Scripting 101
Many discussions were on scripting vs improvising, I think one major thing that both sides ( appearantly ) don’t realize, is the fact the beginner, or even intermediate magicians, have no clean picture on what the thing is, so they think of it as a difficult process, which is quite the opposite. Why? Because they ARE scripted, they just don’t know it!
What is it:
A script is everything you do in a performance, talking and doing. Now if the past sentence turned you off, please continue reading.
I will assume you familiar with 2 Card Monte, and you have performed it at least 3 or 4 times.
Now, you notice that you repeat generally the same talk ( or called, “patter” ) in every performance. Thats, my friend, is your talking.
Now, you know that you have to do the sleight needed at a specific moment, when that moment comes, you do it, to make you’re sleight invisible so they don’t catch you. Thats my friend, is doing
Yes, welcome to the sad (?) truth, you may say that you not scripted, but YOU ARE!!
Gee … scripting is so easy that you even didn’t think that you’re doing it! The only difference between you, and someone who sat down and thought of script, is that he planned while he was not performing. You just had to prepare something in your first performance, in other words, while you are performing!!
Imagine that you have no idea when to perform the sleight, you will struggle to do it, you will think alot, and you will shake. Thats why YOU scripted it, by thinking “I’ll just do it at that moment” and now you do it!
By the way, how many times did you perform the trick to yourself while you’re practicing? Thats rehearsing!
Are we clear on whats scripting is? I hope so.
Preparing a script:
No, you don’t have to write it down. Hope this will make you feel better.
Another thing, you don’t have to prepare one. They are ready for you to use!
Many times the trick comes with its script ready for you to use ( like in DVDs you see the performances, or a book you read the patter). In fact, if you learned 2 Card Monte, you didn’t plan the moment where the sleight is done, the creator/teacher did, thats the script ready for you!
Why would I change it then? Because you didn’t like it! Suppose the trick talks about battle between orcs and aliens, you might not like that ( unless its you’re thing! ). You will notice that this will happen more and more as you go into magic, as you will develop a “style”. For example, you might go for psychological things, or go for comedy things, and so forth. Don’t force this on yourself, this will happen automatically.
Same thing when you want to develop you’re own script of a trick! This will be very hard at first, because you are inexperienced! The more you read/watch as you go in magic, the more ideas you will get, and the more scripts you can make! For example, you watched an effect by the gambling expert Darwin Ortiz, where he does the pass at a very good moment. You can take his idea, and put it in the moment where you do the sleight in 2 Card monte! You might want to apply the idea of “oil and water” into Ambitious Card Routines! As you go on, you’ll get more and more ideas.
Preparing a script, cont.:
There are many ways to prepare a script. One way is to think of it, and then perform the trick to yourself. I do this many times.
Other way is to write it down, I personally do this quite often for couple of reasons, and I want to share them with you. Lets go over these before we go into how to write a script easily.
1- English is not my mother tongue, so I have to translate if I want to use the script that comes with the trick.
2- I forget my scripts due to my busy college life. Sometimes I forget a very important line, and sometimes the whole script ( if its been a long time since I performed the trick! ), this helps me remember.
3- Editing:
A)I can take out any unneeded words! Like for example, I can write “Cards will switch places, from here, to there. they will switch places, are you ready?”. If I write that, it will be easy to see that I said “they will switch places” more than once, which is unneeded, so you throw this “line” away. Sometimes,
B) I can add lines! Like when you perform a trick and a spectator said a joke. You might like it, so you add it, and so forth.
Now, how to easily write a script? I find it extremely difficult just to sit down and write word for word, and I don’t think anyone in this word is doing this because this is painfully silly. What would you do is to imagine yourself, at the best performing situation possible. You are with the perfect spectators who react very well, you are doing perfect moves, you are very active and playful. Now, imagine you’re performance, and write it down! You may write it as you’re thinking, you may write it after you end the “mental performance”, its up to you. This is actually how writers write their novels.
Now, I would say this. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, try the writing method as well as the thinking one, or whatever you fancy. Point is, try all methods, and see what fits you. Personally, I had trouble scripting with writing when I started out, but then after I got into magic more, I read Card College and the author said to try it out, so I did and now its my main thing, though I still think many times. Point is, try out everything, and see what works for you.
Also, note that if you have low performing experience, preparing a script ( writing or thinking or whatever ) will be difficult, because you don’t know what to expect during a performance. But hey, if you’re a beginner, why preparing a script?!!!! Just use the one in the DVD/book!! You may be excited to do you’re own presentation of a trick, but c’mon, get some experience first!
Memorizing a script:
Now you might think you need to memorize the script word for word. Well, yes. BUT WAIT WAIT WAIT, its not as difficult as it might seem!!
You are not sitting down and memorizing “the cell is: The single unit that forms the human body”. Here is what I do, especially if I’m writing a script.
I write it, then I read it, then I perform it for myself! Its that simple. After the first “performance”, I see what did I miss, I say “Oh I said “switched twice two times, not as I wanted in my script”", so now do it again with fixing this mistake! See? You DON’T sit down and memorize, you just “memorize by doing”, not “memorize by sitting down and say it over and over again in your head”. This actually will take you couple of minutes to get the script down!! These “performances” are called Rehearsals, by the way.
Now, at the end, rehease the effect and when you feel you’re good to go, you need to perform!
DO NOTE that you might want to put the “doing” script in written form as well. My script goes like this:
“I want you to memroize the forth card … Okey, this is the one, did you get it *”look and pass*“. and so forth. This actually an abberviation in my notes. I meant “look at them and do the pass”
Performing the script:
Now you got down the script, forget it!!!
No seriously, when you start to perform, act casual, no need to be robotic, at you’re own pace, be calm, be natural, you know the words and can deliver them EASILY ( you won’t believe me till you try it!! ), if a spectator threw in a joke, play with him. Remember, a script is just the main road to the end, you can divate from it as the moment dictates ( play with the spectator, throw in a joke, comment on something, or take an chance that the spectator might know something about your presentation, like in lie detection, so you talk with him a bit… etc! ), but you can return to the part of the script you want EASILY ( again, you will only appreciate this when you try it ),. now everything flows, and you performed well.
Also, please don’t perform for yourself, like telling a story while the spectator is about to sleep! Always keep in mind that the spectator is not that technical part of the trick where you now perform it, but its the phase where you play with her/him, and provide her/him with her/his moment of astonishment.
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FAQ:
1- Is a scripted performance, a good one?
Not necessarily. People don’t care if you script or not or whatever. If you’re script is bad, the performance is bad. You wrote a script and all, but they care about the perofrmance itself, not the fact that you scripted or not.
2- Huh?
Suppose you presented how Lord of Destruction will cut through the deck and comes to the top. You’re doing an ambtious card routine, you wrote you’re script and rehearsed it, but its bad, because the script itself is bad.
3- Are scripts supposed to be long?
Not at all! For you’re talking, a simple “watch” will do, the rest is how you present the trick with your “doing”, or in other words, acting, like in E’s Mindbender trick, you move you’re finger on the card .. etc.
4- How can I know that my script is bad?
A) If you think its bad.
B) Sometimes you think its good, but you’re magic friends think its bad. Ask them why, and on how to improve it.
C) Sometimes we magicians think of something as great, but to laymen, they think its average, so the best feedback you can get is from you’re audience. If they didn’t like it, ask yourself why, you might want to try another script, or to give it another shot, its up to you to judge.
5- Can I use other’s scripts and presentations?
Absolutely. Jay Sankey’s presentation of Triumph is excellent ( Back in Time ), you can check his effect. Magicians have been using Dai Vernon’s presentation of his triumph for many many years ( where a heckler shuffles the deck up and down ). Its always nice, however, to ask a permission. In other words, buy the DVD or the book, or ask the magician himself to use his/her presentation.
6- Won’t I be a copy cat?
Not at all. From my experience, people need to work in order to be copy cats, just be yourself, you’ll save yourself alot of trouble. Oh, and still yes, you can use other’s presentations. Don’t even think of this, never force or limit yourself to something, you’re style and originality will find you, you just perform and have fun.
7- i can’t get any ideas for presentations, WHY!
You’re just inexperienced. As you go in magic more and more, you’ll have more ideas. A tip would be to start of thinking of a “theme”, like do you want it as a gambling demonstration? Mental experiment? psychology? .. etc and you go from there.
8- How can I make good magic presentations?
As you get into magic more and more, you’ll get to read advices from various great magicians. You’ll be introduced to the idea of being natural and the reason behind doing the moves ( Read Dai Vernon’s books on that ), you’ll develop more sense of misdirection that you can add into you’re presentation to make you’re sleights more invisible ( Sydini’s work on this is superb ). Watch good magicians perform, youtube is such a wonderful tool if used wisely. See performances of Darwin Ortiz, Tommy Wonder, Jay Sankey, Bill Malone and many others. See how he executes his sleights invisibly, read their ideas in their books or DVDs ( Strong Magic by Ortiz is excellent. If you want to go a little bit deep into the subject of theater, Jay Sankey has alot of great articles on this in his book Beyond Secrets ). Read magic theory ( Eugene Burger ), this will make you appreciate magic more and inspire you, and will improve your performances. ( many points from the “Performing the Script” was from Eugene’s Burger’s almost same words )
9- Should my script be good the first time I do it?
Hell no, actually how can you know its good before you try it out! You may think its good, but try it out and make it better! Nothing wrong with making bad scripts at first either, just do a “draft”, and perform, edit you’re script the way you see fit then. Plus, it will take some experience on your part to be able to prepare a script thats good from the first time! Make mistakes and learn from them!
10- Should I buy none-magic related books, like on public speaking, body language, theater and so forth?
Its up to you, but its not necessary ( especially in close up magic ), only if you’re interested. Lets say for example that you want to perform for a lot of people, or on stage, but you don’t know or never dealt with a big audience before. Public speaking can be helpful ( they have good advices like you should look at every spectator, avoid speaking with the same tone .. etc ). If you want to work out some misdirection, you might be interested in none-verbal communication books, I personally bought two but only learned stuff I use in my every day life, that indirectly helped my magic, like when a spectator is putting his elbows on his knees, I know that he’s feeling bored so I interact with him more, and so forth, but in misdirection, not much. Point is, as you go on in magic, you may develop intrest in these kind of stuff or just develop you’re own thoughts on the subject ( this is especially true for misdirection ) and put things together on your own. You will notice that you can improve yourself at a certain field, and then you do something about it. If don’t find anything wrong now, just learn more magic and perform! Theater books can be interesting, but you will find difficulty relating them to magic unless you have more experience, then you need to think more on how to apply it in magic. That is if you are already interested, many magicians just read the works of other magicians in the field, and since its more strongly related, adding that they put their experience too, then it will help you alot more.
Anyways, I suggest Magic and Showmanship by Henning Nelms, which teaches theatrical techniques and how to apply them in magic ( like building up suspense .. etc ), since it teaches it in a very simple and good to read way ( putting tricks as examples too ). Only get these when you have enough performing experience so you can understand it!
11- How much time should I put into script/rehearsal of a trick?
This is also up to you and the trick you’re doing. If you’re a beginner, you may rehearse until you feel you can do the trick well ( after you can do the technical part of the trick well! You don’t have to master it, you’re still a beginner! ), have an idea on what you’re talking about ( in other words, prepare a draft of the script only, in you’re head of notebook or whatever you like, or BETTER YET, take it from the book/DVD! ), and go perform. As you go on in magic, you will notice that you will rehearse for more time, because you’re standards of a performance will go up ( stage magicians may rehearse an act for days or months! ). Also, learn 4 or 5 tricks that uses the same sleight, read the patter in the book/DVD, perform it for yourself till you feel you’re good to go (this sometimes takes minutes only ), and go perform it. Remember: The most important thing in magic is to perform, because this is the BEST way to practice moves ( mastering a move comes from practicing AND PERFORMING it!! ) and BEST way to practice how to present a trick! Also, you’re excited to perform, dude I’m not stopping you, go get ‘em!
12- But the guys told me to pick a few tricks and do them better than anyone else ..
Its impossible for a beginner to master a few tricks, and do them better than anyone else. I think this is actually a wrong thing to do, and many will come here with the misunderstood Devant quote of ameature vs Devant. Please, go read Hugard’s introduction in the Royal Road to Card Magic book. He clearly say that the student should try out and learn everything, but in continous performing, he’ll find that he like some tricks more than others, THESE tricks are the ones he’ll continue performing, and thus will be good at them. Besides that, doing a trick well requires a good understanding of presentation and showsmanship, which a beginner cannot understand and dont need, simply because he don’t have enough performing experience, WHICH IS THE THING that needs to be focused on!!
My suggestion?
Open Royal Road ( or Card College ), start with the overhand shuffle control, practice it until you can do it comfortably ( might take hours, might take weeks! ). Next, read the overhand shuffle tricks, and try to do them well enough, which is easy because you already do the required sleight well. Perform the ones you like ( even better, perform them all ). This way you perform, and you get the joy of performing, which will motivate you to practice and learn more tricks and sleights.
Open the glide, practice it till you can do it comfortably, then learn all the tricks in it. Try to perform them all, then move on the next, and so forth.
Learning one or two trick is simply none-sense for a beginner, not only you are killing his excitement, but limiting his performing experience WHICH HE NEEDS MOST at this stage. And what actually makes Royal Road and Card College so good that it makes it easy for a beginner to be good at alot of tricks in a comfortable way. You become good at the tricks because you became good at the sleight needed( NOT MASTER, as this will only come with Experience, which the beginner don’t have ).
Again, try to learn every trick in the book, this is how you will grasp an understanding on card magic works ( math-magic, card principles .. etc ). Simply learning 3 or 5, or even 12 is simply killing the purpose of the book.
The David Devant quote of “ameatuer does 100 tricks, Devant does 8″, is because Devant’s long experience, he performed alot of tricks, but he settled on 8 that he liked and saw that they get the most reactions, he settled on them. Devant is NOT a beginner. A beginner NEEDS TO PERFORM, and this won’t happen unless he feels that he got enough tricks under his belt.
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Hope this helps. I sincerely hope that this thread will be a reference for anyone who asks on the subject.
Scripting and making presentations can be a VERY enjoyable thing, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
