| Archive for The Magicanada Project A Place For the In-Depth Discussion of Magic By Magicians Worldwide! |
| Michael Kras |
Kid Show On WednesdayHow does this sound for a line-up?1. Watch Smash, Vanish, Reproduction, Restoration 2. Jay Sankey's Prediction Effect 3. Dove Pan Production of Silks 4. Coin and Silk rotuine with bottle Production finish 5. Just Chince, performed with kids getting candy canes, and magician getting a rock. 6.What's Next (Spot Card) 7. Flower Box Production 8. Strat-o-Sphere with Christmas theme 9. Production of candy canes from dove pan. |
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| Dbaker |
That'll be a really long show. Children tend to lose interest after about 30-45 minutes. You might need to cut it down a bit. | ||||
| KidMagic |
Hey,
While we are on the topic of how long a show is... what are your suggestions. In some shows I do up to 18 tricks... and its only about 50-60 Mins. How much do you talk with your audiences? For me personaly just a litte bit only about 10 mins in my show is talking. Magically yours, KidMagic www.kidmagic.ca |
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| Michael Kras |
LOL my entire show is talking. However I have a very quick show. | ||||
| BrianMillerMagic |
Oh boy. Well, how you structure your act all depends on what kind of audience you are performing for. For a children's show I would not go longer than 30 minutes, and it should be mostly big and visual with minimal talking/patter. Kids are not usually going to follow a patter line no matter how good of a public speaker you are, or how logical your presentation is - the attention span is too little.
If you are performing for adults however, talking/connecting with the audience is absolutely crucial (shameless plug - see my Ebook for a philosophical approach to the importance of presentations). I will tell you that my stage show is roughly 50 minutes, give or take five, and usually contains 6 routines. A close up show is roughly 40 minutes, again give or take five, and usually contains 8 effects. Honestly, if you are performing 18 tricks in a set, you are probably not connecting with your audience in any meaningful way. That is just too much for an audience to take in all at once, and I cannot imagine 18 tricks flowing together in a coherent theme. |
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| Michael Kras |
To be honest, I'm not a children's magician so I don't perform much children's magic, naturally. I do connect with the kids, and not only that by my show is also clightly educational (gasp) | ||||
| Dbaker |
Kid's shows should be kept to no more than 45minutes. Alot of the show should consist of gags and humor.
Here's something to remember: People think magic is for kids. That's simply not true. Kids hate magic, they don't understand magic, magic is boring to children. What children like is watching you be stupid, hit yourself, or talk to a puppet that makes you look like the dummy. When performing for children, you stop being a magician. The magic doesn't matter to them, because a kid will always find an explanation. You need to make them laugh, you need to make them reidicule you, you need to make them smile. You arn't going to amaze them, so don't bother trying - leave that for the parents. |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
Exactly. That's one of the primary reasons I choose not to perform for children. All kids know how it was done - it was done by magic! They haven't had enough literal life experience to understand "impossible" as a concept, so it isn't impressive to them to see magic from a magician...of course a magician can do magic! |
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| Dbaker |
I've found the explanations children give to be slightly different. They never say, "It's magic, duh!". They always give me very complicated explanations like, "You moved it." or "That's a different one." There are alot of theories on why children are so hard to entertain: David Blaine: "Adults enjoy a performance of magic because it breaks down their emotional walls, and allows them to experience 'wonder'. This doesn't work on children, because children exist in a constant state of 'wonder'. Dan Harlan: "Magic isn't magical to a child, because it's easy to explain. The mind of a child has no limmits, they can imagine absolutely anythting. Some children just accept that the box is capable of making things disappear - it becomes a fact, and hence is not amazing. Some will explain in great detail how the box, table, and vanished item are all really made of paper and aren't really gone at all - you've simply turned them sideways so the child can't see them. Dustin Baker: "Sure they're cute by themselves, but they're dangerous when they swarm." My experiences have played more to Harlen's theory than anyone's. |
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| KidMagic |
My Kid shows are usaly only 30 - 45 minutes long... but some of my adult shows run for an hour.
Magically yours, KidMagic www.kidmagic.ca |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
This is what I was getting at in my post. Children don't have a distinction between reality and impossibility which makes them very difficult to amaze. |
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| Michael Kras |
I was about to bring that up. The kids did not react AT ALL to my magic. The adults were in awe, the kids just stood there and didn't even clap. Ah well, that's the last straw. I am moving permanently into close-up. 
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| Liam |
really?
kids like my magic i think that you just need a different type of show You cant do things that seem impossible (ACR) You have to do things that look cool, like the appearing cane |
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| Michael Kras |
Very true. | ||||
| Liam |
they like visually stunning things
adult prefer impossible things |
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| Dbaker |
That's how it goes. Don't give up on the kids though. Close-up work comes and goes, but many a magician can suppliment his income through birthday parties. You just need to tap into your silly side. Gerry Griffin once told me, "Dustin, you keep trying to be a serious magician, but you don't have it in you. You keep building effects that focus on shock and psychic phenomenon, and half the stuff you come up with would scare David Blaine to death. The problem is, you get half way through the trick and you start laughing. Nothing was funny, you're just laughing at your own seriousness. You're funny, you can't help yourself. Do some kid shows and let your creativity out. . . well not all of it; I don't think God would forgive me for telling you to release all of it on the world." The point is, kid shows force you to laugh at yourself. They make you find someting funny in everything, effectively making you wittier. Learning to entertain kids is important when you work in restaurants as well. In closing, don't let it get you down. Kids are tough, but the benefits are worth the fight. If you can entertain a kid, you can entertain anyone. |
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| Reuben The Great |
Personally, kid shows are a good experience for entertaining people in general. If you can entertain kids, you'll have the confidence later to entertain adults (which may be the parents). If you can perform well and make the kids laugh and have a lot of fun, the parents will enjoy as well.
Mike, I don't think you should move in to close up FOR GOOD per se, because kids shows will be one of the major things you are hired for. If not for the parents, for the kids. I agree with Dustin, things that are visually appealing like appearing cane, feather to cane, doves and silks agree with the kids majorly. The best audiences are 6, 7, and 8-- they mainly understand the little patt provided and are wowed by just about anything. 
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| Michael Kras |
Certainly true... My previous mistake was simply that I neglected to include mainly visually engaging magic... most of it was what I normally do, which is mainly implicitly magical.
Kids LOVE colour changes! |
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