Price$34.95
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJul 10, 2015
The London Collection
Hollingworth, Guy
Dan and Dave Buck
(Based on 1 review)
Approximate Runtime: 198 minutes.
Guy Hollingworth literally stunned the magic community with his appearance on the television show World's Greatest Magic. His techniques and handlings were innovative and flawlessly performed, fooling all and sundry. MAGIC Magazine quickly put the debonair performer on the cover with the caption "Who is this Guy?", as he had taken us all by by surprise. Mr. Hollingworth, it turned out, was a student in university, magic coming into his life not by any intense interest, but as a convenient way to avoid rugby practice!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
***PLEASE NOTE: IF GUY HOLLINGWORTH IS READING THIS, PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES FOR WHAT IS TO FOLLOW. THIS REVIEW HAS NOTHING AGAINST THE PERSONALITY OR SKILL OF GUY HOLLINGWORTH.***
I am an avid fan of Guy Hollingworth and the work that he has done and continues to do since the release of his book, Drawing Room Deceptions. The work in the book could be considered as trend-setting and in fact, much of it has come to be very well-respected over the years since its release. The same can be said for Guy himself.
When the book was first released, I was among the proverbial first in line to buy a copy. I worked my way through the book, learning different effects and reading his theories and stories that make up the book in between the effects. I still use quite a bit of the material today in my working repertoire because the material is very good and very strong.
This DVD was awesome and a disappointment at the same time. Allow me to explain:
I was very excited to see this because I had not gotten the chance to see the original VHS release from 1996. Even though I understood the things that I read in the book, after much study, it would still be nice to see the creator/author performing that work.
The box is nice - it is a two-piece metal box with a molded plastic liner inside to hold the disc securely. The lid has the name of the disc on it and the back is printed with information about the history behind the original release and this update on it. There is no ad copy to speak of.
When I got this disc and played it, I was impressed with the visual parts of the effects; the strength of the material and the fact that they are very magical cannot be denied. The quality of the sound is possibly the worst I have ever encountered on a DVD. It was an astronomical disaster. I have seen VHS (and even pre-VHS) tapes from the 60s and 70s put on DVD with much, much better sound quality where, even with crappy video quality, I could still clearly hear what was being said. Maybe it is just my disc, but in watching the 'Original Release' section, for the vast majority of it, I could not understand or make out a single thing that Guy was saying. There were parts here and there that I could make out, but it was extremely difficult even then.
In my opinion, I think Dan & Dave did guy a major disservice in this respect. I realize that it was a transfer from a VHS to a DVD, but they could have done quite a few things to make the audio better. It seems to me that it was just transfered as is and they did not bother to check the sound quality at all.
The video quality is as you might expect if you are familiar with your typical VHS quality around the mid 1990s. It was not stellar but it was good - the opposite, in fact, to the sound quality.
I really, really loved the format of the video itself. It is very unique as far as magic videos are concerned and I wish more DVDs were formatted like this. It is all in black & white, but it was not shot in a studio. It was almost like a video diary/tour: It starts off below the London Bridge and follows Guy through parts of the city. At each part, he performs an effect. Eventually, he reaches his home where he finishes performing in various parts of the home. The explanations are also given in various parts throughout his home.
The video was still alright but again, the sound was a disaster.
There is a commentary section which is not really a commentary as you might expect. It is actually modern footage of Guy Hollingworth watching a clip of an effect on his television, then proceeding to discuss some of the history of the effect, ideas he has had and updated handlings as well as additional handlings for various venues. This video quality of this footage is good but I would not call it superb studio-quality. It is shot in his home. How is the sound? It is pretty low at times but it is much better than the sound in the Original Footage video - you can actually understand what he is saying in the whole commentary section, even if you have to listen just a little more from time to time.
The problem I have with the sound quality really comes down to whether or not someone would still be able to learn the effects if they chose to watch the video in silence. You could, in some cases, but not for the majority. If I had not been familiar with, read and studied his book for so many years I would not have learned much about how the effects were done as they were shown in the 'Original Footage' video.
The updated handlings were absolutely brilliant and even if the handlings of some parts had not changed much since the original release, he still had some great additional tips for each one.
The menu is very bare bones and I wish they had split it up a little more. The menu pops up with the option of watching the 'Original Footage' of The London Collection or watching the commentary. The 'Original Footage' plays all the way through automatically and is not, as you might suspect, split up into chapters. There are also no titles that pop up telling you the name of the effect as they are performed. If you could actually hear what Guy was saying, he might have been telling you the names but I could not understand anything, so I have no clue.
The commentary section was split up into chapters, each one named for the effect that is discussed in that particular chapter. If you watch them one at a time, it returns you to the commentary section menu at the end of that chapter. Otherwise, you can "Play All", which takes you all the way through the whole playlist.
Guy Hollingworth is a great teacher and does an excellent job of explaining everything on the disc in great detail and clarity. Watching the commentary section was an absolute delight, and even with the crappy audio quality of the 'Original Footage', just watching the explanations you can see that he is a great teacher. If you have the book and you have at least read through it, follow along the 'Original Footage' with the book in hand - you will understand more that way.
In my opinion, the poor quality of the sound and to a very limited degree, the video quality, did not do the effects (or the strength of the material contained on this disc) any justice. In fact, as I said before, I think a great disservice was done to Guy Hollingworth and his work because of the poor quality of the sound. Also as I said before: This issue may be unique to the disc that I got or it may be on all of the discs produced. I have no idea if this is the case. However, IF I find out that I just have a bad copy and have a way to prove that the problem is just with my copy, I will change this review accordingly in the future.
Will the sound quality affect the rating of this disc? Absolutely - and it kills me because I deeply respect Guy Hollingworth and the work he has done. I have been and will continue to support him and his work by continuing to use it as I have been for many years in my own work.
The price for this particular volume is kind of a double-edged sword; on one hand, for the quality of the disc overall, it is a bit high, though it is your "typical" price for DVDs these days ("typical" being right around $35-40/USD). On the other hand, for the quality of the material on this disc, the price is fine and it certainly could have been put out at a higher price, though I suspect that, if the poor audio quality issue is universal to all copies, a higher price would really have drawn some complaints.
If I were to base this disc on the strength of the material and quality of teaching alone, it would absolutely without doubt be a 5 star product. As it is, with video quality that could have been cleaned up a little and having possibly the worst audio quality I have ever seen on a DVD...
Barely recommending this with 3 stars.
*NOTE #2: As before, if I see a better copy of this disc in the future with the above outlined issues fixed, I will change the review accordingly.
I am an avid fan of Guy Hollingworth and the work that he has done and continues to do since the release of his book, Drawing Room Deceptions. The work in the book could be considered as trend-setting and in fact, much of it has come to be very well-respected over the years since its release. The same can be said for Guy himself.
When the book was first released, I was among the proverbial first in line to buy a copy. I worked my way through the book, learning different effects and reading his theories and stories that make up the book in between the effects. I still use quite a bit of the material today in my working repertoire because the material is very good and very strong.
This DVD was awesome and a disappointment at the same time. Allow me to explain:
I was very excited to see this because I had not gotten the chance to see the original VHS release from 1996. Even though I understood the things that I read in the book, after much study, it would still be nice to see the creator/author performing that work.
The box is nice - it is a two-piece metal box with a molded plastic liner inside to hold the disc securely. The lid has the name of the disc on it and the back is printed with information about the history behind the original release and this update on it. There is no ad copy to speak of.
When I got this disc and played it, I was impressed with the visual parts of the effects; the strength of the material and the fact that they are very magical cannot be denied. The quality of the sound is possibly the worst I have ever encountered on a DVD. It was an astronomical disaster. I have seen VHS (and even pre-VHS) tapes from the 60s and 70s put on DVD with much, much better sound quality where, even with crappy video quality, I could still clearly hear what was being said. Maybe it is just my disc, but in watching the 'Original Release' section, for the vast majority of it, I could not understand or make out a single thing that Guy was saying. There were parts here and there that I could make out, but it was extremely difficult even then.
In my opinion, I think Dan & Dave did guy a major disservice in this respect. I realize that it was a transfer from a VHS to a DVD, but they could have done quite a few things to make the audio better. It seems to me that it was just transfered as is and they did not bother to check the sound quality at all.
The video quality is as you might expect if you are familiar with your typical VHS quality around the mid 1990s. It was not stellar but it was good - the opposite, in fact, to the sound quality.
I really, really loved the format of the video itself. It is very unique as far as magic videos are concerned and I wish more DVDs were formatted like this. It is all in black & white, but it was not shot in a studio. It was almost like a video diary/tour: It starts off below the London Bridge and follows Guy through parts of the city. At each part, he performs an effect. Eventually, he reaches his home where he finishes performing in various parts of the home. The explanations are also given in various parts throughout his home.
The video was still alright but again, the sound was a disaster.
There is a commentary section which is not really a commentary as you might expect. It is actually modern footage of Guy Hollingworth watching a clip of an effect on his television, then proceeding to discuss some of the history of the effect, ideas he has had and updated handlings as well as additional handlings for various venues. This video quality of this footage is good but I would not call it superb studio-quality. It is shot in his home. How is the sound? It is pretty low at times but it is much better than the sound in the Original Footage video - you can actually understand what he is saying in the whole commentary section, even if you have to listen just a little more from time to time.
The problem I have with the sound quality really comes down to whether or not someone would still be able to learn the effects if they chose to watch the video in silence. You could, in some cases, but not for the majority. If I had not been familiar with, read and studied his book for so many years I would not have learned much about how the effects were done as they were shown in the 'Original Footage' video.
The updated handlings were absolutely brilliant and even if the handlings of some parts had not changed much since the original release, he still had some great additional tips for each one.
The menu is very bare bones and I wish they had split it up a little more. The menu pops up with the option of watching the 'Original Footage' of The London Collection or watching the commentary. The 'Original Footage' plays all the way through automatically and is not, as you might suspect, split up into chapters. There are also no titles that pop up telling you the name of the effect as they are performed. If you could actually hear what Guy was saying, he might have been telling you the names but I could not understand anything, so I have no clue.
The commentary section was split up into chapters, each one named for the effect that is discussed in that particular chapter. If you watch them one at a time, it returns you to the commentary section menu at the end of that chapter. Otherwise, you can "Play All", which takes you all the way through the whole playlist.
Guy Hollingworth is a great teacher and does an excellent job of explaining everything on the disc in great detail and clarity. Watching the commentary section was an absolute delight, and even with the crappy audio quality of the 'Original Footage', just watching the explanations you can see that he is a great teacher. If you have the book and you have at least read through it, follow along the 'Original Footage' with the book in hand - you will understand more that way.
In my opinion, the poor quality of the sound and to a very limited degree, the video quality, did not do the effects (or the strength of the material contained on this disc) any justice. In fact, as I said before, I think a great disservice was done to Guy Hollingworth and his work because of the poor quality of the sound. Also as I said before: This issue may be unique to the disc that I got or it may be on all of the discs produced. I have no idea if this is the case. However, IF I find out that I just have a bad copy and have a way to prove that the problem is just with my copy, I will change this review accordingly in the future.
Will the sound quality affect the rating of this disc? Absolutely - and it kills me because I deeply respect Guy Hollingworth and the work he has done. I have been and will continue to support him and his work by continuing to use it as I have been for many years in my own work.
The price for this particular volume is kind of a double-edged sword; on one hand, for the quality of the disc overall, it is a bit high, though it is your "typical" price for DVDs these days ("typical" being right around $35-40/USD). On the other hand, for the quality of the material on this disc, the price is fine and it certainly could have been put out at a higher price, though I suspect that, if the poor audio quality issue is universal to all copies, a higher price would really have drawn some complaints.
If I were to base this disc on the strength of the material and quality of teaching alone, it would absolutely without doubt be a 5 star product. As it is, with video quality that could have been cleaned up a little and having possibly the worst audio quality I have ever seen on a DVD...
Barely recommending this with 3 stars.
*NOTE #2: As before, if I see a better copy of this disc in the future with the above outlined issues fixed, I will change the review accordingly.