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You know what it is, whats going on guys. Chris Ramsay here. Got a few things to get done today.
I just got back from the neon spot, where I got my neon in my office hooked up check this thing out.
Yeah, it doesn't really do it justice when it's not lit. Check out this little video. I put together of me going to this place and
How they put together these things, pretty interesting, anyways, I chopped up a little montage you guys can check it out right now
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So if you're wondering what that means, "I create what I speak." that's actually the literal translation to Abracadabra
Abacadabra I believe is like Hebrew or something, but it translates to, "I create what I speak" which
I think means back in the day a lot of people who used to write
Transcribed
Text were considered Magicians because they were able to have an impact in another place in the world without
Saying anything, to them was like was considered Magic
And so you were a sorcerer if you could write, and so I create what I speak I I create whatever I say
Onto paper, and then just-- whatever you get it- straight down just in the office the weekday
So doing some more work for Ellusionist and filming a little bit of an epic deck review something new I started on the Ellusionist channel
I like it because I like getting creative with reviews. I don't think anyone's doing
Reviews to the full maximum capacity trying. I'm trying to feel in my groove. I'm feeling it out trying to get there
So you guys maybe let me know what you think we're look at the white ghost this week?
See if I can still do this
Yeah, baby, all right. Let's talk gimmicks while we're at it. I'm looking through all my magic stuff and looking at the
Gimmicks
What are gimmicks? So for those of you tuning in for the first time or
Newcomer magicians or whoever's watching you might be asking yourself what the F*** I'm talking about well, Gimmicks are
special apparatus
Or items that look like ordinary
Items or sometimes are hidden that help the magician to accomplish a greater more visual or sometimes
just a more impossible magic effect. Not going to go too much into detail about what
gimmicks are but I will talk about whether or not I use them and how I've
had
experience with gimmicks in my life. I get a lot of questions of people asking me, "Well Chris should I use gimmicks I'm going to my
First performance what should I use?" The answer is bring everything. Yeah.
I'm probably going to get crucified by a lot of you of professional magicians out there, but the truth is that's what I did
So my first performance my first paid performance
I literally had like 12 gaff decks Gimmicks galore. 48 pockets filled with stuff
You can imagine what that's like if I'm performing trying to look for a certain effect
I'm sucking on sharpies
And it was a mess. At the end of the night I get back home and obviously with a great success
But i get back home and I empty out all my pockets and to my surprise
I didn't use probably
95% of what I brought and it was a great lesson for me every other
Performance since then I've been chopping it down and down
filling in my pockets again again again
but like less and less every single time to the point where now after years and years I've
Really even now. I still carry a little too much I think.
But I'm like at the bare essentials where I have one deck of cards, I have a few other items like a ring and a rubber band
sharpie like very very minimal
but I do have a few gimmicks that are very very impactful to suit my
Performance style and that suit my personality and that I'm very very at ease with, because of all the years of practice
So of course at first you're going to be like well
I forgot to use this maybe I should have or I couldn't find this or this couldn't work or whatever
That's just a normal learning process whenever someone tells you well
You should be able to kill it with just a deck of cards look you're not you're not this guy all right
You're not David williamson. Who's a f***in' genius. This guy can rock a room, by the way if you're looking for a good book
Williamson's wonders also Greg Wilson Michael weber all these guys have great great work on just impromptu stuff where you should definitely definitely
Get a hold of and just work on your impromptu game the stuff that you don't mean any like literally walk into a room with
Your pockets empty and just kill it that stuff is phenomenal and the gimmicks are just like the icing on a cake
But without a cake, you just like a pile of icing so what I think is about gimmicks
I have professional friends of mine well
I mean, they're not professional friends like I mean, they're not paid. I mean it could be professionals there very good friends
But professional magician friends of mine who use gimmicks that I would never use in a thousand years and vice versa
And we often tell each other like dude like I don't know how you do it like that's ballsy
How do you even set that up between tables?
And that's just like I said like a performance style of character style it all depends on what your use
And what you've been practicing
And what fits your routine? That's the important part of
Performance there are gimmicks that are good for performance like live like commercial stuff
And there are gimmicks that just aren't that make your life very very difficult however those do have a place in my life
One place being the internet I do a lot of videos on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook and Twitter a lot of older Magicians I
Like will it's a waste or that's no good
we'll listen I'm here to prove you wrong like literally you're wrong because I
literally bagged branding deals with companies that want to see me and
Perform Magic on camera with their brand and that's an actuality today, so it's not all about his live performances
But you can also work with company and you can consult on TV
And you can be a creator and you can so there's so many other venues in Magic Nowadays that don't involve
Performing but performing should be your baseline you should learn how to perform
Then only then will you get a greater understanding?
of what magic is and what you want to give your audience whether it's through TV a
Camera or in real life another little thing about Gimmicks here's my little secret. This is just it's [just] between us
Don't get your magical panties and twist, but when you buy let's say you purchase a gimmick don't watch the tutorial I
Know you're probably thinking like look what the lake if you know how it works if you [know] the mechanics of it usually usually
80% of the time you're going to figure it out
Don't watch a tutorial come up with your own stuff literally think up sup
What could I use this for what could this be good for what type of?
Context could I now you've got this cool little thing [that] you just bought right?
But if you go ahead and watch the tutorial all you're doing is like
I'll give you a great example
Everybody remember [that] Rubik's cube that you threw it on a close-up mat and it exploded into skittles
You've seen it once you've seen it a thousand times literally our friends who performed it met people
I don't know performed it, but all the same nothing was changed nothing all the same all the same trick
[I] think Justin Willman was the only one who added something funny to or is that the end [of] [skittles] spelt out send new
But aside from that that it's all the same now
Yes that might be the most visually appealing and beautiful performance of it sort of looks like a [Zack] [King] camera trick
Which is cool, but maybe there's something else there
maybe there's something that nobody's thought of or maybe there's something that
You can [do] and that no one else can do just because it's your style oftentimes
I'll create stuff and I'll be like you know what [this] fits this performance
It's not me but it fits this performance
I have a friend who would be great with this so I call him up like dude like you love stuffing
stuff in your face
So this effect that I came up with is perfect for you that just gets the creative juices flowing a little bit more and before
You go ahead and try and lynch me on this idea
Copperfield did the same thing he used to grab books
Look at the effect and not read the method you can come up with his own effect or two or three
Sometimes they were worse sometimes they were better, but that's all it takes to get your mind going now
You're going to look at a gimmick
You look at a trailer
And you're gonna be like you know what I have an idea [for] that
before you even get to Gimmick before you even see [how] it's made or what you could you could just doesn't even matter if it's
Exactly, how you think because if you get it?
and the Gimmick is not what you thought it was you just make your own now [a]
Different one with a different method because you're like no, no, I had this idea. This is great
Thank you for the inspiration by the way keep your gimmick
I'm going to build my own here really it's a tool
It shouldn't be used as the effect or presentation a lot of times the people just kind of come up with it
And they're like well this was for me, and I came [up] with this baseline little packaged effect here
but here
Please take it and Expand on it
Most people don't so when you purchase something like that do let yourself get crazy because that's where the fun [comes] in that's where being
Creative consumed that's where the art form comes in
creating the writing reforming all this stuff is [just] so beautiful way more [beautiful] than watching your crotch while you change a color on a
Back of a playing card, but enough said I want to hear about you guys
What do you guys use and how long have you guys been doing magic with Gimmicks for have you guys?
Started with a lot and then weaned down or the opposite or do you like Gimmicks or should you use them well?
How do you feel [about] them I'd love to hear your thoughts and get a conversation going with my fellow Magician friends
Maybe you guys can enlighten me a little bit about your periods with these type of things also
I think that about wraps it up for this episode
I think I've ranted on long enough, but I wanted to touch base on one more thing
So I'm working with Skype right now. This is not a paid advertisement
[but] [I] am working with Skype on an Instagram project
And I'm going to ask them if they don't mind if I use all those videos I did for them and put them all together
Mash them up
And throw them up on Youtube for you guys because I kind of want to I think it would be interesting to take you through
The creating process what I had to go through to create these type of illusions
And how I came up with these ideas and everything that went into it
There's a lot and I don't know if you guys [would] be interested in hearing all [that] stuff
But maybe if you are let me know
I'd love to be able to share that sort of creative process with you
And show you some really cool visuals at the same time the guys. Thanks again for watching
[always] appreciate it if you guys smash that like button yes, I'm over the top [of] this thing
I know, it's getting old, but it does help guys thanks so much. We'll see you on the next video. Have a good day