On the Shores of Camp Pickacarda

In the beginning of this site there was an issue that I struggled with. I wanted to demonstrate to people how strong some of these different presentational techniques could be, and so I wanted to put up some videos of performances. Not just performances, but also the aftermath of performances. But I could never think of a way to do this.

It’s not that I was concerned about preserving my anonymity. I could have friends do the performances. The issue was with the spectators. If we recorded the performances as if we were doing a product demo, that would completely change their reaction. Especially if we said we were recording their reactions to then show other people. It would likely cause them to over-exaggerate the response they would assume we wanted.

And it would probably tamp down what I would actually hope to capture, which is the greater level of interest, engagement and connection I feel the style of performance I write about can generate. You can’t really capture it on film because the act of filming it would get in the way of that type of interaction. It would be like saying to your partner, “I want to show people how passionate our lovemaking is, so I’m going to record it.” Even if they were okay with that idea, you’re not going to get a real sense of what happens when the camera isn’t there.

If I could just secretly record it, I thought, then maybe you’d see how this sort of thing goes over. But, of course, secretly recording people to show on your magic blog is the action of a sociopath.

Then I thought maybe I could secretly record it, but then afterwards explain to the person that I had recorded the interaction and get their permission to show it. And I actually went to the effort of setting up a camera and secretly recording a meetup with a friend. But halfway through, I realized it was going too well and there was no chance I was going to be like, “Hey. Funny thing about what just happened… I was actually recording the whole thing to show other people.” That’s the thing about social magic: the tricks that go really well are the reactions you’d most want to see, but they’re also the ones that would be weirdest to share.

Eventually I did stumble upon a solution for the issue. And the solution was simply that I stopped feeling any desire to try and convince people about the strength of this style of performing. If you don’t instinctively resonate with the audience-centric/conversational/social style, then it’s just not for you. If you’re drawn to a more professional style (whether you’re actually a professional performer or not) then I won’t be able to change your mind, nor do I want to. I used to want to bring people over to this type type of performing. But now I just want to serve as a resource for people who are naturally drawn to it.

With all that said, I actually do have a video of someone’s reaction to share with you today.

Friend-of-the-site, Kyle O, is a magician in the social style and he did capture a reaction to a trick in a somewhat unusual way.

Kyle’s performance utilized two things I’ve written about on this site and in my books to create a memorable experience from a meaningless trick. Specifically those two things are the concept of using time as a tool to strengthen simple effects, and the concept of using buy-ins so your spectator has more invested in the effect.

He took these techniques to the extreme and his experience really shows the power of these techniques. First, he took the dullest effect you can think of—he had someone remove a card from a marked deck and then he revealed it—and then he stretched that effect out for weeks.

Kyle was working at a summer camp last year. One day he had a girl he knew from camp select a card from a deck and shuffle it back into the pack. If he had said, “It was the five of diamonds,” she would have said, “Yup. Neat.” Instead he spent weeks “figuring out” the card she took through a series of interactions. She kept a log of these exchanges that I was able to read. It was a good combination of things that felt like psychological tests and personality assessments, as well as physical activities like going paddle boarding and tossing pieces of card into the lake and noting their orientation to apparently discern certain qualities about her card. They would also do things like talk about books and music and he seemingly used this information to help him narrow down the options.

The details of each interaction don’t really matter. The point is just that he took a 30 second trick and made it go on for weeks. The trick was a framing device for a number of different activities and conversations.

Some people will scoff at this sort of thing. “Just do a trick. Not everything has to be some big event.” As if that’s what I’m suggesting. It’s not, of course. I’m saying this is the sort of opportunity you do have with amateur magic, so why not take advantage of it from time to time?

As the summer and their time together was coming to an end, it came time to wrap up the trick. He met up with her and had two envelopes. He had narrowed it down to two possibilities. One last choice on her part eliminated one of the options which proved not to be the right card.

He sent her off with the remaining envelope with one card inside to open by herself. She decided to record herself opening the envelope, which she shared with him (and both have allowed me to share here). So we get to see her very sweet, charming reaction to a trick that—in its most basic form—many of us wouldn’t even consider performing. But by using social magic techniques, it was turned into something quite strong and memorable.