Title : Jay Sankey - Secret Files Vol.1
Running Time : around 100 mins.
Price : £30 http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4445
Difficulty 3
(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)
A lovely bit of work this one, described by the man himself as the effects and moves he has kept to himself over the years.
Indeed this is a collection of some of his favorite effects and is given to us in an refreshingly entertaining way.
I should say there are sleights and moves here. They are explained well and are easy to do though, nothing somebody that had no problems with the Easy To Master Card Miracles collection would struggle with.
Some of these moves are his own invention and, until now, unpublished so you should learn some here that are new to you yet easy to master, always nice.
I find Sankey to be an easy guy to learn from, usualy quickly to the point and given with clarity, here though there is more room given for his, well, insanity.
Everything is still clear, easily learned and strong but he really does let rip on a personal level.
Maybe he has done this before but I am yet to see him with quite so much freedom to do what he likes with his humour and routines.
He even swears a couple of times and the whole thing just feels more like he is showing his friends how to do effects rather than us, maybe he has enough in the bank now and doesn't have to worry about such things, who knows but I like it.
So what effects does he bring to us with this Sankey style?
You will find all kind of effects here, not just cards, there are even tricks with a TT and a Stripper Deck, I find it nice that these things are included as it adds to other aspects of your magic, though you will of course need these props as they are not provided.
A list of the effects covered follows :
Carbon Paper :
What a lovely trick, I could have turned it off at this point and been happy with the purchase.
A card is selected and the spectator puts their hand over it on the table, the card is face up.
Another card is picked and has a lighter put to it to burn the back of the card, mark it and make it hot.
The card is then rubbed on the back of the spectators hand, they can feel the heat and can see it so they know it is the chosen card, this card is also face up.
The card is turned over, the smoke/burn stain has vanished.
The card under the hand is turned over and the smoke/burn stain has been transfered to the back of this card.
A very strong effect that uses the heat as a great convincer and will doubtless have others asking them questions.
Brilliant, I am sure you will want to use this.
What If :
This trick answers the "but what if I had selected a different card?" question with perfection.
The spectator picks a card, this is then revealed on a previously written prediction.
The prediction is then screwed up and left on the table.
The spectator then chooses a different card, looks again at the prediction to find it has also changed to the newly selected card.
A really nice, jaw dropping trick that I think you are sure to use.
They think the trick is over then you go and double the effect on them.
Strong Medicine :
Combines signatures, tears and total restorations with a note/bill, an asprin/vitamin bottle and the trusty old TT.
The torn corner of the bill appears in the bottle that the spectator holds and opens, then it is restored.
A typical Sankey working of a great trick, all done in full view, bill can be initialed etc.
Very good, very strong and very convincing. Torn and restored doesn't get much easier than this either, if you are familier with your TT.
Selective Memory :
Presented as a memory test, except in this case you change the four selected cards into four jacks to make the memory test easier, right under their nose, nice.
A nice four card switch in full view and a great way to set yourself up for a Four Aces/Jacks/whatever trick.
Outsider :
You take a blue backed deck and have a card selected and returned. You wrap an elastic band round the deck and go through some patter.
You toss the deck from hand to hand and suddenly the top card has a red back, you remove the band and they all have a red back.
Your card is face up in a face down deck, it is turned over to show it has a blue back.
Needs one gaffed card but it is easily made and worth the little amount of effort, you may have one of these anyway.
A very visual trick with a strong punchline, very nice.
Black Market :
A spectator takes a book of matches, places them behind their back, they open the matches and take one.
The match they took turns out to be the only black match in the pack, fancy that, it must be magic.
This trick is presented as more than my description, as are all of them but that is the basic trick.
This could also be done with a box of matches.
Penalty Box :
This trick is all about a selected card vanishing from a card case held by the spectator.
A nice prison, prison wardens and prisoner story supports this lovely, startling trick.
Very effective, the prisoner returns to the deck, unheld at the time by the magician, face up in a face down deck.
Sweet Bread
Take a note/bill and screw it up, put it in the spectators hand/fist, then take a small packet of sugar and screw that up as well.
You then rub the sugar on the back of their fist and the two objects change place.
Nice if you do any work where they would have those little single serving packets of sugar, though you could change that sugar for another similar object.
Again, with the Sankey angle a simple little trick becomes strong, another nice one.
180 Degrees :
Cough, stripper deck, cough.
The spectator selects a random card and it is returned to the deck.
The magician well and truely mixes the cards face up and face down in the deck.
The cards can be shuffled by anyone, then the cards are shown to be totaly mixed up, face up and face down.
The spectator then, after some time is wasted for effect, finds their selected card is the only one face up in a totaly face down deck.
It is nice to see an effect added for this deck and again, with the Sankey treatment, it shines.
Chameleon :
A card is chosen and remembered. A pack of matches is used as a book of tiny magic wands, the matches are folded into a napkin/silk/hanky.
A match is taken and the matches are again folded into the cloth.
The match is then used as a wand to try and get the top card of the deck to change into their card, this doesn't work.
Some patter is gone through and the cloth is opened again to find a working book of matches made out of the freely selected card.
Very strong effect and the ending is completely unexpected, another fine trick, I can see a pattern forming here.
Sensations :
A trick with two keys, one brass/copper and one silver, normal chubb/house type keys, also need a matchbox ("what a matchbox, that will break the bank!" I hear you cry)
In short one key is held by you, the other by the spectator, they then switch places.
Clever and stupidly easy, another nice trick that doesn't use cards.
Signed, Singed and Delivered :
Ooooo, a trick with flash fire and tissue paper, nice, I just hope I'm insured.
Both the spectator and magician sign a piece of tissue paper, they are rolled into a ball and held tightly. They hold their ball, you hold yours.
The magicians ball is then set on fire and thrown in a glass yet survives, only to find out this fire has switched the two balls with signatures.
Well, that's the tricks sorted and they are all top drawer in my opinion, so what is the video like to watch?
Mad mad mad mad mad. Sankey lets rip in this one like I've never seen before. Sankey on steroids if you like.
Lots of funny voices and character acting goes along with the darkened room and selective lighting.
It comes across as funny and entertaining in a way most magic videos sadly do not but more than this it offers a huge body of information regarding presentation, without having to go over it verbaly.
There is a lot of verbal advice given on the subject but the way he does the tricks and what he says, while not always the way you would want to do it yourself, offers a lot of thought provoking information.
If you have the bottle you could lift all this straight from the video and instantly stand out as an act rather than a magician doing tricks, though it is probably more suited for the insane magician.
In short a highly entertaining way to showcase a collection of highly entertaining effects, this one has been thought out and for once some effort has been given to us the viewer.
The first effect alone is, in my opinion, worth the price of this little gem, a quality, quality effect that you will use and use all the time!
Then the second effect comes along and doubles your value, another great effect worth the price alone.
The others are also of a high standard and you will not regret this purchase, by far the most entertaining magic DVD I have and offers some of the strongest effects I've seen within this skill level.
The content is nice to watch, it is split into two sections, the tricks together and then the explanations together, you will watch both sections many times, it is that entertaining, unusual for a magic video.
So go get it, what are you still sitting there for? Quality all the way, even if you can work out how to do all these, this is a good watch that you will learn from.
I would just like a pint of what Sankey has been drinking lately
Make that two.
10 out of 10
A score I wouldn't give these days if it was only the effects that stood out.
Hope that helps somebody
BaB
