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So I'm working on a nice flashy four ace produciton to work as something of a filler bit. I've hit a snag however.

I'm currently starting by showing all four aces out of the deck and "shuffling" them back in one at a time. After the last ace goes in, I use a Triple Z cut and simply flip one ace over and sandwich it in the deck for the first reveal. For the second ace, I say something along the lines of "I never actually put it in the deck see," and produce it from my pocket. For the third ace, I am simply reaching up and producing it from thin air and for the final one, I move it second to the bottom and use a classic color change to reveal it.

My problem is that it moves very fast, and I am afraid that it may not have the desired impact. I'm also afraid that I may be relying to heavily on the palm move. Any suggestions how this could be made better would be appreciated.

Also I know this would be easier to show than explain but I'm to broke to buy a camera sorry.

If you are rushing through it then it will all seem too fast.

One rule of showmanship is to allow time for the effect to register with the specs by pausing. Add one or 2 small ambiguous moves followed by a CLEAR flourish with reveal.

But the idea is to keep the trick moving and be like heres ace 1 heres ace 2, etc and I'm worried if I slow it down, esp. when producing the one from thin air,I may flash the card, and thats where I'm stuck.

This came about when I saw a video of Daniel Madison teaching a four ace reveal(yes I finally bought that DVD) and one of the reveals came from the Asibil cut, but I dont know how to do that cut so I switched it to a triple z and then got bored and came up with this.

Hi Flaw07;

not sure if you're after a flourishy 4 Aces production. If so, sorry, can't help you

I showed my 4 aces routine to someone yesterday, and I started with "Spectator cuts to the aces". It got a good reaction.

I think it is very baffling for someone to cut the deck into four piles, and for them to realise that the top of each pile is an ace... Especially if you time it well when you reveal each ace. I mean, I know how it's done, and I still find it impressive

Cheers,
LP

The final reveal doesn't sound like the best. Start with the least effective and build up to the one that will amaze them most. Take a look at Vernon's Travelers and see how it's routine. It's not a flashy ace production, but it might give you a bit of help.

You know what reveal I like? That one Ricky Jay does where he faros the two halves and bends them into a V shape, then lets them cascade down into his other hand, leaving the final selection horizontal in his palm. So there.

To me, the original routine of doing things seemed fine. If your audience can't quite follow your hands as you flourish the reveal, that's also fine in my opinion, but you might just want to use lots of patter to explain what you're doing. (Please note I don't know how some of what you're describing is done, so these are my tips assuming they can work with the sleights, or be worked into the routine.)

Here are some ideas I had when I read each reveal.

Reveal 1: Patter: (as you do various false cuts and florishes, perhaps spreading the cards across the table and gathering them up again at one point.) "So as you can see all the aces are clearly lost in the deck. But I'm going to find the first one with some of the finest and fastest prestigitation you'll ever see. Now watch closely as my fingers work, and cut straight to the first ace..." - cue reveal - "Did you follow that?"

It doesn't matter if the audience saw exactly how your hands moved if it seemed too fast, they'll probably either laugh that they weren't able to follow when they thought they would have been able to; or they'll just be amazed you seemed to pluck the ace from the middle of the deck at all.


Reveal 2: [This reveal I think is one of the most impressive, but probably the one that might get rushed the most. Here's what I might do.]

Patter: "Now the second ace I didn't actually put back into the deck at all. I really kept it here in one of my pockets! Now if only I could remember where I put it." (Start searching through various pockets, obviously careful not to reveal hidden pockets. {goes without saying.} If possible, work two aces into one pocket each, and after pulling out the first one patter - "Oops, wrong ace. How did he get there?" (Cut that ace back into the deck and keep searching until you finally find the second true ace.) "Here he is, safe and sound and not going anywhere!" (perhaps place a paper weight on the second ace 'to be sure', and maybe get a laugh from the audience.)

A second idea for this reveal could be to pull out a card from your pocket that isn't an ace, (like a 5 of hearts or whatever), and show it to the audience proudly. When they point out it isn't an ace at all, you patter: "Of course it is! Watch!" and make the colour change to an ace then. Of course this would mean you perhaps need to change your final reveal, unless you use a different colour change technique.

Reveal 3: The other very impressive reveal, but also the other that is most likely to be rushed. I think this one should also be changed to last, as it is more visually impressive than a colour change and can be done with much granduer. This idea actually comes from 'Mysterio's Encyclopedia of Magic', and I think it could be very effective for a final reveal.
Patter: "Now the final ace, I must honestly say, is completely lost in the deck. I have no idea where it is. But, I shall find it! Watch closely for it, if you please, in case I miss it." (Patter could probably be better than that, but anyway.) The proceed to either flick or toss the entire deck into the infront of you so that all the cards spread out in a great cloud before you and the audience. Then reach into the mess and pluck the ace out of the middle of the air amongst the other cards. Don't show its face until all the cards have wafted to the ground or table, and then wait a bit. (The audience may honestly think you just snatched a random card from the air.) After only a beat, reveal the card you have as an ace and put it with the others.

If you don't want to change this reveal to last, or don't want to pick up all the cards, or have a trick deck you don't want the audience to get the chance to inspect, there's always the invisible ace routine to drag this reveal out. Patter: "Now that I have found two of the aces, the other two are going to try a lot harder to hide from me. Observe how one ace has in fact made himself invisible." Simply pretend to take a card from the deck and place it on the top, claiming it is an ace that has become invisible. "Now with a gust of wind, we shall blow it up into the air! [Pause.] Ah, I see you are extremely skeptical of this sir. Well perhaps you would like to blow on the deck for me to take the top card off. Here, blow as hard as you can on the top of the deck!" (Or you can blow on the top of the deck yourself to cause the invisible card to take flight. If not, will it matter terribly if a few other cards are taken from the top of the deck in the effort? I don't know.) As the invislbe card is floating away (in the direction you'll need to dictate due to angles.) you reach up and pretend to snatch it out of the air, making it visible again and visibly an ace.

Reveal 4: No real ideas here. In fact after the last two reveals, I think this one could either be moved to the second or third reveal as it is probably the least impressive next to the z cut, and compared to the other two. But perhaps just patter away like: "Sir, can you tell me what the top card of the deck is?" (after you've flipped it, or wherever the card will be that you're changing.) "Indeed it is a six of spades. But I am a very lucrative business man, and am known to make the value of things soar at times. This can also apply to cards, so I'd ask you to watch the face of the six very closely." (Then to the colour change to reveal the Ace of Spades.)


Those are just my ideas though, I don't expect that every one of them is a particularly good one. But it might get your imagination working or you might adapt one of the above to your style of performance and personality.

Either way, I hope I've helped in some small way,
Cal

Is that the whole routine? Snappy ace productions are a good way of introducing a trick that involves four aces, like an ace assembly or Vernon's Twisting the Aces. They're punchy and attention grabbing, and make you look pretty slick, if that's what you're going for.

I'm guessing that the reason it seems a bit quick is because you're pulling the aces out and then you're done. That's not really an effect, it's a flourish. If you want the whole routine to be based around you producing the aces, you've got to set up the idea that this is a difficult thing to do, and that there's a chance you won't be able to do it. This draws the audience in, they then want to see you retrieve these aces that you have clearly shown to be lost in the deck. Otherwise what's the point of the effect? Why put the aces in the deck if you can just pull them out again in ten seconds?

Yeah, I just wanted it as maybe a filler trick or possibly an opener, but I was just wondering if the speed of the well, flourish I guess is the word, mattered

I would say it does, especially if you're using it as an opener or closer. If its just a filler though you could keep it snappier, but fill it out with appropriate patter just before each reveal.