Price$29.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryPhilosophy
Date AddedSep 18, 2013
Hungry?
Bich, Mathieu
CREATEX - Mathieu Bich
(Based on 1 review)
The simplicity of the sandwich effect is precisely what makes it the ideal trick to help you understand, learn and develop a creative process for magic tricks.
Through twelve sandwich effects, Mathieu Bich will share with you a few of his tips to help you become more creative.
You will learn fun and amazing techniques and you will understand how to modify a basic effect, turning it into an exercise that will develop your imagination and your trick-inventing skills.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Effect
Well . . . we all know what sandwich effects are, I think. Two cards (e.g., two Jokers, two Queens, etc.) are placed aside. A card is selected. It's either lost in the deck or vanishes. Then it reappears sandwiched between the two put aside cards. This DVD gives a 6 foot sub sandwich made up of over 14 different effects. The majority of them are clean, clear and visual. Every version can be done with a signed cards. When you watch the trailer and see some of the versions, I'll bet you'd assume that it could not be done with a signed card, but it can. Some of the effects, however - again, they're all "sandwich" effects - are not as clean and clear, and they're very "move-y" and "angle-y" and should only be performed (if at all) in front of one or two people at most.
Method
The methods vary widely. They range from the impromptu sans-gimmick to the ridiculously un-impromptu and super-gimmicked. Some of the methods require you to have all kinds of crazy stuff in your deck that makes the deck kind of useless for any other trick. Some of them require a set up that's just too much "stuff" and effort to make it worth doing. There are other ways that are much simpler (even on this DVD) that accomplish the same effect with way less prep work.
However, many of the methods are very practical and they're all very doable (even the crazy method ones). There's only one that I might call not easily doable - the one with the holes in the sandwich cards. It's very finicky and looks super fishy.
Almost every single method requires a gimmick, and many of the methods require superfluous moves and displays that clutter and make the effect less pretty and less clean. It's likely, however, that everyone will find at a least one method (or more) that they'll latch onto and use (if you're into sandwiches).
Ad Copy Integrity
Well . . . this one falls a bit flat on ad copy accuracy. The video trailer and the DVD cover and the web copy all claim that this DVD isn't really about sandwich effects, but rather it's about becoming more creative and learning how to create new effects, etc.
In reality, of the 90 minutes of DVD, maybe 10 or so minutes are spent teaching (term used loosely) how to be more creative, and most of that 10 minutes was spent talking about the fact that "this DVD won't be about sandwich effects, but rather it'll be about creativity. Very generic "tips" are given about being creative and creating effects. The "how to be creative and create a trick" advice given can be summed up thusly: find old tricks that you don't like and try to rework them. Then do research to make sure that you're new reworking doesn't belong to someone else.
That's it folks . . . really. I'm not exaggerating - can one really exaggerate when talking about the lack of something? Anyway, rhetorical questions aside, any information gained from any advertising efforts would have likely lead you to believe that you were getting a DVD about creativity. If you go in with that hope, you'll be greatly disappointed.
At the very end of the DVD, he says something along these lines: "use the various sandwich effects on here as examples of how to create an effect." It's pretty vague, but some of the history of the methods that he mentions during each effect does give a little insight into the creation of the effects. But it was more like "this is what I wanted the effect to be, so I kept working until I figured it out." That's great, but he should be focusing on How he figured it out rather than That he figured it out.
Final Thoughts
The DVD is well produced and you get a lot different methods for accomplishing a sandwich effect for $29 bucks. That's a decent bang for your buck. However a few of the effects required a special card or two. He could have easily supplied the cards (even though you likely have them in your collection already) just to add a little value to the product.
The bottom line is that if you're looking for a DVD about "Feeding Your Creativity" you'll be disappointed for sure. As I mentioned, I'm not a fan of sandwich effects, but that doesn't mean you're not. If you are, then get this. There are a ton of great ideas on here. Just be aware that you're not getting a course in creativity; you're getting, simply: sandwiches.
Final Verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.