by misterblack » May 9th, '07, 21:08
'I have this but didn't watch it yet' - there's a constructive use of typing time!
Anyway, here's my take on this DVD. I got given this as a freebie when I spent far too much on a visit to a popular NYC magic shop, so it wasn't something I actually sought out to buy.
With that in mind, I thought it might go straight onto eBay, especially as I am new enough to magic to seriously doubt that I could create anything.
I was pleasantly surprised. The production values of the DVD are nothing special. mostly consisting of slowly moving images or footage (clocks, pedestrians, candles, that kind of thing) while Sankey voices his thoughts, advice and encouragement over the top. This works just fine, as more than most magic videos it is the words that count here rather than the visuals.
Much of the advice seems quite obvious when you think about it, but the point is you mostly WON'T have thought about it. And then there are many quite insightful points and pointers that don't seem so obvious.
To my surprise, the end result was that only a short way into the DVD I found myself hitting 'pause' because I had come up with an idea that seems rather neat to me. (It may well not actually be original of course, but that's not really the point - I came up with it myself, something I hadn't done before watcing this presentation).
In addition, the DVD features four effects performed and explained for you. These are described as being new, though I have no idea if they have appeared on any other Sankey DVD. I'll outline these in case it tips the balance for you:
'Final Countdown': Spectator takes a card from the deck, looks at it, reinserts it. The deck is shuffled (by spectator if you like, with a small risk), the spectator then names any number from 1-52, counts down the deck to that number, turns the card over and it is theirs. This is pretty good.
'Houdini's Touch' (or something like that). A think string is tied into a mash of tight knots by the spectators. The magician takes hold of it and instantly pulls it back into a smooth, unknotted state. I thought this was quite weak, with the commo-sense explanation that many spectators will suspect being exactly correct.
'Synchronicity' is a 'do as I do' effect. Deck divided in half, spectator and magician both turn one card face-down under table/out of sight. They prove to have selected a matching pair, eg 9 of hearts and 9 of diamonds. This is very clean and fair-looking, a good effect.
Can't remember the name of the last one but it's a moderate marked-coin-vanishes-and-appears-in-soda-can effect. I didn't like the look of it at all, but it's not my kind of effect so I may not be the best judge.
I don't really like to give marks out of 10. My view is that this is a very worthy DVD that can kickstart your creativity. The effects are a nice bonus, with 'Sychronicity' being particularly strong.