theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Thoughts on Little Man by Paul Harris?

ajp what are you talking about? It said each dramatic step, yet it doesn't take a single step at all. It does the shuffle like those vibrating football boards with the players on them. No one said a flip or jumping or anything, you did so try to read what we type out so you can avoid the confusion.

It looks gimmicked not magical, and the advertisement doesn't state anything about this mystery mark that I want no part in. Looks just silly to be honest and certainly nothing I would use now.
 
I have to say it looks cool, but I think in the end (And I have no clue how this is accomplished), spectators are going to think it's being slid by magnets - because that's exactly what it looks like - regardless of how it actually works. They will be more fooled by the card revelation than the sliding man.

However, I would not call the advert untrue. If you were to make a doll 'walk', this is what it would look like. They are steps, even though the feet never leave the paper. I think we were reading into the ad more than what it said.

Not for me. Too bad.

Justin
 
That was disappointing to say the least. Each dramatic step at a time? He just slid in it's direction and tilted slightly as he did. Not worth 300 dollars at all to me. And does nobody else see that as a fire hazard. Leaving the room, trusting that the clay will support the match as it walks across a paper bag. That doesn't seem too smart.
 
Mr. Jane said:
ajp what are you talking about? It said each dramatic step, yet it doesn't take a single step at all. It does the shuffle like those vibrating football boards with the players on them. No one said a flip or jumping or anything, you did so try to read what we type out so you can avoid the confusion.

It looks gimmicked not magical, and the advertisement doesn't state anything about this mystery mark that I want no part in. Looks just silly to be honest and certainly nothing I would use now.
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You still have alot to learn if take those ads word for word. Dramtic as in slow, i mean get real here, are you REALLY going to beilive everything you read/hear? It was pretty much what i was expecting. If i had the money to spend, i would buy this.
 
Nearly everything that the advertisement states is pretty much false, and the reason I took it to heart more than others is because of Paul Harris' name. I don't have a lot to learn about advertisements, I know perfectly well what goes in them. However you have expectations when certain names are produced.

A LUMP OF CLAY COMES TO LIFE!

You bring out a small gift bag and pull out a standard container of kid's clay. You peel off the lid, pull out a lump of clay and let your audience freely squish, pull and play with it. You then help the audience mold the clay into a little man (or woman!) The only reason you help is to insure that his little proportions are correct. YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS EMPTY. THERE'S NOTHING INSIDE THE CLAY!

A spectator then takes a final bit of clay and shapes it into a tiny clay heart. She warms the heart in her hands... and for a moment... she THINKS SHE MIGHT feel a tiny heart beat. She gently sticks the tiny clay heart onto Little Man's chest. You then stand the little guy on the flattened empty bag. Someone gently blows on his heart. Then a moment later...unbelievably... Little Man takes his first step! YES, HE'S MOVING FORWARD AND ACTUALLY WALKING... ONE ASTONISHING STEP AT A TIME!

This is where you have to see the on-line demo to experience the devastating wonderfulness of it all. His entire clay body VISIBLY TURNS AND LURCHES FORWARD with each dramatic step. And not that you'd want to, but you could leave the room, go out for a burger, and Little Man would keep on walking! And after about 10 steps, when Little Man finally stops, anyone can immediately SQUISH HIM INTO A BALL OR TEAR HIM APART... AND THERE'S NOTHING TO FIND BUT A LUMP OF CLAY!

Incredibly Easy. No switches,palming,steals, etc. Your hands are always empty.

Empty bag and container can be freely handled by audience at end of effect.

Completely self-contained. Nothing attached to you or your clothes.

Perform completely surrounded in any lighting conditions

Re-sets in two to three minutes. * Same lump of clay can be used over and over.

$300 (Complete with DVD and extra clay.)

TAKE LITTLE MAN FOR A WALK TODAY!

So lets dissect this a bit, you do not lump a heart out of clay. You pull it out of folded paper, like some cheap bedazzle stuff.

There is nothing about a beating heart since the first part is completely nonsense.

One step at a time, well this whole part is lying because not even once does it take a step. It shuffles forward, waddling would've been fine but it just vibrates forward like some football game.

Turns? Lurches forward? I don't understand how this applys at all.

Everything else seems to be accurate enough, but the actual effect itself is almost completely untrue. I was expecting a waddle of a step not him studdering forward, which is exactly what happens.

That is not advertising that's version 2.0 of the effect, seems the wrong advertisement went out.
 
visualartist said:
According to what you just wrote then this statement of yours here is false.
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Making a Little Man styled statement of his own, it seems. ;)

Edit: But yeah, the heart and soul of the effect was a little clay man walking, according to the ad, and this just wasn't true. He doesn't take a single step--he slides very awkwardly and toy-like. It's a good thing PH is allowing pre-orders to be canceled, based off of the reactions from the Cafe and elsewhere, where the vast majority seem to think that the ad was greatly misleading. :)
 
Although, I do feel slightly disappointed, I still find the effect 'slightly' magical. However, I entirely dislike the use of the bag, as the ad states:

"You then stand the little guy on the flattened empty bag."
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I believe that this may shout something out to the, even if it doesn't have to do with the method, it still looks suspicious.
 
Inferno Kaiser said:
Although, I do feel slightly disappointed, I still find the effect 'slightly' magical. However, I entirely dislike the use of the bag, as the ad states:



I believe that this may shout something out to the, even if it doesn't have to do with the method, it still looks suspicious.
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Well, the bag is obviously a part of the method, but the big selling point is that since the gimmick is contained within the bag, that's what makes it portable. That, and the bag can be completely examined afterward, so there's nothing to find.

This is what makes it have a lot of potential, to me. However, in making it portable (as apposed to built into a table, for example), this is where he loses a lot of potential for what is possible. For what it is, though, the (assumed) method seems pretty neat (sadly, the effect isn't nearly as interesting as the method--which is funny, because usually people complain about the exact opposite). :)
 
cm763 said:
Well, the bag is obviously a part of the method, but the big selling point is that since the gimmick is contained within the bag, that's what makes it portable. That, and the bag can be completely examined afterward, so there's nothing to find.

This is what makes it have a lot of potential, to me. However, in making it portable (as apposed to built into a table, for example), this is where he loses a lot of potential for what is possible. For what it is, though, the (assumed) method seems pretty neat (sadly, the effect isn't nearly as interesting as the method--which is funny, because usually people complain about the exact opposite). :)
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Haha, I entirely see your point...

But the first time I watched the demo, I figured it had to do with the bad, which is obviously part of the method.

Like I said, the effect looks 'magical' and 'unbelievable' as a clayman is "brought.to.life" [in the eyes of the spectator], but setting down the clayman on top of the bag just screams something is gimmicked, regardless if it is 100% examinable.
 
i know a method that would create the same effect... and it's much cheaper then 300 dollars...

i just hope thats not the case, and Paul isn't extremely overcharging..
 
To be honest I wasn't really expecting much out of the effect, I mean was I really going to believe that it would walk bending at the knees, then hold out a hand and say "Howdy?" It looks pretty cool actually and would definitely like to purchase this later on when I have money.

cm763 said:
Well, the bag is obviously a part of the method, but the big selling point is that since the gimmick is contained within the bag, that's what makes it portable. That, and the bag can be completely examined afterward, so there's nothing to find.

This is what makes it have a lot of potential, to me. However, in making it portable (as apposed to built into a table, for example), this is where he loses a lot of potential for what is possible. For what it is, though, the (assumed) method seems pretty neat (sadly, the effect isn't nearly as interesting as the method--which is funny, because usually people complain about the exact opposite). :)
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The only problem I see with the effect from this trailer is that it uses a bag, and that kind of leaves a wide open space for spectators to speculate. Even though you show the bag empty it may or may not fully convince everyone of your participants.
 
Keokesilverfang said:
To be honest I wasn't really expecting much out of the effect, I mean was I really going to believe that it would walk bending at the knees, then hold out a hand and say "Howdy?" It looks pretty cool actually and would definitely like to purchase this later on when I have money.
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While I wasn't expecting a realistic walking motion, I was expecting his feet to at least clear the ground, so it would look somewhat less like it's just sliding along the bag in a very suspicious way. After all, he's charging $300 USD for this. I just couldn't justify the cost to myself; there's no way I would feel that product is worth $300 USD. :(

Oh well. At the very least, it gives me something to work towards creating on my own. I've thought of the idea before (well, with a toy / yarn voodoo doll), and I've already gotten pretty far with that; the clay is just another avenue to take, and it's an interesting one. :)
 
Keokesilverfang said:
To be honest I wasn't really expecting much out of the effect, I mean was I really going to believe that it would walk bending at the knees, then hold out a hand and say "Howdy?" It looks pretty cool actually and would definitely like to purchase this later on when I have money.
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Hahahaha. That is excactly what I was saying. I mean you have to get realistic, and to Mr. Jane, they did not say anything about the heart acually beating, its called presintation. Also, the clay figures body does shift foward, and that is enough to stun your audince.

I would love to perform this effect for a church, and give a visual of one of the bible stories. (the talk about faith/religien will hopfully stop here)

I think we need to have more trust in Paul. Everyone talks about how great of a creator he is, so maybe this effect is better live, or fun to perform. You never know, maybe the methoad is very easy to do so you can have fun with presintation, I would not doubt this product.
 
visualartist said:
It didnt create any hype.
The people on these boards did. As they always do.
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Actually, PH's sister was hyping it up like crazy, fueling the members over on the Cafe. As well as the ads in one of (or both of?) the magic magazines out there, released WAY too soon.

Surprisingly, it wasn't talked about as much on here, compared to other boards, and compared to how much hype a product with PH's name on it normally gets on this forum. o_O

ajp: It's been known since about a year ago (which is when he apparently had a working version that he was showing people, which, like this one, was well below expectations). It was originally supposed to be released in October, 2009, then November, then before Christmas, now it's sometime in February of this year.
 
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