The Ten Basic Magic Effects

Any magic trick or routine can be broken down into its component effects. In the context of magic, this effect is defined as the event that has happened as a result of being affected by your magic powers, as perceived by the audience. Learn about the ten basic magic effects and how to use them to make your routines better.

First of all, please don’t take what you are about to read as a standard rule or teaching of magic. This is just what I have come up with in order to better analyze and organize my tricks and routines. In magic, there are many different theories and schools of thought, some even contradicting one another. Regardless, I believe that it is good to learn from all of them and then formulate your own thoughts and ideas. Okay, here are the ten basic magic effects:-

1. Production:
   

   Making someone or something appear. Examples are Appearing Cane, Appearing Candle, etc.

2. Vanish:
   

   Making someone or something disappear. Examples are Vanishing Cane, Vanishing Candle, etc.

3. Transposition:
   

   Making someone or something move magically to a different location. A variation of this can involve two objects exchanging places. This movement is normally invisible or covered from the audience’s view (An object moving by itself visibly would be a different effect). Examples are Card to Wallet, Ambitious Card, etc.

4. Transformation:
   

   Making someone or something to change appearance. This can be further divided into different variations, for example a color change would be something only changing color but still maintaining its shape (Color-changing Candle), whereas a sponge ball turning into a sponge square would be something changing shape but still maintaining its material. Lastly, an object can change entirely into another object, for example an apple changing to an orange.

5. Multiplication:
   

   Making someone or something appear repeatedly in succession. This is essentially a production but I consider this a separate effect because I think the repeated nature of this has quite a different effect on an audience as compared to a standard production routine where different things are being produced from a space that is too small to hold them. Some examples of this are Multiplying Billiard Balls, Multiplying Bottles, etc.

6. Penetration:
   

   Making someone or something pass through another person or object. Examples are all the solid through solid tricks.

7. Restoration:
   

   Restoring someone or something to the original condition after being cut or broken apart. Examples are Torn and Restored Newspaper, Sawing Through A Woman and most of the large stage illusions.

8. Suspension:
   

   Making someone or something remain suspended impossibly in mid-air. This can be perceived as a kind of magical balancing act as in the case of the Chair Suspension where the girl’s body still rests partially on the chair. Another variation is the Floating Carpet where the girl seems to be floating on a carpet entirely free of any support.

9. Levitation:
   

   Making someone or something float and move impossibly in mid-air. This looks quite similar to the Suspension effect, however I distinguish this as having a lot of independent movement and not just remaining in one spot in the air. Examples are The Floating Rose, Asrah Levitation, etc.

10. Mentalism:
    

    I use this as a catch-all category for all effects that seem to be performed by mind power, for example mind-reading, prediction, telekinesis and others. I will discuss this category further in another article.

There you have it, the ten basic magic effects. Probably you will be able to think of other effects which I have not mentioned but I think you can go a long way just with this as a start.

When buying new tricks, try to analyze them by the effects they achieve so you don’t end up buying a dozen different tricks that are all from the same effect category. Try to build up a repertoire with a lot of variety.

Arrange your tricks in your show so that each effect leads into a different effect rather than for example, having a few transformations in a row. Of course, there are times that an exception to this will be effective. However, in most cases you won’t go wrong if you follow this rule.

That’s it this time. Practise well and happy performing!