A strategy consultant discovers that the single most important breakthrough for mystery performers is not a new sleight, a clever gimmick, or a revolutionary prop. It is a device that sits in everyone's pocket -- and the willingness to point it at yourself.
Read MoreFilming yourself is easy. Pressing play is hard. The gap between how you imagine you look on stage and how you actually look is one of the most confronting experiences in a performer's journey -- and one of the most necessary.
Read MoreOne viewing of your performance footage is not enough. Two is still vanity. Three starts to get honest. By the fifth, you finally see what actually happened -- not what you wanted to happen, not what you feared happened, but the reality of the performance.
Read MoreThe psychology behind why your first impression of your own performance is almost always wrong. Ego defense mechanisms, cognitive distortion, and the slow process of wearing them down through disciplined repetition -- tracked through one performer's notes across multiple viewings of the same show.
Read MoreThe same footage reveals completely different problems depending on which lens you use to watch it. One lens asks: is this entertaining? The other asks: is this clean? Learning to alternate between the two is the skill that separates productive video review from wasted time.
Read MoreThe camera does not lie, and it does not forgive. When I started reviewing video of my own performances, I discovered a collection of physical tells I had no idea existed -- tension in my shoulders, unnatural pauses, gaze that wandered at exactly the wrong moments. Here is what I learned about finding and fixing the habits you cannot feel.
Read MoreEvery performance has natural windows where the audience's attention relaxes -- during laughter, during applause, during a moment of surprise. These 'off moments' are the most valuable real estate in a magician's routine, and video review is the only reliable way to find them.
Read MoreVideo review without a framework is just watching yourself on screen. I developed a structured checklist approach -- borrowed from my consulting work -- that breaks performance review into four distinct channels: hands, body, voice, and eyes. Here is the checklist and how to use it.
Read MoreRecording your performances for review is essential, but a visible camera changes the audience's behavior. Here is what I learned about camera placement, angles, and equipment after evolving from a phone propped against a water bottle to a proper recording setup that captures both performer and audience without anyone knowing it is there.
Read MoreOne recording from one show tells you what happened once. Multiple recordings from multiple angles across multiple audiences reveal patterns -- and patterns are where the real insights live. Here is what I learned about treating performance review as a data collection exercise rather than a one-off event.
Read MoreThe most useful feedback I have ever received about my performances did not come from fellow magicians, from mentors, or from video recordings. It came from audience members talking to each other when they assumed I was out of earshot.
Read MoreOverhearing random audience comments is useful. But what if you could plant someone in the crowd -- someone who knows what to listen for, who can watch the faces you cannot see from stage, and who will tell you the truth afterward?
Read MoreHonest feedback is the fastest path to improvement. It is also the fastest path to an ego crisis. Here is how I learned to separate my identity from my performance, and why a career in consulting prepared me for this better than I expected.
Read MoreA trusted friend who observes your audience is valuable. A director who watches with a framework -- who knows what to look for and can give you structured, specific notes -- is something else entirely. Here is how I discovered the difference.
Read MoreThis is the final post in the Videotape Revolution section. Fifteen posts about the tools and methods for seeing yourself clearly. And it all comes down to one impossible truth: you cannot be both the performer and the audience at the same time. You need someone on the other side.
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