Other Visions

Don't Cam Just Because You Can
by Jack Skrip

Consider this:

When we complain about magic exposure via the InterTube, we tend to focus first on guys (yeah... it's usually guys) who post magic tutorials on the web. Yes, they are soul-less narcissists who have no right to call themselves magicians because they have no respect for the art and/or its practitioners. They are bad people because they are intentionally doing bad things.

We tend to focus second on those guys (yeah... it's usually guys... usually adolescent guys, actually... * ) who post horribly bad performance videos of themselves on the web in which they display an astonishing level of incompetence in their handling of whatever effect(s) they are presenting... Yes, they are soul-less narcissists who have no right to call themselves magicians because they have no respect for the art and/or its practitioners. They are idiots because they actually don't realize how talentless (not to mention clueless) they truly are.

However...

Even a video of the most flawless, well-executed, technically and artisticly perfect performance of magic has a very good chance of becoming an exposure video.

Why? Well... the thing is, most magic, perhaps most close-up magic more than any other, is not designed to stand the test of repeated viewing on video. Most magic, and again, I emphasize that this likely applies to close-up more than any other form of magic, is meant to move past the spectator at a moderate pace, with emphasis placed on the beginning state and end state of the performance. The middle is largely meant to be un-remembered or misremembered (read your Ascanio, kids).

A video of a performance of magic, especially the typical fixed-camera- focusing-on-the-hands LoserTube video, enables a "spectator" sitting at the computer to do what no spectator can do in a live performance situation: rewind and rewatch the performance over and over, stopping at key points to focus on moments and movements which would otherwise go unseen... not necessarily because they aren't visible, but because the spectator's attention was drawn away by patter or movement or some other aspect of the overall performance designed to make the eye move in a way a camera will not.

No matter how "good" you are (or think you are), if you make video recordings of your magic performances and post them on the web, you are posting exposure videos. You might not think you are posting exposure videos, but you are. You might not intend to post exposure videos, but you are. Someone with a strong background in magical technique can watch just about any typical DorkTube magic video and pretty much break down the method and/or sleight sequence with relatively little effort. Even someone with no magical knowledge can, after enough repeated viewings of a NoclueTube magic performance video, identify the moments when "something is happening" even if they don't know what that "something" exactly is.

As I noted above, I believe this applies mostly to close-up magic, but I do think it has ramifications for parlour and stage as well. Some stand-up effects are more deconstructable than others, and some apparatus/methodologies may well be completely inscrutable to the uninitiated, but the moments of "something happening" may be just as visible. This may well be one of the reasons why the nature of televised magic has changed so much over the years. We tend to blame lazy performers for the use of camera edits and "camera tricks" in televised magic performances. But that's not necessarily the reason... well, not necessarily the only reason.

VCRs and DVRs and TiVo are relatively recent technological breakthroughs that were simply not something available to members of the general public 25 years ago (or less). There was a time when the experience of watching a magic show on TV was not much different from being in the audience. You saw the show from something close to the audience's perspective, from camera angles almost always pointing pretty much at the performer... no jumping away at crucial moments (other than commercials). And you couldn't watch it again. Now the performers and crew and producers and directors must accept the fact that their show will be aired multiple times and will likely be recorded by a significant portion of the audience and will probably end up, in whole or in part, on TheftTube.

Look at the promotional videos that many working pros post on their websites. Note how many of them do not show a lot of magic. Notice how many of them show clips of audience interaction or audience reaction with perhaps some chunks of performances sprinkled in... very few entire routines... only the most bullet-proof of magic moments that can withstand repeated viewings. I laugh out loud when I go to the websites of "kiddie-pros" whose "Video" sections contain nothing more than the same bedroom webcam videos they stick up on LameTube. That is wrong on so many levels it's shameful.

But I'm digressing a bit and don't want to dilute my primary point. So I'll reiterate, re-focus, and close:

Most magic performance videos, viewed enough times, become exposure videos, whether you want them to or not, despite your intentions. Think about that next time you reach for your webcam.

* In contrast, I find it very enlightening that nearly all of the videos I have ever seen on the web of girls/women performing magic, regardless of age, have been very impressive. I don't recall ever coming across an exposure video or seriously incompetent performance of magic posted by a girl/woman.

Jack Skrip