The Clasic Force with Paul Green (DVD)

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The Clasic Force with Paul Green (DVD)

Postby costas » Jun 26th, '06, 15:19



Description
THE CLASSIC FORCE with Paul Green (DVD), All regions
(also known as: PAUL GREEN Presents THE CLASSIC FORCE)

Cost & Availability
GB£16.17 , EURO 23.96 , US$29.95 from Penguin Magic
http://www.penguinmagic.com/europe/product.php?ID=929

£19.99 from World-Of-Magic
http://www.world-of-magic.co.uk/magic.asp?id=746

Difficulty – (1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used, 4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

This is a hard one to rate but I would say that the main tool taught in this video which is the classic force would seemingly be a 1 to 2 in order to understand the basic mechanics of the move but more realistically a 4 to 5 - to truly master and make it effective and reliable.

(Note: there are at least three routines that are taught in this DVD which don’t require the classic force and I would give them a difficulty rating from 1 to 3)


Review

They say:

The Classic Force has long been considered the fairest and smoothest way of influencing a spectator to unknowingly pick the card YOU want. In this 60-minute action-packed tape, Paul Green breaks down the Classic Force step-by-step, and demonstrates how to make it the most powerful and versatile weapon in your arsenal.

Paul reveals sure-fire techniques for making the Classic Force 100 reliable - even in the most difficult and demanding situations.

You'll learn Paul's:
· Perfect timing
· Precision placement
· Spread variations
· Hand-to-hand management
· Fail-safe outs
· And finally, a MUST SEE method for manipulating the
uncooperative spectator.

Shot outside the polite confines of a studio setting, Paul Green takes you deep in the trenches to completely destroy a real-world audience. Included is a tour de force of 6 devastating routines from Paul's professional repertoire. In a nutshell, he's a lean, Green forcing machine!

I say:
If the Pass is considered to be the mother of all card controls then the Classic Force is definitely the mother of all forces! And as a lot of magicians find it necessary to obtain several sources, which can aid them to tune their pass to perfection, I would say the same is necessary with the Classic Force. Paul Green acknowledges this on his DVD and pays homage to several pieces of literature that teaches this force considering them to be indispensable.

The Classic Force when used in its raw state - so repeatedly and directly as featured on this DVD - is absolutely not for the faint hearted. It requires attuned psychology and precision timing more than simple mechanics of the hand and I believe that Paul Green is just the man to teach it. He is a performer who displays a wealth of confidence and showmanship but most importantly he is a great instructor who takes the time to go through the necessary steps of this force with painstaking detail.

The first Third of this DVD is focused on teaching the Classic Force while the other two thirds are focused on routines that incorporate this force amongst several other sleights.

The following routines are included within this DVD:

************
Thanks!: A comical routine with a jumbo card finale.

Excessive Force: Past literature seems to have warned against using the Classic Force consecutively in such a direct manner but I guess if your execution is anything like Paul Green’s then you can probably get away with it! This routine really demonstrates the power of the classic force!

The Odds Are With Me: A routine that serves as a nice out for an unsuccessful force.

I Knew It All The Time: A routine comprised of three stages, which utilises jumbo cards, comic surprises and ends with a great routine for an ID.

Card To Wallet: Very much an Ambitious Card routine which has the spectator directly involved and seemingly doing all the magic.

Maximum Coverage: This is Paul Green’s take on the magician’s insurance policy where a routine seems to go terribly wrong only to finish super strong. (The participating spectator in this looks like a clone of Donald Rumsfeld :lol:).

The Long Card: Another great live performance featuring the Classic Force and Paul Green’s comical persona.

Fortune Teller’s Book Of Days: Using no sleight of hand this trick was developed by Paul Green which was inspired by Alex Elmsley's Fate's Datebook.
*************

Apart from the Classic Force Paul Green teaches several other sleights (but obviously in not as much detail) which are utilised within the routines of this DVD. Each routine is described in a clear an organised manner featuring the more humble side of his personality rather than the smug witty one he employs during his performances.

The live performances are honest, entertaining and humorous which definitely hold up for repeated viewing. Green engages his audience with ease luring them into a routine filled with surprises and hilarity. He also likes to use several amusing (yet inexpensive) props to take the effects beyond a simple card trick by injecting them with a flare of class and professionalism.

Overall
If your serious about card magic I think this visual aid for the Classic Force is a must! If you are not so interested in developing your Classic Force then I still think this DVD will contain something of value, if not for the other effects that don’t utilise the Classic Force then for the true showmanship that is displayed by Green on this DVD.

Rating
9/10 - If you liked Green’s In The Trenches DVD you will absolutely love The Classic Force with Paul Green!

Last edited by costas on Jun 26th, '06, 15:33, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Stephen Ward » Jun 26th, '06, 15:28

Great review there.

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Postby costas » Jun 27th, '06, 05:22

Thanks Stephen! Have you had a chance to watch this DVD?

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Postby Stephen Ward » Jun 27th, '06, 09:41

Not yet! but i heard some very good things about it.

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Postby B0bbY_CaT » Jun 28th, '06, 17:04

everything a good review should be Costas! thank you! availability, price, content, info and most importantly YOUR opinion as a "new owner"...

once i have finished watching my back log of DVD's i may add it to the collection... or i may just add it and watch it when i can.

i am a big Ambitious Card fan, and i like to occassionally intergrate a force to begin with. then i can have a little fun with, their card was signed, but now it's not, hang on... now it's signed again.

so various types of forces are important to me. i also use different forces for "Burned" and "Stigmata".

seems you liked Paul Green's teaching methods???

thanks again for such a comprehensive review.

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Postby costas » Jun 28th, '06, 17:36

Thanks Bobby for your kind words! Yes, the Classic Force is brilliant used with an Ambitious Card Routine as it adds another dimension to the routine whereby allowing you to further increase the spectator’s participation rather than just having the performer seemingly performing all the magic

I have actually owned this DVD for a while and only after watching it again recently I decided to write a review on it. I was actually surprised this DVD had not been reviewed earlier on. Paul Green’s In The Trenches DVD I believe has not been reviewed either so I may do that one sometime soon (if no one else beats me to it). It too is another great DVD but I prefer his performing style more on The Classic Force as he come across a little more smug and mischievous, which is highly entertaining! I would go so far as to say that even your friend Sir Lewis would approve of him as an entertainer :lol:!

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Postby dat8962 » Jun 28th, '06, 17:49

This is a great review of a DVD that I've often thought of purchasing. The only thing that has stopped me so far is that every time I go to order it from Penguin it has been out of stock.

I'll have to take another look.

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Postby costas » Jun 28th, '06, 18:24

Thanks David, I think you will really like this DVD! If I am correct, I recall that I had read in some earlier post of yours that you had purchased his other DVD “In The Trenches” and that you enjoyed Green's Jeopardy routine. Also judging from several of the performance videos I have seen of yours I think some of the ways Green dresses up his routines on The Classic Force DVD would really suit your style.

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Postby dat8962 » Jun 28th, '06, 22:26

Thanks for that Costas and yes, I do have in the trenches. I have to say that I bought in the trenches just for the jeopardy routine which I think is great.

I watched the DVD all of the way through and there is some other great routines included but I haven't yet got around to learning any of the others due to time.

I probably have about 8 or 9 DVD's to watch through and I need some time off work :roll: I wonder what I'll be doing with some of that time?

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Postby paulgreen » Jul 3rd, '06, 15:48

Hi everyone,

Thank you Costas for your review. It is always nice to hear from the community about one's work.

The Classic Force DVD is also available directly from Magic Smith (www.magicsmith.com), as well as your favorite dealer.

If anyone has any further questions, please feel free to ask.

Kindest regards,

Paul Green

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Postby mark lewis » Jul 3rd, '06, 16:53

I haven't seen this DVD so I cannot comment one way or the other about it.

However mention of the classic force tempts me to yap on and on about it. I shall try to control this compulsion and for all I know the things I want to say may well be covered by Mr Green on his tape anyway.

I think one of the key elements of forcing in this manner is rather obvious
yet I hardly see mentioned anywhere. Perhaps Mr Green covered it and perhaps he didn't. I have no idea since I am not really psychic. Let me rephrase that last sentence. I AM psychic but I am too tired to tune in right now.

Anyway I have always said that any fool can manipulate cards etc; It takes a great magician that knows how to manipulate PEOPLE. And it seems to me to be perfectly obvious that if you want the classic force to succeed you use common sense in choosing who should select the card in the first place. I believe you should use an easy-going person who laughs and reacts at your material. That person will take the path of least resistance and will select the correct card.

Incidentally I find that women take the force card more readily than men. Of course in Canada the men are more like women and the women are more like men so that complicates the picture a trifle. It is very hard to figure out who are the women and who are the men here. I have already mentioned that in Australia even the women seem to be male so I don't really know what happens over there.

It seems common sense to me to pick a spectator who smiles than someone who looks more serious. And it must be daftness personified to pick know all types and people who tend towards even the gentlest of heckling. All in all basic psychology of picking the right person will double your force rate of success.

Another tip is to SHUFFLE the cards before forcing. This gives the impression that you couldn't know the position of any card before making the force. I have always been rather horrified by performers who simply cut the card into position and then go straight into the force. Of course they could use time misdirection but that can slow things up. And as for performers that use the pass to get the card into position they should be hung, drawn and quartered.

No. I am MARK LEWIS and whatever I say on these matters must be gospel. Shuffling before the force looks much better and the method for doing so is explained in the Royal Road to Card Magic.

I also recommend placing the card above the break rather than below it. I forget why but I know there is a good reason. I used to do it the standard way of having the card below the finger until I read Vernon's reasoning for having it above. Since Vernon can do no wrong that is the procedure I adopted. The reasoning made a lot of sense at the time and it was explained by Ganson in one of the Vernon card books. It does eliminate a slight adjustment before the card is selected but that was only part of the reasoning. Check it out.

The key to the classic force working is to really not care what card they take or at least to appear if you don't care. Outs help and my favourite one is that if they don't take the correct card have it replaced beneath the force card and use it as a key card. Easy isn't it?

Relax and look as if you don't care what card is taken. That is one of the major factors of success with this. I have been classic forcing for around 40 years or so and I do know something about it.

With regard to excessive forcing this is indeed dangerous procedure as is forcing a card on someone and naming it saying something like "you won't forget that 6 of spades will you?" After doing this the performer forces the same card again. When the spectator sees the same card again they exhibit some laughter over the matter. This kind of procedure is very dangerous and can give away the fact that you are in control of the selection. However I confess that I do not practice what I preach here and I recommend that you do as I say not what I do.

It should also be remembered that I am MARK LEWIS and this naturally allows me to do things that mere mortals shouldn't.

Another thing I do which I recommend shouldn't be done is to do loads of spectactular flourishes just before the card is forced. That is asking for trouble since the spectators will be on their guard when you do that and will likely take the wrong card.

The above sentence is another example of me not practicing what I preach. However my performing style is a little eccentric so I can get away with things that other magicians would have trouble with. By and large it is unsafe to do flourishes and repeatedly force the same card over and over again.

Incidentally the greatest master of the classic force I ever saw was Chan Canasta. He virtually never missed which was just as well because he failed at nearly ever other trick he did. He would do 4 tricks in half an hour (he was somewhat long winded) -three would go wrong , one would work and the public thought that he was incredible.

There. I have spoken. You can all go back to talking about Paul Green's DVD now.

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Postby B0bbY_CaT » Jul 3rd, '06, 17:05

the Great One wrote: for all I know the things I want to say may well be covered by Mr Green on his tape anyway.


it's a DVD Mark.

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Postby B0bbY_CaT » Jul 3rd, '06, 17:12

I'd like to hear Paul Green talking about Mark Lewis' comments.

i also believe that spectator selection, and the "carefree" way the card is forced can make or break this move.

Costas, can you also add something about the DVD in terms of what Mark has raised. please do it quickly because agreeing with him is making me a little edgy...

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Cla

Postby paulgreen » Jul 3rd, '06, 17:27

Hi,

Mark Lewis certainly knows what he is talking about. Everyone will find their own methods and techniques when it comes to "mastering" the Classic Force.

My DVD only presents my technique and thinking. Experience in the real world, as described by Mark Lewis, works for him.

Enjoy the search,

Paul Green

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Postby mark lewis » Jul 3rd, '06, 17:55

I must inform BobbyCat that I have no idea what a DVD is. I have never seen one or viewed one in my entire life and it sounds like some dreaded Australian sexual disease or other.

I barely know what videocassettes are and that is only because someone produced a hypnosis and psychic course based on my work. Even then I didn't purchase a videocassette recorder for years after that. And when I did it was an absolute nightmare setting up the damn thing. To this day I still don't quite know how it works.

I must say that I far prefer books that are well written to all this modern tommyrot. No doubt they will soon be producing DVDs on the history of magic soon with various actors playing the part of Dunninger, Blackstone etc; I do not approve.

No. Books are the way to go.

Incidentally there is a lot about classic forcing in the Eddie Tullock videos and his book on the subject.

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