Price$45.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryGeneral
Date AddedJun 24, 2014
Time is Money
Park, Seol
(Based on 3 reviews)
Mr. Maric
Revolutionary Bill Magic with Extreme Visuals
Time is Money comes with a special gimmick, and the Explanation in English on the DVD. As well as a SAMPLE Gimmick (US Currency Bill) that you can customize with your countries currency easily.
Contents:
Time To Change - A visual bill change that you can hand out to the audience immediately.
Bounty - The Ultimate Bill restoration that anyone can easy perform.
Take Back - A miraculous transposition routine in the spectators hands.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
You will receive an instructional DVD and two pre-made gimmicks that will allow you to create some very visual bill magicEffect
Even though the DVD is entitled Time is Money, you will be learning 3 different bill effects on the DVD - Time To Change which is visual bill change that you can hand out to the audience immediately,Bounty, the tearing and restoration of a bill and Take Back, a miraculous bill transposition routine that happens in the spectators hands
Method
Besides receiving the DVD, you will receive two different gimmicks that will accomplish all three effects. All changes and the restoration are incredibly visual but know that you will additionally have to do some arts and crafts to add one of the gimmicks to your own bills and also some bill folding preparation in advance of performing. The torn and restored effect is hyper visual, the method is very clever and will be very clear to you but do know that the reset will take a little time to do, definitely not instant for table-hopping. Be prepared to put in some time and effort as this is not one that you will be performing ‘out of the box’ but your will be rewarded significantly from the reactions you be be receiving form your audiences.Product Quality
I have to say that the production quality of the DVD is very poor ie. poor clarity of the actual video, lighting and for the most part that it is all subtitles. I found it very difficult and confusing at times to read the subtitles and watch to learn the moves at the same time. I was constantly replaying, stoping and starting the DVD which I personally found very frustrating and demanding of my patience. Sometimes learning specific moves are hard enough even when the instructions are in English. The DVD is divided into 4 parts - the 3 effects plus a complete routine putting two of them together, that was nice. Also on a positive side, there is a ‘Back-view’ or 'over the shoulder shots’ for further clarification. You may find maneuvering around the DVD going from section to section or effect to effect frustrating but it is what it is.Ad Copy Integrity
Both the demo video and text description are very accurate. I did find the name of the product misleading as there is no effect on the DVD actually using that name. The names of the effects are as listed in ‘Effect’ above.Final Thoughts
As for the effect themselves, their visuality and simplicity once you do the practice is certainly worth 5 stars. However due to the issues with the DVD and teaching as mentioned above I am reducing it to a 3.5.You will be taught how to make your own gimmicks so you can make this with any currency which is very much a plus. Would not really recommend this for someone new or beginning magic unless you are up to a challenge.
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Let it Rock by Bon Jovi
Time is Money by Seol-Ha Park Review:
A couple of gimmicks, one DVD and $45 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
The meat of the DVD is a simple and visual bill change. There are a couple of routines showing you how to use it. Then there is another routine that uses a (supplied) gimmick for a very visual Torn and Restored bill.
Method
As mentioned above, gimmicks and bill switches are the methods. The bill switch is very simple and very visual. It does require that you pre-fold the bills in use. This method is combined with Jay Sankey's Full View Switch to create a very clever, easy to do and powerful effect that happens in the spectator's hand. The torn and restored bill gimmick allows you to do a very visual restoration. This one is not easily reset, so you won't be able to perform it over and over again.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is accurate, and the video demo is real. No complaints here.
Product Quality
The production quality is pretty bad. Bad lighting, grainy footage, and it uses subtitles - the performer/teacher speaks Korean. However, even with all the production issues and the language barrier, I was able to learn and see everything that I needed. The menu was a bit annoying, but it's bitter sweet. After every single section, the video stops and goes back to the menu. That got quite annoying after a while. However, it does allow you to skip over certain parts if you'd like.
Also, the DVD had an in depth over-the-shoulder view for each effect, in addition to the regular teaching segment, so when you wrap all this together, taking the good with the bad, the production qualities were deal-with-able.
Final Thoughts
The methods are doable and you'll learn them well on the DVD, but $45 bucks seems a bit on the pricey side; especially when you consider the poor production quality. If you liked the effects you saw in the trailer and you've got $45 bucks to spare, then you'll likely be happy with your purchase.
Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
(Top ▲)
This was an interesting DVD because watching the trailer you saw some really cool looking effects with bills that look impossible. What you see is exactly what they look like in performance.
You get a DVD with a mixed quality of production values, a pre-made gimmick, some extra stuff to make a spare gimmick and for what it is, a quality piece of paper with another "gimmick" printed on it. Also, the extra something that you receive to make a second gimmick will be familiar to most magicians and is easily obtained if you need more.
The ad copy and trailer are spot on.
First to get it out of the way, the menu of the DVD is very well laid out and each of the three effects plus the routine demo has its own sub-menu. The sub menus are laid out into chapters which are all very easy to navigate and use, but there is no 'Play All' button. You have to click on each section and watch it, after which it takes you back to the sub menu where you can click the next section and go on. I was fine with this because it did not take you back to the main menu every time but back to the menu you started in - some may find it annoying but I did not.
That said, the teaching portions of the DVD are great - everything was clearly explained and easy to understand. Seol spoke Korean and there were very, very well-done English subtitles in each section. There is one effect that requires a bit more arts and crafts but once you make the gimmick, it will last a long time and while it is rather easy to make if you take your time, it can be tricky. There is another gimmick that has to be made and that piece of quality printed paper I mentioned earlier is not really meant to be used, but rather to show you what that gimmick should look like when you use your own currency to make it. This second gimmick is also not difficult to make.
Now for the production quality: The sound and the lighting was great and the explanation section for each effect shows a one-on-one view, and each has its own over-the-shoulder shot to help clarify. For some reason, the video in the one-on-one shots were rather grainy but you could still see everything except small details. The over-the-shoulder shots were nice and clear. The section where he teaches how to make the main gimmick is also very clear. The audio was good and the music was not too loud.
The bill change that you see in the trailer is not gimmicked at all and everything on this DVD can be made to work with your own currency. While it is true that all of these methods and effects can be done close-up and in live performance, there are no live performances on the DVD, only studio performances.
Time to Change is easy to do and requires minimal setup, but it is very visual and not gimmicked at all. At the end, you can hand out the changed bill for examination.
Bounty is a very nice restoration effect where you tear one half of the bill off and get rid of it, then restore that half one quarter at a time. The last quarter visually pops into view - surprising and magical. This is a gimmicked effect and unless you are using this for TV or on stage, it may not be practical for everyone because without some routining, it cannot be handed out for examination.
Take Back is a different way to do the old bill transposition. This is the effect that uses the aforementioned gimmick that looks like the "printed" one that comes with the DVD. It is very clean and magical and at one point has a very nice Jay Sankey "Paper-Clipped" moment.
Last, you get a performance of all the effects in a routine, then he briefly walks through how to set it up and perform it. This is a short section since you already know how to perform them by this point. There is a fair bit of crediting as well as a thank-you section at the end of the DVD.
Though you do get a nicely hand-made gimmick with this DVD and some extra material to make another, I think because of the mixed production quality and lack of other effects to use the gimmick(s) with, the price point is a bit too high. This combination of things is was led to the 3.5 star rating, though the effects are very visual and magical.
If you like the visual nature of what you see in the trailer I think you will be happy with this or at least find a use for it. Once you make the gimmicks you can carry them around with you and be ready to go and even without any gimmicks, you will have a strong bill change ready to go at any time.
3.5 stars and it gets my recommendation if you think you might use it.
You get a DVD with a mixed quality of production values, a pre-made gimmick, some extra stuff to make a spare gimmick and for what it is, a quality piece of paper with another "gimmick" printed on it. Also, the extra something that you receive to make a second gimmick will be familiar to most magicians and is easily obtained if you need more.
The ad copy and trailer are spot on.
First to get it out of the way, the menu of the DVD is very well laid out and each of the three effects plus the routine demo has its own sub-menu. The sub menus are laid out into chapters which are all very easy to navigate and use, but there is no 'Play All' button. You have to click on each section and watch it, after which it takes you back to the sub menu where you can click the next section and go on. I was fine with this because it did not take you back to the main menu every time but back to the menu you started in - some may find it annoying but I did not.
That said, the teaching portions of the DVD are great - everything was clearly explained and easy to understand. Seol spoke Korean and there were very, very well-done English subtitles in each section. There is one effect that requires a bit more arts and crafts but once you make the gimmick, it will last a long time and while it is rather easy to make if you take your time, it can be tricky. There is another gimmick that has to be made and that piece of quality printed paper I mentioned earlier is not really meant to be used, but rather to show you what that gimmick should look like when you use your own currency to make it. This second gimmick is also not difficult to make.
Now for the production quality: The sound and the lighting was great and the explanation section for each effect shows a one-on-one view, and each has its own over-the-shoulder shot to help clarify. For some reason, the video in the one-on-one shots were rather grainy but you could still see everything except small details. The over-the-shoulder shots were nice and clear. The section where he teaches how to make the main gimmick is also very clear. The audio was good and the music was not too loud.
The bill change that you see in the trailer is not gimmicked at all and everything on this DVD can be made to work with your own currency. While it is true that all of these methods and effects can be done close-up and in live performance, there are no live performances on the DVD, only studio performances.
Time to Change is easy to do and requires minimal setup, but it is very visual and not gimmicked at all. At the end, you can hand out the changed bill for examination.
Bounty is a very nice restoration effect where you tear one half of the bill off and get rid of it, then restore that half one quarter at a time. The last quarter visually pops into view - surprising and magical. This is a gimmicked effect and unless you are using this for TV or on stage, it may not be practical for everyone because without some routining, it cannot be handed out for examination.
Take Back is a different way to do the old bill transposition. This is the effect that uses the aforementioned gimmick that looks like the "printed" one that comes with the DVD. It is very clean and magical and at one point has a very nice Jay Sankey "Paper-Clipped" moment.
Last, you get a performance of all the effects in a routine, then he briefly walks through how to set it up and perform it. This is a short section since you already know how to perform them by this point. There is a fair bit of crediting as well as a thank-you section at the end of the DVD.
Though you do get a nicely hand-made gimmick with this DVD and some extra material to make another, I think because of the mixed production quality and lack of other effects to use the gimmick(s) with, the price point is a bit too high. This combination of things is was led to the 3.5 star rating, though the effects are very visual and magical.
If you like the visual nature of what you see in the trailer I think you will be happy with this or at least find a use for it. Once you make the gimmicks you can carry them around with you and be ready to go and even without any gimmicks, you will have a strong bill change ready to go at any time.
3.5 stars and it gets my recommendation if you think you might use it.