Saturday August 5, 2006
Tricks of the trade
By DEEPAK GILL
”AND how the %#@$ did he do that?!” I remember asking myself one night while sitting in front of the TV.
Magician David Blaine, facing the camera, flipped through a deck of cards really quickly. He had earlier asked TV viewers to choose one. A few seconds later, he confidently announced (on TV) the card I had chosen. He was absolutely right.
Good stuff, this magic act. The enigmatic art casually mocks our senses and teases our logic. Some are so taken in they think it’s the devil’s handiwork. Reading minds, making famous structures disappear before your eyes, levitating – these are things the mind just can’t rationalise.
So what is magic?
“It’s all about illusions. There’s no supernatural stuff!” insists Anslem Roy, Malaysia’s top illusionist and president of the International Magicians Society Malaysian Chapter.
“It’s more difficult to create an illusion for a child than an adult,” he adds, noting that kids have less assumptions and preconditioning. “Among others there’s a lot of psychology involved in magic.”
Roy vaguely explains how Blaine pulls off the levitation act. The stunt can be studied over the Internet as well. But it’s better not to know, so I didn’t ask him too many “how” questions.
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Roy doing a trick involving high voltage spikes penetrating a lady in a box. |
“There is black magic and there is what we call white magic, i.e. magic that is used purely for entertainment,” says Roy, a successful international artist and award winner. “We magicians do not use black magic. Ours is purely science, with the use of optics, lights, sound, senses and lots of psychology. We take advantage of the preconditioning that has been installed (in people) through the journey of life.
“We are entertainers who use magic as a medium of entertainment, to bring back that child-like wonder we had when we were growing up – the wonders of ‘Wow!’, ‘Gee!’ and ‘Look at that! It’s like going to the movies!’, but it’s presented live,” he says.
“Sometimes if people can’t explain the performance or trick, they say it’s black magic.”
According to Roy, many so-called mediums use regular magic tricks that you can easily purchase to make their followers or “customers” believe they have special powers.
Being a magician is not something a person gets into half-heartedly. One must have a burning passion to be an entertainer and magician.
Roy says that magic is all about presentation, something many upstarts fail to understand.
“First and foremost, you need to decide the type of magic you want to do. For example a performance in a coffeehouse is different from a performance on stage – it’s a different style of magic, with different props and different preparation. Then you must understand the principles of magic and how to apply it effectively to the props you use.”
If you can put together all of this, then the next question is about presentation, he adds, because you can buy any trick you want.
“Unfortunately some people buy a trick first – usually what’s affordable – then work backwards on how to put it into the show, which is actually the wrong way of doing it. How do you use your trick to entertain people? Once you’ve got that down, you’re in showbiz.”
Audiences usually love a mix of comedy, audience participation, fun and trickery, something that Roy has perfected.
“Our primary job as illusionists is to create a story or scene for the audience, then take the audience through that journey. To do this we use principles of engineering, physics, science, chemistry and psychology – a mix of all.”
The audience is “misdirected” and distracted so that when the trick is revealed, they’re completely surprised.
As American magician David Blaine says in his book Mysterious Stranger: “One of the first things I learned about magic was that there is a strong correlation between performing magic and playing chess. The further you plan ahead, the more effective your game or magic will be. If you can anticipate other peoples moves and also plan out your own moves, you will be steps ahead of your audience and be able to astound them with regularity.”
It sounds easy, but it is a challenge to trick every single person.
“When you perform for a child, it’s a lot more challenging. Adults? No problem,” reveals Roy. “A child is very literal and direct.” Thus it’s harder to lead them on.
Roy says Blaine has made magic more accessible and affordable, as all you need is a deck of cards.
“It’s created a breed of magicians who are more technicians than entertainers,” Roy says. Basically, it’s a case of merely “showing a trick”.
To put on a show, however, is a lot more complicated.
“We’ve had one guy here (at Magic Annexe, Roy’s magic school) who has been trying to write a decent script for a five-minute set for weeks now. It’s tough.”
For the big illusions, you need tons of equipment. And loads of cash, too. Roy says it’s not cheap to put on a great show.
“If you want great tricks and illusions, you have to be prepared to pay for it.”
There is no oath or code of conduct for magicians, but generally, they don’t expose their tricks.
“It’s an ethical thing, though there’s nothing formal,” says Roy.
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Malaysian man of magic
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