How your character influences your material

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
Jason Ladanye
Posts: 60
Joined: February 10th, 2018, 10:50 pm
Favorite Magician: Erdnase

How your character influences your material

Postby Jason Ladanye » February 18th, 2018, 8:35 pm

New blog is up! Find out more about how your character influences your material.

https://www.cardmagicbyjason.com/your-character/

Have you ever changed a routine to fit your character?

Gerald Deutsch
Posts: 442
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Glen Head New York

Re: How your character influences your material

Postby Gerald Deutsch » February 18th, 2018, 9:39 pm

I use my personality and my Perverse Magic presentation (see Perverse Magic thread on this forum) to change “sucker tricks” so that “the joke” is on me and I don’t make a fool out of an audience member.

MagicbyAlfred
Posts: 2388
Joined: June 7th, 2015, 12:48 pm
Favorite Magician: Bill Malone
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC

Re: How your character influences your material

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 18th, 2018, 10:18 pm

Excellent blog! And yes, I try to tailor pretty much every routine to fit my character and style - which is primarily comedic.

performer
Posts: 3508
Joined: August 7th, 2015, 10:35 pm

Re: How your character influences your material

Postby performer » February 18th, 2018, 10:22 pm

Your character is VERY important. Far more important than the trick itself. Without an interesting persona you may as well not bother. Of course that means that most "magicians" shouldn't bother! 90% of them in fact. Still, I will kindly allow them to bother as long as they realise that they are mired in mediocrity. However, that shouldn't bother them since at least they won't be alone.

Now how do you get this interesting persona? Oddly enough David Berglas who certainly has one seems to state in his book that everyone has one or that it doesn't really matter if you haven't. I think he was talking a load of cobblers there but maybe I misinterpreted him.

But yes. There ARE ways to do this but you have to think about the best way to go about it. Then you have to live that personality and after a while it actually becomes real, like interest gathering in a bank. Read the first few pages of the Presentation section of Expert Card Technique and it will tell you how to go about it.

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EndersGame
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Joined: March 15th, 2018, 8:21 pm
Favorite Magician: Tommy Wonder
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Re: How your character influences your material

Postby EndersGame » March 25th, 2018, 8:35 am

Good article Jason; I checked out your blog and you've contributed some thoughtful content, thanks for sharing.

Personality, presentation, patter, and showmanship are all a huge part of what makes an effect magical. And all of these have a close relationship with one's character.

Not all material will work for every performer, depending on their personality and the character they choose to use for their performing. This inevitably means that your character is an important consideration when selecting material.
Click here to see all my reviews: Magic Reviews Playing Card Reviews Board Game Reviews

Jason Ladanye
Posts: 60
Joined: February 10th, 2018, 10:50 pm
Favorite Magician: Erdnase

Re: How your character influences your material

Postby Jason Ladanye » July 9th, 2018, 4:08 pm

EndersGame,

Yes exactly. Knowing your character well really makes everything easier. Even the best version of an effect, with the best method and presentation just may not fit. For example, The Haunted Pack. I just can't see how my character would do that effect.

-Jason


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