Magician here. I agree with you that zooms and clumsy edits make it more difficult to trust what you're seeing on the screen. There are fellow practitioners whose work I know well, but even knowing their secrets I've had to question whether they really used those techniques or simply leaned on TV trickery to play it safe.
You hear that TV producers? Don't you dare zoom in on something to put emphasis on the object of importance, MC Ebonics needs a steady wide angle shot 24/7.
If you're not a trained magician then forget about it!!! Just enjoy the show. The mat is only about 1% of the trick and that's all i will say on it. I won't reveal anything!!!!
