The Effect
11 Self Working Miracles!
Cost
£19:99
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)
2 .... This is all sleight free, but to do it well takes some practice.
The Blurb
'Automata 2’ marks the second instalment of the smash hit self-working series from Full 52 Productions.
On this DVD you‘ll find ELEVEN more completely self working magic effects using a variety of everyday objects and this time round - there are ZERO CARD TRICKS!
Gary Jones and Dave Forrest will first demonstrate the potential power of self working magic with live studio performances then walk you step-by-step through the methods behind the miracles, offering professional tips and advice along the way. But, don’t be mistaken. This is no ordinary, self working magic...
In 'Aqua Ring’ Gary borrows a finger ring and ties it securely to a loop of dental floss yet the ring somehow makes good it‘s escape...underwater! In ‘P.O.A’ a coin cleanly vanishes from Dave’s hand only to re-appear taped to a business card that was previously examined and signed by a spectator! Watch Gary correctly identify which drawing was made by which spectator before accurately duplicating a third drawing in ‘Peeky Blinder’! Dave reaches into his spectator’s mind and begins to hum the tune that his spectator is mentally singing to themselves in ‘Earworm’! And, in ‘LEAD FREE’, a coin cleanly and effortlessly bends in the hand of your spectator!
All this plus SIX MORE spectacular effects including a self working ‘coin through table’ (CHIP SHOT), a self working book test (FIXED QUOTE) - the list goes on! 'Automata 2' - A killer collection of original magic and mentalism with rings, strings, coins, books, business cards, poker chips, dice, mobile phones, wallets, envelopes...but definitely no playing cards!
Review
A sequal! Automata won last years Talk Magic product of the year award by a long way, and deservedly so! Which means that Automata 2 has some pretty big boots to fill. And I am so pleased to say that it more than lives up to it's predecessor! There is no show stopper quite like Fireballs, but overall, there's more great magic on here than on part 1.
Let's look at the individual tricks then...
THE AMAZING BUSINESS
An envelope with 3 predictions, and a pile of business cards... and they end up getting your business card. What's not to like? Well, for me this is one of the weaker tricks on here! It's very heavy on proceedure and counting.
EARWORM
The spectator mentally sings a song to themself, and you delve into their mind and start to hum their song! ... OK, so it's a little more than that. And if I'm being harsh, it's also a bit to proceedural for my taste, but it certainly seemed to impress the young lady in the demo. As with everything on here, it's very do-able, and as with pretty much all mentalism, it's your performance that'll have to sell it.
WEIRD WALLET
Three chances to win - And they never do! ... I have mixed feelings about this! I'm not a fan of tricks where the helper looses. This is a very nice way to get to the one thing however, and I really think it could be used in a more "positive" way than letting your helper loose three times. But that would be same method, different trick! Also, Full52 sell two Weird Wallets. There's an expensive leather one, and a cheaper larger one. I bought the expensive leather one. I'd recommend getting the cheaper larger one, as the expensive leather one is far to small to hold a business card.
MY HERO
Which comic book superhero are you? ... This is kind of fun! And the participant gets a rather nice photo of themselves, and you swap phone numbers!
PEEKY BLINDER
A three part mentalism spectacular! ... Five tricks in and we get to the first real belter of a trick on this disc. This is great!The prop you have to make is so simple and easy - and cheap! And also so easy to use! You'll be reading your three helpers body language, cold reading them, and finally doing an amazingly fair drawing duplication. I've paid so much more for props that are nowhere near as effective as this, and the routine that Gary Jones has put together is just about right! ... In fact, can I just repeat myself... This trick is superb!
FIXED QUOTE
A self workng book test ... And it is. For me it's strength and it's weakness are the same thing. And that is the use of dice. I like the dice as they add more layers to the deception, But, despite what Dave says, I do think the method is a little to transparent, and also requires you to carry yet more stuff around. And if you want easy book tests, what's wrong with the Hoy book test?
CHIP SHOT
Poker chip through table ... It's exactly what it says it is! A poker chip through the table!
P.O.A.
A self working coin vanish, and reappearance! ... Another of the discs top tricks! It utilises two very simple priciples, and makes a stormer of a routine, where a coin vanishes so cleanly, and reappears in a truly impossible location! For me, this is a very practical piece of magic, and certainly one of the stand out things on the disc. There's a couple of things not mentioned in the explanation that need to be considered when performng this. Firstly, the thickness of the card you use! And more importantly, where you place the business card. Try not to use a flat surface! Beyond that, this is a worker of a trick!
NO LUCK
Predict the outcome of three dice - almost! ... If you're going to carry dice around with you for the book test, you might as well learn this as well, although not for the same people! The principal is more or less the same as the book test. However there's a small bit of Kenton Knepper involved in this which I like.
AQUA RING
Houdini's water torture escape - close up! ... So maybe this disc doesn't have Fireballs, but this is pretty damn close! A borrowed ring is tied to a piece of string and dropped into a cup of water. And the ring escapes! I love this! Really! In fact, the only thing against it is that you'll have to carry a mug around with you from table to table!
LEAD FREE
A self workng coin bend! ... If I didn't already use Coinvexed 3, then I'd be using this all the time! I do use this quite a bit though. It's remarkable easy and very effective. There is a gimmick that you'll need, but if you have the first Automata disc, I rather suspect you'll already have the gimmick you'll need!
And that's the tricks. There's four that I love! (Which is three or four more than most DVD's I buy have! I'll be using P.O.A., Peeky Blinder, Aqua Ring and sometimes Lead Free.)
It almost goes without saying that the production is top notch, and that the preformances and teaching by Gary Jones and Dave Forrest are excellent throughout. The advice and tuition is excellent of each routine.
Overal
It can't have been easy to follow up Automata, but Gary and Dave have with considerable success! I know that I haven't raved about every trick on here. That's just because I'm just getting really fussy in my old age about what magic I like.There's a remarkable variety of close up magic on here, and not a card trick in sight! So you may not agree with me about what the stand out tricks are, but if you liked Automata, then I'm sure you'll like this even more! Could well be winning Talk Magic's product of the year two years in a row!
