talkmagic.co.uk

This looks awesome, but I have a question: the chap in the video (I'm not sure his name) seems to be very concernend that the spectators cut the cards; does that mean they have to cut them and can't rearrange them or shuffle them? I hope that's not a dumb question; I realise there are different effects that can be performed with these cards. But the effect in the video seems to me to be the primary effect: they choose a film and you tell them what it is...

Without being too specific, the clue is in the title - Director's Cut...

By the way, if the chap you're referring to has a beard then that's Simon Shaw who developed Director's Cut - aka our very own Bananafish.

No beard on this fella.

Presumably the mortals forget about the fact that you were so specific about what you wanted them to do once you've put the cards away. "The cards aren't really important so we'll pop those away. Cards go nunnights. There, I've tucked them up in card bedtime land." etc

The chap in the video is Peter Nardi - owner of Alakazam

To be fair, there are better ways of handling the cards and it's all explained in the instructions but a street performance will be very different to a table or close up performance. There are a lot of other effects which can be done with the DC movie cards and DC2, The Horror Edition, is well worth thinking about as the cards can be intermixed to tailor your own effect.


(Good the way I did that, "tailor"..."Devil's Tailor"...oh perlease yerselves... I know, I know, hat....coat...door...me...through it... )

If you do need to tell people to cut rather than shuffle or whatever, maybe you can say, "I want the choice to be random, otherwise I can probably just guess the sort of film you'd pick, so I'd like you to cut exactly three times and that will be your choice..." I guess that would work? That was my only concern about the trick. It just looked a bit obvious that he's trying to ensure that they cut rather than shuffle.

Depends on the sepcs, sometimes you have to be very specific with them!

The Devil's Tailor wrote:If you do need to tell people to cut rather than shuffle or whatever, maybe you can say, "I want the choice to be random, otherwise I can probably just guess the sort of film you'd pick, so I'd like you to cut exactly three times and that will be your choice..." I guess that would work? That was my only concern about the trick. It just looked a bit obvious that he's trying to ensure that they cut rather than shuffle.

The cards are a tool, there are many things they can be used for. You are (through no fault of your own) over fixating on one video of one performance which involved the speactator cutting.

I have been using them for many years, and I the routines I use don't get the spectator to cut them at all (with the exception of the drawing dupe - which the spectator does cut - but does so under the table, so makes a lot of sense).

For the main effect (and remember there are many, and many presentations of many at that), the cards are mixed and they select one at random (or they choose a specific one), and using whatever presntation suits you, you can tell them what they are thinking (albeit the film name, actors, scenes from the film, music etc.)

bananafish wrote:You are (through no fault of your own) over fixating on one video of one performance which involved the speactator cutting.

Only because it looks so amazing! And the videos do seem to show just that one routine.

I just wanted to make the point that even if you did have to get them to cut rather than shuffle to perform that specific routine, it probably wouldn't be a problem - if, for example, you did a false shuffle (I assume they handle much like playing cards, even if they're a bit thicker) then told them to "cut three times so you get a random card" or whatever. I just thought it looks a bit heavy handed in that clip and wanted to be sure that this wasn't a problem.

Thanks for clarifying. I shall buy this.

What I like about these cards is that you can do card mentalism without being the guy in the pub with the cards. It just looks more casual. It's popular culture rather than magic culture.

No criticism of Peter Nardi intended, by the way. I've seen him in action before and he's great, there was just a moment in that particular video, is all...

Bumpety Bump!

Alakazam are re-releasing this and DC2, if you didn't get these on first issue then don't hesitate, go gettem now!

I'm late to the table on this one, but really glad to be a late adopter. I was looking for a mentalism effect that people could really relate to and would pack a punch. This was recommended, to do just that. Initially I was a little dubious, however I have been pleasently surprised by the reactions that it gets. The cards are great quality and this is now something I keep in my locker when out and about.

Highly recommended! If you make it real, it is so

Is this similar to Screen Test?

They both use Movies as the theme but are different in method and presentation. Also DC is quite a bit older than SC.