Price$39.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedFeb 08, 2009
Illusion Through Expectation
Alex Moffat
RSVPMagic
(Based on 1 review)
CONTENTS INCLUDE:
Guestimate - The Magician accurately predicts what number a randomly chosen card is positioned in the deck.
The Moffat Double — Fast and flashy. A superb barehanded production of two playing cards in the blink of an eye!
Catch Me If You Can - Head down, eyes closed. Get ready to catch a card as it's fired out of the deck. Instant and memorable.
Double Hot Shot - Taking the Hot Shot Production to a brand new level.
Barely Watched — A playing card vanishes in your bare-hands and then instantly appears under your watch! A beautiful sequence that will get incredible reactions!
Mate - A card is freely selected from the deck. Right from the start, in his hand, the entire time, and the magician is holding a matching card! No forces and a completely free choice!
Deal Or No Deal — From a shuffled deck, the spectator deals to his freely named card, then, unsuspectingly knows exactly where it’s duplicate exists in the deck.
Mofusion - Possibly the best version of the fused signed card plot. The ultimate signature card routine.
Coin Punch — Alex invented this when he was just fifteen. He still uses it in his professional work... it's that good!
Sh4des of Dobson - A three phase coin Matrix routine inspired by Wayne Dobson's version made famous on his television series "It’s A Kind Of Magic."
Almo Wipe Clean - Inspired by David Williamson's "The Wonderful Coin Vanish." The hands are shown empty front and back, to then beautifully produce a coin.
Catch Us If You Can - Two chosen cards instantly fly up spinning from the deck, landing in each hand. Attention grabbing magic at it’s best!
Reboxed - A deck is removed from its case only to instantly vanish and reappear inside the card case which is in view the entire time. Superb!
Trio - Three signed cards vanish from the deck. One appears under a glass, the second appears under the card case. Now, incredibly, the entire deck vanishes and then reappears inside the card case, which has been sitting on the table throughout the entire time. The kicker comes when the magician takes the deck out of the box, spreads it onto the table to reveal the third signed card face up in the deck! A masterpiece of misdirection that will become the talking point of your act.
Broken & Restored Glasses - A borrowed pair of spectacles is broken and restored in a split second! A brilliant opener for the strolling magician
Bonus Material:
One handed false riffle shuffle
Topit Discussion
In-depth look at the sleights involved
Running Time Approximately 1hr 45min
Reviews
(Top ▲)
This DVD Illusion Through Expectation is not just a clever title for a DVD; it's also a solid mantra for the magi. This DVD, though a bit pricey, is loaded with gems.
Let me get my complaints out of the way first, then we'll dive into the meat. First, the DVD starts with a section showing you some "moves" that are going to be used throughout the performances. I would highly recommend you skip this section. Not because it's not good - it's actually quite good - but because you'll spoil the astonishment for yourself when you watch the routines. He teaches moves that he's going to use, and when you watch the performance, it's not as magical because you know what move he was doing.
Second, the in-studio spectator appeared to be less-than-thrilled to be there on most effects, and much of the live performance footage - though the magic was good - has poor reactions from the spectators. Also, quite often the spectators were very much in a position to see flashes of the very angle-sensitive material being performed. I think they were just being polite for the camera's sake. Additionally, the menu is a little bit annoying . . . there are multiple pages but no "previous" screen button. That's annoying. Other than that, this is a pretty darn solid DVD.
Let's examine each effect which I will comment on and judge on a scale from 1 to 5. Additionally, you'll find the ad copy for each effect in quotes and italics, along with my commentary. By the way, Mr. Moffat - thank you for putting more than one trick on a DVD!
Guestimate (3.5)
"The Magician accurately predicts what number a randomly chosen card is positioned in the deck."
Very good magic here, but I frankly think that the ending where the spectator counts the cards cut off by the magician, though baffling, is very anti-climatic. The effect, however is a solid routine.
The Moffat Double (4)
"Fast and flashy. A superb barehanded production of two playing cards in the blink of an eye!"
The ad does not exaggerate. Two empty hands suddenly have two playing cards in them. Very cool.
Catch Me If You Can (2.5)
"Head down, eyes closed. Get ready to catch a card as it's fired out of the deck. Instant and memorable."
This is basically just Danny Korem's move The Leaper. I don't know that Moffat added much to it. And he gave no credit to Korem.
Catch Us If You Can (3)
"Two chosen cards instantly fly up spinning from the deck, landing in each hand. Attention grabbing magic at it’s [sic] best!"
See above comments . . . this is the same thing, but with two cards. Again, not much added on top of Korem's move. Anyone who has messed around with The Leaper has tried it with 2 cards.
Double Hot Shot (3)
"Taking the Hot Shot Production to a brand new level."
Ok . . . this is a bit of an exaggeration. It's the Hot Shot Cut with two cards instead of one.
Barely Watched (3.5)
"A playing card vanishes in your bare-hands and then instantly appears under your watch! A beautiful sequence that will get incredible reactions!"
Very pretty and very fun to watch. Although, it seems that the final "reveal" of the card under the watch might somewhat tip the method. Putting that aside, however, this is a startling bare-handed vanish of a single playing card.
Mate (4.5)
"A card is freely selected from the deck. Right from the start, in his hand, the entire time, and the magician is holding a matching card! No forces and a completely free choice!"
This is very clever, and one of the more simple things on the DVD. It's as clean as the ad copy says too. One catch . . . you have to be seated. :(
Deal Or No Deal (3.5)
"From a shuffled deck, the spectator deals to his freely named card, then, unsuspectingly knows exactly where it’s [sic] duplicate exists in the deck."
This is solid. It's a little fidgety, but the effect is very powerful and seems pretty darn impossible. However, he left out a key point in the explanation. What do you do if the spectator names a number larger than 22? That probably makes no sense to you right now, but when you watch the explanation, you'll have the exact same question with no answer. :(
Mofusion (5)
"Possibly the best version of the fused signed card plot. The ultimate signature card routine."
Yep . . . I'd agree 100%. The spectator signs the front of one card, and initials the back of another that she can full examine. Then suddenly the two cards fuse together . . . her signature on the front and her initials on the back. It's beautiful and powerful.
Coin Punch (3.5)
"Alex invented this when he was just fifteen. He still uses it in his professional work... it's that good!"
Frankly this is a relatively standard handling of the Karate coin idea. I've seen many people (including Jay Sankey, Joel Givens and others). It's good, and there are some subtleties that make it look very much like you are really only using one coin.
Sh4des of Dobson (4)
"A three phase coin Matrix routine inspired by Wayne Dobson's version made famous on his television series 'It’s A Kind Of Magic.'"
I liked this matrix, and it had a lot of great moments that were very deceptive (using other people's moves - which he credited), but there were a couple of moments where he more-than-flashed-he-exposed, but still . . . pretty solid.
Almo Wipe Clean (5)
"Inspired by David Williamson's 'The Wonderful Coin Vanish.' The hands are shown empty front and back, to then beautifully produce a coin."
Beautiful . . . killer bare handed production of a coin.
Reboxed (5)
"A deck is removed from its case only to instantly vanish and reappear inside the card case which is in view the entire time. Superb!"
This is even better than it sounds. It's very funny and very well structured and happens perfectly.
Trio (1.5)
"Three signed cards vanish from the deck. One appears under a glass, the second appears under the card case. Now, incredibly, the entire deck vanishes and then reappears inside the card case, which has been sitting on the table throughout the entire time. The kicker comes when the magician takes the deck out of the box, spreads it onto the table to reveal the third signed card face up in the deck! A masterpiece of misdirection that will become the talking point of your act."
Way too fidgety and clunky. It almost seemed like he hadn't fully developed this one. He was a little uncomfortable appearing. But hey 1 rubble and 14 gems ain't bad folks.
Broken & Restored Glasses (5)
"A borrowed pair of spectacles is broken and restored in a split second! A brilliant opener for the strolling magician "
Maybe the best thing on the DVD. Super killer and super visual, and very powerful. It looks like real magic.
In addition to all of this (15 effects) you get a brief tutorial about the topit and a section with a handful of sleights being taught. This is a solid product all around. The average rating of all the effects is 3.8. Add in the value of the sleights you learn . . . take out a little for the high price and the few complaints I made at the beginning, and you're left with an absolutely solid 4 star GEM!
Let me get my complaints out of the way first, then we'll dive into the meat. First, the DVD starts with a section showing you some "moves" that are going to be used throughout the performances. I would highly recommend you skip this section. Not because it's not good - it's actually quite good - but because you'll spoil the astonishment for yourself when you watch the routines. He teaches moves that he's going to use, and when you watch the performance, it's not as magical because you know what move he was doing.
Second, the in-studio spectator appeared to be less-than-thrilled to be there on most effects, and much of the live performance footage - though the magic was good - has poor reactions from the spectators. Also, quite often the spectators were very much in a position to see flashes of the very angle-sensitive material being performed. I think they were just being polite for the camera's sake. Additionally, the menu is a little bit annoying . . . there are multiple pages but no "previous" screen button. That's annoying. Other than that, this is a pretty darn solid DVD.
Let's examine each effect which I will comment on and judge on a scale from 1 to 5. Additionally, you'll find the ad copy for each effect in quotes and italics, along with my commentary. By the way, Mr. Moffat - thank you for putting more than one trick on a DVD!
Guestimate (3.5)
"The Magician accurately predicts what number a randomly chosen card is positioned in the deck."
Very good magic here, but I frankly think that the ending where the spectator counts the cards cut off by the magician, though baffling, is very anti-climatic. The effect, however is a solid routine.
The Moffat Double (4)
"Fast and flashy. A superb barehanded production of two playing cards in the blink of an eye!"
The ad does not exaggerate. Two empty hands suddenly have two playing cards in them. Very cool.
Catch Me If You Can (2.5)
"Head down, eyes closed. Get ready to catch a card as it's fired out of the deck. Instant and memorable."
This is basically just Danny Korem's move The Leaper. I don't know that Moffat added much to it. And he gave no credit to Korem.
Catch Us If You Can (3)
"Two chosen cards instantly fly up spinning from the deck, landing in each hand. Attention grabbing magic at it’s [sic] best!"
See above comments . . . this is the same thing, but with two cards. Again, not much added on top of Korem's move. Anyone who has messed around with The Leaper has tried it with 2 cards.
Double Hot Shot (3)
"Taking the Hot Shot Production to a brand new level."
Ok . . . this is a bit of an exaggeration. It's the Hot Shot Cut with two cards instead of one.
Barely Watched (3.5)
"A playing card vanishes in your bare-hands and then instantly appears under your watch! A beautiful sequence that will get incredible reactions!"
Very pretty and very fun to watch. Although, it seems that the final "reveal" of the card under the watch might somewhat tip the method. Putting that aside, however, this is a startling bare-handed vanish of a single playing card.
Mate (4.5)
"A card is freely selected from the deck. Right from the start, in his hand, the entire time, and the magician is holding a matching card! No forces and a completely free choice!"
This is very clever, and one of the more simple things on the DVD. It's as clean as the ad copy says too. One catch . . . you have to be seated. :(
Deal Or No Deal (3.5)
"From a shuffled deck, the spectator deals to his freely named card, then, unsuspectingly knows exactly where it’s [sic] duplicate exists in the deck."
This is solid. It's a little fidgety, but the effect is very powerful and seems pretty darn impossible. However, he left out a key point in the explanation. What do you do if the spectator names a number larger than 22? That probably makes no sense to you right now, but when you watch the explanation, you'll have the exact same question with no answer. :(
Mofusion (5)
"Possibly the best version of the fused signed card plot. The ultimate signature card routine."
Yep . . . I'd agree 100%. The spectator signs the front of one card, and initials the back of another that she can full examine. Then suddenly the two cards fuse together . . . her signature on the front and her initials on the back. It's beautiful and powerful.
Coin Punch (3.5)
"Alex invented this when he was just fifteen. He still uses it in his professional work... it's that good!"
Frankly this is a relatively standard handling of the Karate coin idea. I've seen many people (including Jay Sankey, Joel Givens and others). It's good, and there are some subtleties that make it look very much like you are really only using one coin.
Sh4des of Dobson (4)
"A three phase coin Matrix routine inspired by Wayne Dobson's version made famous on his television series 'It’s A Kind Of Magic.'"
I liked this matrix, and it had a lot of great moments that were very deceptive (using other people's moves - which he credited), but there were a couple of moments where he more-than-flashed-he-exposed, but still . . . pretty solid.
Almo Wipe Clean (5)
"Inspired by David Williamson's 'The Wonderful Coin Vanish.' The hands are shown empty front and back, to then beautifully produce a coin."
Beautiful . . . killer bare handed production of a coin.
Reboxed (5)
"A deck is removed from its case only to instantly vanish and reappear inside the card case which is in view the entire time. Superb!"
This is even better than it sounds. It's very funny and very well structured and happens perfectly.
Trio (1.5)
"Three signed cards vanish from the deck. One appears under a glass, the second appears under the card case. Now, incredibly, the entire deck vanishes and then reappears inside the card case, which has been sitting on the table throughout the entire time. The kicker comes when the magician takes the deck out of the box, spreads it onto the table to reveal the third signed card face up in the deck! A masterpiece of misdirection that will become the talking point of your act."
Way too fidgety and clunky. It almost seemed like he hadn't fully developed this one. He was a little uncomfortable appearing. But hey 1 rubble and 14 gems ain't bad folks.
Broken & Restored Glasses (5)
"A borrowed pair of spectacles is broken and restored in a split second! A brilliant opener for the strolling magician "
Maybe the best thing on the DVD. Super killer and super visual, and very powerful. It looks like real magic.
In addition to all of this (15 effects) you get a brief tutorial about the topit and a section with a handful of sleights being taught. This is a solid product all around. The average rating of all the effects is 3.8. Add in the value of the sleights you learn . . . take out a little for the high price and the few complaints I made at the beginning, and you're left with an absolutely solid 4 star GEM!