoke Free Ebook
  • Double Lift Project Free Download
  • Duplex Free Magic Download
  • Epoch Free Magic Tutorials
  • Electric Touch Free Ebook
  • False Shuffles and Cuts Magic Download
  • Faster Than Light - Magic Download
  • Finger-Exercises
  • How to Break In Playing Cards
  • How to Learn Magic Tricks
  • Tips for Leaving a Magic Gigi
  • LSQ Ebook - Free
  • Magicians Fees Ebook
  • Mistakes in Magic Ebook
  • More Icandy
  • The One Minute Magic Business Ebook
  • Pitfalls Magic Family and Friends
  • Safe - Free Magic Ebook
  • School of Cool Free Download
  • Sleight of Hand Beginners Course
  • Split Free Magic Video Download
  • Self Working Card Tricks Vol 2 Download
  • Sweet 360 Free Magic Download
  • The 80's Called Download
  • Self Working Card Tricks Vol 3
  • Think Tank Free Magic Download
  • Turnover Pass Free Download
  • Self Working Card Tricks Download
  • Understanding Misdirection Free Ebook
  • Watch It Free Ebook
  • Wedding Exhibition Guide for Magicians
  • Confidence For Magicians
  • The Indian Shuffle

Filed Under: how to do magic tricks, Magic in Resturants, performing for the public, Video Podcast Tagged With: Event Magicians, magic events, performing, Video Podcast

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