How to Get Reactions Like Dynamo

So, you want to learn how to get reactions like Dynamo? Doesn’t everybody?!!?

By Ben Williams

Below is a question we were asked through our customer support email. If you have any questions you would like answered to help you become a better magician please do not hesitate to get in contact

Hey, What makes Dynamo’s magic, so unbelievable? The reactions he gets are different to a normal magician, they literally go mad. Is it the way he does the trick or is it the trick itself? I have no intentions of being like him, but I just would love some tips on how to get reactions like Dynamo..

In order to get great reactions there are a few things you must be aware of first. These have nothing to do with magic or magic tricks, this advice is purely about you, it will help you in all walks of life, with anything that requires meeting other people.

Presentation of yourself

First and foremost, are you presentable? We don’t mean: are you in a suit and tie?, It’s more basic than that. Have you showered? Are your fingernails a mess? Have you styled or brushed your hair? Have you cleaned your teeth and have fresh breath? Personal hygiene is something that nearly everyone judges straight away. Make sure you aren’t judged negatively before you have a chance to show them what you can do. Be completely honest with yourself here, would you like to be approached by someone who looked like you? Whether you like it or not, first impressions count, it is in human nature to make a snap analysis of whoever you meet. This is set into our genes, it is part of our survival instincts, you cannot avoid it. If you cannot avoid something and it stands in your way, you have to learn to understand it so you can work with it.

Secondly, make sure you look like someone people want to be around. Smile, be pleasant, polite and always thankful to people you meet. Use common courtesy and manners, after all, these things are free and go a long way. If you are courteous to people and polite then they are more likely to open up to you. If someone will not open up to you then you will never get a great reaction from them. You must break down any social barriers before they will open up and give you that moment you are searching for.

The presentation of your magic tricks.

Magic tricks aren’t what will give you that great reaction, they can help for sure, but it’s more than that… A good, well presented, and thought through magic trick is obviously better than a poor magic trick that is not well thought out. However, even an average magic trick performed well, is better than a great magic trick performed poorly. Presentation, patter and timing; all of these things go into making a strong performance, which will in turn get you better reactions.

Make sure you know how you are going to present your magic. The problem with a basic, ‘just watch’ presentation is that the execution must be perfect, and you will most likely open yourself up to a whole pile of questions and queries after your performance. This is not good, and it will quickly diminish any reaction you have. Dynamo has the opportunity to walk away after he performs, this is great for him and for his show, but will not work for most performing situations. Dynamo has a film crew staying with the spectators and recording reactions.. If you walked away, you wouldn’t know how they reacted!

Present the ‘moment’

When using minimal patter, what you are presenting is a ‘moment’, not an experience. When you patter and hook people into what you are saying you are making their brain work so you have more opportunity to get them to focus so you will be able to build your routine and build their anticipation before the final moment when the magic happens. They will be so caught up in your presentation so you will have a much better chance of getting a great reaction.

Non verbal communication.

The human race speaks to each other in many ways other than talking. Body language can go a long way.. Learn to be confident and open with your gestures, you may see lots of people use a gesture with their arms spread open when they finish a routine, this is called an applause cue, you are secretly cuing them to give you a round of applause. You can also act shocked and be animated to raise the energy in the performance. By moving quicker (or slower if your routine is that way inclined) you can control your spectator’s energy levels, if you present yourself well initially, you will have built some rapport with the spectators, so they will follow along subconsciously and their energy levels will increase too. Build energy and at the moment of magic, you will have a much greater chance of them reacting in a wilder way than they would usually.

Eye contact is your friend, you can definitely unnerve people and make them feel like something strange is occurring just by using eye contact. Stare at your spectators and let the stare linger for a split second more than what is comfortable, you will get used to this. Do not stare intently at them for a long time, think mysterious just a moment longer than usual. It is way too easy to come across as either flirty or over the top weird.. be aware of that.

The final last resort.

There is yet another way to get louder reactions. Simply ask for it. If you do this in a jokey fashion, for example, you say to your spectators,

‘Last time I did this, someone fainted and someone else ran away and changed religion.. Everyone else simply screamed! If you can all do that for me then I would appreciate it! Also, it’ll make that group of people over there freak out and wonder what is going on!’

This is a cheeky method, but done right it is cheeky and not cheesy. You are obviously being satirical with your comment as it is over the top, but if you ask for an 8 reaction, you may get a 7 or 6, so why not ask for an 11 and you may just get a 9! If you are going to do this, it works better if done a bit tongue in cheek. Don’t be too serious on them, the key is a cheeky playful attitude..

So there you go! Sadly, there is not ‘a trick’ or ‘a secret’ to getting great reactions, it certainly does not have a formula, but these are some of the things that work for many professional magicians . I hope they work for you too.

Image Source Nightmares Fear Factory

Guessing the Secrets of Magic Tricks

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

By Dominic Reyes

A spectator guessing possible solutions, can be just as bad as spotting the true secrets of magic tricks. How can magicians defend themselves against this?

I have a good friend who is totally obsessed with zombie movies. He must have watched them all. Zombie films are almost as much of an obsession for him as magic is for me. Watching these old zombie flicks with him has taught me two things:

1) Zombies simply shouldn't run.

2) Some of these films are truly terrible.

The weak story I can forgive. After all, there's only so much plot you can build in. The low budget is fine. What gets me is the sloppy lack of attention to detail. Sometimes a sound boom pops into view. Every now and then you see a reflection in a window of the camera crew.. Little details that shouldn't be there. That's also a valuable point in the performance of close up magic:

If your audience becomes distracted by something that shouldn't be there, they lose part of the experience.

When you perform your sleight of hand, it goes without saying that you should have learned to perform the moves to a point where they are automatic, natural and flawless. You should work on your technique until there is very little chance of a something 'flashing' or 'talking' during its execution. A messed up move can pull your spectators out of the 'magical experience' in the blink of an eye. Switching their attention from the theatre of the routine, to an appraisal of your abilities. But what about 'tells' and flashes that don't even exist…

When a move that never happened goes wrong

It's quite possible for an audience member to detect a move, even though it never happened. Even if your technique is flawless, an audience member may think of an explanation for a trick even though it isn't the actual method you used. To the spectator, it doesn't really matter. If the trick COULD be done like that, in their minds, they got it right. Once any explanation is present, the magic is lost.

'It could have gone up his sleeve'
'The playing card could have already been there'
'It could have been wires'
'He could have hidden it in his other hand'

ANY explanation is the right answer to a spectator viewing your magic as a puzzle. Magic needs to be impossible, so it's your job as a magician to make sure you remove the possibility of methods even when they are not present.

Spectators are not chained to technique

Unlike a magician, a spectator is free from the restraints of technique. You may know that it's not possible for the coin to be up your sleeve, because it would be in the wrong place for its production later in the routine. You understand that even if you were to be able to peek at the playing card before it went into the deck, that would not help you, because it changes colour once it's revealed.. You understand what's possible within the context and structure of the trick. Your spectators are free from any of those cares. They don't know any of the secrets of magic tricks. If they find ANY explanation, they have solved the 'puzzle' and that's good enough for them. They don't care about the fine details in the same way.

How do we fight this?

Destroying possibilities

Look through the tricks that you perform. Try to shed all your magical knowledge and see them as a spectator does. How COULD the trick be done, if you could do anything within the laws of Physics?

Could the card be swapped?

If the other hand had the coin, would that be an answer?

Is it possible that the choice wasn't totally fair?

Taking time to come up with an alternative, unlikely, and even apparently silly 'solutions' for the magic tricks you perform is valuable. Once you collect all the 'wrong answers' you can make sure your presentation guides your audience to dismiss them without even giving them attention.

Know your enemy

Work on dispelling possible solutions to your tricks, by identifying them. It's easy to be blind to them because you are so wrapped up in the mechanics of what's really required to make the trick work.

Try to think from the perspective of your spectators. Ask yourself what they would be thinking during each moment of the routine.

If you can, show your magic to some young kids. They will be brutally honest, and surprisingly imaginative. The tricks may go over their heads or fail to hold their attention, but they will probably have quite a few possible solutions you never thought about.

Once you identify all the possible solutions, you can adapt the structure of the trick, and the presentation of the effect, so that you clearly cut off each 'solution' as impossible.

Expose your own magic

You may even draw attention to a few common 'solutions' and point out to the spectators how they would be impossible. It's fine to take a moment during a trick, to recap on the fairness of the conditions, the impossibility of what is about to happen, and to dispell any solutions that the audience may have. You may find this an interesting presentation in and of itself.

Magicians Patter – How to Avoid Being Boring

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

By Dominic Reyes

Why your magicians patter should only tell the spectators things they don't know already.

What makes up a good magicians patter? It should be interesting, entertaining, and move the plot of the magic trick along. There's one thing that magicians love to add into their patter and scripts. We just can't help ourselves.. but we don't need to tell our spectators things they already know.

'I have a deck of cards in my hand.'

'I'll place the lid back on the sharpie pen.'

'I'm going to cut the rope in half, at the middle.'

Your audience already knows this. They can see it! Resist the temptation to fill up your presentation with a running commentary of things that should already be obvious. It's boring and looks like you are giving yourself instructions as you perform. Stating the obvious as a form of magician's patter is lazy. It doesn't move the magic trick forward and does nothing to entertain the spectators.

When you give a commentary about the magic tricks you perform, it should be to highlight unusual objects, create a story or setting, or focus attention on a part of the tricks mechanics that is important for the spectators to remember.

'The three coins in my hand are very, very old…'

'The blade will enter the deck to pierce it's heart..'

'You must hold the playing card tightly as if your life depended on it..'