The New Generation- Now and Then

[TheMisdirectingHand]

In this new generation, we can see that many of the younger magicians these days are mainly starting to perform strictly in front of the camera. Let's compare this to the great names who were known for their performances many many years back. What do you guys think about the new generation of magicians compared to the "old" generation?

[ItsMagicITellYou]

i think its just time moving forward, technology taking its toll on magic :P
honestly though, i think magic, especially sleight of hand, is moving forward as well. depending on how far back you go, close up magic was nearly non existent compared to now, and a lot of magicians worked on stage, merely manipulating the construction of things. nowadays theres a lot more emphasis on close up, especially impromptu, therefore more sleight of hand. it still amazes me how many new sleights-of-hand come to fruition even today, you wouldve thought everything was known or invented awhile ago. magic just like everything else will fluctuate. and those people who only perform in front of the camera arent going anywhere with what they are doing and probably wont improve. nothing can replace real experience with real people :)

[Albert]

True that Z! You, girl, know what it means to be magical! :D

[Kieran Oloughlin]

STOP FLIRTING ALBERT!!!

As for my opinion, I belive someone that pratcises magic (any type including ONLY crads) is not a magician but is someone who practcies magic for their own amusment, that someone who perfroms the magic they practice occasionally (or often or all the time or... you get the idea) IS a Macigian but someone who performs stirctly nfront of a camera is a magician but is a Youtube magician or a camera magican or a webcam magician. I think that comparing these strik camera magicians to real life magicgians from the old times such as ernest erik and Ed Marlo is not fair...FOR THE REAL LIFE MAGICIANS. Why should they be compared to someone who does not deserve the title of magicain, it is not right to put them even in the same general area of each other (sorry if this is not making sense).

Plz do not mistake what I am saying here. I am not attacking anyone and I belive everyone here perfroms magic live, there are some great magcians on yt such as gnarlycardz, BCardician, Alexofftenkrantz and so on. It just really annoys me when the leauge of YT magicains think they are so great and and belive peoples like mismag822's word is LAW. I think as this new generation of magcians rise up new magic will come to light aswell as some amzing sleight of hand and near impossible tricks and who knows some of us here may become the next ed marlo or dai vernon but these magicans who perfrom strickly on a camera will be left behind.

[Fin]

mmmm... I just love a bit of crad magic!

Magic is constantly changing and evolving but some of the old classic parts of it don't go away simply because they work so well. I think there will always be a place for stage magic, and close-up magic, and now youtube magic. The main reason we are seeing so many magicians only performing on camera is down to the fact that it's only in the last few years become possible, thanks to youtube. But I don't think that this is taking magic in a different direction, as such; it's actually just a brand new branch to the tree; a new, much more accessible stage on which magicians can perform. It comes with its many negatives and plus points. It is another possible direction individual magicians can choose, yes, but I don't think that this choice will lead to it being the only way, or becoming a threat to the more classical ways that magic has been presented over the years.

[KGaborMagic]

There are lots of people on youtube who do videos for idea-sharing, but mostly performing on streets or on stage(like Mark, Alex Offenkrantz, and me too). There's nothing wrong with that. But those guys from 'mismags kindergarten' are really annoying. For example they don't know that making public tutorials is bad -because they learn from them, too-, and ruin the magic with them. They think that they are better than anyone, because they know 'this amazing sleight and that amazing sleight', but they can't even perform to real people. I really hate their behavior. This is the biggest parasite of magic.

[Mark]

I agree with K. Jay (Mismag) doesn't even call himself a magician for that he knows he isn't, yet most of his viewers think he's the greatest magician in the world. Those are the same people that think the goal of being a magician is to explain everything you do and thus they ask for tutorials to everything actual magicians do, or they will make such tutorials and exposure videos themselves.

I think magic didn't change that much apart from the fact there has been a massive boost of exposure, tutorials and related wannabes who tend to call themselves magicians because they all hope to have a carreer in the art someday, and to have a massive amount of subscribers because that would make them "professional". And because they figured that running contests helps in getting more subscribers too, the boost of online contests is just as massive. Pure insanity if you ask me. Seriously, work for your crowd first, then run contests... for the crowd you built earlier.

On the other hand, it shows a bigger difference between good magicians and bad magicians. The good ones (who I tend to call actual magicians) are the ones that can differentiate themselves from the rest, the bad ones (wannabes). Problem is that nowadays there are so many of the latter category who have no idea about what's good and bad, and who support each other as if they are the best and most potential magicians in the universe.

For the overall picture it doesn't matter much for those who deserve their spot as magicians. The others won't end up anywhere in the real world and if they do, their careers will eventually be shattered by society.

Those who use the internet well, use it as an addition to real life, for instance to reach a bigger audience and as marketing tool.

I have to add that I personally think that we got too many "known" magicians nowadays. You can be very popular as a magician if you are great at one particular sleight or if you made one decent creation. I don't quite agree with that but well, nothing to do about that. For me, however, you'd still not be a magician unless you show more of yourself and show you are worth being called one.

[Rokk]

I think magic in front of a camera requires a different approach then live magic. For example highly visual stuff works well on YT but mentalism tricks don't. Therefore I think that YT always will be slightly different from live magic and will attract different audiances. And of course there will be a place for both.

[Albert]

Simple camera magicians have a high chance of failure in real life if they are not experienced in performing for strangers in general. From my experience, even though I have performed for years and years, just a few months back when I took a break from performing for several months, when I performed around in January, I actually shook pretty badly. I could only settle down after one or 2 tricks performed well.

Maybe it's just me, but if I get afraid of failing even after all that experience, how much fear and lack of knowledge of live performances do you think those camera-only magicians would have?

Just some food for thought.

[Travmang]

Just some food for thought.

I'm still hungry.

I agree with Starscream. I perform for some friends and family members, but being relatively new to magic I haven't yet branched out to performing for strangers. I think once I get better though then performing for them won't be too bad! ;)

[TheMisdirectingHand]

You guys make some really good points. I enjoy reading all of your posts! Maybe I should do this more often... :cool:

[Fin]

I know what you mean Albert. Training one's nerves and adrenaline is a fine art. Some people suffer more than others but it's something that affects many of even the best performers.

When I perform for certain friends I feel zero pressure, and as a result get little to no nerves. But performing for strangers I do sometimes get nerves and adrenaline that is hard to control and can make tough moves harder to perform well etc. I think the key to this is to realise that the only difference here is not actually WHO I am performing for, but how I am mentally preparing myself. By taking that approach I take when performing for friends; that mentality and state of mind; and basically pretending that this is exactly the same when I am performing for strangers, I can essentially fool myself into performing with much less nerves and feelings of pressure. I think this is key in mastering ones nerves/adrenaline. The pressure that causes nerves is coming from inside myself, not from the spectators. All our reactions to things are self taught. Just as one can self-cure, for instance, a phobia, one can also completely re-wire one's responses to other things :)

[la0o9]

@Fin: i agree completely.

[Kieran Oloughlin]

One thing I hate hate HATE seeing is these guys who only perfrom for cameras and learn only from people like mismag is when they act all high and superior than others becuase they can do 1 good sleight!!! (such as a pass) but really there is some mayny incredible sleights that one can learn and is not avalibale on youtube.

I also get frustrated when they do other things such as say others suck because they cant do a perticular sleight all that well, and say things like Thumbs up if mismag sent you where and Ask connstantly for tutorials. Either work it out yourself or buy the effect Darn it!

[MysteryHand]

@Kieran Oloughlin (http://www.magiciansthegathering.com/community/member.php?u=193): you right :) I hate these guy too. They can't do any good sleight :D