Price$39.95
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedMay 01, 2015
Promotion
Kyle Purnell
Mystique Factory
(Based on 2 reviews)
Promotion is all about heightening the impossibility of the bill change. When you do magic with a perfectly unique (signed) and even borrowed object, it will stick with your audiences for a long time. SIGNATURE STILL ACROSS THE BILL!
Keep in mind:
•The bill can be borrowed and signed! (American Currency or any bill that have similar colors)
•The gimmick does most of the work for you!
•Reuse the same bill after multiple performances!
•Immediately examinable!
•Takes up minimal pocket space
The DVD includes detailed instructions on making the gimmick and how to use it in performance, as well as materials to construct your own gimmick in minutes.
Routines you can find on the DVD:•Promotion- which is Kyle's signature effect where a signed Five Dollar Bill changes to a Twenty Dollar Bill while the signature stays on the Twenty Dollar Bill!
•An ultimate transposition type of effect -the spectator visually see the card change without any cover.
•Bill to card change/Card to bill change.
•Change a bill to your business card.
•A Bill Switch with any type of currency.
Keypoints to remember:•The bill is borrowed in both versions.
•Everything can be examined before and after.
•In every version you start and end clean.
•Easy to do.
•Reset in seconds.
•Use the same gimmick over and over again.
•Endless possibilities.
•You can use any size bills.
"Clean and visual I love it!" -Dan Hauss
"F#&@°%G Brilliant!" -Rus Andrews
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Weight of The World by Evanescence
Promotion Review
One DVD, six little "thingies", $40 bucks and one Promotion Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Promotion Review: Effect
A borrowed bill is signed and changes to a different denomination while maintaining the signature. Before you run off and buy it based on the effect, we gots lots to talk about. Don't make any sudden moves.
Promotion Review: Method
The method is a gimmick that you have to construct by destroying (permanently) two bills. If you're changing from a $5 to a $20, you will have to destroy a $5 and a $20. The gimmick also is made up of the six aforementioned thingies. Once you've figured out how to make the gimmick — if you ever do — it's not entirely reliable, and the illusion is not very deceptive. The clean up is ugly and obvious to say the least. So the question, when it comes to method, is does the method work? Reliably? Deceptively? No, no, and no. As we dive into the Ad Copy Integrity and the Product Quality, things will become much clearer.
Promotion Review: Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is misleading at best. First, they constant refer to the signature being "across the bill." This is simply not true. It's on a very small folded up section of the bill. Next, it claims that the bill can be signed as long as you're using currency with similar colors. Nope. They have to be the same color, not similar. Maybe you think that's nit-picking. Fine. Ignore that "issue" and read on.
It claims that you can reuse the same bill for multiple performances. Let's pause and think about this. You borrow their $5 dollar bill. You have them (apparently) sign their own $5 dollar bill. You then change it into a $20 bill with their signature still on it. In order to reuse the same ($20) bill for future performances, here's what you have to do (as "taught" on the DVD). You put the $20 (theoretically their $20) with their signature in your pocket and say that they can't have it, but that you'll give them another $5 bill to replace the one they borrowed.
Lastly, to reuse the $20 for the next performance, you have to take it aside and erase the signature. Thus you need to have the bill signed with a Frixion pen or some other erase-able pen. So you have them sign their own money, change it, take it (ha-ha, you don't get the twenty even though it IS your bill because it's the one you signed) and give them another one from your pocket in the most un-magical way possible. Then you have to go hide in a corner and erase their signature.
Oh, and writing on a dollar bill with a Frixion pen is hard enough, but when you couple it with the cramped and awkward way you have to hold the bill while they sign it along with the fact that the gimmicks cause the bill to be all lumpy and bumpy, it's just not practical to have the bill signed.
Next claim: Immediately examinable. This one is sort of true. However, you have to unload the gimmick right in front of their face in the worst way at the worst possible time. It's obvious and, to put it lightly, audible. They will hear and see you remove the gimmick. Watch the video review, and I'll show you what I'm talking about.
Another claim is that there is "An ultimate transposition type of effect . . . " It's a two card transpo, and there is nothing ultimate about it, and yes, I know that ultimate means "last" as in "the last word in transpos" or "the last transpo you''ll ever need." Trust me. This ain't that. They claim that you'll learn a bill switch with any type of currency. Nope. He sloppily walks through one type of currency while saying that the gimmick is the same as used for the $5 to $20 change, but that you'll "need to slightly modify it." Yet he does not tell you how to modify it. In fact, for all of the variations (card changes, card to bill, bill to business card, etc.) he makes the same statement about having to slightly modify the gimmick but never shows you how.
They claim that you can use any size bills. Okay . . . show us how. He talked about it by telling us to imagine going from a $5 Euro (a small sized bill) to a $500 Euro (a physically very large bill), but he does not show us anything. Due to the nature of the gimmick, I have no idea how to modify it for two different sized bills.
The ad copy claims that a bill to card change is taught. Nope. There's a card to bill, but not bill to card. The ad copy claims that both exist. Only one does, and the gimmick is not reversible. A bill to card gimmick would be built differently from a card to bill gimmick. He "performs" the card to bill and kind of talks about the gimmick. However, he never shows a bill to card gimmick, never performs, etc.
The video trailer claims that 7 routines are taught. First, no routines. He barely walks through the operation of the gimmick applied in seven different ways. Second, in order to do the 7 different versions, you'd have to make 7 different gimmicks. You are only supplied enough stuff to make 1 gimmick. The video also left out some footage that would clearly reveal how less-than-clean this is. They also cut the audio and played music over the footage completely concealing the very loud noise made when the effect happens.
Here's the biggest offender. The ad copy claims, "The DVD includes detailed instructions on making the gimmick and how to use it in performance . . . " The DVD does nothing of the sort. There is NOTHING . . . I mean NOTHING . . . detailed about any single part of this DVD. Maurice Kim, the "teacher" barely walks through creating the gimmick. Not only that, but NOWHERE . . . I mean NOWHERE on the DVD does he show you how to attach the gimmick to the $20. More on this in the Product Quality section below.
Promotion Review: Product Quality
The product quality is crap to put it nicely. They even prove it by having a trick called Visual Transpoo. It's spelled that way on the main menu and on the text overlay graphic before the trick is "taught" on the DVD. I get that Maurice Kim doesn't speak English as his first language, but this is Kyle Purnell's product. Didn't he look at it? Yes, that alone doesn't impact the star rating, but it's a sign of things to come.
First, the video doesn't even fill up the screen. You watch it with the "black bars" on the vertical and the horizontal sides of the screen. Second, the camera was too far back to see anything useful. Several times, stuff was being "taught" off screen, therefore nothing could be seen, regardless of the lighting or audio, both of which were also terrible. After watching the DVD twice and then clicking around to re-watch parts multiple times, I was barely able to get the gimmick made correctly. It took me forever to figure out how to attach it to the real $20 — I used a million dollar bill instead of a $20.
Once I did get it attached, the gimmick does not look very good or deceptive. Further, the operation of the gimmick/the handling is NOT taught, so I'm actually unclear how to get the visual change shown in the performances.
On top of all that, there were dogs barking in the background and furniture being moved (or something making a loud dragging sound). It was clear that Maurice Kim did not prepare for this video shoot. It was the epitome of winging it. The teaching was non-existent. Further, there's an effect where he "shows" you how to change a playing card to a dollar bill. First, he does not show you how to make the gimmick. Second, he tells you that you can use this for a trick where you show a dollar bill as a bet. Claim that if you don't guess the spectator's card, they'll get the dollar. Then you magically change the dollar to their thought of card. Do you see the problem? The gimmick is made to change from a card to a dollar bill. He never shows you anything about how to make a bill change to a card.
Promotion Review: Final Thoughts
If you're looking for some crap, you've come to the right place. You'll be very happy with your purchase. If, however, you're looking for some semblance of a decent bill change or product of any sort, run away.
Final Verdict:
1 Star with a Stone Status of Rubble.
Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic For Details.
(Top ▲)
I really wanted to like this. I really did...
The videos that I have seen so far from this company makes me think of them as the next SansMinds but for a very different reason.
I would like to say that the ad copy for this is 100% honest/accurate, but I cannot because of the video itself, rather because of a lack of what is in the video. I will explain in a moment.
As for the menu, it is easy to navigate and you can Play All or watch chapter by chapter. The audio quality was not great, but just okay. The video was mediocre and the camerawork was shoddy the one or two times it was not on a stationary set of sticks (tripod).
The DVD opens with a performance at what I assume is a coffee shop. Kyle Purnell performs the effect for two girls behind the counter with the camera at the other end of the counter. At no time did the camera zoom in or did he turn to the camera so you could see the bills, the signature or what was happening. After the bill was signed and it was changed from a $5/US note into a $20/US note, you had to draw that conclusion from the reaction of the two women and take his [Kyel Purnell] word for it that it happened. Neither during the performance or during the explanation could you clearly see the signature on the bill before the change, nor was it shown up close after. That to me screams "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE CLAIM".
Maurice Kim did the explanations for this video. The camera shot was all done from a head-on, wide view perspective on stationary sticks (sorry, I am using the tech term for 'tripod' here again). The video quality was not great but it was okay, the audio was a bit low at times and not sufficient in my opinion.
When Mr. Kim shows you how to cut and assemble the necessary pieces for the gimmick, he shows you how to make the gimmick itself, and then he merely tells you how to put it onto a real bill - they never actually show you. Then, they just go into the explanations of the various ways of using the gimmick.
They show you how to change a bill of one denomination to another, one playing card to another, a bill to card and vice versa and a bill to business card. Again, he tells you that the gimmick for each effect is made exactly the same way as the one he shows you how to make using to US notes at the beginning. They never show you any further processes at constructing or placing them on the bill/card for actual use.
Further more, he tells you that the gimmick is easy to open because where it needs to open is in the middle. No close-up shot to show you this.
When you make up the gimmick to use it with paper money, you will be destroying two bills, so you have to pick and choose your denominations and decide whether it is worth destroying them for this. If you choose to do a bill to card version, you will only destroy one note.
If at any time you want to change the type of transformation you wish to do - say you made your first gimmick to change a $5/US to a $20/US, then you wanted to change a $1/US into a playing card or one playing card into another, then you would have to deconstruct your $5/$20 gimmick and make another one unless you buy more of the necessary 'stuff' that comes with the DVD.
Another problem I had with this particular gimmick is, due to the nature of the gimmick, one of the open visual changes and the clean-up after the change, while not difficult at all, is LOUD. For the visual change, even if you snap your fingers to cover the noise, it still does not sound quite right. For the removal, there is no way to hide the sound. If you want to use this, from my observation (and even though I could hear it even in the performance in the coffee shop), I think you would only be able to use this in a very, very loud place. One-on-one/two/three and you are screwed.
The best change on the whole DVD was the $1 to business card and if I were to rate this whole DVD on that change alone, I would give it 4 stars. Alas, I cannot because the clean-up still suffers but the change is the quietest of them all.
The other issue I have with this is that if you want to change one playing card into another, you have to fold it in half the long way. Bills are folded in quarters the long way. There are much more visual and cleaner (read: better) versions of bill changes and card changes that show the whole face of the card or at least half the bill to make it more visual.
This DVD is WAY overprices at $39.95/USD. You get a rather mediocre production quality DVD with questionable performance points (and thus a questionable ad copy), a less-than-desirable explanation section and the 6 bits necessary to make the gimmicks.
Save your money and stay away from this one. It is getting two stars because it works the way they say it does; unfortunately, it is not as good as it could be.
The videos that I have seen so far from this company makes me think of them as the next SansMinds but for a very different reason.
I would like to say that the ad copy for this is 100% honest/accurate, but I cannot because of the video itself, rather because of a lack of what is in the video. I will explain in a moment.
As for the menu, it is easy to navigate and you can Play All or watch chapter by chapter. The audio quality was not great, but just okay. The video was mediocre and the camerawork was shoddy the one or two times it was not on a stationary set of sticks (tripod).
The DVD opens with a performance at what I assume is a coffee shop. Kyle Purnell performs the effect for two girls behind the counter with the camera at the other end of the counter. At no time did the camera zoom in or did he turn to the camera so you could see the bills, the signature or what was happening. After the bill was signed and it was changed from a $5/US note into a $20/US note, you had to draw that conclusion from the reaction of the two women and take his [Kyel Purnell] word for it that it happened. Neither during the performance or during the explanation could you clearly see the signature on the bill before the change, nor was it shown up close after. That to me screams "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE CLAIM".
Maurice Kim did the explanations for this video. The camera shot was all done from a head-on, wide view perspective on stationary sticks (sorry, I am using the tech term for 'tripod' here again). The video quality was not great but it was okay, the audio was a bit low at times and not sufficient in my opinion.
When Mr. Kim shows you how to cut and assemble the necessary pieces for the gimmick, he shows you how to make the gimmick itself, and then he merely tells you how to put it onto a real bill - they never actually show you. Then, they just go into the explanations of the various ways of using the gimmick.
They show you how to change a bill of one denomination to another, one playing card to another, a bill to card and vice versa and a bill to business card. Again, he tells you that the gimmick for each effect is made exactly the same way as the one he shows you how to make using to US notes at the beginning. They never show you any further processes at constructing or placing them on the bill/card for actual use.
Further more, he tells you that the gimmick is easy to open because where it needs to open is in the middle. No close-up shot to show you this.
When you make up the gimmick to use it with paper money, you will be destroying two bills, so you have to pick and choose your denominations and decide whether it is worth destroying them for this. If you choose to do a bill to card version, you will only destroy one note.
If at any time you want to change the type of transformation you wish to do - say you made your first gimmick to change a $5/US to a $20/US, then you wanted to change a $1/US into a playing card or one playing card into another, then you would have to deconstruct your $5/$20 gimmick and make another one unless you buy more of the necessary 'stuff' that comes with the DVD.
Another problem I had with this particular gimmick is, due to the nature of the gimmick, one of the open visual changes and the clean-up after the change, while not difficult at all, is LOUD. For the visual change, even if you snap your fingers to cover the noise, it still does not sound quite right. For the removal, there is no way to hide the sound. If you want to use this, from my observation (and even though I could hear it even in the performance in the coffee shop), I think you would only be able to use this in a very, very loud place. One-on-one/two/three and you are screwed.
The best change on the whole DVD was the $1 to business card and if I were to rate this whole DVD on that change alone, I would give it 4 stars. Alas, I cannot because the clean-up still suffers but the change is the quietest of them all.
The other issue I have with this is that if you want to change one playing card into another, you have to fold it in half the long way. Bills are folded in quarters the long way. There are much more visual and cleaner (read: better) versions of bill changes and card changes that show the whole face of the card or at least half the bill to make it more visual.
This DVD is WAY overprices at $39.95/USD. You get a rather mediocre production quality DVD with questionable performance points (and thus a questionable ad copy), a less-than-desirable explanation section and the 6 bits necessary to make the gimmicks.
Save your money and stay away from this one. It is getting two stars because it works the way they say it does; unfortunately, it is not as good as it could be.