Re: Fri. 5/9 'Will it Float?' Sorcery

"Tom W" <bleemer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:ahlVj.1803$T1.1149@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Crash Bandicoot wrote:
>>
>> You don't have to really worry about misdirecting the home audience
>> when the camera is in a tight close-up on a billiard ball...
>> you could bring an elephant on the stage!
>> There are some do's and don'ts when photographing magic,
>> and most of the "don'ts" were violated this week :(
>
> That's what I found most disappointing about this week's acts. The 
> magicians didn't seem to take the TV cameras into account. I suppose if
a 
> magician is putting together a magic special, he has weeks to plan his 
> tricks and he can work with a director to make sure that the cameras are

> in their proper places and which action they'll record. Since there's
not 
> that much time, a smaller stage, and a live audience as well as the TV 
> cameras, the magicians had to do a careful job of selecting and staging 
> their tricks and they all failed.
>
> I thought the guy on Tuesday and P&T did the best just by keeping a pace

> going.
>
> Tom W

I think the best way to have shot the magic performances would have been 
like a Fred Astaire dance number. Just point one camera, showing the full 
figure of the performer, and let it go at that. That's what the live 
audience saw and that's what you want from your television director when
it 
comes to magic; an accurate picture of what you would see if you were
there. 
The close-up of the billard ball during P&T's spot and the similar shot of

the cane on the floor during Burton's, prove that the Late Show director
was 
clueless as to what is required when trying to present an unin***bered
view 
of the art of deception to the home viewer.

But he's not alone.  On a recent series of syndicated magic specials, that

director had the habit of cutting to an extreme wide shot from a camera
that 
must have been at the back of the very large auditorium whenever the 
magician did something small.  And though I've never directed a television

show, yes, I'm SURE I could do better than that.