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using these categories. Then we discuss
high and low levels of each category. With
that, let's list them.
+Level of Audience Interest
+Level of Impossibility
+Level of Believable Impossibility
+Level of Magical Illusion
+Level of Believable Action
+Level of Surprise and Shock Value
In a sense we are worried little about the
entertainment value of magic. If the magic
is done well and the level of each category
above is high or even just moderate, the
audience will experience:
An emotional response that includes fear,
danger,wonder, apprehension and humor.
An Al Schneider principle of all of this is
that people come to see phenomena. This
suggests that if the audience sees unique or
significant phenomena, the audience will
feel an emotional response of wonder that
can be accompanied by fear, feeling of
danger, apprehension and humor. While
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the goal is not entertainment, per se, the
audience will be entertained.
Perhaps the content of the highlighted line
is the way to measure the success of a
magic performance. How much wonder did
your performance elicit? Did your
performance invoke a feeling of danger or
fear and so on? And does the audience
want to see more? However, the point of
this article is that these emotional
responses will be high if the level of each
of the items listed above is average or
higher.
This brings to mind my experience with a
trick called Expansion of Texture. It is a
very old trick that I have modified obeying
many of my principles. What comes to
mind is the response produced when the
trick is performed. A coin apparently
penetrates a handkerchief while held by a
spectator. Fifty percent of the time the
spectator holding the handkerchief when
the tick is performed simply freezes at
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