Hi guys! Thanks for the support at Legerdemain 2007 if you did support me. Haha. Anyways, I believe some of you might not have seen this before. Anyways, below is the link showcasing a version of my competition act. There's slight change from the original, but very minor. I am now trying to make this part of my show, as a feature act.

But problem is, the act is very short, just 3mins 30secs. I intend to extend it to 5minutes or 6minutes. The reason why I want to extend the act is so that I can maximise the use of the bottles which are bulky and takes up alot of my luggage space. Going through all the trouble and performing for just 3mins is not economical for me unless they pay me 1000bucks! So, any ideas anyone?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nkLOVNGgS8

Feel free to comment ya. I know it wont be the greatest manipulation act you've seen, but I am willing to learn and improve.

My ideas about the routine. Feel free to ignore.

The weak point in the routine is the 1st production.

I feel that the time taken between the drawing of the bottle on the pad and the actual production itself is a tad bit too long. Also there's a bit too much fumbling before the 1st bottle actually makes its appearance. You actually almost turn your back to the audience at one point, but more importantly, the drawing goes out of sight for too long. On the video you posted, the drawing was displayed for about 4 secs afterwhich it is out of sight for almost 15 secs before the production. The audience will rightly suspect something fishy going on.

Improving the handling here it would enhance the routine by a lot. Its the 1st production - it has to be an eye popper.

Although I disagree, I suppose a point could be made for delaying the production to increase suspense. If so, consider displaying the drawing for a while longer. The audience will naturally try to figure out what you 'drew', which gives you the misdirection to do whatever you need.

And your body looks fully loaded before the show and empty after the show. Although it is true that we don't know where and how you hide your bottles, but seeing all the stuff protruding out, it seems a bit weird.

I don't know but is there a way to avoid this?

ZiAn

PS, This is a problem only when i see this routine the second or third time, but it was truly entertaining the first time i saw it.

To Matt, I agree for this particular performance, the 1st production took too long to be executed. Due to the nature of my coat, the production time range from 5secs to 15secs. And I must admit, I fumbled badly for that particular production.

To Chanzian, As for I look loaded, well, hard to avoid that as I am using genuine bottles which take almost 3/4 of my luggage. So, you can imagine how hard it is for me to do this act. I can use props but it's not my cup of tea although it'll make my life easier. Plus, props wont match what I am using, the bottles will look different. But I am considering of doing a bottles act, instead of a coca cola act. Bad thing about that is the theme will be weaker.

But well, props will cost alot of money too, and I don't have that at this moment. Wait till I graduate. Haha.

Also, there's a theory whereby audience only notice the performer's attire for the first 30secs, after which they'll ignore it. So, when I perform this life, you probably wont bother about the buldge if you are watching from the audience seats live. My act is problematic when viewed on video. And if you've watched the legerdemain dvd, it's far worst. Cheers!

(seems like only the legerdemain finalists are advising me)

But then again, I am looking for ideas to turn this act into an act for laymen, not so much to please magicians.

But a thing to note, the laymen audience tend to like the first and last productions best. Listen to the background reactions, the "woahs!" and applause. Yarh, so Matt, I think you are thinking to much like a magician. Haha.

Well... to me, i think the coca-cola act was a great act. I was wowed when i first saw it. It was a great act as there was the coca-cola song and act. Love the song. I dont think people will notice about the bulky jacket. The first time i and my friends, who were laymans, we did not notice the bulkyness of the jacket and my friends never did notice the jacket.

It was a good act and good work shufi!!!

Anyway, since noone has thought of anything yet. Let me just tell you what I presently have in mind. To lengthen the act, I am intending to have a short segment where the music and tempo slows down, whereby I will then execute a levitation of one of the bottle. I am still designing the illusion. Don't know if it will work. Will probably need me another one month to construct everything.

This video is my first time looking at your video.

I must say good job, it looked pretty nice. However, to be brutally frank, I got quite bored watching the bottles appear.

Why? There was no surprise factor. Each appearance of the bottle, in my opinion, was too close to one another. In other words, everytime you hold a silk, I am already expecting a bottle to come out. And it does! Therefore, no surprise.

If you placed some other effect in between each appearance, the surprise factor will come into play when you produce a bottle. For example, you draw a bottle, makie the drawing animate, then produce it. Then produce a silk, and suddenly produce a bottle. Maybe make silks mutliply, change colour, then BOOM another bottle. Make a candle appear from those silks, let the candle melt away slowly... into another bottle! That way, the audience doesn't expect the bottle to appear as their minds are occupied by a trick going on.

If you want to produce bottles one after another consecutively, it should be a fast-paced routine. The way you present this routine was quite laid-back, so I suggest take things slowly, don't pack each appearance too close to one another.

- harapan. magic!

Sir, it was good and i love it. B)