The One Thing About Card Content
by Monet
So here we are, at this beautiful point in history where anyone has access to a camera (yes, you use your phone for taking pictures more than calling). Now that you can film whatever you do without having to know how to actually use a camera, it would make sense to find good Cardistry videos frequently, of course. Right?
So… Where is this beautiful content?
All This Paint and So Few Paintings.
Okay, so hear me out for a second: did you know that Michelangelo's David was once just a marble block? (shout-out to Frank Sung). Every sculpture was initally a piece of wood, a block, or a ball of clay. Every piece of wood is an art piece, potentially. I like to think about ideas as something to work with. An idea can also be sculpted into something beautiful.
So yeah, every piece of wood is an art piece (potentially) but, if you don’t make the right choices, it can be just firewood.
There you have it. There are the videos we were looking for: a lot of them ended up being just firewood, some of them are still just a chunk of wood and only a couple are beautiful art pieces.
Why is this important?
The Need to Communicate.
One of my favorite books ever is Mainspring by Alexander Hansford. At the very beginning he says something that should make sense to every person who has a hobby: that you’re more likely to remember an idea if it’s presented to you in a beautiful way.
Cardistry is still a young art form and it is constantly evolving. We still get our news or even find out about other people’s projects because of Instagram. Every time we see a new move it’s because it was featured in a video. Some of the most important moments in Cardistry history are the release of iconic videos that we still watch when we need inspiration.
That’s the reason why it’s so important to know your craft.
Imagine having an amazing/revolutionary/never-before-seen idea. It is really important that we as a community find out about it and learn from it, if you ask me. We’re still in an early art form stage. Now, imagine having this idea, filming and posting it on the internet. Depending on your work, a couple of things can happen:
The video does not show what you mean to show, the angle you used is not being helpful so a big part of the move is being missed, your performance was not the best, the light makes it harder to understand… nobody sees it. Maybe worse: we see it, but we ignore it because it's not easy to retain just with a social media interaction. It gets lost in space forever.
The video shows exactly what you were trying to express, the idea is clear and easy to understand, your performance was on point, the vibes on the video get you inspired… people share their opinion, they are giving advice and asking for a tutorial. You grow, we grow.
So yeah, it is important to have the diamond, but it is equally important to know a thing or two about how to carve, cut and polish as well so you can use it for something.
The Advice You Were (not) Asking For.
I’m not the best cardist, but if you watch my videos you will believe I’m good. I’m not that good. I’m just great at expressing myself.
My advice?
Try to learn about how to express your ideas. Maybe you like cameras and editing. Or maybe you’re not into complex editing but you love colorizing. You can be into casual phone-filmed Cardistry. You can also be into music and you can match a cut with a song. There is a world of possibilities, people.
The most helpful thing I can tell you is this: for making a good Cardistry video you need more than just Cardistry.
But yeah, we can talk about that next time.
Honestly,
-Monet.
About the author, Monet:
My name is Monet and I’m a card lover, actor, content creator, sleight artist and member of the Art of Play family. I love filming lifestyle-based cinematographic videos and shooting beautiful portraits for playing cards. You can find me on Instagram @magicmonet