Motivation

It’s just as amazing this time as it was five years ago, I thought.

I was sitting in my friend Steve Gibson’s room in Connecticut. He had just finished performing his Red-Light Séance for me.

After seeing him perform the piece at East Coast Spirit Sessions five years ago, I had been obsessed with it.

It was one of the most amazing, magical things I had ever seen in my life. Objects floated in the air, ghostly voices came from seemingly nowhere, and objects were flung to my feet as if by angry spirits.

It was breathtaking. Getting ready to see it again all these years later made me nervous. What if it wasn’t as good as my memories?

I had a lot riding on this. I was paying Steve a lot of money just to teach it to me. But my fears were unfounded. As the show progressed, I realized I had forgotten much of what made it so powerful and alluring.

The next day, as Steve started breaking down the specialized props and equipment for me, we wound up changing direction. Steve was going to build the entire thing for me. Voila! Instant show.

That was earlier this week. I’m excited beyond belief to add this piece to my repertoire. It’s a 20-minute performance full of surprises, beautiful, impossible-seeming magic, and the one ingredient missing from so many magic shows.

Motivation.

In acting terms, ‘motivation’ is simply the reason for a character’s actions. Why are they behaving the way they do?

Too often in magic, the performer does something just because they can. To many audiences, it can seem like nothing more than showing off.

Nowhere is this more evident than a manipulation act. Rings, thimbles, birds, it doesn’t matter. It’s showing off.

Don’t start sending me hate mail. I love a good manipulation act. It’s pure skill magic, with surprise after surprise. But I’m a magician, so of course I’m going to love it.

But the average non-magician watching often does not feel the same way.

Look no further than YouTube to support my claim. I’ve seen hundreds of magicians perform killer linking ring routines or other similar manipulation acts and take their bows, waiting for excruciatingly long seconds for the audience to finally applaud.

As much as I love manipulation acts, I look at magic from the lens of “what does the audience want?”

I equate magic without motivation to good special effects in a bad movie. Look no further than The Rock Dwayne Johnson’s epically bad superhero movie, “Black Adam.”

It had great special effects, but the story was just ‘meh.’ It got to the pit where the characters fight so often without a god script that it felt like an eight-year-old boy just bashing action figures together.

So, I submit to you, dear reader, to find the motivation behind your magic.

And no, it can’t simply be ‘to give everyone a good time’ That should be a given. Assuming that’s the case, what deeper motivation fuels your magic?

During Steve’s Red-Light Séance, the motivation was simple and easy to follow. He was trying to contact spirits.

But Steve went further. He set up his story to have a mystery in it. So the séance was his quest to solve the mystery of what exactly happened to two long-dead star-crossed lovers.

There were multiple layers in the performance, making so much of what he was doing perfectly, well, motivated.

In my case, my motivation for most of my magic is education. I’m using a given magic effect or routine to illustrate a key message or lesson in my shows.

Even within that broad framework, I want my magic to have more in each routine.

With some routines, it’s drama, as (for example) I illustrate why turning to a teacher can get you out of a bad situation or help you understand your schoolwork.

Other times, I try to instill hope in children. Hope that yes, there is a solution for bullying. Or hope that yes, with a bit of extra help from their teacher, they’ll be able to raise their grades.

And sometimes, I want them to have a good laugh.

Oh sure, I also want the audience to feel surprise and wonder, the key components of all good magic.

Look at your magic. Depending on what markets you are in, you may not have as much motivation during your shows. Birthdays don’t require education like a school assembly does.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t add some motivation to why you are performing certain tricks. Here’s a fantastic example I just heard about from my good friend Anthony Lindan.

During his birthday shows, Anthony performs the classic Torn and Restored Tissue Paper. It’s a classic of magic for a reason. It’s simple, easy to follow, and very visual.

There’s a problem, though. Why are you tearing up this tissue only to restore it immediately? Other than showing off, there is no reason for you to do this.

Anthony’s solution is breathtaking in its simplicity.

If he’s performing for a birthday party, he’ll write the child’s name on the napkin but jumble up the letters. So he tears it up and restores it to get the child’s name right.

Brilliant.

Regardless of the market you are in, look at your magic. See if you can add some real motivation to justify why you’re doing these amazing things.

Your audiences will be more connected to the journey guaranteed.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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Need help in multiple areas? I can help you with your website, direct mail, email, or other marketing strategies. I also offer consulting services for crafting magic routines or even entire shows. Want to find out more? Shoot me an email at cris@theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com.

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