talkmagic.co.uk

Trickery – A Collection of Close-up Magic
By David Forrest
Reviewed by Gareth Witty

Brought from : www.all52.com “Via www.spocmagic.com”

Price: £24.99 GBP

Type: 2 DVD's at 3 Hours Length

DVD 1

The Ace suite
Here we have a card case from wallet called Wallop and three Ace effects showing three ways of producing aces from a deck of cards. Here are some great routines that can be use together or separate.

Assembled with a Twist.
Now this a fusion of McDonald's Aces and Signed Card! A little tricky to perform, but David teaches it to perfection.

The Hypnotic Cut
A nice false cut that looks so smooth and not too difficult to do.

On Holemeal
A “Sandwich” card effect that uses cards with holes to show the selected card appearing between them! Uses gimmicks cards you can make yourself and its easy to perform (with practice of course, but no knuckle busters!)

Grassbox
Turns your cardbox into a peek wallet. Great for mentalism effects that use business cards or blank playing cards. Very simple yet very clever!

Bil – Ink
Here is a great use for the old TT, very visual production of a borrowed and signed note from a pen cap!

Glazed & Confused
This is a close-up version of card thru window that uses the cardbox to make a card appear behind the cellophane wrapper. This is simple but visual! Its an easy but great effect.

Bonus effect – Revolution Colour Change
A nice little colour change you can put into a effect. Not that easy to do, but with a little work, should work very well.

DVD 2

Convention Triumph
A super version of the classic Triumph.

Take Note
A card is selected and then the magician draws the selected card on a pad of paper. He has read the specs mind! But then he pulls the picture from the page and it is the card!

Moth Cut
A fancy false cut that's a bit easier then the Butterfly cut. Looks very smooth!

Flying Cut
A false cut with a visual air of ECM!

Pip Trip
A card is selected by the spec. The magic man tried to cut to their card, but fails! As the magician was only one pip out, he removed a pip from another card and puts it on the wrong card to make it right. A Transpose effect with some fun.

Boxing Clever
Its start as an Ambitious Card routine and ends with a great Card to Matchbox. David includes some great work on the matchbox itself.

Queekers
Its a Queens to Jokers, then to Aces card change.

Burger Kings
Four Kings are removed from the deck, the spec selects a card and its put back into the deck. Then one by one the Kings vanish. Then the magicians spreads the cards and the four kings are in the deck with the selected card between them!, A classic routine

Coins in Glass
A great effect where coins penetrate the card box into a glass. But this effect has a kicker ending where the last coin is found “in” the specs signed card!!!

Shotgun CTP
Cards to pocket routine as David performs it. Very visual.

Bonus – Tenkai Control
Use the Tenkai in a new way! You'll have to see this to believe it!

Review:
Now that's the run down of the effects. I have to say that this DVD has some very powerful routines and are taught very well. You will need to obtains some items for some of the effects to work. I think most magicians will have these items and David shows and explains all the gimmick really well.

The performance movies are shot with specs and this really helps in understanding patter and timing and also gives you an idea of which angles can be used. Most of these effects will work well in a Restaurant or close-up venue and can work for a few people or even a group!.

The explanations also have been shot very well with great use of the above camera and front view. Also here Owen helps with the teaching and does a great job of asking the questions about the effects and moves.

The only faults I have found is that the sound was a little quirky, but this does not affect anything. Also I think the explanations should have been shot in a well lit studio as the lighting could have been a bit better, but again you can still see quite well.

Overview.
David has really worked on the effects and they are his main effects in the professional work he does. The effects are workers and not too difficult to learn and perform. This DVD is now No1 in my collection of DVDs and I no doubt that this is going to be a great buy for any magician. You will need to have some cards skills already, but David does explain all the moves needed really well and also give reference to books that will help.

seen this advertised over the weekend and was tempted. now promoted to my 'will order' list. great review, thank you.

Trust me, this DVD is great!. Some really nice effects on this one and I want to learn them ALL!

I can say with my hand on my heart, this is a great DVD and well worth the time and money.

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I'm not going to waste my time detailing every item on this DVD, sure someone has already broken it down bit by bit,
I'm just here to save you some hard earned cash..
but....you want to go to sleep..........
try david forrest, the trickery
we are constantly told about "it all in the performance", its non existent on this DVD!
the spectators look like they are watching paint dry
actually, if you look closely at the front DVD cover, david looks like he nodding off!
maybe he's watched some of the performances himself??
i know its an instructional DVD, but a little perfomance wouldn't do any harm
there are a couple of nice false cuts that are worth learning, and the sandwich effect looks good, but for the rest of the tricks 6/10
sorry david, i was very dissapointed........

i must say, the guy does look a bit bored/ tired maybe he'd been out on the razz
but still the effects look good and what's too say that you can't make it more entertaining.

matt - bit surprised that you are so down on dave's performance!

i was involved in the creation of the dvd, and can tell you that a great deal about the way it was presented was fully intentional.

yes, it is pretty laidback and yes, there are only a couple of spectators. but with over 20 different routines and handlings to fire through, having an intimate setting seemed pretty important.

part of what attracted me to working with dave was his performance style. it is so chilled and suave. i think it is a very debonair kinda approach and it really suits his material.

which brings me onto the MAIN reason why anybody would want to hang with dave - his material. the guy just has such a fantastic mind. he knows how to construct magic plots like few others.

the lady spectator in the DVD is my wife. she has no magical knowledge and finds my interest in it a tad nerdy. but after the shoot she wouldn't stop raving about dave's tricks.

i have dragged her to numerous shows and she has never reacted like that to a magician.

i believe that dave understands the laymans perspective and hones his routines to allow for this.

sorry you didn't enjoy all of the DVD. i only hope you give it another chance and maybe roadtest some of the effects. i honestly don't believe that 'glazed and confused', 'on hole meal', 'burger kings' etc etc are 6/10 tricks?!?!

I have to concur that this is a fantastic collection.

David—boring? Are you not LISTENING to the quality of what's being taught here? David's performance has absolutely nothing to do with the depth and intricacy of the actual effects themselves... how you perform them is up to you.

As Ozman mentions, my wife is also a bit of a magi-phobe these days... and she usually gets subjected to the latest DVDs etc during the course of things. And she actually stopped and took notice of this one, rather than the usual 'Oh gawd, this is sooooo boring!'. In fact, I believe she actually mentioned David as being 'A more down-to-earth and genuine' magician. Which is exactly the opinion I formed of him.

From some of the more simple to perform effects, such as 'Pip Trip', through to the thoroughly intense 'Assembled with a Twist', there's inspiration and education in every chapter.

If all you gained from this DVD was the ability to creatively SCRIPT material, it would still be worth the price. And the titles of some of the pieces are well thought out too—from both a humourous and sometimes cryptic point of view.

I love David's work. And I love his genuine approach to his magic. And this collection of 'stuff' should keep even the most hardy cardies satisfied for a while.

I look forward to the next installment.

The Trickery is a great collection of magic and there are a couple of real gems on here. I especially like the ace routine and coins in the glass effect good strong close up magic.

Now people have complained about David’s style of magic I think that sometimes he looks bored when he says such lines as “Now another card trick” but when I watched it again I found it quite funny because them two specs stand there or sit through 20 odd routines. And the people in the audience all two of them seem to be having a good time threes a couple of instances where the lady looks genuinely surprised during the “convention triumph” to illustrate my point.

And remember you don’t have to present the tricks like David if your that type of magician who wants glitter and mouth coils every time you reveal card then you can add that. Remember presentations aren’t set in stone. Add your own spin.

So he looks a bit unlike your suit wearing cocky smile look what I can do magician I think this adds to the magic. I was once watching “The art of card manipulation” DVD’s by McBride my mum said “he don’t look like a magician”

Hi folks,

Just wanted to say thanks for all the positive comments and yes, even for the not so positive ones!

I'm not going to make excuses for my performance, I don't really feel I have to, but what I would say is that the main purpose of the DVD is to teach the material that I have developed and use regularly. To that end I think we were succesful.

At the end of the day, it may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine - each to their own. If you prefer the more 'glitzy' (or as I would call it 'arsey') approach then plough ahead with it - fill your boots! I've bought a couple of DVD's that I didn't like too, it's just a case of different strokes for different folks I suppose.

Anyway, here's what some other folks offered up by way of comment:

“You're gonna love the way this guy thinks! Crisp, direct methods that go right for the knockout punch. Not the slightest air of ‘confusion’ or unnecessary activity in his work as he pursues pure ‘effect’. I know we're just seeing the beginning of what Dave Forrest is going to bring to us. Enjoy!” - Jack Carpenter

“I thoroughly enjoyed these DVDs. It's refreshing to see good magic performed in a relaxed, natural style with an emphasis on the effect rather than the distracting: ‘look how funny I am.’” - Peter Duffie

“This is certainly one of the best magic videos out there. So many great tricks.” - David Regal

Thanks again to all those who chimed in. It means a great deal to know that the DVD's are being well received (for the most part) and I thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Cheers,

Dave.

What a DVD! This is by far the best investment i've made since Paul Harris' Art Of Astonishment series, and they're hard to beat! All of the stuff here is genius and really easy to understand, David explains it all well and, although the reactions from the spectators dont say much about the tricks, all of them are worth learning. Burger kings and assembled with a twist are two tricks i now do regularly cos they are impromptu. The others are even better! Thanks Dave for a great DVD, worth every penny! (Plus you're scottish, just like my dad!)

I only do about 8 card tricks.
Triumph, ashies on arm. biddle trick and Daves Pip trip i get a great reaction out of it. plus a couple of others Also i like Daves triumph routine i havent used it myself yet but i know the audiance would love it.

Is there much gaff work involved in the stuff on this DVD? Or is it mostly impromptu?

heya majortom - well, i'd say this is about 90% ungaffed work.

there are a few routines on the set that require some 'work', but they are worth it(esp. 'coins in the glass')...

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

Oooh lovely.

Cheers Ozman, i'll order it right away!

This is a DVD I've had my beady eye on for a while now. I like the sound of the tricks and this review has swung it for me. It's on my must get list now!