Price$20.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJan 10, 2014
Frame
Fuente, Alex
Vanishing Inc.
(Based on 1 review)
Here is one of our favorite effects:
A card is removed and black frame is drawn on it, with nothing inside. A card is chosen and lost in the pack. When you blow on the blank "frame" the identity of the card appears inside the frame. No covering the card, no weird sleights... it visually "snaps" into view. Amazing!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
This is quite an interesting take as far as methods of moving/changing ink effects are concerned and it is clever.
The ad copy is spot on except for one small nitpick - the statements of "Visually morph what you write on the back of the card..." and "A card is removed and a black frame is drawn on it..." can be a teensy bit misleading. Those statements might be interpreted by someone to mean that you are able to draw on the card in front of the spectators - you do not do that but rather, you pretend to draw on the card.
Suppose you want to show an empty frame drawn on the back of a card and then have the identity of a previously chosen card appear inside the frame. With the way the gimmick works, you can only use it for that sole outcome every time you do this, but that does not make it bad at all. If you wanted to have a different outcome, you would need to make a different gimmick. The same goes for if you want to start with one image drawn on the card and have it visually change to something else - perhaps an incorrect prediction changing to the correct one. There is a sub-point to this which I will get to in a bit.
The problem is, Alexis does not teach you how to make a gimmick, BUT he does show you how it works, how to repair it if it breaks and how to customize the gimmick. He shows you how to do two different revelations with this gimmick - one which is very visual but quite noisy and the other which is not. For the noisy version he suggests simply snapping your fingers to cover the noise. You could also do other things to help cover the noise, but you need to practice the timing.
Both revelations have their upsides and down sides. Both versions look great. The noisy version can cause the gimmick to get hung up on itself if you are not careful when you pre-set the gimmick, which you must do for this version. The noiseless version does not have to be pre-set when you add it to the deck, but you have to play around with your hand positioning when you cause the drawing to change if you are using only one hand - it is very tricky to do one-handed.
Because of how each of the revelations work, you can actually prepare the gimmick with two incorrect drawings, but the drawing they change to must be the same for both. For example: The noisy revelation can show an incorrect prediction that changes to the 9 of Diamonds. The noiseless version can show an empty frame inside of which the 9 of Diamonds appears. This is that sub-point I mentioned a bit ago.
The production quality of the DVD is very good - good lighting and clear teaching, but it is non-verbal text instruction. The music was way too loud but that is what volume controls are for. You get a nicely made gimmick and the extra stuff to use for repair if it breaks. I would not think it to be very hard to make one of your own gimmicks and it would have been nice to see some instruction with tips on doing that, but also, due to the nature of the gimmick it may not work with every design of playing card out there.
With the exception of not showing you how to make the gimmick, everything else is clearly explained: How to customize the gimmick, how to repair it, how to use it, etc. When you figure out how to make your own or when you have to repair the supplied gimmick, you will have to figure out how much of the extra "something" is needed for it, but you are shown the correct procedure. I purposely broke the gimmick in order to follow along to make sure it worked the way they say it does - and it does.
This is not something that can be used in extremely close-up situations and you may or may not have to worry about lighting. Both before and after the gimmick has done its work, there is "something" to see if they were too close, and if the lighting is hitting it just right but I am not sure if that would be an issue or not.
If you do a selected card effect like the one shown in the trailer, they can actually sign the card and that is the one you give them at the end with the morphed drawing on it.
This is a versatile gimmick but once you have marked it up the way you want it, you can only use it for that outcome unless you make your own for other outcomes. Alexis shows you a few other ideas for drawings to morph/change, including a gimmick made out of a business card. Again, he does not show you how to make one and I am not sure how difficult it would be to make your own - probably not hard at all.
If you like what you see in the ad trailer or if you have a need for an effect like this, get it and you will be glad you did. Except for a few minor handling points, it is not difficult to do, it is very visual and you can do any number of things with it when you put some thought into it. For only $20/USD you are getting a good product!
The ad copy is spot on except for one small nitpick - the statements of "Visually morph what you write on the back of the card..." and "A card is removed and a black frame is drawn on it..." can be a teensy bit misleading. Those statements might be interpreted by someone to mean that you are able to draw on the card in front of the spectators - you do not do that but rather, you pretend to draw on the card.
Suppose you want to show an empty frame drawn on the back of a card and then have the identity of a previously chosen card appear inside the frame. With the way the gimmick works, you can only use it for that sole outcome every time you do this, but that does not make it bad at all. If you wanted to have a different outcome, you would need to make a different gimmick. The same goes for if you want to start with one image drawn on the card and have it visually change to something else - perhaps an incorrect prediction changing to the correct one. There is a sub-point to this which I will get to in a bit.
The problem is, Alexis does not teach you how to make a gimmick, BUT he does show you how it works, how to repair it if it breaks and how to customize the gimmick. He shows you how to do two different revelations with this gimmick - one which is very visual but quite noisy and the other which is not. For the noisy version he suggests simply snapping your fingers to cover the noise. You could also do other things to help cover the noise, but you need to practice the timing.
Both revelations have their upsides and down sides. Both versions look great. The noisy version can cause the gimmick to get hung up on itself if you are not careful when you pre-set the gimmick, which you must do for this version. The noiseless version does not have to be pre-set when you add it to the deck, but you have to play around with your hand positioning when you cause the drawing to change if you are using only one hand - it is very tricky to do one-handed.
Because of how each of the revelations work, you can actually prepare the gimmick with two incorrect drawings, but the drawing they change to must be the same for both. For example: The noisy revelation can show an incorrect prediction that changes to the 9 of Diamonds. The noiseless version can show an empty frame inside of which the 9 of Diamonds appears. This is that sub-point I mentioned a bit ago.
The production quality of the DVD is very good - good lighting and clear teaching, but it is non-verbal text instruction. The music was way too loud but that is what volume controls are for. You get a nicely made gimmick and the extra stuff to use for repair if it breaks. I would not think it to be very hard to make one of your own gimmicks and it would have been nice to see some instruction with tips on doing that, but also, due to the nature of the gimmick it may not work with every design of playing card out there.
With the exception of not showing you how to make the gimmick, everything else is clearly explained: How to customize the gimmick, how to repair it, how to use it, etc. When you figure out how to make your own or when you have to repair the supplied gimmick, you will have to figure out how much of the extra "something" is needed for it, but you are shown the correct procedure. I purposely broke the gimmick in order to follow along to make sure it worked the way they say it does - and it does.
This is not something that can be used in extremely close-up situations and you may or may not have to worry about lighting. Both before and after the gimmick has done its work, there is "something" to see if they were too close, and if the lighting is hitting it just right but I am not sure if that would be an issue or not.
If you do a selected card effect like the one shown in the trailer, they can actually sign the card and that is the one you give them at the end with the morphed drawing on it.
This is a versatile gimmick but once you have marked it up the way you want it, you can only use it for that outcome unless you make your own for other outcomes. Alexis shows you a few other ideas for drawings to morph/change, including a gimmick made out of a business card. Again, he does not show you how to make one and I am not sure how difficult it would be to make your own - probably not hard at all.
If you like what you see in the ad trailer or if you have a need for an effect like this, get it and you will be glad you did. Except for a few minor handling points, it is not difficult to do, it is very visual and you can do any number of things with it when you put some thought into it. For only $20/USD you are getting a good product!