Tuesday, September 13th
I gathered some books as resources for some simple magic tricks. I couldn’t find books by specific magicians, so I decided to change the different methods of learning magic tricks to books, videos, and the internet. The internet contains written explanations and videos, so I will either separate it into these two parts, or use one or the other. It would not be a fair test if I use both.
Wednesday, September 14th
After school, I had a meeting with my supervisor and reviewed my topic, product, AOI, and my method of keeping a process journal. He suggested some video clips on YouTube for reference on magical illusions and taught me ways to improve dexterity. With this meeting, I realized that creating magical illusions would take a lot of practice, so I decided to try to get my hands used to the cards and coins I am planning on using the magical illusions. It would not be a fair test since I will have had more practice near the end of the year, so in order to make this project as fair as possible, I will use the rest of this month to just get my hands used to simple, common movements used in magic tricks.
Friday September 16th
I researched more on my product (report). I was planning on writing a field report, but I started thinking that maybe a scientific report would fit my project better. If I gathered numerical ratings from the audience, I would have data that I can present as results for a scientific report. If it was to be a field report, I could analyze the audiences’ reactions myself, or ask for their comments. I still have to think which one would be better. I had a vague set of design specifications until now, but I have to fix some parts and rewrite the specifications.
Monday, September 26th
I officially started my investigation by starting my research on different types of magic tricks. As I have said in my previous entry, I have an idea of what sort of magic tricks I would like to learn, but I researched this for reference. There are mainly 7 types of magic tricks: Production, Vanish, Transformation, Restoration, Teleportation, Levitation, and Penetration. Most of these types can be performed using cards or coins, but most of these types require preparation. If I were to perform these tricks on stage, having to prepare the trick may not be that difficult, but if I were to perform it directly in front of a small audience, then having to prepare for the trick makes it obvious that it is a trick, so the audience may not be as amused with the trick.
Wednesday, September 28th
As I tried out the tricks in the books, I realized that they were too simple. I was able to read through the trick once or twice, try it out by myself a couple of times, and then it was at a level where I can perform it without the audience seeing through the tricks. For this practice attempt of this project, I used a trick on a book that I am not using for this project, but the tricks in the books I’m using are just as simple. I had thought that magic tricks would be more difficult, since I was able to see through most of the amateur performers's tricks. Of course those tricks were far more complicated since you needed to have the skill to do it as well. Even if you can see through a trick, it does not necessary mean that you can perform the trick yourself. As for the difficulty of the tricks, I do not want it as complicated as the ones that I have seen at that show, but I do not want it to be too easy for me, so I’ll try finding magic tricks that are of a suitable level. (challenging, but possible to learn within the time span of this project)
Friday, September 30th
I looked through the books again, but they are all beginner books, so I couldn’t find anything particularly challenging. I probably have to use other books for this project. As for the Internet, there are many different tricks to choose from, and you can search levels through search engines, so they weren’t that difficult to find. All the tricks I am going to use for this project has to be the same level of difficulty. Otherwise, it would not be a fair test.
Monday, October 3rd
As I was looking at different magic tricks, the question of the number of magic tricks I would learn came up. If it was an extremely difficult trick, it could take me months to learn it, and if it was an easy trick it would be a matter of hours. The level of difficulty I’m aiming for is a trick that would take a few weeks to learn, but by the end of the few weeks, it should be close to perfection. Since I am looking at three different types of learning styles, I thought about having three tricks per method to act as trials for this “experiment”.
Wednesday, October 5th
After looking through many tricks, I found it difficult to choose the tricks that I would use. Is it better to learn well-known magic tricks to get the audience interested, or would it be boring since there would be a higher chance that they would know that trick? Since I am going to perform my tricks to the people around me, there is probably a low chance that they would know any of the tricks. They are not in to magic tricks, so they probably wouldn’t know. Only people who perform magic tricks or people who just simply love magic tricks would know the tricks. How famous a trick is should not affect the choice of the tricks for this project.
Friday, October 7th
I finished looking through the books I borrowed from the library, so I started looking more on the Internet. I realized that the Internet was far too wide since it had documents, articles, videos, etc. A document on the internet could correspond to a book, the videos could correspond to the instructional DVDS, so it does not feel like a separate method. What would make the Internet differ from books or videos? The answer could be factors like efficiency, availability, details, etc.
Monday, October 10th
To be able to learn tricks more effectively, I decided to look at how famous magicians in history learned magic tricks, but they mainly made up their tricks on their own.From what I have researched, many magicians create their completely original tricks and effects, create a trick but with an existing effect, or build on already existing tricks to amaze the audience even if he/she knows the trick. If I had knew the foundations for many magic tricks and have had talent, maybe I would be able to make a trick, but it is impossible for me at this stage.
Wednesday, October 12th
Adding on to the previous entry, I decided to look at the history of magic tricks to get a better understanding of magic tricks to hopefully make it easier for me to learn new tricks. The first magic trick ever recorded was the famous cup and ball trick where the balls appeared under or on top of another cup. This trick is modified by countless magicians and is performed even today. Even though it is the same trick, depending on the magician performing it, the trick seems quite different.
Friday, October 14th
I recalled today the magic trick our mathematics teacher showed us in class. He showed us two magic tricks, but from how I saw it, they were not really well done. One of tricks was not really a magic trick since it involved simple calculations. He had performed the other trick on me, so I was able to see through the trick. The unnecessary movements gave it away. One positive factor about his performance was that in the middle of the second trick, he made it look like he failed, which surprised the audience more when he was able to show us the right card in the end of the trick. This tactic can be used to make the performance more interesting for the audience.
Friday, October 28tth
For the past two weeks, I have not been able to work so much on the project since I was busy with the Halloween Booth for our Community and service, so I am off schedule by around a week. My plan was to finish the investigation by the end of this month, but I am still not completely finished. I decided to organize my investigation as a document as we have done before in our Information Technology class. I looked at my old Investigations as an example to recall everything I need to put into the investigation.
Monday, October 31st
With Halloween out of the way, I can get back to the project. I have the design specifications for my project, but I want to research a bit further on the performance I have seen so that I can use some parts when I perform in front of my audience. Unlike the magic show I have seen, I will be performing up-close magic tricks, but the performances can be used for reference. I mentioned about the amateur’s performances in previous entries, but I want to go into a bit more detail. With stage performances, the magician can choose to speak or not to speak to the audience. Telling the audience what you are “doing” could mislead them to make them believe in the trick. Not speaking also works well since the audience would keep wondering what would happen next. All of the magicians at this show did not speak to the audience. The professional magician was also the same. He did not speak during his performance and used lights and music to create a mood of the performance. There was also a section of this show, where the professional magician explained how to perform some tricks. Even audiences who knew the trick were kept interested since the magician changed the trick in a way that it was more challenging. This was important to learn to investigate the different types of performances to be able to narrow down precisely what types of tricks I intended on learning for this project.
Wednesday, November 2nd
I looked over my past investigation from my Information technology class, and divided the Investigation part of this project into 3 parts: identifying the problem, the design specifications, and the design brief. I created this in order to keep on topic with the goal planned and to keep track of my project so that the final report would be easier to write up. This is still part of MYP, so I will follow this format, but I have to keep in mind that it was to be better than last year since we are in a new grade.
Friday, November 4th
I have been busy with the Spaghetti machine for science recently, so I need to use this weekend to catch up on my other studies.
Wednesday, November 9th
I prefer working on the project at home, so recently, I work on other homework during class times to make more time to work on this project at home. I was busy with some other schoolwork this week, so I did not work on the Personal Project that much, so I wanted to work on it during class yesterday, but I decided to use that time to take a break from schoolwork. I’ll work on it over the weekend to finish my investigation and plan by the end of this trimester.
Wednesday, November 16th
I finished and edited the timeline and noted the delays so far.
Monday, November 28th
Although we had a long weekend since it was the end of a trimester, I did not have enough time since I decided to prioritize my English assignment, where we had to make a movie. This was work to be done with a partner, so I did not want to drag my partner down. I will work on finishing the research and learning the some movements for card tricks throughout the winter break coming soon. I would want to finish it earlier, but since it is before a long break, I have to focus on the other work with a closer deadline. It is more effective to take my time to work on this Project without trying to rush it. I would still have three months after the break to actually learn and perform the tricks, so for now, it should be fine.
Thursday, January 5th
I feel that I enjoyed my break a little too much through the excuses of Christmas and New Years. I still have until the tenth until classes begin again, so there is no rush.
Sunday, January 8th
I researched here and there a bit further, but did not find that much useful information about how magicians learned in the past. I stated this in past entries but I thought this was too important to miss out on since my whole project is on “how”. I looked for blogs by amateur magicians as well, but it is understandable that they would not want to be that open about it since magic tricks are all about secerecy.
Monday, January 23rd I learned the trick for the first method, but I still would not say that it is perfect. Despite that fact, I am running out of time very quickly, so I decided to try performing it on a few of my friends during class. They were amazed in the end, but I was not really good at the presentation, so they had a laugh about the some mistakes which I had made too obvious. I’m happy that they enjoyed it but was not satisfied since it didn’t go as well as I hoped it would.
Thursday, January 26th
I met with my supervisor today. This time, he told me to explain how far I was without looking at any of my notes. Of course since this is my project, I had no difficulties there. Next, he asked me to perform the trick I learned so far. Remembering my mistakes in the previous performance, I must say that I was not so confident. I was able to find the correct card, but my stiffness probably showed, since he advised me to get more used to the cards by toying with the cards and doing simple exercises with it.
Monday, February 20th
It has been chaotic the last three weeks because of so many things occurring at once. Firstly, I had to work on my speech to become the student council treasurer, which was difficult to come up with since we were rushed. Secondly, I participated in the 2- day long AISA Math Mania Competition, which used up most of my energy. The following week, I was in bed since I caught the flu. The next week was the election for the student council, and the All School Production performances, which I helped as part of the light crew. Finally, I have the MUN this week, so all my focus will be concentrated there. All of these events are what I signed up for, so I had to take responsibility for them. I had no time to work on the Personal Project, so I am extremely close to falling completely off schedule.
Monday, February 27th
I was not satisfied with my level of presentation with the trick for the first method, so I performed it again with a different audience. Since it was my third time, I was able to perform it better. She had said that the trick surprised her, but by presentation skills needed improvement. I was told that I needed more expression when I had made some speeches for class, but I had not realized that this also affected the presentation of the magic trick until now.
Monday, March 5th
I learned a trick from the next method and performed it on a classmate. Due to the lack of time, I chose a simple trick, which was self-working. This may have been too easy and not amazing enough, but when she realized that she couldn’t imitate the trick, she was able to see the amusement of the trick. If the audience had been someone more observative, it is highly likely that they would have been able to see through the trick.
Thursday, March 8th
Today, I interviewed a magician who is a teacher at my school. He explained many things about magic tricks which I had not acquired from the Internet in my research. He also taught me a trick directly, which became my third and final method of learning magic tricks.
Monday, March 12th
My supervisor heard from that teacher that I had talked with him, so he came to check up on it. Since it was during a class, I did not have time to explain in detail about that meeting.
Later that day, I performed this trick during the personal project class since it went into my head easily since I found this trick especially interesting. I performed this trick in front of two separate audiences since there would be no more chances to perform these tricks when spring break starts. Both audiences reacted quite well, so it was a success. The student that I performed the first trick for said that my expressions when presenting the trick became better, and that the trick was extremely mystifying.
Monday, March 19th
We are in Spring Break now that our spring camps have finished. I fortunately was able to get through the three methods before the break started. Today, I talked to my mother about the project in detail, and she asked me to perform a trick. I chose to perform the first trick since I was most dissatisfied about that performance. Again, I made a mistake and could not keep a poker face, but was able to guess the correct card in the end. My mother was used to getting shown magic tricks since my great uncle had been a magician. She noticed that I had made a mistake, but said that the finish was done well.
Wednesday, April 4th,
Now that the spring break is over, the product, which is a report in my case, is due tomorrow. I felt that the second method was quite rushed, but was able to finish with the write up on time.
Monday, May 7th,
I met with my supervisor today and inform him that I had started working on the Personal Statement. he took a look at my process journal, timeline, my product, and part of my report. My main objective in seeing him them was to get his sign for the IB course selection, but still commented on my work. He advised me to include that magic tricks refer to magical illusions.
Monday, May 7th,
I met with my supervisor today and inform him that I had started working on the Personal Statement. he took a look at my process journal, timeline, my product, and part of my report. My main objective in seeing him them was to get his sign for the IB course selection, but still commented on my work. He advised me to include that magic tricks refer to magical illusions.
