Comments | the4thcircle: Hogwarts Year 1: First term.

the4thcircle

Hogwarts Year 1: First term.

May 08, 2011 15:24

Once again, the introduction to this ended up longer than the body so I'll cut it into segments, only the last one of which is actually about my magic lesson.

( How people think magic works )

Comments 6

missgadget May 8 2011, 15:42:22 UTC

Please, please, please start magic vlogging. ^_^ Card tricks are my absolute favourite although over the years I've forgotten most of my old routine and started playing poker where it's really bad form to show what you can do with the deck.

the4thcircle May 8 2011, 16:08:47 UTC

Uh oh. Were you good? Like... Really good? I'd hate to be scrutinised by too many experts...

missgadget May 8 2011, 16:47:10 UTC

I was kinda good but I never developed how to switch smoothly between decks so I was always a little disjointed in the presentation. From what you were saying about picking up on the moves the instructor was doing you are probably going to be really great at handling cards and have a really strong presentation.

keristor May 8 2011, 21:12:09 UTC

Re: mirror versus camera -- one reason is that you get to see it the "right way round", i.e. your right hand looks like your right hand would looking at yourself. A lot of people (including me) get very confused trying to do stuff looking in a mirror, especially with tricky coordination, because it's the wrong way round. Plus, of course, you can place a camera at a sensible position where the audience might be. Oh, and also it is time-delayed so you can evaluate it later rather than while you're doing it, thus removing that distraction from performance and also letting you see it 'fresh'.

I'm aware of this from singing and theatre, video works a lot better than a mirror.

emmajnation May 8 2011, 22:49:37 UTC

On the other hand, trying to use live video as a mirror is just as confusing for the basic stuff - I can't even brush my hair!

keristor May 9 2011, 08:20:46 UTC

Ah yes, not 'live' if you are used to a mirror, and with digital video things like delayed lip movements will likely throw you. But a big advantage with video is being able to watch it 'cold' (indeed, watching it before the next rehearsal can be very useful) and from other angles (for instance if someone is sitting off to one side can they see too much or too little?).