talkmagic.co.uk

i wonder how long it'll be before a mephisto-mental-magic dvd gets released?

just watched the first vol1...excellent work i must say...magictricks.co.uk are selling both for £24 the lot too at the moment...

well worth the money, you should be very proud of yourself for releasing this mr. rorrison sir!

good to see some wierder looking magic thats still very commercial on release...

there must be something in the blood of the scots, they seem to have a knack of producing class magicians...dave campbell, roy walton, sadowitz and duffie...now forrest and rorrison...

DO NOT GIVE BARRY ANY IDEAS!!! lol But really. I am happy you guys are enjoying these. i must admit i was very nervous about the respons would get. Yet again cheers

I just finally caved in and bought both of these dvds. Just finished watching volume one and thought i would offer my thoughts.

Before i start i should mention that im going to pretend that 'lightless lights' was not on the dvd, as if this was a gsce, that trick would bring down the grade average. ( sorry Alan mate! but i honestly think it stuck out like a sore thumb)

From watching the demos of broken home and deep impression online i already had a sense of what his methods would be like, simple but straight to the point, and that is certainly true of all the effects here. They are not magician foolers, but i can see them getting good reactions with the public.

The coin bend is my favourite trick on offer, it s very clean, and exemplifies how a good routine and structure and give you a very clean effect. Often we forget about how the story of a trick can cover the method, and instead focus too much on clinical sleight of hand. Alan’s thinking on this coin bend is very cool, and he has managed to add an original idea to a genre that has been already very thoroughly explored.

The coin and shot glass routine is good, and would suit people who want to do the effect but are not so advanced sleight wise. If you are confident with coins then i would recommend Daniel Garcias 'Quarters' routine, which is the exact same 3 phase structure, but each is far more visual. I have been doing Garcias routine a lot recently and it KILLS. As well as this, Shoot's coin and glass routine from Cultural Exchange is worth investigating, but that is hard as nails, and much more complicated. I just mention this to give people a few ideas. In my opinion no coin through glass routine is complete without a muscle pass phase, and as i have seen Alan showing off his on youtube, i don’t know why he didn’t include one. These dvds are after all entitled 'Fingers of Fury', suggesting an advanced level of sleights.

I am still undecided on the coin in phone effect. When i got my new camera phone earlier this year i created a similar routine using a striking vanish, and prepared images of a normal generic phone background with a coin over the top, so it literally looks like the coin just went inside the glass. I feel this make more sense than taking a photo of someone’s palm? and The business of having it marked is a little risky for my liking. Personally i think alan method is completely transparent, and wont be performing the effect that way. I think the torn corner of a card has much more potential.


Deep impression would be a good one to throw in the middle of a card routine as a shocker. It look really cool, and and imagine adding a bit of fake blood.....second thoughts that might be a too bit Criss Angel!
But anyway, a great little trick to use as a surprise.

I hope my criticism has not been to harsh, as i did enjoy this dvd, and do like Alan’s work alot. I just kind of felt like he was holding back a bit, and is keep the best stuff for later.

I would also like to add, and i have been torn to shreds for saying this before, but i am suspicious of BBM's guerrilla marketing tactics, e.g. how many comments on this thread have been made by people who are affiliated with BBM, and how did a such a lengthy glowing review appear weeks before the release? Dont go crazy at me guys! but as an example, imagine if Brad Christian released a new dvd, and wayne houchin was all over the forum posting great comments....

Thank you for your honest words. Keep in mind rob got a preview copy. This is somthing ALL buisness do with products to test that market and get reviews. Be safe

Alan

Just to clarify; I've been a member of this forum for quite some time, chaps, and writing comprehensive reviews is one of my strengths (take a trawl back, through some of my posts, and you'll see what I mean!)

This doesn't, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that I'm affiliated with BBM, or any other company....

...Just that I write solid reviews.

I was offered the chance to see reviewer's copies of both of the FoF DVD's, and both BBM and Alan himself were under no illusion that my reviews would be honest and to-the-point, which I believe they were.

Sure, I could've hyped every effect included, but that's just not me - I believe that all of my reviews on TM have been honest, and that's not going to change simply because I've received an advance copy of soon-to-be-released material.

Oh...and I stand very firmly behind my statements about BBM's products, as a whole; each and every one of their DVD's has gotten better and better - both in terms of production AND material (not to mention value for money).

I own (and have paid for!) every one of their titles to date, and look forward to their next release with bated breath

Hi Rob,

I think my concern is with the whole idea of 'reviewers copies'. I know that the aim is to give people a preview of what will be coming out, but don’t think that reviews of this nature are truly objective, as the reviewer didn't buy the item, and may be tempted to give a glowing review so that the opportunity may come their way again. Im not saying that this is necessarily the case with you, but i do think that 9.7 out of ten is a slightly sensational score for these dvds. But i suppose everyone’s opinion is different.

I still stand by my view that BBM are guilty of guerrilla marketing, you only have to watch FOF to see how blatant their plugging is. And while i love his tricks, im not sure Peter Harrison is exactly in a neutral position to be recommending dvds produced by BBM. Or maybe im just taking all this too seriously.

Vol 1 of FOF rocks, Vol 2 is filler in my opinion, and it should ahve all been on one dvd.

lets push the standards of british magic even higher than they already are!

I completely disagree, its not guerrilla marketing at all..its just the normal basic marketing involved as far as i can see...

look at online-visions for instance, you send the stuff in to be reviewed, and it gets a review..simple...getting advanced and promo stuff is par for the course in most types of media...

everyone's entitled to their own opinions though atomo, but i do wish you wouldnt make it sound so cynical in your insinuations, like you did with Tomo's strip! dvd...not having a go, but you've got to realise, sending stuff out for a preview/review is par for the course...

just look at records and cds...and no, i have nothing to do with the company before you ask

but as for your opinions on each dvd's quality - well, thats just a personal thing eh...no harm in that...

BBM do produce quality stuff and for once a British company is producing some very worthy magic DVD's.
I always find Rob's reviews to be honest and descriptive, it seems to me he knows what he's talking about and not just some fly by night "this is cool dude" Ellusionist fan.

I have had my eyes on these DVD's for a while after seeing the impressive demos and they are substantially cheaper than many magic DVD's so if a couple of the effects are strong enough for your set then it's money well spent. The material on 2WO Faced, for instance, is worth more than the disc costs and is usable in performance, getting good responses.

Alan Rorrison's DVD's are now pretty high on my list of wants...

every one may have there own opinion. I do feel there are some underlaying thoughts with atoms review but thats not for me to go into or consider. BBM do standard marketing tech. Im doing a nice course on this now and i am enjoying it. BBM do not show any signs of underhanded practice or gurilla advertising as you put it. Yet again im a little bias here as I have a dvd with them. But i am allowed to stand up for good compnaies and people i beleive in.


Have a great day

ALan

Atomo wrote:I still stand by my view that BBM are guilty of guerrilla marketing, you only have to watch FOF to see how blatant their plugging is.

Yea but if you have seen any of BBM's other dvds (such as covert magic) they do it in a cheeky way. In FOF quite a bit of the stuff that they where advertising wasn't even theirs.

but I do wish you wouldnt make it sound so cynical in your insinuations, like you did with Tomo's strip!

All i wanted to highlight with my comments about the review of Strip i.e. "whats it like working for BBM?" was that i found it suspicious that a new user with only 9 previous posts would appear on the board and post a sensatioanlly positive 500 word review containing numerous links to all of BBM's other products. Forgive me for being cynical, but if you owned a production company whos primary sales were generated online, it would seem an almost obvious course of action to sign up to a forum like this and post good reveiews.

From now on i will keep my devilish cynical thoughts too myself, and instead pass my time stacking up my hundreds of copies of ' The Catcher in the Rye' and collecting more evidence that man never landed on the moon.

FOF vol 1 -7/10
FOF vol 2 - 3.5/10

Atomo out

of course they never landed on the moon!

and why arent they going back til 2025 eh eh?

all I'm saying is every company is "guilty" of plugging their stuff..BBM, whoever...at least they have the guts to turn up on here and reply...they don't on every forum...

it's hardly some convert illuminati type conspiracy...all companies do it, cos thats how you flog stuff...you're an eloquent fella, im sure you dont need me to say that...

Everyone markets themself, we as magicians do all the time!

I have found BBM's products very worthwhile though.

Marketing is marketing, it's a nasty sticky business and you feel like a whore sometimes but it's a necessary evil. At least BBM do it in a cheeky and loveable way.

That aside I got my hands on this dvd today and it seriously rocked my world. You know how you buy a new dvd or book in the knowledge that you might well not use anything at all from it? Well I know I'll definitely use at least half the tricks on here. Buy it now.

thanx bronz/.. happy you liked it