Price$29.95
Media TypeTrick, DVD, Gimmick(s)
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedAug 09, 2014
Five
Xeon Steel
(Based on 2 reviews)
Comes with DVD + Gimmicks included. Easy to do. Instant Reset. A 5th Change Bonus, Origami Bonus Change and a Surprise Change! "Bills of course are not included". The construction of the bills with included gimmicks are easy and very intricately detailed.
This 2 hour DVD goes through all the intricate details, all the changes, the handling of "FIVE", sleights and all the routines need to perform the entire effect or even just one of the effects.
Xeon has created a one of a kind visual masterpiece in bill changes that can be done anytime and anywhere!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
Bill changes are flashy, bill changes are eye catching and bill changes fulfills many peoples dreams of having money multiply. However, in the end I am not a fan of bill changes for a few reasons. First, if you use your own bills such as in this effect, there is the initial cash outlay for a short effect. In addition, the bills are so altered that the performance has to be done at a distance and not very close up. Finally, the bills cannot be examined or even stared at for too long or they can and will look heavily prepared, which they are.Effect
A single dollar bill is removed from your wallet. It is then changed sequentially to a five, a ten, a twenty and then a fifty dollar bill. If desired, it can be shown as a single dollar bill again.Method
The method of course is a heavily gimmicked and prepared stack of bills. A few bills are cleverly stacked and setup to facilitate the effect.Product Quality
What you will receive is an instructional DVD, several small items to help facilitate the changes and a traditional magician’s utility device. The gimmicks provided are basic and there are no quality issues. The DVD is 2.5 hours long which covers the construction of the gimmick and performances. Unfortunately, the instructional DVD is where this effect falls a bit flat. It is incredibly tedious to watch. A bit of planning and directing would have made it more watchable. There is a lot of repetition and constructing and then undoing the gimmick and reassembling the gimmick. Instead of an overhead view of the construction process, Steel constantly was rotating the gimmick around from one direction to the other which was very disorienting. There is inconsistency in the construction process and the location of the filming which was confusing as well.Ad Copy Integrity
If one where to desire a multiple bill change the ad copy is accurate. Overall, if you take into account the possible negatives in an effect like this I would say this is as good if not better than other out there with a similar concept.(Top ▲)
I don’t like it when my first experience with a new product is frustrating. Unfortunately, such was the case with Five. The DVD contains 2 hours of video… with no chapters or navigation! I’m sorry, but in 2014, this is simply unacceptable. Any 8-year-old with an equally old computer can produce a DVD with chapters. Though I suppose that frustration kept me from getting me too upset about the lack of any basic editing. I don’t need an overproduced L&L video, but it’s not hard to re-shoot segments when something wasn’t quite right in the first take.
On to the material...
What you’ve got here is an adaptation (as well as new ideas) based of some of the recent work on multi-bill transformations, but applied to a single bill that changes multiple times. Overall, I think the result is very successful!
In addition to the DVD and included materials, you’ll need to cough up $86 in bills and spend about 30 minutes doing “arts and crafts.” If $86 is too steep for you, just leave out the $50 and you’re down to $36. If you’re really cheap, I suppose you could even leave out the $20.
My only other concern is venue. Without giving away too much, I should tell you that there’s an audible “tell” during the changes. It’s quiet enough that the creator suggests a “cough” to cover it in extreme close-up situations. But if the whole idea is to get four or five changes out of it, people are going to start backing away because you apparently have a cold.
So very close up is tricky, unless you’re in a place with some ambient noise. Stage is also problematic because it can be hard to tell the difference between bills from more than a few yards away. Of course, if you have a camera, you’re all set.
Finally, I feel I should mention that you can’t show the back side of the bill at any point. So you won’t be able to have people standing behind you, which rules out a lot of strolling situations.
But it’s visual, compact and easy to do. So if you’ve got a venue that will work with constraints I mentioned, it’s certainly worth looking into.
On to the material...
What you’ve got here is an adaptation (as well as new ideas) based of some of the recent work on multi-bill transformations, but applied to a single bill that changes multiple times. Overall, I think the result is very successful!
In addition to the DVD and included materials, you’ll need to cough up $86 in bills and spend about 30 minutes doing “arts and crafts.” If $86 is too steep for you, just leave out the $50 and you’re down to $36. If you’re really cheap, I suppose you could even leave out the $20.
My only other concern is venue. Without giving away too much, I should tell you that there’s an audible “tell” during the changes. It’s quiet enough that the creator suggests a “cough” to cover it in extreme close-up situations. But if the whole idea is to get four or five changes out of it, people are going to start backing away because you apparently have a cold.
So very close up is tricky, unless you’re in a place with some ambient noise. Stage is also problematic because it can be hard to tell the difference between bills from more than a few yards away. Of course, if you have a camera, you’re all set.
Finally, I feel I should mention that you can’t show the back side of the bill at any point. So you won’t be able to have people standing behind you, which rules out a lot of strolling situations.
But it’s visual, compact and easy to do. So if you’ve got a venue that will work with constraints I mentioned, it’s certainly worth looking into.