NO AND THEN!

So I was watching a great little webseries called "Every Frame a Painting". It breaks down a lot about film and it's many varied aspects. On the most recent one he showed a clip from a show called Stand-in. In it the creators of South Park surprised some kids at NYU their first day of class.

Now regardless of what you might think of the show or the guys who make it, they know their shit or they would have died penniless and hopped up on heroin in an alley way long ago. It's worth a watch.

Why am I telling you all of this? It's because there is this one section I want you to pay particular attention to. It's about structuring a story. The advice they give very much can apply to routining a magic act. A routine is/can be a story. Maybe not in a traditional fairytale sense, but it should have a beginning, middle, and end or, if you want, a start, a build, and an ending.

Being able to write a proper routine is like crafting comedy. It's a skill unto itself completely apart from the mechanics required to work the props. You can have all of the magic you want but if it doesn't flow or make some semblance of sense, then the act can suffer.

Therefore, you should watch the clips above...

Mix ratio...

The other day someone comment that I am known for being "pretty creative". Assuming he wasn't referring to how I make myself appear attractive, I responded that I just know things.

Creativity is not just a "thing". It's a mixture of various aspects. Two of the main ingredients are imagination and knowledge. The more things you know about, the more you can draw from that information/experience the create things.

Do not confuse this for being smart. There are plenty of "smart" people who don't know how to apply it. Knowledge is a reservoir to pull information from. Just because you know what a puzzle is doesn't mean you know how it goes together.

So if you want to expand your creativity go out and learn about things in the world. When you wonder about something, look it up. If you find yourself asking "How do they do that?", ship that little pocket computer and Google that shit. Fill your empty melon with information and think of something interesting to do with it.

If that doesn't work, there is always Bizzaro By Design.

Crisis on Infinite Job Titles...

Problems. Others has them.

Different disciplines tend to cross over especially in the performing arts.