In his 1964 book, Understanding Media, communication theorist, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase: The medium is the message. McLuhan argued that the medium or the manner with which a message is communicated should be considered and studied. The medium can facilitate and enhance the message or distract from the message. This is one of the issues plaguing magic today: using the wrong medium or abusing it.
Today’s fallback is video. It’s fast and fairly easy to use. The equipment needs are readily available. There’s many no or low cost options available for distribution. Its sibling is the audio podcast with many of the same features. The printed word is there too – whether in a physical form or digital format. Each of these have different benefits, limitations and concerns.
One of the biggest benefits and concerns of the video and audio formats is its ability to capture a lot of content. It’s quite easy to create a lengthy product and not worry about it as the storage and distribution is inexpensive. This has led to epic length releases in magic podcasts, YouTube videos and instructional tutorials. I don’t believe that the intended audience actually watches or listens to the entire recording. If they do, I’m amazed. With releases of two, three hours and more, the creator’s message is lost in the ramble.
Another issue with choosing video is that it’s often dull. It’s a couple of people on camera sitting and talking. It’s probably fine if you’re a participant in the room. However watching it is the equivalent of watching paint dry. Let me give you an example. Late last year, I purchased an online course from a professional magician on his approach to developing material. As I’ve mentioned before, when professionals speak, it’s best to listen. It’s a video course which works well for the two performance segments. However for the rest, it’s a guy sitting at his kitchen table talking to the camera using hand drawn charts and graphics. Honestly I don’t know his whole lesson as I’ve been unable to get through it. It’s mind numbing.
Let me propose some questions to start us off:
- Why are you choosing the medium you’re using?
- Is your message best suited for visual, audio, print or a combination?
- Do you have a script?
- Are you willing to edit? Or engage an editor?
- Is this for the learners or your ego?
We need to be smarter about how we use communication media. Two bits of advice come to mind. We need to “go slow to go fast” as we need to think about what we’re doing, plan it out and make informed choices. As Shakespeare said “brevity is the soul of wit”. (Yes, I see the irony).
