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Tag: ShowCraft (Page 2 of 2)

ShowCraft in Action: Part 5

December 6, 2021 /

REVIEW

Part of what makes for a well-crafted show is having components that are informed by each other. So taking regular stock of overarching artistic choices/goals is important to try and keep it all in mind. Here’s a brief recap to consolidate what has been (initially) decided as of now:

  • Goals
    1. Create an Immersive-feeling, theatrical show
    2. Make that show financially sustainable
    3. Capture the process and develop promotion
  • Theme: Heist (Art heist?)
  • Slant: An art heist feels like magic because they both take clever thinking, detailed planning, meticulous practice; just to hide it all from public view. (This needs to be better – too vague and impersonal)
  • Material: I started a running list of possible material/effects in a past post. I’m not putting much work into developing those at the moment, but when part of the Theme/Slant/Goals makes me think of an effect or a presentation, I’ll jot it down.

Longform breakdown: I see this show has being set in an interesting venue that feels mysterious, borderline sketchy, but well “set.” Parlor in size/presentation, the show would max out at approximately 50ish people (think through the finances of that) and would use heavily interactive pieces. The majority will be original card tricks which set up the premise of pulling off the perfect heist. The show is over when we’ve set the plan, established the skills/team, and pulled of the heist. It should probably have a twist ending!

Personal notes: This whole thing appeals to me because of the excitement of the heist. That feeling has broad appeal and attracts both the logical types (who want to be actively thinking or figuring things out) as well as those who lean more towards passive storytelling. My (personal) in-road could be about the jobs we have and how we define ourselves by them. We often ask someone’s name and then immediately “what do you do?” As though our job is a perfect reflection of us. I think about what I might do if I weren’t a magician and the only other jobs I’ve considered are librarian or art thief (maybe find similar job qualities or skills for all of these). This show could be more about looking at – not what we do – but what we wish we could do / want to do / would never do (etc.) as a better reflection of who we are. Who do we want to be? What do we WISH we could do?

Ending: We should pull off the perfect heist but then I sort of need to “put it away” and get back to why being a magician is better. Safer job? Little risk? Then the twist could be that I’ve pulled of a secondary/bigger heist on the audience themselves.

Takeaway: I’d like people to mostly enjoy the time at the show, but also take a look at themselves and what they wish they were doing with their lives. Not to make them question what they’re doing now, but maybe what could enrich their lives.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

  • This came up earlier, but to clarify the “heist” concept, I think an art heist is more specific.
    • The cards become representations of the art pieces.
      • That, in turn, informs which pieces make sense to be card magic (those related to the Heist and required skills) vs. those which make sense as other forms of magic (i.e. team building). Card magic is like training for the heist.
  • Next up should probably be the introduction of a “FRAME” that can fit with the reviewed elements at the top of the post. Most likely with be a literal “Art Heist Movie” frame, but these elements could shift a bit as the show becomes more about me, the audience, work/jobs, who we are, what we want to be, et.

ShowCraft In Action: Part 4

December 3, 2021 /

SLANT

While our “Theme” discussion from last time may be incomplete, we have the core idea of “Heist” as our starting point. Later, we’ll look at the elements of a Heist (or perhaps a Heist Movie?) to find inspiration for the internal structure of the show, and we’ll take a look at what it may suggest for material/aesthetics/etc.

But for now, I think it’s important to (try to) identify something that goes hand-in-hand with our Theme: it’s Slant.

As with journalism, the Slant is an individual perspective on the (quite general) Theme. It would be easy to assemble a bunch of tricks that are – on their surface – related to the idea of a Heist. They could be linked with their props and their storylines, but the show as a whole (which is the final goal of what we’re doing here) would still be lacking. What it’s missing is the perspective of the artist.

I see this all the time with magicians (and others, but I’ll pick on magicians here because we can all use a bit of a critical eye). The “show” they put together is really more of a compilation of loosely related ideas. I hear regularly that a magician wants to make a “classy” or “elegant” or “fancy” parlor show. So they rent an expensive room, put together tricks that use (faux) heirlooms, “priceless” coins, “antique” cards, gilded objects or whatever the individual sees as “elegant.”

But the show never comes together because the artist shares no personal opinions on the content. They haven’t thought about what they want to say or what they’re trying to communicate, so the message defaults to “Hey! I like these things! Aren’t they cool?” Which is fine in an informal or short-form environment but simply doesn’t sustain an audience for a longer performance.

That’s where our Slant comes in. Our individual, unique viewpoint of a topic. The Slant should touch on why the Theme is important to us. What’s magical about it? What perspective do you bring that others haven’t explored. If I get stuck finding my Slant, I often try to fill in the sentence: ” _____(Theme)______ is magical because _______(Slant)_______.” Finding and element of the Theme that feels magical

Thinking about our Heist show, Heists feel like magic because so much planning and work goes in to creating something invisible that – if done correctly – no one ever sees. That needs some editing down, but it’s connecting with me as some sort of core concept for the show because it’s truthful from my point of view and it’s something most folks probably haven’t thought about before (because in most peoples’ work, they do a job and it’s transparent about who has taken which steps to accomplish which goals).

Other ideas to play with: A magician would pull off a heist by controlling attention.

RANDOM IDEAS

  • As I spent time thinking through the Theme/Slant/Frame relationship, I wonder if the Frame might be a Heist Movie, the Theme could be something more like ‘Jobs’ or ‘What we do for a living’ (because of the Slant which touches on the ties between doing magic and planning a heist).
    • Most of this is only visible on the back end, so it’s more a logical restructuring for me and my priorities so I’m focused in terms of presenting information to the audience.
  • Material Brainstorm Drop:
    • AKA: Aliases/code names
    • Card Transpo
    • Standing OOTW: Instincts
    • Total Coincidence:
    • T2P
    • Object to Impossible Location / Safe?
    • Ring Watch Wallet
    • Cards Across (moving objects secretly)
    • Gambling/NO combo Routine
  • Question to think about: The set could be primarily card-based. Should I push it to be entirely cards? What does that suggest or mean in the framework of the show? If there are card tricks and non card tricks, is there a logic to when to use one vs. the other?
  • Should probably end with the “perfect Heist” being pulled off, but then some sort of coda/kicker where the audience gets “taken” in some way
  • I should really use more “air quotes”

ShowCraft in Action: Part 3

December 1, 2021 /

THEME

I have the feeling this will be a multi-part discussion. Because “Theme” is one of those loaded words (like “Story” or “Art”) for which everyone carries their own meanings.

For the purposes of our process here, “Theme” simply refers to – in the broadest possible sense – what the show is about.

This could be a concrete Theme (like ‘Movies’ or ‘Games’ or ‘African Pygmy Hedgehogs’) or it could exist on the more metaphorical end of the spectrum (‘Coincidences’ or ‘Luck’ or ‘That Feeling of Not Having a Stair Underfoot When You Think There Should Be A Stair”).

A mistake I’ve made in the past is being too precious with individual steps at this point. As you will soon see – if you haven’t already internalized it – this process is all about ensuring that the different elements of a show all fit together. That the Theme informs the Material and vice versa. That your Goals inform your Frame and the other way around. Etc.

That is a very delicate balance that can’t be struck by simply fleshing out each piece and attempting to connect them. The process is about the recalibration of the different elements to bring them together seamlessly.

I’m a sucker for an obtuse analogy, so here’s a not-so-real-life example that I hope clarifies what I’m trying to say. Imagine you’re creating a jigsaw puzzle – not just fitting together pieces, but making one from scratch. You’ve decided – because of some unknown reason – to paint individual squares of material with sections of your image that overlap. The calibration process is the trimming of those images little by little to fit the design together perfectly in a unique shape.

Eh… sort of lost the thread of that one as I was going through it, so it’s probably less helpful than I would hope. Alas! Sometimes things we try don’t work out!

Anyways, the point of the last several paragraphs is that we’re not editing/trimming/re-working individual pieces now. We’re still in broad strokes mindsets. So keep it simple here.

Your Theme needn’t (and really can’t at this point) encapsulate everything your show is about. It’s only a starting point.

As you’ve probably gleaned from previous posts, my Theme to test out is “Heist.”

We’re still at a place where artistic choices can be somewhat independent (as there aren’t too many individual elements to fit together). So my main reason for choosing Heist as a theme is because I like it! I enjoy heist movies because they’re exciting and real-life capers have a mystique around them. That enjoyment might feel flippant or irrelevant in a discussion of process, but as Tamariz is wont to say – the love for the subject matter comes through to the audience (Check out his discussions of the Seven Veils out of The Magic Rainbow).

With deeper consideration, I think Heists have more wide appeal than a lot of my esoteric interests – especially in the context of an evening/weekend performance that toes the line between theatrical and participatory.

To stretch out my awareness muscles to make sure that I’m keeping other elements of the process in mind, I’ll take a quick peek at my goals (Design immersive show, sustainable finances, documentation/leveraging of the show).

I certainly think this could have some fun immersive design potential, the concept is broad enough (while being exciting and fun) to keep an audience rolling through, and I’m excited by the possibilities for documentation and growth with a show like this.

Let’s see what happens!

RANDOM IDEAS

  • Of the variety of Heists, Art theft in particular has always interested me. Maybe the aesthetics of the “set” or space could be something between a sketchy warehouse where criminals meet to plan their caper and an art gallery.
    • If it ends up having an art gallery feel, I could see visual of playing card inspired art, or maybe cards displayed as art. Something to frame the cards as works of art so any metaphorical use of them throughout the show to represent artworks has some weight behind it.
  • How can I work an Entrapment-style laser grid into this?!
    • Smoke machine…
  • The giveaways/swag/sneaky gifts have Talk Trigger potential
  • If there’s an art gallery this could (eventually) have some sort of visual arts sales component as a financial upsell to folks who are interested
    • Like how coffeeshops have local art up on the walls for sale
    • What would “Magical Playing Card Art” be?
      • Hidden imagery that calls back to the Heist concept?

ShowCraft In Action: Part 2

November 16, 2021 /

GOAL ANALYSIS

Welcome to the next piece of the record of my process. Let’s make a show!

We left off by setting a few goals (a lot of them, actually). After thinking about them overnight (and having them mulling around over the last several days), the ones that stick out are:

  1. Creative: Design a magic show that feels theatrical and immersive by focusing not only on the material but on the experience.
  2. Financial: Ensure that the show becomes sustainable by developing a model to bring in $500 (net) per week.
  3. Business: Be thoughtful and intentional about the full process – not just making the show but the promotion, documentation, and leveraging of assets into each other.

What will immediately become apparent about this whole process is that it relies on making decisions thoughtfully in a way that intentionally moves towards a single vision. For the Goals portion of the plan, that doesn’t stop simply by setting a few independent goals. It’s worth a bit of time working through the implications of those goals. Let’s infer what their impact will be on the show:

  1. Creating a theatrical and immersive-feeling show immediately has resource demands. It can often mean more expenses for props, set pieces, lighting, music or soundscapes and designers to carry those elements out. Carrying out It’s not the case 100% of the time, but fleshing out the experience (from ticket sales to pre-show to follow up) for an audience means more elements to think about and often higher costs. This ties directly into Goal number 2:
  2. A sustainable career in the arts requires finding those (rare) recurring income streams from sources that can remain relatively stable. While $500 per week is by no means a salary, my experience has shown me that – in my area – it’s definitely an achievable number and it will help me understand how many hours per week I can commit to the project over time to make it viable. The big challenge is that quickly reaching a profit in a theatrical endeavor is a challenge. I could easily slap together 10 tricks that I already do and call it “Evan’s Wicked Awesome Magic Show” to save on design costs, but that doesn’t serve my artistic goals. Knowing that I want to create a world and a setting and an exciting viewing experience for my audience means that I need to commit resources to the overall design. That means I need to be incredible careful with the type of theme and show I create to make sure it doesn’t require a heavy lift in terms of reworking a space. Crafting a show to fit into a cohesive preexisting space will cut down on overhead and make the show profitable faster without sacrificing the artistic integrity.
  3. Capturing the process means simultaneously creating social media content for promotion. It means thinking multiple steps ahead to get ahead of unexpected expenses. It means ending up with videos, a press kit, and a clear process to recreate the show so it becomes a resource I can continue to use into the future.

I haven’t forsaken my other goals, but I prioritized these ones because they’re currently the most important for me to explore. Plus, several of the others (focusing on primarily original material, developing my team, etc.) feel like they’ll happen somewhat naturally under the umbrella of these other goals.

Additional goals can pop up as the process arises! Everything is flexible, but having clear starting points gives me a matrix against which to judge if my actions are in line with where I want to get. So spending $2,000 on a lighting system might seem super fun for me personally, but if it doesn’t contribute to making the show sustainable, it’s probably not a good goal. Creating a show focused on props or themes that are consumable will mean that week-to-week overhead is going to be higher and will make the financial plan harder to carry out.

I’ll say again: Everything is flexible. We just need to start this whole process with places to begin. Those could be primarily creative if this isn’t your full time job. Maybe your goal is to design a competition act for a local magic contest. Your goals could be entirely focused on developing your material and your style, and creating a unique competition experience for a magician audience. And with a separate job funding it, the financials may be of minimal concern!

RANDOM IDEAS

  • This might be the same as the last post, but with the “HEIST” theme in mind, a warehouse, sketchy area, and non-theatrical feeling performance space might be a great fit for these goals.
  • In terms of “Frames” (more on that later), A heist movie could work. Also, a Salon came to mind and has that interactive feel I foresee this show moving towards.

ShowCraft In Action – part 1

November 15, 2021 /

An artist’s process is a personal exploration into how they best create the things they want to bring into the world. I have lots of thoughts on magic theory and why we do the things we do, but it’s important to me that most of those ideas have come out of practical performance and show creation.

As we get into the winter of 2021 and in-person shows remain infrequent, it’s a good time to look forward to the show(s) for next year I’d like to produce.

For me, that creative process almost always begins with goals. As I plan out the show, having clearly defined goals that are (mostly) within my control is my way of making sure I’m moving in the right direction.

Goals can be personal, professional, creative, artistic, financial, or anything else that’s important to you at this point in your life. Usually I try to limit myself to 3 or 4, but it always starts with brainstorming a whole bunch. Then I can weight them against each other and against the type of show I’m making to see what fits. For now, here’s what comes to mind:

GOALS

  • Design a show with minimal physical overhead that still feels like the space is curated, immersive, and unique
  • Create a recurring show that brings in (net) $500 per week
  • Feature a majority of my original material throughout the show
  • Plan a more thoughtful promotion and documentation approach in tandem with the performance itself
  • Develop my regular collaborative team
  • Make a show that communicates who I am and what I believe WITHOUT being an autobiographical show “about me.”

I’m going to let those goals marinate for a little bit to see what continues to be important or if others arise. Generally, the sense I’m getting from a lot of these goals touch on “sustainability” of a performing arts career (regular financial income, establishing systems that can translate across projects, etc.)

DISCLAIMER: As we move through the different steps in my process, the fact that it’s written might make it seem more linear or organized than it is. I’m organizing a bit more than I would normally to make it readable while still maintaining the integrity of the process.

To not dismiss the important fluid nature of the process, I’m going to include some sort of “random ideas” section at the end of each post that mentions some of the thoughts that popped up outside of the main topic. Like this:

RANDOM IDEAS:

  • Working through my process in real time reminded me of shows I developed before this process was more established. I’m curious about how I might approach those shows with my current views, so maybe I’ll revisit the Themes of: Storytelling, Puzzles, Heist, or Games.
    • As I was quickly revisiting past themes, the Heist concept show I did seemed like it had the audience appeal and a lot of the inherent assets that would logistically check off a few of my goals. Perhaps that will be the one to start with!
  • On the financial viability front, I should perhaps include a section (read: Rabbit Hole) on my budgeting template for shows over time to work through the financials of staging a theatrical endeavor.
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