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MazingMandy Special user Has tolerated the trolls here for 676 Posts |
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On Sep 23, 2016, Sean Giles wrote: Yes it would, but you might need a little more control due to the size of the printing. |
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MazingMandy Special user Has tolerated the trolls here for 676 Posts |
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On Sep 26, 2016, pegasus wrote: No effects are truly 'sure fire' once spectators get involved. |
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SolidSnake Special user 534 Posts |
There is spectator management and there is an effect just not being fit for purpose.
I'm on the fence with this one. On the one hand - the idea of the effect is a great one and if you can get a spec that it works with and the light is good and the printing is good and you choose an appropriate word to do it with : 100th Monkey can really blow minds. However, in my mind, that is a lot of ifs for one effect. But this excuse of Audience management doesn't wash. If you ask a spec to try and read something - they will try to. If in the act of trying to that can potentially ruin the effect : then is the effect fit? Audience management is about proper placing and blocking not about guessing which specs if any an effect will work on.
There is no holy grail!
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Chris Philpott Special user 502 Posts |
Thanks Pegasus and Bill Hegbli, for posting the Wizard Product Review! Narcissus got 99% and worker of the week from Sean and 94% from David. The review is at 15:55. I'll answer the questions on this thread in a moment, but here are some highlights from the review:
SEAN: It's bloomin' brilliant! DAVID: The 100th Monkey is now a modern classic in mentalism. Rarely do you see something like the 100th Monkey principle, which is actually a brand new principle in magic, something that changes mentalism forever. SEAN: But what's incredible about this, the previous versions of this are stage versions - this has been turned into a close up effect. And not only that but you're incorporating a mobile phone so they're left with a picture of the magical moment on their phone. That's where the magic happens. You can use this to advertise yourself on social media. DAVID: when you saw the video and you saw everyone gathering around the phone... when you watch the spectators on these videos, when they are invited to zoom in on their photographs and see what it really says, you actually see them - the dynamic of the group goes - Wow! Oh my God! SEAN: I've figured out why this is so powerful. You're not making a coin disappear, you're not really reading a mind here, you're actually doing a trick with their memory. This is a new type of effect. DAVID: They really do look incredible when you see them close up. Just leave them fried for the rest of their life. And if this was printed on the back of your business card, they've got a story for life that they will always tell about the time they saw you perform and they can even show and they can even show people the picture on the phone. Try and repeat the experiment and it won’t work until they see you again live. SEAN: This is going straight on the back of my business cards. It's probably going to get me work. 99%. DAVID: 94%. SEAN: It's my worker of the week. Thank you very much, David and Sean! |
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Chris Philpott Special user 502 Posts |
I was watching Eugene Burger's brilliant Penguin lecture again last week and was thinking about a phrase he repeated several times: "Every miracle has its price."
On some level we all know this - we know not all tricks can be done surrounded, or without special clothes, or expensive apparatus, or a ton of practice, etc... The 100th Monkey principle has its price as well and one we're not really used to as magicians: it is affected by light and vision. There are several ways to deal with this outlined in the "The Most Important Thing to Know Before you Do These Effects" chapter on the DVD and even more in the written instructions. I'll go through them here. I've also got something brand new - as in, this morning!: giving people a secret eye-test before you go into the effect (and thanks to EscapeMaster for getting me thinking about this again). Those who've registered will find something new in their dropbox. As I mentioned on the DVD, because these effects are so new there are often developments that come after the release (there were several with 100th Monkey) so it's a good idea to sign up for updates. More on this new idea in a moment. If you follow these techniques, well, I don't know if anything is 100% reliable, but Narcissus is pretty darned close. First and foremost, check the light before you perform. If it works for you, it will work for the vast majority of your audience (unless you have bad vision). With Narcissus, you actually have more latitude with light than with the 100th Monkey because you can use dim cards in bright, medium or dim light (because you can compensate with the framing of the photo - more on the DVD). If you use a dim card in good light, even people with fairly poor vision will see what you want them to see. Similarly, if you will be performing this in dim rooms, printing a dim card larger than 4X6 helps - the larger the card, the easier it is to see the close up word and consequently, the spectator's vision becomes much less of an issue. Before you do the effect, say "this effect involves reading - how's your vision?" (I say this before book tests as well.) If they express reservations, don't do the effect. If you are doing this on a stage, say, "This effect involves reading, I need a volunteer with good vision." This simple step will stop the majority of your problems. Selecting who to do this on is also a factor - generally younger people are better than older. Brett made the suggestion of not framing this as a challenge. While generally I agree with Brett, and with a non-confrontational approach, I don't think it's necessary here. There's a famous British mentalist who does Speechless (the effect where you take away someone's ability to read) in his latest show who frames it specifically as a challenge, probably more than I've ever seen done before, and gets fantastic results! (If you know who I’m referring to, please don’t post his name here - he doesn't want his name associated the effects he performs so it's more difficult for people to google his methods.) And while I don't let a spectator handle the cards with Speechless (I keep my dupes at the bottom of a stack), as you can see from the video, I let the spectators handle the Narcissus cards all the time and have never had an issue. If after this, you still get someone with bad vision, there are several ways to deal with it. With Speechless, if I get someone who can read the words perfectly I say, "You're resistant to hypnosis - perfect! You'll be my control." Then invite someone else up on stage - have the two of them stand side-by-side and they will see completely different things! It actually makes the effect even more amazing. This technique works well with several of the effects on Narcissus, for example, Unhypnotized. Finally, here's my new idea: doing a secret vision test. This works especially well in close up (if you’re doing a stage show, you could do this as pre-show). Basically it involves having a person read some words - depending what they say, you know if the effect will work on them or not. I came up with two good excuses to get people to read something without arousing suspicion. The first is to give their consent. Say, "What I'm about to do is a little unusual and sometimes freaks people out. So if you would, could you please read this consent?" (This is actually a nice way of building anticipation for what they're about to see.) The majority of people will read, "I consent to this experiment." Every once in a while, someone will say, "I consent to this enterprise." If they say this (or have trouble reading anything), you know they have bad vision. At this stage you can go into a different effect. As Eugene also says in his lecture, the magician has one big advantage over his audience and that is he knows what is supposed to happen next and they don't. The other vision test is great to do when you have a small group and want to test everyone at once. You say, "I want to do something a little more serious now. If this is going to work, we have to work together, so would everyone please read this on the count of three..." (Once again, this is a nice way to build up the effect, whether it is for one of the serious effects on the DVD or, conversely, one of the one of the effects that ends with a joke in which case it makes the joke more of a surprise.) The majority of people will read, "I am a serious person." But every once in a while, someone in the group will say, "I am a strange person." I think this could be a very cool moment - everyone speaking in unison except for one person who says something different. (You could even have them read the card silently, switch the card for a normal dupe, then have them say it - now you're clean when they start freaking out and want to look at the card). I'd jump in here and say, "This is fantastic! Because while I was holding up a card that reads, 'I am a serious person' I was thinking, 'I am a strange person' - and you picked up on my thoughts! This is very rare! A sign of clairvoyance or second sight. Let's do another test!" Now you have a choice of which way to go. You could continue with the effects from Narcissus, but present them in a way that the "strange" spectator "may see things that are not visible to the others - so please, don't say a word. We'll see if we can try to bring the others to that point." Framing it this way, will add a layer of mystery to the effects - for example, in The Fortune Teller, it makes sense that the person with second sight can see the magical fortune before anyone else. Then at the end, not only do you reveal the fortune on their phone, they will start to question the person with second sight asking if they really did see it all along. That seems like a moment people will remember for a long time. Alternately, you could go into a classic, spectator's intuition effect, like Out of This World (or my own version, French Postcards). You've identified someone with special powers, now you prove it. Or you can do the spectator intuition effect, then go back into a Narcissus effect. I'll include these notes with the first update and in the dropbox in a file called "Secret Vision Test". Makulit and A.J. I think I will be releasing a multi-language version. Really busy at the moment with my TV work so not sure when, but hopefully before year end. Sean, I haven't done a lot of work with these cards on business cards - David Penn emailed me to say they did tests and it worked great. If you want to go this direction, I'd use the dim light level artworks and try not to do it in dim rooms. And make sure you hand out the normal card, not the gimmicked one! And thanks for the kind words and helpful responses to Escapemaster, Brett, Paul, Rob and Mandy! -Chris |
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1KJ Inner circle Warning: We will run out of new tricks in 4385 Posts |
I have had a chance to try this out a bit and I am REALLY liking it. I also have 100th Monkey which is also brilliant, but I am liking this even more. I really like the use of the cell phone camera or video.
KJ |
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Sean Giles Inner circle Cambridge/ UK 3517 Posts |
Chris, thanks so much for these additions. It's very much appreciated that you go way beyond what is expected of a creator.
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Chris Philpott Special user 502 Posts |
Thanks, 1KJ and Giles!
And thanks to James Anthony for his review on this week's Magic World Reviews (Week 92, 10 minutes in -- couldn't find a youtube link but he posted it on Facebook). Here are some quotes: "This is fantastic! I cannot big this one up enough. This is phenomenal! If you're into mentalism - even if you're not into mentalism, this product's for you. To the spectator, this is real magic. It's so, so, so cool! It's so cool!! Chris Philpott goes a million steps beyond what you'd expect in terms of quality teaching. And the beautiful part about this is that you don't have to do anything. Okay something, but it's the simplest of things. It's friggin' brilliant! I'm going to be putting some of these images onto my playing cards. I know I'll be giving out some of these at weddings and corporate events. Then they'll share that photograph on social media and you get more bookings and, boom, you've made your 49 pounds back in two minutes. Go out and get this. Get it! It's worth every penny. Every single penny. 9.5 out of 10." |
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DrRob Special user Middle Chinnock 952 Posts |
Chris This really warrants a set of cards which show a fortune and a tarot card so you can go straight into a reading!
Ia this possible? Regards Dr Rob |
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Chris Philpott Special user 502 Posts |
Hey Dr. Rob --
It's not possible with the cards provided but I like the idea -- I might be able to modify a couple of the fortune teller cards to reveal a Tarot instead of a playing card and include that as an update. Anyone have a preference for which Tarot card? |
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DrRob Special user Middle Chinnock 952 Posts |
Hi Chris,
I have sent you a Pm Kind regards Dr Rob |
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DrRob Special user Middle Chinnock 952 Posts |
As you would have seen I contacted Chris to see if he could create a set of 22 Fortune Teller Cards with a Tarot card reveal at the end, unfortunately due to on going projects he could not commit (Yet;) to a full set of 22 but said he could possibly manage 2 and which ones would be best.
So I posted the question on the Mentalists of facebook page and the top two were... Death & The Wheel of fortune, I am looking forward to seeing his creations. Thanks muchly Chris Dr Rob |
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LoganPorterMagic Regular user 137 Posts |
That's a great idea DrRob! I love Fortune Teller Cards. It would be a powerful piece for sure.
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Phatmeat Special user Silver Spring, Maryland 739 Posts |
Here's a link to the Magic World review that Chris mentioned in one of his previous posts: https://youtu.be/Xgu0R6SxCqU?t=10m7s
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johndamen New user 63 Posts |
I have 100th monkey, and frankly I performed phone pic effect to a friend using 100th monkey cards as a test....and pulled it off without a problem. So its difficult for me to justify another $60 for something that in essence, I already have. Just my two cents.
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Chris Philpott Special user 502 Posts |
Hey John,
As I've written before on this thread and will perhaps write again, the 100th Monkey is not just an effect, it's a method. It's like the double lift but instead of switching one card for another, it switches one word for another. That makes it really powerful. Like the double lift, the 100th Monkey is applicable in many different ways, for a wide variety of different effects. Because this method is new, it's natural that magicians might lump them all together, but from the audience's point of view, taking away someone's ability to read, predicting the Oscars, reading minds, making thoughts visible or having a spectator's fortune appear on their cell phone really have nothing to do with each other. They are completely different effects. The effects on Narcissus are designed and scripted to work close up and justify the use of the cell phone in a logical way -- the original 100th Monkey was not. Hope that helps. |
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DrRob Special user Middle Chinnock 952 Posts |
Can I assume that if you aged the supplied cards with tea the special thing wouldn't work properly due to the background image?
Thought's required please. Thanks Dr Rob |
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Chris Philpott Special user 502 Posts |
Rob, I've aged paper, then printed cards on them and that works fine.
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Martin Pulman Inner circle London 3399 Posts |
I don't quite understand why this hasn't been printed on smaller business card size stock. It would surely make more sense for a close-up effect?
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baobow Special user 510 Posts |
Well the print needs to be big enough to seen in a photo while the spectators are holding it in the photo so the size provided meets that requirement.
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