Learning through video is becoming the norm, specially for newly developed effects. This is because downloads are free to distribute, practical and reach a much larger audience has the magic community grows throughout the world. Before downloads gained popularity DVD’s were also huge as they provided a more “visual” way of learning than the traditional books.
Many people identify themselves as “visual learners”. There is nothing wrong with that even tough we recommend a mix of both books and video learning.
When looking for new things to learn in video format, don’t forget about magic lectures. We almost consider them the “books of video learning”. Many times for the same price as any regular effect you will get a load more as well as insight from your favourite performer. Regular videos might have a much more appealing trailer but lectures usually contain more.
Since we talked about trailers – keep an eye out for miss-leading advertisement as video trailers for magic are very hard to do. You want to impress the audience but you don’t to reveal the secret nor miss-lead in any way. I
There are several advantages in learning from video as long as you keep in mind a few points:
-It is easy to copy the pace, exact movement and even voice tone of the person teaching. This is to be avoided as it will look strange since you are a different person. You should work with what you already know of how to perform and then work on top of that. Make the effect your own.
–Watch, pause, re-wind and watch… repeat until you have completely understood everything. Even if you are not going to copy the performance of the teacher, you want to grab every little detail. This is even more important when you are talking about the technical side, a small hand adjustment, a finger here and there.. It makes a lot of difference. And before you decide what you should keep from the material taught you completely understand the why and how of everything.
–Don’t be afraid to experiment. Both regarding the patter and the technique. After you have learned everything well as they teach you shouldn’t be afraid to make small adjustments to better fit your hands, performance style and etc. The same applies for what you say when you are performing. DVD’s usually come with a suggestion but you might work out something that works way better for you. Make it a little bit funnier, maybe more serious, put a pause here and there. Experiment and you will take a lot more from what you have learned.