Hi guys,

Just wanted to share some frightning moments from the french version of America's got talent 2010 :

Julia Webb : Daughter from the french well known magician Dominique Webb, who, if I'm right reviewed the levitating piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13KH1BkEJeM

She's qualified for the next round (semi-finals)...


Isis : Don't watch the girls, watch the illusion. To see the video click "Isis en video" on the right side of the web page and wait for a while.

http://www.m6.fr/emission-la_france_a_un......at/isis/

Isis got 3 yes from the jury but where not selected for the semi-finals, if I'm right...

Well those where the only two this year presenting illusions in France and, in my honnest opinion it is a pitty...
I'm so happy for you that you've guys like Murray Sawchuck, William Scott Anderson & Michael Grasso over there. 100 times more professional than what you will see or have seen in those two videos.

Your thoughts ?

Oliver.

OK, you said "don't watch the girls..." and then I lost you because I was too busy watching the girls...

Volto,

lol !!! So watch it again, but this time have a look at the illusion.

...sigh... well, if you insist on making me watch the scantily-clad french illusionistas again, who am I to argue...

First, this was all very, very french. To a lot of folks, especially in the states, the wall-to-wall lingerie might be a real problem. It definitely wouldn't be on a family show outside of Europe.

Putting the nudity issue aside, I honestly didn't think that either of the two acts were bad. Even if it had been guys doing the same illusions, it wasn't flat-out terrible like a lot of the acts on these shows.

The Julia Webb clip was interesting; not often you see a female magician in a nurse's outfit with stockings. The effect (of transporting a signed girl) was actually pretty deceptive. I liked that the director cut to the shot of the trunk from the side at the right moment. Maybe I'm getting old, but I thought that stripping off the nurses outfit at the end was a little unnecessary. The outfit itself seemed out of place.

In terms of Isis, I thought the fire added a lot; the 'spike' moment came as a surprise, and the general choreography was excellent, aside from the moment where the equipment jammed a little. I didn't catch any flashes, but the apparatus could do with some Wakeling-esque improvements to be more deceptive. The cutaways to the judges were annoying. Except for the part where the judge was checking his eyebrows were still there after the fire breathing.

The finale, of producing a seemingly endless stream of scantily-clad female French magicians from an apparently empty box, is maybe my favorite trick in the whole world, ever. Like the Miser's Dream - if you could do it for real, why would you ever do anything else?

The table in the Isis clip was the biggest problem. It could have been made a whole lot more deceptive. But the act as a whole was pretty cool, I thought.

The outfits in both acts made me feel a little uncomfortable, I'll admit. I have some feminist friends who would howl over this kind of thing, and I pretty much agree. But at the same time... and with apologies to the female members of the Café... wow...

What specifically was it that you didn't like? I'm curious, maybe I missed some massive exposure.

Well Volto,

Here's my answer :

Julia Webb : Putting the nudity aside, the outfit (you can't call this a costume) is out of purpose. The two stepledders on stage didn't look well in the staging of this act. And the whole act was missing fluidity. If I were to watch this as a layman I would say aswell that there's a lot of repeating in the effects (appearing & vanish). It didn't really looked like a transpostion.
The whole act looked a bit as it was lacking of rehearsals, even though it was the first TV appearance in the show.
I hoped for something more professional, since his father is in the illusion business for years. He could have given her a better hand.

Isis : The only thing I didn't like, and I can't understand that the woman judge who is presenting illusions herself didn't see this, is the prop. It's a ripp off, a really bad ripp off prop and didn't look deceptive at all. Everybody could guess where all the girls were hiding before their appearance. All the rest was quite interesting and entertaining (music, choregraphy,staging).

So globally compared to the acts you can see in the american version I'm disappointed.

Just my own honnest and humble opinion.

Oliver.

I liked both performances. They were awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Patrick

I would like to see Julia Webb do a water escape.