Material (and a Slant Update)

Alright! Many of the posts in this series up to now might have seemed a bit theoretical. And they are! Because there’s a lot of thinking that goes into a process like this before we just dive into slapping material together. In this installation, I’m going to quickly update the Slant and then dive into the Material I’ve been collective.

On the Slant: my previous attempt (“An art heist feels like magic because they both take clever thinking, detailed planning, meticulous practice; just to hide it all from public view”) felt too impersonal and vague. So my new version, which I arrived at by consulting my Concept Work document including all the material brainstorms (see how cyclical this all is?) became:

Slant: “magicians are a single, dangerous step away from becoming art thieves; we both manipulate attention, but one does it for one and one for personal gain.”

The actual wording of this will probably change as the process continues. But what I like about this is that is highlights the similarities between the two fields, and – more importantly – brings a bit of my personality and character into it. By showing how closely related magicians are to thieves, it opens the show up to me talking about how I ended up as a magician, how I might view a walk through museums differently than the audience, and how/why I might choose at the end to lean towards magic or towards a life of crime. Now the show becomes about setting up the perfect heist, but in safe conditions so I can ultimately choose the positive side of the coin.

MATERIAL BRAINSTORM

NOTE: There will be a LOT of Card material in this list and the final setlist because I wat to set up the cards at the objects of value in this show so the final card effect as a representation of the heist registers well. This will be a card-based show which I hope will make it easy-ish to travel until it has a fixed home.

  • Out Of This World [Standing Version. Multiple People. Intuition]
  • Multi-Card Transpo Between Decks [Finale?]
  • Loaded [Marcus Eddie. Quick Intro. Bit of “Flash” to counter longer routines]
  • AKA [Name Psychometry. Lies/Deception. Reading People. Good Middler]
  • Torn2Pieces [Shawn Farquhar. Adapt for a photo of a stolen painting.]
  • No Poker [Long Routine, 3 people. Manipulation/Control.]
  • Gemini Twins [Coincidence. Things falling into place. Decision Making]
  • Mnemonica/Mnemonicosis [Tamariz. Play/Interaction. Improvisational]
  • Cards Across [Tamariz? Sets up Teleportation of Cards for Transpo Finale! Need to differentiate clearly and make the finale an improvement]
  • “Calling Cards” Multiple selection routine? [Interesting presentational hook. Not sure how it ties in yet]
  • Tribute to Verone [Henry Evans. Card to Impossible Location. Like Cards Across, could help setup the finale but needs to be distinct.]
  • Disposable Deck [David Regal. Good visual moment. Hotel 52 idea could bring some story into it. Maybe set up as a Heist gone wrong?]
  • Bank Night [Decision Making, especially under pressure. Multiple People. What’s the ending thought?]
  • Follow Along Effect [Love Ritual – Aragon. Paradise Recovered – Tamariz. TGTCOBPO – Me. Nice that it gets everyone involved, but how does the decision making of the routine relate to the show?]
  • Card to Pocket [Great representation of Attention Control in Action! Also about cards moving around invisibly. Where’s the line between a good theme and overly repetitive magic?]
  • Open/No Open Spice Jar [Could be about the “strength” member of the team… sort of out of place?]
  • Memory Effect? [Memorease – Weber. Richardson. Tamariz. The premise is based on mental control so it could fit early to set up the leaps we’ll make later]
  • Ring, Watch, Wallet [Tommy Wonder. Good opening beats. Easy to make it on theme. What’s my take for this show?]

Initial Reflections:

  • There are a lot of longer routines (which is my way), but I need to ensure there are textured moments that give to the audience before I ask too much of their attention.
  • Most likely there will be a lot of card effects with a lot of setups or gimmicks in play; it could become a nice aesthetic to make it look like there’s just one (or very few) decks in play at all.
  • Some of the effects on this list were just tricks I’ve been wanting to try out (there are a lot more on the full list), but most were inspired by thinking through the different elements of a heist movie.
  • Continuation of above: If the ending becomes this “perfect” transposition of cards (i.e. art works), then much of the middle should be dedicated to building/showing/gaining the skills one needs to pull it off. I’ll need to balance possibly related/similar effects to make sure they’re growing towards a climax and not treading water.
  • Balance my own skill demos as the ringleader with giving audience members the abilities to do impossible things to transforms the audience into a cohesive group.
  • Overall, the props are small and I’d like this to be a parlor-sized show that can – hopefully – play bigger. In order to do that, the routines should be less about watching the cards (unless I have a projection system which is probably not the move from the beginning) and more focused on the people, their decisions, and our interactions. The cards should act more as a byproduct or facilitator of the group dynamic.
  • One thread throughout all the material should be how a Magician would pull off a heist DIFFERENTLY than a regular criminal. Continue setting self apart. e.g. when they pick their “team” it’s always this one-of-everything approach. If my heist is all about attention control, maybe my group is entirely grifters?
  • Need some real-life examples of attention missing something obvious. Driving and missing turn? Because of comfort with route? Maybe set up and attentional blindness test within the actual show or pre-show so that it’s a common experience the full group has?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

  • Next time, probably situate some of these routines within an initial setlist (that relates to the framework of a heist movie)
  • Maybe all the “training”/”working” effects are done with blue cards, and the real valuable Red (or fancy backed? Gold?) cards are a single, isolated deck on display from the beginning that only gets used at the end.
  • What am I using to control the attention of others? Specifically, is there something that could be repeated (an action, an object) that could be set up throughout the show and used as the “magic move” for the final transposition routine?
  • Maybe incorporate my light-bulb idea for the group mis-perception/attention moment?