Question QUESTION: Hi Aiden. How does Criss Angel perform his miracles? I've read his book Revelation and it's still a mystery to me. I study and practice magic too, but it doesn't come close to what he does.
ANSWER: Give me some idea of your knowledge, and what kind of books you study and I may be able to point you in the right direction of some suitable books, but http://www.magicbooksbypost.co.uk/ is a very good general source of information. Learn as much as you can about the basics before trying to progress to TV magic - which is it's own special brand of ILLUSION>
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QUESTION: Thanks for your response Aidan. I mostly do close up sleight of hand. A variety of those things. I have a selection of DVD's and some VHS's I got from penguinmagic.com and ellusionist.com from the past 6 years. I know at least one of the effects of all of the catagories in magic. I'm more intersted on how Criss Angel teleports his body, levitates outside or using the power of his mind to move objects. I went to see David Copperfield in his show "An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion" in 2005 and his illusion with 13 people with the flashlights is magical. And I've read a convincing explaination on how it's done online.
Answer Thanks for the update - it always helps to have a feel for where people are in the art. The problem with the TV magicians of late is that they tend to enhance what is done by using features of a TV Show - so for example, if you palm a coin, you can control the angles, but you could have problems if someone is behind you - BUT if you use a TV Camera, you KNOW where it is pointing and what it can see - so you can use things outside of the view of the camera to help. BUT big illusions on stage can certainly be spectacular - the trick is MOSTLY in the showmanship and presentation - seach out any video of Harry Blackstone junior (sadly no longer with us) doing the floating lightbulb - I saw him do this more than 20 years ago but could still tell you everything about it - he also produced an elephant on stage and such was his power and ability with mis-direction that he did it by getting the elephant to WALK ONTO the stage in full view of the audience - EXCEPT that no one ever saw it! The human eye is very clever, but our brains have to sift out the important information, so misdirection is key.
I haven't seen any of Criss Angels items, but I know he is a very good magician. To do what he does he has studied - the Tarbell course in magic is a good grounding even after all these years. Watchin videos and DVD's is fine, but it does tend to make for copies of what is seen - reading books encourages creativity.
In short, the HOW it's done is the least important part - it's the performance and ensuring that you entertain. IF you seek just the how,then there are youtube videos a plenty, but it's better to work out ones own method and then it's YOURS!
