Developing a Character for Magic Tricks

Series Summary

Coin magic, commonly classified as "close-up magic", is the art of baffling an audience by manipulating coins and performing subtle tricks that the crowd has to be close to appreciate. Such table tricks also include card tricks, and both types of close-up magic are highly regarded as the most difficult to perfect among magicians, due to the subtlety and intricacy required by the individual performing the magic trick. In this free video clip series, a magician will reveal the secrets behind the art of coin magic, sharing tips on performing a variety of coin tricks, information on acquiring coins for magic shows and table magic shows, and general introductory information on coin magic for beginners.

Video Transcript

"Hi! I am Joe Marshall. I am a professional magician, and today we are going to go over some basic magic tricks. Another thing you want to think about, when you are performing for people, is your presentational character. Not everyone can perform like David Blaine, that’s real dry and bland; that works for him, but it does not work for everyone. You want to be yourself, and if you are happy, and you’re funny, you should be happy and funny; you should not try to be like the magician you saw on television, it is easily spotted, it does not work out. Professionals have reasons for making cards disappear, or coins disappear. They have reasons for reading people’s mind. Amateur magicians, when they are out on the streets, they will just do the tricks for no reason, as if just doing to show off. So make sure, you do not have to have a giant story around everything. But, make sure you have a point or a message that you want to get across, that can be simple as one sentence, like things are not always what they appear to be, and that could be the point of you showing them something. But just to go in and make a coin vanish for no reason is kind of senseless, and professionals have reasons for doing everything. So, you want to think about your structure and routining, and when you are doing the effect, what you are actually going to say to them is important even if it is a little bit."