Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

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mrgoat
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Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby mrgoat » September 24th, 2014, 4:12 am

Dynamo is going on tour.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/dyna ... ve-4303309

Be interesting to see how his (lack of) personality plays in all those big venues.

Sure he will make a lot of money. Will it be good for magic? Will his audience be disappointed when he can't do the sort of stuff they enjoy watching him on TV live?

Fair play to the kid, but I fear it won't really push the art of magic far...

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 24th, 2014, 11:53 am

I wish him good luck. His TV shows have had good ratings, and he appeals to a less staid audience, and perhaps even kids. That's good.

If he does well, it's good for all of us.
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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby mrgoat » September 24th, 2014, 3:11 pm

It sure is good appealing to kids but when they see him not able to do the tv material which relies heavily on stooges and heavy edits I wonder if they will be so impressed?

I wish him luck too. I wager he will need it.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 24th, 2014, 3:45 pm

I assume he and whatever people are working with him will construct a stage show that plays to his strengths and minimizes his weaknesses.
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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Q. Kumber » September 30th, 2014, 4:39 pm

Dynamo's five dates at the Manchester Apollo have apparently sold out and he's adding six extra dates.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... en-7858956

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 30th, 2014, 5:09 pm

It's good to be popular and have a hit TV show.
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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby John Bowden » September 30th, 2014, 5:16 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:It's good to be popular and have a hit TV show.


But sometimes other lesser known or unknown magicians get jealous.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby mrgoat » September 30th, 2014, 5:21 pm

John Bowden wrote:
Richard Kaufman wrote:It's good to be popular and have a hit TV show.


But sometimes other lesser known or unknown magicians get jealous.


I love this argument.

Do you think every person that is a critic that posts a negative piece is jealous, or just magicians? When someone slates a film, or play, or exhibition, or restaurant, are they "jealous" or are they merely pointing out the failings of something?

Do you think Dynamo is furthering the art of magic by relying on stooges and camera tricks? That is my only point. He isn't. Do you disagree with that? I assume you do. So, please explain how using camera tricks and stooges is 'good' for magic.

I'm not jealous of him, I don't want to be a full time pro. Every pro magician I am friends with doesn't really like magic anymore. I'd hate that to happen. So I am more than happy to have my career and use magic to pay for my expensive holiday every year.

But, that aside, I await your explanation of how using camera tricks and stooges is good for magic with baited breath.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Q. Kumber » September 30th, 2014, 5:49 pm

Damian,

I am a full time professional magician and have been since leaving school and I was even doing a fair few shows while still at school. I still love magic as much as I did when the bug bit and hope it will long continue.

I can't comment on Dynamo's TV shows, as not having broadcast television reception, I haven't seen any TV magic for the last fifteen years, unless I happened to be at a friend's house when it was on. I think the last show I saw was Derren's Russian Roulette, which was, in my opinion, superb television.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby John Bowden » September 30th, 2014, 7:24 pm

Amazing that someone would jump right in and assume that I was referring to them in my statement regarding jealousy.

I do not know you personally so I couldn't possibly know how you feel other than from your writings here on this forum and it would be only an assumption were I to state that you were jealous of Dynamo.

I was referring to the many magicians over the last few years who in my presence showed signs of jealousy.

One can only be delighted for you, Mr Goat, to be in the position that you don't need to do magic for a living as a full time professional and that what magic you do is sufficient to give you the luxury of an expensive holiday.

On a different note.....................many magicians who performed regularly on television don't do all the material that made them famous. Perhaps the Lottery management discouraged Derren from giving out those magic numbers during a live performance.

Camera tricks, such as delayed timing, or stooges either paid or instant have been used for many years in magic and while for purists, like yourself, who wouldn't even consider using any form of stooge this is probably very upsetting.

I personally was very upset when I discovered that David Copperfield may have used camera angles and delayed timing in making the statute of Liberty disappear.

So, you see we are very much on the same side here regarding these terrible liberties that magicians take with the truth. I'm off to see a Hypnotist..............I sure hope he isn't cuing those subjects as not alone would I be upset but I bet all the rest of his audience would be similarly dissatisfied if they found out he was just telling them what to do and that they weren't hypnotized.

Keep up the good work............Magic needs a watchdog.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Leonard Hevia » September 30th, 2014, 9:28 pm

I understand that some performers in Vegas softly pipe in canned applause through their sound systems wherever it is expected in the show. Apparently this is to beef up the sound of the actual applause and possibly generate even more applause. So you're in the audience clapping and you hear clapping everywhere but will not be able to distinguish real clapping from the Memorex.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 30th, 2014, 9:40 pm

Siegfried and Roy used applause built into their soundtrack for their show at the Mirage. It was plain as day if you were sitting in the front of the theater.
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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby John Bowden » October 1st, 2014, 6:22 am

Oh Dear!!............the pain of all this trickery is unbearable.

I'm devastated.

Is nobody doing real magic anymore?

Hope nobody is going to tell me that the magician I saw vanishing a small red silk into his hand is using some device as that would be the last straw.

As for using technology to enhance the applause..............despicable.

We do need a watchdog.


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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby El Mystico » October 1st, 2014, 1:52 pm

Coming back to mrgoat's original post; it will be interesting to see how Dynamo's personality comes across in a big venue.
I think some of us feel that magic is less about the tricks per se and more about your personality.

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Re: Camera tricks and stooges and ticket sales, oh my

Postby Joe Mckay » October 1st, 2014, 2:31 pm

I remember Max Maven writing an essay in 'The Conjuror' magazine (a UK publication) defending the use of camera tricks.

Generally - I dislike the use of them. But then again - if they are done well - they shouldn't even be suspected. Copperfield's 'Statue of Liberty' trick and a clever bit of video editing that Harry Anderson used in his 'Needle Through Arm' (on a TV special) come to mind here.

It reminds me of when Simon Aronson published a great version of ACAAN which made use of a stooge. At first I was disappointed - but when I saw how cleverly the use of the stooge was incorporated - it was designed such that the idea of using a stooge was seemingly ruled out due to the stringent procedure involved.

At that level of deception - I think the use of such a bold method is justified since it still fools those who may suspect the use of a stooge.

A stooge or a camera trick is only bad magic when that is the only method that comes to mind - and when nothing else is thrown in to try and rule those methods out.


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