How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

Kyle Marlett Talks About The Merchant of Magic and ShotPut

by Leave a Comment

 
Dominic Reyes caught up with magic creator Kyle Marlett for a quick chat about his work and the thinking behind his latest release: Shotput.
Dominic Reyes: How did you discover magic? Can you tell us about your first performance?Kyle Marlett: I got into magic around the age of four, very ironically. I saw a magician on TV doing magic and then exposing the secret. It was the masked magician. He performed the chop cup, and then it went to commercial break, I ran into the kitchen to get a cup and a cotton ball, and I attempted to do the magic trick myself. It didn’t work, I remember getting so mad at myself and that stupid magician. I then went back to the TV seeing that there was a actual secret to the trick and then I felt like a million bucks because I thought I was the only one who knew about this master secret.

My very first performance was at a neighborhood party and I got perform 3 magic tricks! The only one that I remember, was cups and balls. I got paid $5 for the show, around the same price I make now 🙂

Dominic Reyes: How and why did you come to develop Shotput?

Well lets first start with why? I started working on a shot glass production when I first started doing walk around at bars and restaurants and I wanted a great opening magic trick of a shot glass production that was bare handed.

Dominic Reyes: So you wanted a practical shot glass effect for some time before creating shotput? Do you often develop magic like this, through experimenting with situations in your act, found though performance in different environments?

Kyle Marlett: Totally! Any magic trick that you see me perform today is not even close to how the trick looked originally. Sometimes is takes me a day to find the perfect method for a trick, and other times it takes me years.

Dominic Reyes: So shotput developed from a process of adaption?

Kyle Marlett:  It came about through putting so many limitations on myself. I wanted a bare handed shot glass production with no cover, sleeving, no palming, no pulls or holdouts, no wire or string, etc,etc, once I put those limitations on myself the final product is ShotPut

Dominic Reyes: So you started with the conditions you didn’t want first?

Kyle Marlett: Yes, I believe that is a good way to do it, when you eliminate everything you don’t want first, you are left with only the good stuff. I try to do this with all of my effects.

Dominic Reyes: What was the creative process like?

Kyle Marlett: I believe magic is fun, so I think as magicians, we should have fun performing magic. So when I create magic, I try to think of fun ordinary objects that I can make fun moments happen with those items.

Dominic Reyes: What was the biggest design hurdle?

Kyle Marlett: The biggest hurdle was finding a company to make the glasses at low enough cost that would allow me to sell it at a reasonable price to other magicians. I first started making the glasses by hand myself but yet again it would cost way to much but I’m very happy working weight the company making the glasses and they will last for ever!

Dominic Reyes: You seem to enjoy organic, situational magic. What draws you to this?

Kyle Marlett: I just think people are smarter then magicians give them credit for, so if you bring out a object that looks very magical then they will assume that its a magic prop, but if you borrow their coffee cup for example and do something with it then they know its not a trick cup because it’s their cup!

Dominic Reyes: What do you hope magicians will get out of using Shotput?

Kyle Marlett: Well this is my first self released product, so I really just hope magicians enjoy it as much as I do, every product that I have out or will be putting out is actual magic that I perform for real people every day. So I believe in it.

Dominic Reyes: Sleight of hand VS Self working? Do you think that’s important?

Kyle MarIett: I say you should do what ever you want, it also depends on what you’re looking for. Sometimes it’s better to mix a little bit of both.

Dominic Reyes: So, for complete beginners, would you recommend that they start with self working tricks, or dive right into the core sleights right away?

Kyle Marlett: Ummmm that’s hard for me to answer. It depends on what style of magic you want to do. If you love card magic tricks, and want to do mostly just cards, then maybe sleight of hand would be great for you. If you want to be a funny stage/parlor magician then hardcore sleights may not be good for you. Also there is the jack of all trades where you might want to learn everything, I think it really comes down to the person and what they want.

Dominic Reyes: You seem to love to teach as much as you love to create and perform. Can you tell me why this motivated you?

Kyle Marlett: I’m not sure, I love magic, and I have a passion for the magic I come up with. I simply enjoy sharing my magic with other magicians.

Dominic Reyes: So are you saying the method of the magic inspires you just as much as being in front of people performing? Which do you find most satisfying and why do you think that is?

Kyle Marlett: I feel most computable in front of a live audience, I’m very socially awkward sometimes, so either in front of a audience or alone or hanging with a small group of friends working on magic.

Dominic Reyes: What was the filming, creative process like?

Kyle Marlett: All my filming and creative process is the same, I try to keep everything simple. No fancy editing, just straight to the point.

Dominic Reyes: Do you think that’s the future of video magic tuition? Why is that form of content becoming so popular?

Kyle Marlett: I’m not sure what the future holds, when it comes to magic. It does seem like that it’s trending mostly towards the video forum, but I actually just finished writing my first book which will be out soon.


Dominic Reyes: What’s next?

Kyle Marlett: I’m so lucky to have a lot of great magicians working with me, and we are working on a a load of awesome releases. Can’t say more just yet…

You can find out more about ShotPut by Kyle Marlett here.

The Worst Thing to See in Magic Trick Reviews and Adverts

by Leave a Comment

Magician Foolers in reviews of magic tricks
Before I discuss one of the worst things to see when magicians review or advertise magic tricks, I want to warn you about this post. The advice is geared towards magicians who want to perform for the general public. If you prefer to learn magic tricks for fun, perhaps to your family and friends, then this advice may not be for you. I just though I would save you some time reading the rest of the post.
Still with me?  Good, lets get stuck in…
The Merchant of Magic hates this advertising line in magic trick reviews:
There’s a common sentence found in a LOT of magic trick reviews and adverts for props:
‘A real magician fooler‘
Let’s look at why this sentence has very little benefit in helping you decide if the magic trick is going to be worth learning. Why would this line be helpful in any magic trick reviews?
The Customer Persona.
I recommend that you spend time putting yourself into the shoes of their spectators. You need to understand exactly whom your magic is targeted towards. Are you performing for magicians or for a lay audience? They both have different expectations, knowledge, and appreciation of magic.
Performing magic isn’t just about you or me, or the things we enjoy. You create the magic FOR your spectators. The fun you get from it isn’t the most significant thing. If it were, there would be no reason to perform it in public, we could just sit at home and practice all day in front of a mirror.
Understanding how your audience feels,  acts, and communicates is so critical. Identifying the type of person that your magic targets, allows you to choose exactly the right kinds of tricks, and the most effective presentations for them.
A ‘magicians customer persona’ is a brief outline of a typical spectator. It goes into detail about the spectator and their interests and behavior. By defining these typical spectators, you can create magic that is geared towards them.
Identifying your Customer Persona.
Take a moment to write down your typical spectators. Answer these questions:
  • Who is your typical spectator?
  • Where do they watch your magic?
  • What are their other interests?
  • What is their typical education level?
  • Which other forms of entertainment do their enjoy?
  • What cultural references will most resonate with them?
  • How do they dress?
  • What other events do they like to attend?
Why do we need to build a customer Persona?

There may not be much point developing a deep and meaningful mentalist act if your audience tends to be the nightclub and party scene. Mastering dark spiritual magic might not give you the best ‘reach’ if your plan is to perform at corporate cocktail parties.

That’s not to say you should be limited only by the audience you have access to. Magic is all about exploring and developing your skills. But, if you want to put in the effort to create a full commercial act, it’s wise to define exactly whom your audience is most likely to be, and create a ‘product’ to cater to them.
There’s no reason why you can’t create individual acts, each one designed for a different type of customer persona:
  • The city center bar crowd.
  • The local pub.
  • The family restaurant.
  • The society wedding.
  • The central London crowd.
  • Fellow magicians.
Each act should be designed for one customer persona. You can market yourself individually for each persona that you want to serve. This may be a unique section of your website, or even distinctly different websites for each customer persona.
A common mistake magicians make with customer personas in their marketing adverts online.
In just the same way, we see magicians making the mistake of using the wrong customer personas when marketing their performing websites. This happens most often when they write blogs or film themselves on Youtube. Many magicians write about performing magic, create magic trick reviews, discuss how to learn magic, and developing as a magician. They teach some magic tricks, or talk about the latest magic tricks they like. This content is targeting the wrong customer persona. It’s aimed at other magicians!
Magicians don’t hire magicians.
For example, The Merchant of Magic blog has a set of customer personas that dictate the type of subjects we write about. There aren’t any posts aimed at people wanting to hire a magician, or tips for clients on using a magician, these are not the kind of adverts we push out. We selected our customer persona’s to be different types of magicians wanting to improve their magic. Because of this, we write magic trick reviews, tips and performing advice to help our target audience: magicians.
If you want to get more work as a magician, make sure that you identify which customers you should try to attract, and direct the content of your marketing towards those people, rather than producing content directed to only interest your competitors.
Why ‘Magician Fooler’ is a terrible line in magic trick reviews and adverts.
Take a moment to watch this video recorded for me by professional magician Luca Volpe:

Wise words as usual from Luca. Unless you only perform for other magicians as a hobby, or you are constructing an act for the ‘magic club’ lecture circuit, it’s not much use building your magic to entertain other magicians. Adverts and reviews that promote magic, just for entertaining other magicians, it promoting you to target the wrong customer persona.

Seeing this ‘line’  in magic trick reviews and adverts means nothing. Magicians have a working  knowledge of the technical aspects of magic. They look at magic tricks from a more analytical point of view. They are impressed by how unusual or unique a technique may be, the tricks value for THEM, and the creativity that took place in the development of the effect. These are of little concern to a typical lay audience.

Understand who you want to perform magic to, and forget about any magic that is designed for any other group. By doing this, you will be way ahead of most casual performers, and much more likely to find the audiences that you have designed your magic to delight.