Finding Ideas for Magic Presentations
By Tom Phoenix
Magic books and dvds are great for learning the mechanics and bare-bones presentations. But what is a great resource for finding presentations? Before I get into that, here is a routine called Faster than Light I enjoy, and you are welcome to use it.
Presentation of Faster Than Light:
You address the audience: “The great question of traveling as fast or faster than light has had scientists and physicists scratching their heads and engaging in heated debates for well over 100 years. And the mysteries surrounding the relationship between light, space, and time itself, are baffling. For instance, if one were to travel forwards in time, they then would have to travel faster than light, And if this was so, where, in space, would they be?”
“For this, I will need a volunteer, you ma‟am, what is your name?”
“Tracy.” She says.
“Wonderful. Tracy, if you could, take this paper and pencil and take a seat here. I am going to count backwards from five, and when I get to one, you will slowly close your eyes. Take a deep breath in. Five. Slowly let it out. Four. A breath in. Three. Focus on relaxing. Let it out. Two. Breathe calmly now, you‟re doing very well. One. Your eyes are closed, you are fully relaxed, and all the stresses of the day have melted away. In your mind, you are sitting in a white room, in front of you, there is a table, and on that table, there is a deck of cards. Watch as this deck spreads itself on the table. A single card slides out, rises off the table, and you see which card it is. The card floats back onto the table, slides back into the deck, and the deck fades away.”
Get Faster than Light by Tom Phoenix Free of Charge
The presentation method for the above effect is very simple to do. We would like to give you this effect free of charge as an example of the power of building presentation on even a simple magic trick. You can download the method in a FREE pdf ebook here
How to develop an engaging premise.
I recommend song lyrics, fictional books, scientific books, psychology essays…. Essentially, go read anything which sparks your interest, and read a variety of subjects and genres within a short period of time. For instance, read an essay on astrophysics during the day, and then before bed, read a chapter in an art history book. The next morning, take ten minutes before breakfast to read a chapter in a sci-fi book. And then repeat the process that day.
The idea is to feed the brain with otherwise disconnected bits of information, and in the minds‟ effort to find order, you‟ll find yourself coming up with abstract connections between subjects. For the artist, this often leads to tying these connections together and expressing them through a medium (magic, in our case).
Write down those connections, with a brief explanation of how they relate, and then find a way to model/illustrate this new concept, using magic. For example, here is a quote from “Reaper‟s Gale”, by Stephen Erikson – “There’s only so much mortal flesh and bone can take. The oldest rule of all.” That quote, combined with this song: “Torn Beyond Reason”, by Woods of Desolation, resulted in my creation “Rebirth”.
The idea of restoring a card without remnants of harm, seems too perfect. Too perfect for our world. Wounds always leave scars, and though the card is „reborn‟, the memories of our past will ever remain.
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