Director's Cut - by Simon Shaw

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Director's Cut - by Simon Shaw

Postby Mandrake » Sep 18th, '08, 14:37



Director's Cut - by (our very own )Simon Shaw

Cost & Availability:
£24.99, available from www.alakazam.co.uk - short demo vid on there showing just a small part of the routine.

Difficulty:
1 in terms of there being no need for skilled finger flinging but this is a seriously powerful effect!
(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)

What it says on the tin:

"Director's Cut" has been getting some serious attention on the underground mentalism scene for well over a year with big names such as Richard Osterlind giving his endorsement to it!

So what is "Director's Cut"? It's a set of movie poster cards that have been perfectly printed in full colour and laminated so they should last you a lifetime of performances! You also receive a DVD which features Routines, Tips and Ideas to use with the cards. Now you will be able to perform some seriously strong mentalism with an interesting and popular premise.

"Director's Cut" is Mentalism in its purest form. It's a whole act in your pocket. If you love the idea of using films as part of a routine then the Director's Cut is definitely for you. It can be used strolling, close-up or even parlour. Once you try it you will never leave home without it. No gaffs, no markings, super clean, resets instantly and best of all everything is examinable!

"Directors Cut" can be used with a range of effects such as Mind reading body language, drawing duplications, remote viewing, predictions and muscle reading, in fact the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Simple to perform and strong reactions. What more could you ask from a performance? There is plenty of room for fun, drama and good old fashioned presentation.


Review:
The above says it all really, I was honoured to receive a set of Simon's hand made ( and therefore now highly valuable and collectable!) cards almost 18 months ago to try then out and have enjoyed performing Director's Cut many times since then. I've been gagging to spread the word about this for ages so I'm chuffed to be finally be able to offer a Review. The cards are beautifully produced and remain faithful to the originals, the DVD is excellent with filmed interviews, demos and performances and includes the PDF Instruction manual which is full of presentation tips, hints and alternatives, there's a large fact file about the various films shown on the cards to give you plenty of information to baffle and confound the spectators. If I mention that Simon also includes a line about a porn movie (in the best possible tatse), you'll see that there's plenty of scope for 'personalisation'!

In effect you display a packet of 'some 30 or so' cards - not marked or gaffed in any way - each one has a different classic film poster on one side, completely blank on the other, and the theme is one of iconic art, how it promotes the movie and often stays in the mind long after the movie has been forgotten. The packet is visibly mixed up as many times as you like, the spec selects one truly at random, concentrates on the card, and Mr Mystic (that's you!) divines which one and reveals it in any of many different ways. There's even a version (my favourite!) where the spec does the mixing, the packet is hidden from sight under a table, further mixed, a card selected and despite all this you can still reveal it without ever touching the cards. For the older movie buffs ones out there, you can do a Barry Norman on this, for the younger ones perhaps a Jonathon Ross and for anyone else, just reveal the selection in as imaginative way as possible.

Overall:
Obviously I'm biased through having had this for some time and being very comfortable with it but it's truly well worth having. The thing I like about Director's Cut is that it's not a card trick, more of a trick with cards, but not using playing cards so there's no initial 'oh we've seem it' attitude which sometimes greets the production of a packet or deck of cards. If your specs are in to movies, they'll love this even more than non-movie goers as it's 'their' field of interest. Your knowledge of the various films is easy to acquire from Simon's instructions and there are plenty of movie databases on line if you want more data to work with. Even if the specs don't; go to the cinema, there's an excellent chance that they will have seen the moves on TV or rented the DVD so you're on a winner anyway. 'the method is diabolically simple which means you can really concentrate of the presentation; before performing you'll need to do a little bit of work and it took me less than 15 minutes to get to the point where I was ready for the first showing. Nothing difficult is involved and even the fumble fingered eeejits like me can produce a creditable performance.

Rating:

10/10 - excellent value for money and plenty of scope for personalisation or using the props for other effects.

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Postby Replicant » Sep 18th, '08, 15:03

Nice review and I totally agree with you; DC is superb and very versatile. The cards also generate a lot of interest with the specs, especially if they are movie buffs. Highly recommended.

Is your favourite colour blue, perchance? ;)

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Postby Mandrake » Sep 18th, '08, 15:05

Indeed it is :D !

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Postby Replicant » Sep 18th, '08, 15:09

See, I knew that because I'm a mentalist, you know.

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Postby Tom Lauten » Sep 18th, '08, 16:21

Simon has come up with a GENUINE classic effect/utility... this is seriously strong material and very commercial.

It is just THAT good.

If we can hit that bullseye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate!
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Postby Jobasha » Sep 18th, '08, 17:54

Your all heading to the circle of hell reserved for people who encourage cups. You'll find it next to the circle reserved for chip shops that don't give you chip forks.

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Postby Mandrake » Sep 19th, '08, 09:45

Trust us on this one, it's well worth buying. It's actually one of those sort of things where you read how it's done and kick yourself over how simple it is! Apart from the four routines which Simon includes there are other ways of using the cards, a swift flick through your favourite card trick book will probably show one or two variations which your specs may welcome as a change from the usual CHSD Ace to King playing cards with realising that's exactly what it is!

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Postby Replicant » Sep 19th, '08, 12:50

Also see the mentalists area for a few more ideas.

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Postby Chris » Sep 19th, '08, 13:38

Im still meaning to buy this, but I keep forgetting...this is defo goin on the birthday list...

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Postby Jobasha » Sep 19th, '08, 16:22

Ordered with next day delivery. Looking forward to it.

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Postby bananafish » Sep 19th, '08, 22:00

I'm humbled by the review - thanks Mandrake.

I have to say though I am still having a lot of fun with this.

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Postby Part-Timer » Sep 20th, '08, 10:12

I think the idea and the props are both excellent. I might even watch the DVD one day...

The only thing I'd like to see (probably more of an add on, than a change to the basic product), is some additional film poster cards. I felt that there were a couple of odd choices of film, and I'm sure some of the films I liked would not be favoured by other people. An additional bundle of posters would let people customise their stacks.

I'm going to be careful, so as not to give anything away, but when I worked on my version of a marketed effect which 'Director's Cut' calls upon, I had twice as many cards. You get a chunkier stack to work from, it can help conceal the method even more (arguable, though), and I think it would give a wider range of possible effects. I'm a bit hamstrung by posting on a forum about exactly where I'm going with this!

Overall, it's a very strong and versatile idea, and nicely implemented by Alakazam. Well done that bananafish!

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Postby overflow72 » Nov 6th, '08, 11:17

I really did not understand........could someone explain one of the possible application ?

Thanks

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Postby bananafish » Nov 6th, '08, 15:10

There are many applications, the main one is that the spectator thinks of a film and you tell them what it is.

Naturally that doesn't do it justice - as the whole effect is dependent on presentation...

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Postby Ace of Shades » Nov 6th, '08, 15:53

Jobasha wrote:Your all heading to the circle of hell reserved for people who encourage cups. You'll find it next to the circle reserved for chip shops that don't give you chip forks.

I second that, even the second part. :P

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