The Jerx AI Contest Film Festival
/Thank you to everyone who participated in the Jerx AI Film Contest. I enjoyed literally every submission that came in. They were all very stupid, just as I hoped. I’m tremendously bad at picking out a winner on these sorts of things, so I gathered the Jerx Advisory Board for a zoom meeting where all the entries were shown and then voted on. Below are the top five vote getters with the winner at the very end of this post.
Thanks again for all who submitted a video. If you want to make your videos public on youtube, feel free. Put #AImagic in the title if you want other readers to be able to find it.
First we have Andy G., who graces us with what I think is a pretty decent Michael Ammar impression. A bald cap and a fake ‘stache would be needed to truly complete the picture. But this works well enough. Honestly I’d like to see a full set of Michael Ammar’s Easy to Master Ai Magic.
Andy’s video was inspired by this part of the AI’s output…
“Stand in one of two corners of the room. Stand in one corner, in the vicinity of a chair or couch. Put your hands down. Raise your hands to your face. Have an expectant smile on your face. When you get a look from your neighbor, immediately lower your hands. When you can look back up, proceed to show them the trick you just performed. The Professional Magician Stand in one corner, not too near a chair or couch. Stand on a chair, or a table. Put your hands down. Relax into a smiling look. Ask your neighbor if they mind if you perform a magic trick. Have an expectant smile on your face. When your neighbor says no, have your hands down again. If they do want to see the trick, it's yours for the taking. The Amateur Magician Lay flat on the floor face up. Get comfy.”
Madison H. utilized the same piece of text for his entry. Madison’s entry made me giggle like a little dope while I was watching it at a coffee shop. I think the part that got me the most was, “Relax into a smiling look.” Which is such a goofy phrase, and I liked Madison’s interpretation of it. (It sort of reminded me of one of my favorite scenes in movie history, from the movie Clifford, where Charles Grodin asks Martin Short, “Can you just act like a human boy for one minute here?”)
Harry M. is up next. Harry took his inspiration from the section called, Pocket Trick:
“A classic trick that any magician should know how to perform. Without using a pocket. You could try to, but as my neighbor Trent (who is the only person who gets to use his side of the futon that I don't) will tell you, your not getting this magic trick to work. You can have a pocket, or you can buy a magic pocket. It's all the same. This trick isn't about having a pocket in front of you. This is about having that pocket behind you. You can have a pocket on top of you or in front of you, and if you aren't careful it will change the way your performing the trick.”
Harry did the best job of being the visual equivalent of the AI’s written weirdness. His video is kind of unsettling the way the writing is unsettling. And he gets points because the video shows a trick that actually lives up to the promise of what was written by the AI as “pocket trick.” If you could do it in real life, it would be dope.
Mathew O. killed it with this entry that mashes up the world of Ellusionist and the AI Created “Vanishing or Appearing Handkerchief Trick.”
“I learned this one in my 25th birthday when I had a girlfriend for the first time, (I've got one every year) and we went to a magic show. The magician shows us this trick that would work for the dares. And I have a set up that I do when I'm at home. Step 1: Put a napkin or tissue in my mouth, hold it in there and cough. Step 2: Grab it and pull it out. Step 3: "DID YOU CHEW IT UP!" Step 4: Enjoy the shocked look of the crowd. It works every time.”
And here is your AI Contest winner, Richard N. with a spoof of… well… I won’t spoil that. You’ll either be familiar with the inspiration and know what it is immediately, or you won’t be familiar with it, in which case there’s really no point mentioning it. The video features a number of Jerx-related easter eggs and highlights a couple areas of the AI’s work. Starting with this bit of sick hype:
“Let's cut right to the chase, here's my favorite kind of magic trick that doesn't use any fire, smoke, mirrors, or illusions. It's a full on, no holds barred, balls to the wall, no gimmicks, no gimmicks, no gimmicks magic show. The first time I saw this, I knew I had to learn to do this for myself.”
And then transitioning into the coin trick called, Coin Trick.
“So the coins that I use for this trick are coin bank nickels. My family doesn't need coins for the washing machine and the dishwasher. This is a very, very popular trick. I really shouldn't use coins because a lot of folks find them too small to have the proper amount of weight to be in your hand, but I like them because you can only see their faces. So that's what I do. I pretend I'm not doing it because I know Trent would think that's cheating. But I put a dime and a dime in my left hand and 3 pennies in my right hand. I use my forefingers to grasp the dime and nickel. Then I rub them together and I hold them out in front of me. I tell Trent that I'm going to put them in my left hand, and then I'll change my hand to my right and rub them against my face.”
Congrats, Richard. I haven’t let you know yet, so I guess you’re finding out here. I’ll get your prizes to you soon. You have this year’s support package coming for free. And I said I’d give you a $200 gift certificate to a magic shop, but I just say that in case some magic shop wants to hop on and choose to sponsor the contest. Since none did, I’ll just paypal you the cash and you can buy whatever you want with it: Taco Bell, a bunch of reading lamps, ketamine. Whatever. I don’t judge.