Tricks to Present With Distraction
/Could you talk about the tricks you perform in the Distracted Artist Style?
Also do you do any tricks when you are paying for something at a shop like a bill change? —CE
I’ll take these in reverse order, because the second question is easier. No, I don’t do anything when paying for something at the store. Honestly, if I was working as a cashier, I probably would like someone to break up the monotony of the day with a quick magic trick. But while I’d like it, I’d also probably think that person was a little thirsty for attention. And I’d rather not come off that way.
We don’t think about this much as magicians, but I can tell you from talking to normal people that they feel there is a transactional nature to magic: I will do something amazing and you will give me a response. I feel it’s awkward to rope someone into that transaction who didn’t ask for it.
That is, in fact, one of the benefits of the Distracted Artist style of performing. You can perform magic for strangers without putting them in a position where they feel they have to acknowledge how clever or incredible you are. They are released from that obligation. It’s magic that happens on the periphery. It’s not something you do for someone. It’s something you’re either doing for yourself or something you don’t even realize you’re doing at all.
That said, what types of tricks would best fit in this style? What types of tricks are most likely to seem like they’re “just happening”?
I think the answer is:
Vanishes
Levitations
Animation/Telekinesis
In a more fantastical version of the world, these are the sorts of things that I think could “just happen” or at least they could happen without much thought on the part of the magician. Making something appear feels more like it would take concentrated effort. But those three things above feel (to me) like you might just do them without thinking (assuming you had such abilities).
Here are the tricks I do most from those categories:
Vanish - Vanishing Napkin - This is probably my most performed trick ever. It’s become second nature. I do it even if no one is around. Whenever I’m eating or drinking something and have a paper napkin, I will ball it up at the end and vanish it. (Just a false transfer and a ditch) This is the small-scale, environmentally friendly magic I would likely perform in real life if I had low-level magic abilities.
Levitation - Floating Hoodie String (Calen Morelli) - This comes from Calen’s Penguin lecture. I am someone who once, while driving home from work, tied my hoodie strings together absentmindedly and I didn’t really notice it until I was turning into my neighborhood and I realized I had tied them together through one of the spaces in my steering wheel. And when I tried to turn the wheel I couldn’t because the way the strings were tied prevented it from turning. I had to lower my head down so it was even with the dashboard so I had the slack necessary to turn the wheel enough. I almost drove off the road. This would have definitely been in the top .1% of dumbest ways to die.
My point being, distractedly playing with my hoodie strings is very natural for me. So this trick fits perfectly with that predilection and my casual fashion sense.
Animation - Forklift (Geoff Williams) - This is off his Miracles for Mortals DVD and it’s a way to make a fork move on the table. I’ve always liked this animation because the fork moves while you’re not moving. So it doesn’t look the fork is connected to you and you’re just dragging it along.
Those previous two tricks use the same gimmick which is very easy to carry with me unobtrusively, so that’s why they get a lot of play.
There are other tricks I’ll do if I’m carrying the necessary prop or gimmick with me (which maybe I’ll get into in a future post) but those three above are probably at the top of my list. And I think the broad categories of levitations, vanishes, and animations are probably a good place to start when looking for effects to use in the Distracted Artist style.