Hi guys, I've had quite an awkward experience today doing magic for my auntie and I thought I could ask for some advise about it here.

I did some colour changes and some basic stuff like 2CM but when I did a "cheek to cheek", where the deck automatically restores itself, my auntie blasted me a question which caught me dumbfounded.

Instead of those "how did you do that?" or "could you teach me how to do that?", she asked me "why did that happen?"

At that instant, I had to come up with a logical reason to explain my way through the trick. I could have said it was magic but I felt that if I could give a reason that sounds logical but still has that portion of impossibility, it could better convince her.

So in such situations, what would you do?
And feel free to share some tough questions that you had come across a spectator asking :P

I met once in that kind of situation. The only reason it happens because our presentation is not good enough. Or not easily understandable. So have to refine the presentation based on the audience u are handling.

So for a routine that require lots of memory, or the deck will change here and there, audience might get lost if they din listen to u. So hmm, when this situation comes by, maybe u explain the effect slower by doing it again, or doing a similar effect that ends differently, this is wat i thought.

ya..i notice that when you are pattering, especially for the 2 card monte, people tend to get confuse, they don't know what is happening if you are going too fast. (all those pulling and putting back of the cards into their hands)

just a thought, but if magic was explainable, wouldnt it be more like physics?

Of cause i do not expect you to give an answer like

"Magic had occured" or "It Magic!!"

this is where like the others have mentioned, presentation comes into play. Effects are just effects if we cant associate something with it.

E.g

For cheek to cheek, solomon's presentation is on time travel.

For mine, its on a new lease of life about how great it would have been if we could have treasured our choices instead of only realising it when we have lost it in the crowd, etc etc finally ending with their choices being the only selected ones in the crowd....

think on a theme, and present it with your own style. Most important aspect which i feel is that you have to make the spectators feel a sense of bonding to the effect, rather than just have it performed as an effect.

Cheers!

When people start asking "why did it happen?"

It can only mean one thing about your performance...

Weak presentation.

Try shaping up a script for every trick you do. There must be a resaon to which why you want to do a certain trick. For example, when people talk about kids messing up their decks, do triumph or no-sleight triumph.

Magic is not about moves and sleights. It's all about presentation

"It is not what the performer does, it is what the audience think the performer does."

Thanks for the pointers guys.
But I think you got me wrong as the question asked by my auntie was not why I did the trick but more of why that particular effect happens.

For cheek to cheek, the deck was seen to be shuffled face up into face down but it will eventually become all face down. The question that was asked was why or how could it be that the deck could fix itself.

I think that it is probably my auntie being very logical (she's kind of a geek) and does not get taken aback as easily as the usual people we perform tricks to.

i think most of the replies were actually with reference to your aunt's question in a way.

For example take solomon's presentation

Why did the cards fix itself? -> because the magician went back in time to fix it, as explained in the presentation

Its ways of presentation that makes the effect logical in a way. Of cause, the most logical way would be to simply tell her that its cheek-to-cheek, a marketed effect and its a g*******d deck.

She asked why you did the trick??

Oh.

That would mean that you must pick your time to perform. For example, you might want to start up a conversation related to the trick you're performing and then get into the trick. Slowly, you can expand and then into a routine....

That's the way.

llamalamer

ya.. i was so confused! ha. i thought he mention his auntie said, "why did it happen?" she's refering to how did he do that or sth. haha.

just tell the spectator.."if i tell you, i've got to kill you :ph43r: "

:lol: ;)

Just to add on to the topic. As many will have noticed, some usual amazed exclamations have turned into calm, recollected questions.

These are some i have encountered.

1) "That's cool! WHERE did you learn that?"

2) "Wow! HOW MUCH did you PAY to learn that?"

3) "So, how much have you spent on learning magic already?"

4) "I can learn these too if i JUST pay money, RIGHT?"

5) "These are JUST TRICKS which i can learn. It's mind boggling that you did these and that but i'm sure it can be learnt somewhere."

Question number 1 is still reasonable.

Question number 2, if not handled properly leads to the rest of the questions usually. And it's not good IMO.

So far, i haven't found a satisfying way to answer these questions other than remaining silent for the shock and disbelief to register in the audience themselves.

I'll probably say "You can learn almost anything if you can afford to pay the money " half jokingly.

And who know, he may just make you an offer too good to refuse.

lol i did the whirling card to my prefect junior and he said '' sure got something one''
i told him that i catched an imp and placed it in my card and it could fly... and now hes bugging me to catch imps for him... LOL

LOL.. sand king, at least you got him to believe you.. haha..
even if you were joking.

would be worse if he didn't believe, and kept thinking about what that 'something' was... :lol: its always more troublesome.

How come nobody seems to notice? That's a really good patter Andy! :lol:
Mind if I use it sometimes? It's so cliche sweet/thoughtful that it should be a BIG hit with the girls :g:
Girls are so cliche :rolleyes:

Back on topic....
I think if you have well practised and executed an effect well, it is most natural that people will at some point or another just burp out a "How-did-you-do-that??" kind of question. They may not necessarily mean that as they really want to know, but they say it as an exclaimation. I mean, if they are not AT LEAST puzzled, then........ -_-

Anyway, so i don't think have to feel obliged to come up with a clever answer everytime someone says that. It may come across as being show-off.
Only answer when they REALLY mean it as a question.


BUT, I think that if you have REALLY done a good job in presentation and being entertaining most of the time the audience wouldn't even be bothered to want to know how it's done.

I dunno abt you guyes but for me, when I see really good magicians perform, I really don't care how it's done. I just wanna enjoy it.

Copperfield is one of my favs and when I watch him, i really don't care, i just want to sit back and take in all his drama mama.
I think this is a true sign that you have arrived B)


But like so many other magic theories, it's often so much easier said than done. SO MUCH. B)

No prob! Feel free to use it whenever you want :) and let me know if you really managed to hook up girls in the process :lol:

The inspiration for this platter came when my friend confided in me of his break up with his girlfriend of 8 years due to each being too busy and not having time for each other - leading to many misunderstandings, etc etc etc. Sad story man. Oh well, :off:

The set up I use is slightly different tho, but you can utilise it to whatever suits you. I feel thats the beauty of presentations. ^_^


Cheers! B)

Sad story andy but back to the topic.

What i was trying to say was maybe staying silent will dispel all the questions they ask. I mean, i agree with Aloy saying that those questions were actually amazed exclamations.

So just let the effect soak in and stay quiet as your spectators mind go boggling.

By the way, i think the patter is a bit muddled up. Don't quite get the full idea of it. :(

Jus reply "somethings can't be explained..."( With the david blaine look on ur face haha) then go on to the next effect

If they started askin where the hell u learn that or how much u pay for learning magic jus ans "Well this is more like a gift.. not something u can buy...."

the sad thing is that nowdays, with all this media coverage and stuff about magicians learning their stuff from shops.. learning their stuff from dvds.. etc etc..

the audience won't believe magic as much anymore.. since they know about the shops, right? they know about dvds, and they know its just not quite "magic". and thus, questions like "how much did you pay for that?" comes along.. :(

Just more interesting questions to ponder. These are adapted from a webby which i cannot remember where. But i thought it's really good to share these thoughts around.


* You're working for tips. You perform for a table and receive a warm response.. but no cash. forty minutes later, a waiter tells you they want you to perform at their table again. Do you?

* You perform a linking finger ring, and , upon returning the ladies ring, she insist a stone is missing. How do you respond?

* You're hired to perform an hour of walk-around at a corporate event. Upon arriving, you realize there are only six people present at the meeting. Can you perform for the same group of people for the required hour?


* In the middle of a card trick, the person assisting you forgets the card they selected. Where do you go from there..?

* You reveal a card to a spectator - only to have the spectator insist the revealed card was not their card. You're sure it was. How do you deal with the situation?

* You approach a table and everyone is excited about your performance - everyone except one guy who insist he doesn't want to see any 'stupid tricks'. Do you perform anyway?

* A card is f**c*d, then magically appears somewhere in the middle. Before you can conplete your next move, a spectator ask to shuffle the cards. What is your response?

* How do you respond when someone ask you to teach them a/the trick?

* How do you respond when someone wants to show you a trick?

* Half the people at your table are interested in your magic. The other half seems uninterested and carries on a conversation during your performance. Do you ignore them?

* You're in the middle of a trick when the waiter arrives with the food. What do you do?

* You decide to quickly finish the trick - and inadvertently drop a card in someones food. How do you deal with the situation?

* You're summoned to perform for a table, and upon arriving, realize everyone's intoxicated. Do you perform?

* You're buddies from the local magic club come to watch you perform. Shortly thereafter you see them performing for some of the patrons. How do you deal with them?

* You have someone pick a card and return it to the deck. You catch a p*n** b****and bring the chosen card to the top. At this point you realize you caught a p*n** b**** under the chosen card, not above it, and it's now lost somewhere in the deck. Do you have an 'out' ?

* Your perform a strong effect using an E count. Then, another couple joins those at the table and everyone insist you repeat the trick. Do you?

* You're performing for a table of four ladies (men) when someone at the table makes a flirtatious gesture. What do you say?

* You ask someone to pick a card. They do - and get greasy barbecue sauce on several cards. How do gracefully finish the trick?

Blackwing can answer this one? B) :g:

..................................... <_< WTH?! Mr SMC is a sexist pig!!!

Nyx - many valid questions but there's really no hard & fast standardized rules to answer them. Just approach each unique situation with clear logic accordingly... if all else fails, do what I do...

Smile, give them a megawatt beam and get yourself out of the situation pronto! :g:

And! If anyone asks you that annoying question, and bugs you on how you 'did' that, just wink & say "What do you think?" before gracefully gliding away...

But get their number first lah, especially if they're super cute.

Hehe :lol:

Truth can be much, much stranger than fiction.

Try making reality seem unreal for your audience. Make the logical seem illogical. That's what i call "tearing the audience's maps of reality".

:D

The way i see it, 2CM is supposed to be performed with the intention of confusing the spectator. I mean, even when i was watching the demo video, i myself got confused with the top being the queen of hearts or the queen of diamonds. I guess when the spectator is in that confused state trying to answer your question, the revelation of the 2 aces is more hard hitting. But thats just my take on it.

And you said, she asked "Why did that happen?" Note that the question is based on 'Why', and not 'How', as many of you are assuming it to be.

There are many ways to view this. She may:

1) Really believe that its pure magic, therefore she is stunned and slightly scared, or

2) Wonder what happened exactly, through the fact that you wernt clear or were too fast in your presentation, or

3) She really is blur and even if you light flash paper infront of her, you wouldnt get any great response.

Just my 2 cents on this one.

I don't really reply to any questions regarding the trick. I just tell the audience / person to think about it.

Ok

-Does an acelerated ACR with impossible location in the end-

Says " Can i have your number please, Ms Ning?" :wub:

-Shows megawatt smile- :g:

-Glides away-

Shouts "You must prove it to me that it works!"

:wub: