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The Ultimate Transport by Mitchell Staffiej

Effect: A borrowed and signed coin (small object) is placed in the spectator’s hand. Amazingly they feel it vanish in there own hand only to re-appear in your shoe!!

Review: Ok I’ll try and be honest here as I hope every one will be honest with any of my material. I’ll start with the production value, move on to the effect itself and have some final thoughts.

Production: It is evident that this has been a low/no budget production. Basic templates from popular freeware or easily obtained software make the menu graphics and transitions; Windows Movie Maker included. This would be fine for a download but in the case of a DVD I just don’t think it will keep up with the products hitting the market.

One thing I noticed is the amount of title slides. Every section had one and some even had them twice. This is really distracting and makes it seem like a ‘cut and paste’ job. You start to listen to what he has to say then a black screen with “The Effect” and silence pops up breaking your concentration. I counted 6 of these when there really was no need for them at all.

Effect: The effect idea in itself is good, and was many moons ago when it was first thought of. It’s not a new idea and was around long before I got into magic - never mind this young man. The explanation seemed very jumbled and repetitive. Everything is reiterated over and over. This is unnecessary, and undermines the viewer. It is unscripted and it is clear that Mitchell has not had too much experience in front of a camera. His method leaves both hands ‘dirty’ at the start and his final load for the shoe is very, very, very unnecessary. I had a lay person next to me who pointed out the obvious here, which I hope Mitchell catches on to upon reading this. Also he tries to teach a fundamental sleight which he struggles with showing immaturity in handling.

All in all, it seems like another young kid trying to re-package an old method with a badly made gimmick. Horribly structured (and untested) routine to make his name, or a quick buck. I do not mean to dishearten the young man as he shows some promise, but I think he should spend his time learning his art before trying to teach it.

In a non-harsh way, steer clear of this one!

For something in this genre that does work, check out Daniel Garcia’s “Your Personal Safe”

Alan Rorrison.