|
|
Teacher Brad New user 35 Posts |
Hi. I am still new to all of this but I was wondering if anyone had any idea what the illusion is called where a magician borrows a watch from an audience member, puts the watch in a bag, and then hits the bag with a hammer, the magician then later gives the watch back to the volunteer unharmed? I would like to try this illusion with a cell phone but I really do not know how the trick is done or where to start to find the information. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
Brad |
mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
Michael Ammar has a good watch routine in his Topit book. I’m not sure if it can be adopted to a cell phone or not.
|
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
That is a good question? I don't know if it has a formal name. I can only remember famous magicians like Sam Berland offering his 2 styles of Watch Bags, one for stage and one for close-up. Abbott Magic was selling the close-up version of Sam Berlands Watch Bag.
The late Karroll Fox also wrote up an idea in an out of print books for his broken watch in hanky effect. It was more of breaking part of the trick, and making the sound effect believable. This is a really old plot, and goes back many Centuries. I cannot remember the old book this plot was mentioned, but it was with a Pocket Watch, as that is the type they used back the old days. Then there is the Grid-a-Ring and Grind-a-Watch tricks from the early 1970's by RAR Magic a defunct company. A cell phone would be to big to use these methods. Do to the the size of even the smaller cell phones, I would think it is somewhat of a challenge to come up with the mechanics of the effect. Maybe the Mikame Bread box would work for this. http://www.murphysmagic.com/Product.aspx?id=44423 Watch the video. This would be more of shaking the box to break the item. This type of effect was never fully written about much, as the routine is the all important piece to this effect, and there is not many great patter or script writers in the magic community. The fact that cell phones is constantly changing, adds to the problem of a convinencing distruction of the cell phone. If they hand you a red cell phone and you show a brokent black cell phone, then I don't think it would fly. So you would have to resort to the old plant at the show. Not a problem, but some magicians do not like this pre-show set-up. This you would just have a spectator lend you a cell phone when you as for one during the show. He doesn't know what you are going to do with it, so he is 'not in' on anything. It is like the old cut and restored necktie trick. Lend out a tie before the show. Surfing the Internet I found one of our members of the Café has published an ebook called "The Cool Magician" with the "Broken and Restored Mobile Phone" listed in his index. You might email the Amazing Stephen to seek further information. http://magicmystery.co.uk/shop/books.htm |
mumford Special user 652 Posts |
The cool thing about the Berland routine was that the restored watch ended up on your wrist.
|
mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
I'm sure you can come up with your own routine, but you would have to adapt or create your own method. As wmhegbli pointed out, you can't show the broken pieces. You might have to have it in a bag (or in Ammar's case, a sock) and just rattle the pieces and let the audiences imagination take over. It can be done, and it would be a pretty unique trick.
|
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
The description of the plot (broken watch) goes back at least as far as Hoffmann's books, although the trick is certainly older than that. There are as many modes of recovery, or reproduction of the watch, as there have been minds thinking about the trick. Earlier incarnations found the watch pieces being loaded into a funnel barrel musket and fired either at a target or a mirror, where it would reappear whole and undamaged. Compars (Carl) Herrmann performed this with his brother Alexander assisting him. As Mr. Hegbli mentioned above, this would of course have been presented with a pocket watch. Later updates would use a wrist watch, as they became more the norm.
Later versions also incorporated a variety of "impossible locations" for the reappearance, such as nested boxes, inside a loaf of bread, and in extreme cases even in such bizarre things as jars of peanut butter. Sometimes these newer versions were done to honestly add a new dimension to the trick, others are possibly questionable in their attempts at humor, good magic, and good sense. Many of these ideas could easily be converted to using a cell phone in place of the watch. You simply need to decide how to dispose of the watch, and how to transfer it to the place where it will be found later, and what that place will be. Methods will sometimes readily present themselves based on these criteria, especially if this is a marriage of a vanish apparatus and a production apparatus. The methods can be as simple or complex as you can imagine. From there, you just have to wrap this plot in a decent presentation so it is entertaining... usually comedy by nature.
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
I mentioned Michael Ammar's watch routine, he also does something where he takes a spectators cell phone and tries to make a call on it. Then a cracking sound is heard much to the chagrin of the spectator. Then he shows that the screen on the cell phone is indeed cracked. Then he rubs it and it is restored.
|
Corporate Magician Regular user 158 Posts |
Hi Brad
You might like to have a look at Robert Baxt's Cell Phone Surprise. Regards EC |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
If I were to do it I would put the phone in a long opaque stocking and bang it on a table, or drop it and step on it. Rattle it to make noise but don't show it. Try to fix but it vanishes as you dump out something like peanuts or m&m's (something incongruous), then bring out a can of nuts that is sealed or crackerjack? And find the phone in it. (Can O' Corn?)
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
|
Teacher Brad New user 35 Posts |
Wow. People really have some great ideas and pose some very good questions for consideration. I have started to look at some of the resources suggested (unfortunately not all of them are still available, but definitely some really great ideas out there). Now the bigger question is, now that people have put out so many suggestions, could you possibly direct me to some resources that I can learn. I know it may sound silly, but when you say to "vanish" something, I do not really know all of the skills required to do so. I can manipulate some really simple things like sponges, but a phone would definitely take a different technique and some practice.
|
mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
If you like the Ammar cell phone idea, it won't take any kind of skills like palming a cell phone. This is good for a quick close-up trick, but the cracked screen would not be seen on the stage. If you want something for platform or stage, then let me know and I'll see what I can come up with. It depends on your skill level though, so it might be a bit tricky (sorry for the pun).
|
Teacher Brad New user 35 Posts |
Mtpascoe
I tried looking online to see if I could find a reference to Ammar's cell phone illusion but I could not find it. I found one where a phone is put into a balloon, but was wondering if you happened to know the name of the cracked cell phone illusion? |
mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
It might be on his lecture notes.
|
Perseus Arkomanis Loyal user 208 Posts |
Tommy Wonder has an amazing method in his Dvds for a watch that can be easily applied to a cell phone...the breaking part...cause the appearance is quite haaaaard!lol
The things that are most real to me are the illusions which I create...everything else is quicksand...
<BR> <BR>www.orionmagicproductions.com |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Boxes, tubes & bags » » Watch Break (0 Likes) |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.03 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |