Magic Tricks

The video of this is amazing and definitely looks like camera tricks. It's not, as most of the stuff here can be done with a little work. I say "most" as there is one major color change that is done with something not included here, and his exact instructions are "I'm not going to show you how to make one, and you can buy them online at a lot of places." This isn't so true, as you can't buy one here at Penguin or at any other online retailer I've found. He does show you another way to accomplish the change but it involves more work.

You'll need rubber cement for a lot of this. The gaff deck included does a lot of work, but for most of the really visual stuff you'll have to build your own gaffs using something else he includes with this. The problem is that there aren't enough "something else's" to create everything on the DVDs. Also, you aren't given an idea of where to buy more of them so you can put them all together.

Which brings us to the last downside. This is a parlor or stage act for the most part. No matter how skilled you are at building the gaffs, they will not hold up to close scrutiny. Performing the ace vanish between the court cards you see on the video won't happen in a close-up setting in normal room light. Neither will the change from the ace to queen shown when he waves his hand over it. Don't get me wrong, it looks smooth and sharp, but it's weak in close inspection.

This is a very fun act to watch, and the idea of creating these real-life camera tricks is too inviting to pass up. Just keep in mind that you'll have some strong limitations in performance.