LABELLED by Ben Williams

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LABELLED by Ben Williams

Postby Farlsborough » Aug 3rd, '06, 12:49



Wooo - first review! I bought this today, so I will add more when I get back from holiday having tried it out!

The Effect
LABELLED
Signed Label Inside Sealed Bottle
By Ben Williams

What they say:"Labelled takes visual street magic to the next level!

Imagine being able to show an unopened and sealed soda bottle, sign the label then visually, with an open hand, push it INSIDE the bottle!. Sound good? How about if the bottle REALLY is unopened and can be left with the spectator as an impossible souvenir?

Ben Williams has taken a stunning magic effect and turned it into a visual street magic masterpiece for the working magician

Don't just take our word for it, watch the video demo and see just how clean and mind-blowing Labelled really is!"

http://www.zyworld.com/CoinPurse/DLLABELLED.htm


Cost

£12.99, instant download from the link above.

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)

1, but after a reasonable amount of prep. Unsurprisingly, this is not an impromptu effect!

Review
This is the first time I've succumbed to one of these instant download malarky type things, and it will probably be one of the only times - that's no reflection on this trick! I just want people to know I'm not a download junky, and generally prefer books/DVDs to "the latest" expensive street magic effect.
However. I was very impressed with this trick, and did think "I really can afford to buy this - even if it's just to know how it's done!" :oops:

Ok, down to business: Obviously I can't go into much detail about the prep, but suffice to say, it left me with a smile on my face. Quite often I have heard disgruntled download-buyers complain about the fact that they were tempted by a flashy demo, bought the trick and it was some basic method tarted up. Well, at under £15 this puts this effect in about the cheapest bracket there is, and I really think you get your money's worth. OK, if you spent all week thinking and experimenting, you might catch on to the method, but certainly you are left with a satisfying piece of knowledge that makes you not regret the outlay!

The "product" itself - the downloaded file: It's Mp4 format, 86MB, and to be honest I would have preferred it to be double the file size and double the resolution. Although there's nothing super-detailed that you have to be able to see and it is all well enough explained, it just feels like you're watching something on YouTube.com and when you've paid for it you hope there's going to be some sort of quality about it. Then again it does fall into the "latest fad street magic" bracket, so I suppose I should expect the poorish quality that many people describe other products as having. Also, there are DVDs of Sankeys and Wilsons that have poor production values - it's just a magic thing, isn't it?! - and as I'm not having to wait for a DVD, I can't complain. But to clarify: this is of the "young man in his front room with a digital camera" school of magic video!

Logistically - you pay via paypal and are led straight through to the download page - couldn't be easier.

The effect: the prep will take a short amount of time, I would expect 10-15 minutes, but there is nothing too difficult in there and features things that everyone will have in the house (save for the bottle of pop, which I'm afraid you will have to buy...!). Had a bit of a scary moment when he had just started to show the method, and I thought he was going to go down another route as it were... one that would have been blatantly obvious and totally useless... I was cringing and almost shouting at the screen, wishing I hadn't been so easily parted with my money - but wait - no - aahhhhhh! :lol: (If anyone else gets this, I wonder if you'll understand what I'm saying here...!)

I would say that one of the best things about this effect is that the method used is easily transferable to other effects. I don't want to say much more, but I can see myself using the main prep method for many other effects, so I think it really is good value.

To clarify - you cannot get other people to sign the label, just you - and the bottle is not examinable beforehand (as suggested by Ben's slightly awkward handling in the demo IMHO!) but oh boy, is it examinable afterwards. It really makes it all worthwhile.

Overall In terms of quality this is a basic, lo-res, method only product. You don't get a nice DVD to keep, you don't get several different ways to perform it - infact you only get one demo performance, which is the same as the demo...! The "extra" of the quicker-prep version is pretty poor too actually, or at least pretty obvious when you've learnt the main effect. You're paying for a secret, nothing more, so you've got to decide for yourself whether that knowledge is worth it.

For me, it was. It's not total rocket science, but I believe it was well worth £13 to not have to spend all that time, money, effort (and possibly injury!) trying (and not necessarily succeeding!) to work it out myself - by the time you've bought enough bottles to experiment with your own method, you could have bought this effect! I feel satisfied that I have paid Ben Williams appropriately for his creation, and that in turn I have the secret to performing a stunning piece of close-up magic that will leave a killer souvenir. How much better a situation could you ask for?

It hasn't won me over to instant downloads or single "street" effects, but I think I chose wisely.

My rating?

7/10.
That perhaps seems low to folk who are used to 8s and 9s, but I'm trying to be fair and not super-rate it just because I now own it. Let me explain:

It's a top effect with a simple enough prep but one I do not think I would have worked out (certainly not easily), is easy to perform and leaves an incredible, totally examinable souvenir. So, 9 or 10 out of 10.

It is, however, just one effect, as opposed to a book or series DVD for £13 which would have a whole host of effects, so comparatively the value isn't as good as that - dock one point.

It's also a fairly poor download, and whilst I'm sure no worse than similar products, doesn't make you feel like you've got £13 worth of file sitting on your hard drive. There are no real extras, no nuances of performance, no extra performances to the demo; this is the el-cheapo model! So, dock one point.

If I'd started on 9, that would be 7 already, but for final justification I'll add that really they should mention that only you can sign the bottle, although to most thinking magicians this is kind of obvious; if not, it would be worth more than £13!

So there we go - great effect - buy it, give the boy his dues - 7/10

Farlsborough
 

Postby Renato » Aug 3rd, '06, 18:12

A very, very nice review and thanks for that one. Certainly interested and tempted, that's for sure.

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Postby FlipBack » Aug 3rd, '06, 21:35

Before this I had yet to see an instant download that I though was worth it. But after reading your review (which by the way was well done) I am quite tempted to get this. Very tempted actually.

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Postby paulbel » Aug 4th, '06, 08:07

Cracking review. Thanks ever so much for taking the time to be so thorough! It looks like a Labelled download will be winging its way down to Southampton electronically this weekend.

Cheers again.

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Postby kems » Aug 4th, '06, 08:52

Does look very nice, I might buy it just to see how the preperation is done!

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Postby katrielalex » Aug 6th, '06, 10:47

I finally gave in and bought it...

I made up a Sprite bottle - it now has place of honour on the shelf in our dining room. It's just weird to look at!

Great fun, great review.

Buy!

kati

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Postby Stephen Ward » Aug 6th, '06, 10:49

This sounds interesting, i have the osmosis illusion so this might be worth looking at.

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Postby katrielalex » Aug 6th, '06, 14:52

From first impressions I already have a couple of tips so if you have it PM me :)

Kati

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Postby kems » Aug 7th, '06, 14:24

I think most people would work out how its done its just the preperation that I think is whats worth the money on this one!

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Postby Mooch » Aug 21st, '06, 07:29

Very well written review, thank you for taking the time to write something so detailed. You definately got me interested in the trick, and I think I may be purchasing it sometime very soon. It looks like a very nice trick ;)

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Postby katrielalex » Aug 21st, '06, 10:14

kems wrote:I think most people would work out how its done


Er...not sure about that one, the label is inside a sealed bottle after all!

;)

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re:

Postby ace-of-spades » Sep 6th, '06, 09:26

I love this effect! It's great! But I CAN'T ORDER IT.... :(((( :x . www.magicshop.co.uk works through PayPal and PayPal doesn't support my country (Romania). Any ideas on how can i get the trick from somewhere else? :cry:

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Postby katrielalex » Sep 6th, '06, 09:39

Does PayPal not allow you to use a credit card? That should work anywhere in the world, no?

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Postby ace-of-spades » Sep 6th, '06, 09:50

katrielalex wrote:Does PayPal not allow you to use a credit card? That should work anywhere in the world, no?

Kati


No. It only supports the most important countries in the world... but not all the countries in the world. :(

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question from new guy

Postby samdan » Sep 7th, '06, 01:25

for those of you with this effect, would you recommend it for someone who just does tricks for family and friends? I love coin through soda can and mind bender is cool to do at a dinner. I love that type of trick. Does this fit the bill? It looks great on the video but not sure how it translates to the real world such as my real world is. Thanks in advance.

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