Estimated read time: 2 minutes 10 seconds.
A few months ago I boarded a long-haul flight from 🇫🇷 Paris to 🇸🇬 Singapore, and lucky me, The Prestige was one of the movies available !
It is a must-watch movie about two magicians battling for fame.
Beyond its amazing story, is is also the perfect guide on how to be a better creative.
Here are 3 lessons I learned from The Prestige
1. Preparation makes the impossible Possible
Magicians and artists both bring the imaginary to life.
In this scene, an old magician pretends to be handicapped daily, just to perform a trick involving squatting a heavy fishbowl:
Angier can't figure out the trick because he doesn't understand the value of time. Great magic involves work done long before the performance, creating awe when revealed.
It's because it blurs the line between magic and sorcery.
As an NFT example, In my artwork "BitRot," I pair personas with famous buildings, like Musk and the US Dept. of Treasury. This is a bet on the future, I'm certain many of these news prediction will eventually happen.
2. Art should be Performed
Cutter's legendary intro outlines the three acts in a magic trick:
The Pledge
The Turn
The Prestige
I realized someone in the NFT space was already applying the 3 steps , In fact he even tweeted:
Pak sees his art releases as a performance and there's no debating that this is a large part of his success.
I once thought visual art couldn't evoke emotions like music or movies, which can deeply move and change your life.
Now I understand why: musicians see their work as a performance.
Visual artists need to perform their work too. Artists like Pak, Jack Butcher and many more understand this.
3. Good art needs stakes
This is the most valuable lesson I learned from The Prestige.
See how both magicians perform the same trick: The Transported Man
The first (Borden) throws a ball on the ground, teleports further, and picks it back up
But the second (Angier) throws his hat, and the audience visually gasps as it falls.
Only inches away from the floor, he finally catches it !
Angier understands what the audience craves to see: something is at stake.
I think every artist should learn how to implement stake in their artworks.
I'd like to finish with another great quote from this movie (please watch it):
Cutter: He is a wonderful magician, but he's a dreadful showman.
Like many of you, I'm a terrible showman.
Let's change that.
See you next week ✌
Nahiko
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