Just got my SIGNED copy, Justin said it would ship on Wednesday, and I got it today (Thursday). So far I've just watched most of it, haven't tried anything out yet, but it all looks great! I'm already looking forward to The Cloak 2!

-Eric

I wish I would get mine :-( I paid for it in June.....

I gotta say - Justin is one of the most helpful people I have dealt with -- something was up with the post office and without question he sent me another one, he paid for tracking without any extra cost to me, and he was emailing almost daily with me until he knew I received it -- if only other dealers were this helpful and friendly!

Isn't nice when you deal with someone that acts like a friend? Justin Miller is one of the GREAT guys in magic!!!!

Hey all.
I have been useing the masika loops for around 4 years,does the cloak hookup offer more choice and freedom of effects than the loops?
Cheers.

Yes sir it does.
Justin N. Miller

Hey guys... I'm not an "loops" or "elastics" guy, but I do love to hear about magicians who treat their customers the way you are saying Justin does. So with that in mind, I'd like to check out some of his products, if for no other reason to support his generosity. Any recommendations for a non "elastics" Miller product?

Thanks in advance.

I would recomend a couple of Justin's products
X-Marks the spot, Time And Space, Silver Dream Is killer, his strolling hands DVDs are packed full of hard hitting routiens, and there are two new card routiens that are in the final stages that you should keep an eye out for.

Sebashtion H.

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback.

I think it's safe to say that anything that Justin Miller releaes is audience tested and is a worker. He's such a gifted fellow!

Title: The Cloak by Justin Miller
Medium: DVD
Arena: Formal close up, strolling, table work
Available: Any shop, distributed by Murphys Magic Supplies

Justin Miller is a talented young man who I first saw on the Live From The Jailhouse DVD along with others doing restaurant magic. This is the first solo DVD of his I’ve gotten hold of and he continues to impress me with both his skill and his teaching abilities. Interestingly when the DVD started the first thing that popped into my head was “This looks like Kozmos work”, referring to Kozmo Magic who I think is perhaps the premier DVD producers at this time. I looked at the fine print and indeed Kozmo Magic worked with Justin on this project. The sound is perfect, not overbearing, no irritating background music keeping you from hearing what Justin is saying, nice and balanced. The camera work is very good as well, you see what you need to see. I have one issue with the production though, it is too dark. You have a black table, black back drop, Justin in dark clothing, and to top it off he uses one of those horrible black decks. If they insisted on the blackness to suit the young folks out there that seem drawn to darkness I would have preferred they used a red backed deck, it would have shown up beautifully. Sure this isn’t a deal killer but it is an instructional video not a horror film. Another thing, why not use glowing thread rather than floss? Now that would have looked killer. I had to find something to complain about but over all this is the level of quality I’ve come to expect from Kozmo Magic and what I’ve heard about Justin Miller….top notch.

The Cloak is a system of hooking up thread. There is no way to describe this project without that word so if people out there are upset that is the way it goes, it is a thread hook up. When it comes to a hook up, and there are plenty out there, I look for one that doesn’t get into the way of your hands or clothing, isn’t likely to break easily, and you can get into and out of easily. The last thing is you need to be able to do everything naturally and not look like you are searching for something. The Cloak meets these criteria. The main hook up is for a table top and it works beautifully for that situation. Many will only need that because they will be doing this at a party where they can get behind a kitchen table or another type of table. It is simple and allows from easy movement and all that fun stuff. I immediately started wondering how I could do it strolling. Luckily Justin also developed this for stand up performance and while you lose a bit of the actions you have from a table it still is very effective and is a workable solution. Justin didn’t try to complicate things like others do, he is a worker and thinks like one in that he doesn’t need a spider web of thread around him. His thoughts on why other popular thread systems are limiting are also correct in my opinion.

The Cloak DVD comes with instructions on how to do a nice card rise from a glass, a very nice two card haunted deck, and I love a good haunted deck, and another in the hands haunted deck type effect. These are explained both for the table and stand up hook ups, which I thought was nice because they are a bit different in handling. Just to be ornery I’ll say I still prefer the Al Baker action on his deck, but I say that about all haunted decks. The action with these effects are better than 90% of the routines I’ve seen like this and very close to the Baker motions. Justin does a very nice job explaining the effects.

There you have it. For you wanting to do thread work and are looking for a good working hook up this is a nice way to go. I played with it and was able to do regular levitations and all that good stuff as well so while not explained, you have to bring some knowledge with you, they can be done. The quality, outside the darkness, is top notch and it is well done over all from production to instruction. I will be using this hook up when thread work is going to be done. I close with a one word code to Justin……that word is ‘taut’. Let me know if you don’t understand why I said that. Well done Justin and crew.

Full agreement to the reviews. A great produced DVD - too short for my taste, so it is good to hear that Part 2 will be out next year.

Andy

I thought this was a great DVD. The content was well-thought out and practical. Will definitely be buying Part 2.

Hey I just heard that this was featured on Phenomenon grant it I was at work and didn't watch it(YEAH that's THE REASON) Nah just kidding but at work I cant view youtube. Anyone have a video or clip of this? Who used it and what did Angel have to say?

Yes sir..it was used secretly (thats all I can say) but it was never said where...


Justin N. Miller

There were some quickie non judged performances that easily could of used the Cloak. My guess is that is where it was used and not in one of the actual "official" judged stage performance.

Teevtee, that is incorrect.

My view of the Cloak is if you like Thread work this is a must have and the shots are great and well thought out!

I'll add my thoughts to this. Abit of background - I worked with loops and threads for a few months, and is certainly very green in this area.

The DVD itself is well shot, and the performances nicely captured. (I did have a chuckle when a truck drove by the cloaked medieval monk ) As stated in the above reviews, the content of the DVD focuses on the two hook-ups (tabled and standing), and a couple of the same effects each (they're essentially the same effects, but having taught twice for reasons hinted at below).

The effects themselves are... thread effects. The selling point of this DVD, I think, are not the effects but the workability for the magician. What the audience see is effectively the same things: animations, floats, rising card, all "wow" effects but once you've seen one you've seen all. (Nothing particularly captured my fancy like the Garcia loops DVD.)

The hook-ups themselves are the focal point of the DVD, and in this regard, I consider them more evolutionary than revolutionary. The seated version (the Cloak) is very much an adaptation of the Harlan hook-up; I don't really see much advantage for the Cloak apart from it anchors to the table.

Miller probably realizes the similarity between the Harlan hookup and the Cloak as well, which is why the strolling version is so fundamentally different than the seated version and requires the same effects to be re-taught. I used the strolling version a few times, and I find it arbitrary and... different. The orientation of the thread is something that I'm not used to, and the subtleties I grew to learn about threads are sometimes off. In my opinion, there's no reason to learn it twice for the same effects when there are many alternatives available.

In hindsight, I enjoyed the DVD, but the high expectations from the reviews above did set me up for a fall. This just isn't a must have for thread work like Ammar's series is a must have.

I want to get into using IT in my performances.. Is this dvd suitable for beginners, and what kind of threads do you recommend in conjunction with the dvd?