Comments on: Lesson #1 : Visual Noise

By: Gary Au

Gary Au — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:42:29 +0000

I think the little clip of me doing Shifts was a good example of this. Sometimes, when you’re used to well… not watching yourself from a spectator’s standpoint, or being caught off guard, you have no idea how distracting and fast you could be moving.

All of these newbies learn all of these very flashy moves and feel a need to show them off constantly to prove something. I’ve been there before and I still have the urge to do a LePaul Spread for a card selection and stuff… but there’s an obvious difference between noise that’s part of the music and noise that’s just static.

Besides, if you’re in the brilliant place where the work is done and it’s all been “silent”, let the silence speak for itself. Just being quiet and pausing and delaying a turnover versus all of that extra moment gets some of the best reactions.

By: eric

eric — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:23:53 +0000

How about a lesson/tip video on simplicity and consistency. For example, doing a double and single lift the same way, downplaying your slights to make them seem innocent and natural movements.

I feel a lot of people overlook this and could use a source / example of how a lack of simplicity and consistency add extra attention to where you dont want attention.

By: Mathias

Mathias — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:24:34 +0000

Hehe, all the visual noise reminded me of Jay Sankey…certainly distracting.

Great tip, simple yet very important.

Thanks for doing this Tony, can’t wait for your future lessons/tips.

By: Rossi

Rossi — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:51:55 +0000

I will admit that I definitely do fiddle with the deck when I am just talking during an effect.

But I know see that it is very distracting, and that one-way deck got me, I must say I thought that no one actually did that.

By: eric

eric — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:36:15 +0000

good advice. I love watching youtube videos, or even some videos on t11 where people feel they have to click the card 7.653 times on average, before they turn it over. Or why, every single time they turn over a card, they have to spin it for 14.5632 seconds.

The idea of “simplicity” has truly disappeared from the magic world amongst new magicians.