Title: Declassified with Brandon Williams
Medium: DVD two sold separately
Arena: close up, impromptu, mentalism
Available: Any shop, distributed by Murphys Magic Supplies

Declassified consist of two separate DVDs, one called Double Feature which covers metal bending and color changes, the second routines with every day objects. Both run about 38 minutes each and are stated as ‘designed for the beginner who wants to take his magic to the next level’. The DVD has that street feel to it. Loud bad music, tricks done on a highway overpass, darkness, t shirts, all that wonderful street assassin stuff. The production quality was pretty good. The performance pieces were a bit dark but that is to be expected….assassins work best in the darkness, or school hallways, whichever. The demonstrations were better lit and fine except I would have preferred they use a basic backdrop rather than the artificial one edited in. The sound was clear through out. The only real problem was during the explanations they played this loop of what I guess they thought was mysterious music. It was less intrusive during the color change section, for example, than the metal bending. Overall a nicely produced set of DVDs.

I will admit that while I had heard the name Brandon Williams I wasn’t familiar with him and after the intro was so ‘street’ in nature I didn’t expect to gain much from the DVDs. Before I get into the individual DVDs I want to say that I jumped to conclusions. Brandon speaks well, certainly knows how to present metal bending and also is more than comfortable with cards. He explains the effects completely and clearly. I was very impressed and think that those beyond beginner level will learn from these DVDs. I take it the reason he selected color changes was that is very Blaine and the young folks love color changes. Let’s take a look at the DVDs.

Declassified: Double Feature:

The first part is on metal bending. This consists of spoons, fork prongs, coins, keys, and nails. I’ve seen two hour DVDs that didn’t explain the angles and moves as clearly as this DVD does. You learn how to get the bends in and most importantly how to reveal the bends in a manner that looks good. Brandon does this very well and explains it very clearly. The part where too many fail is the presentation and this DVD explains everything you need to know.

The second part is on color changes with cards, of course. The eight most common color changes are shown including the side steal, snap change, pivot, Erdnase (Houdini) color change, etc.. Again Brandon does a very good job showing and explaining the color changes and does some of the most clear examples I’ve seen on DVD. Well done


Declassified: Everyday Objects:

This is a very solid collection of some of the best impromptu tricks you can do, including what many consider the absolute best impromptu trick, the penetrating rubber bands, popularly known as Crazy Mans Handcuffs. Brad does a very good job on explaining these routines and while the DVD is relatively short there is no filler, he is all business and the explanations are thorough enough. You will learn:

A book test, a bottle cap matrix, the jumping ring, a nice ring and string routine, a set of moves with a cig or straw, cut and restored straw, a torn and restored napkin routine, and a torn and restored sweetner packet.

All are workers and ones magicians want to learn and will do. If I had a problem with any of it I would say that the torn and restored napkin explanation wasn’t as full as the demonstration but most will be able to put the routine together by giving it a moment of thought. If you want to learn impromptu magic, only one of the routines requires a ‘magical apparatus’, this is an excellent source and I think will outsell the other volume.


There you have. Good production quality, bad music, but a couple DVDs with some very well taught magic. I was very impressed with what Brad released and I think his intentions of advancing new magicians to a higher level will be achieved. Again if I was to pick one I’d go for the impromptu material but the first DVD is very good as well and that metal bending is always fun. Well done.

I prefer doing effects with everyday objects so I really enjoyed vol. 1. The performances were interesting and I was very impressed with Brandan's performance style/persona. The material on these DVD's is much better than most beginner DVD's---it even incorporates some basic sleight of hand. I especially liked the book test and the torn and restored napkin (which uses a "shuttle pass" type move). The rubberband effects handling were very good also.

Joe

The book test is killer, I think it rivals many of the gimmicked versions out there.

This DVD is very well put together and very indepth for the kind of DVD that it is.