What it says:
"Function 9 is a collection of nine effects from the mind of Calen Morelli. These 2 discs contain effects that are practical and hard hitting using everything from playing cards to rubber bands to chewing gum. Each effect is taught in detail covering over 3 hours on the 2 dvds."
Unlike a lot of reviewers, I refuse to be sucked into the style of giving high scores even in a lousy DVD, I feel honesty and constructive criticism is the way to go. With that said, here is my review and opinion of all 9 tricks in the DVD by Calen Morelli.
GENERAL RATINGS:
Quality: 9/10
Most magic videos nowadays have great quality. This one had a good setting in Studio 35 and relatively great camera work. The only flaw is that the lighting blinded the view of the objects in his hands. Insignificant, nevertheless.
Teaching: 9/10
Calen is very detailed in explaining his tricks. If memory serves me right, he spent 40 minutes teaching Loaded 1 and 2.
Performances: 8/10
Every trick has a street performance which is great in helping people learn how to present the effects, which is followed by a studio performance. I was highly satisfied by the real-life performances which helped but in all honesty, Calen looked slightly nervous at times and rushed through some of the tricks, especially the demo performance of Transport which gave me and my magic buddy a laugh.
TRICKS:
• VGH(a+b)
(a) A selected card visually jumps from the deck to your hands, ending in between the spectators hands!
(b) An in hands and extremely visual version of Paul Harris' grasshopper effect.
Rating: 7/10
Very visually appealing with a nice ending in the spectators' hands, this impromptu trick was good but I found it too complicated with this cards' across routine having way too many card jumps, hence no specific magical moments. The card jumps endless times from one packet to another. Seeing the performance is proof that spectators found it difficult to follow and react to the umpteen card jumps. I would prefer to cut down on the number of times the card jumps.
PEN IN BOTTLE
A pen visually jumps inside a full bottle of water.
Rating: 8/10
I thought it would be heavily involved with gimmicks which put me off instantly. But after seeing the explanation, I was impressed with how easy the gimmick was made. In fact, the trick is really easy and uses and concept which is common in Coin in Bottle routines but applied to a pen instead. Great effect, one I would definitely consider adding to my repertoire.
• TRANSPORT
You hold a cell phone and the spectator holds a cell phone. A rubber band is wrapped around the cell phone in your hand. The band visually vanishes from the phone in your hands and reappears on the phone they have been holding the entire time!
(bonus)
A borrowed ring instantly links onto a few rubber bands worn on your wrist then it melts off just as impossibly.
Rating: 9/10
The best trick of the DVD. Gimmick is really easy to make and the visual disappearance of the rubber band is great and impromptu. There is an impromptu teaching too on papercraneproductions.com for all the purists like me, but I think the gimmick is just as good but does not allow you to end clean. With audience management, this trick is great. The only downfall is the audience management itself, where if at the start you cannot draw attention away from the phone you place in their hands, the tricks is instantly ruined. An easy way I have found to remove this risk is to ask the spectator to cover the phone between both hands. Good job Calen.
• SUSPENDED
You hang one band on another. Then in an instant half of the supporting band vanishes for just a moment leaving the band hanging in the air! Pure visual goodness!
Rating: 7/10
I might be biased on this one, but I don't like this particular gimmick although the visual aspect to it is great. I guess gimmick lovers would like this one, but its just not my cup of tea.
LOADED (1.0)
If you perform card under box, you will love this powerful routine!
Rating: 7/10
Card to foot routine where a card jumps to under your foot, then the whole deck vanishes and appears under your foot again. Nice trick, although not entirely different from the Card to Pocket sequence. This trick, however, is good for street performances. Misdirection is a key factor though. Without appropriate timing this effect fails miserably, just like Transport.
LOADED (2.0)
A card to hat with a kicker ending that will blow your audience away!
Rating: 8/10
The same plot as its first version, just that this time the card travels to your hat, then the rest of the deck. I like his sunglasses appearance, really cool. This trick is perfect for cap wearers like me and I will certainly perform this. Visual and entertaining, but a note is that both versions of Loaded, personally, have no WOW elements that stun audiences. It's more of a "That's impressive" or "Good trick" sort of reaction, which is why I cannot give the trick higher than it already is. The spectators' reactions confirmed my theory.
• FRICTION
An insanely visual rubber band thru bill routine! Impromptu and easy to learn.
Rating: 8.5/10
Visual and impromptu, what more can you want? Great illusion, good angles. No spectator involvement but that doesn't take anything away from this effect. I will perform this one.
• SUGAR FREE
A piece of gum visually jumps from the pack to your mouth, instantly!
Rating: 6/10
Not too sure about the gimmick and method, as nothing is examinable straightaway unless you swap the gum pack immediately. And I think this is the type of trick that spectators want to check out. Didn't like this one. The 6 points come from Calen's creativity, the quick reset and the visual aspect of the trick.
• TRANSIT
An ordinary rubber band is wrapped around your finger and visually jumps from finger to finger. Calen is back with two new handling on this super visual effect.
Rating: 6.5/10
One we are all familiar with at theory11. Band through fingers. Cheeky "gimmick" and visual penetration but looks unnatural as the finger with the rubber band must have the two other fingers clipping it. The part where the band travels to the thumb also does not make sense, other than for cleanup. It is not really a magical moment for me.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Good attempt by Calen, and I probably will add two or three tricks in function(9) to my repertoire. Mr. Morelli is one to look out for in the future for sure.
"Function 9 is a collection of nine effects from the mind of Calen Morelli. These 2 discs contain effects that are practical and hard hitting using everything from playing cards to rubber bands to chewing gum. Each effect is taught in detail covering over 3 hours on the 2 dvds."
Unlike a lot of reviewers, I refuse to be sucked into the style of giving high scores even in a lousy DVD, I feel honesty and constructive criticism is the way to go. With that said, here is my review and opinion of all 9 tricks in the DVD by Calen Morelli.
GENERAL RATINGS:
Quality: 9/10
Most magic videos nowadays have great quality. This one had a good setting in Studio 35 and relatively great camera work. The only flaw is that the lighting blinded the view of the objects in his hands. Insignificant, nevertheless.
Teaching: 9/10
Calen is very detailed in explaining his tricks. If memory serves me right, he spent 40 minutes teaching Loaded 1 and 2.
Performances: 8/10
Every trick has a street performance which is great in helping people learn how to present the effects, which is followed by a studio performance. I was highly satisfied by the real-life performances which helped but in all honesty, Calen looked slightly nervous at times and rushed through some of the tricks, especially the demo performance of Transport which gave me and my magic buddy a laugh.
TRICKS:
• VGH(a+b)
(a) A selected card visually jumps from the deck to your hands, ending in between the spectators hands!
(b) An in hands and extremely visual version of Paul Harris' grasshopper effect.
Rating: 7/10
Very visually appealing with a nice ending in the spectators' hands, this impromptu trick was good but I found it too complicated with this cards' across routine having way too many card jumps, hence no specific magical moments. The card jumps endless times from one packet to another. Seeing the performance is proof that spectators found it difficult to follow and react to the umpteen card jumps. I would prefer to cut down on the number of times the card jumps.
PEN IN BOTTLE
A pen visually jumps inside a full bottle of water.
Rating: 8/10
I thought it would be heavily involved with gimmicks which put me off instantly. But after seeing the explanation, I was impressed with how easy the gimmick was made. In fact, the trick is really easy and uses and concept which is common in Coin in Bottle routines but applied to a pen instead. Great effect, one I would definitely consider adding to my repertoire.
• TRANSPORT
You hold a cell phone and the spectator holds a cell phone. A rubber band is wrapped around the cell phone in your hand. The band visually vanishes from the phone in your hands and reappears on the phone they have been holding the entire time!
(bonus)
A borrowed ring instantly links onto a few rubber bands worn on your wrist then it melts off just as impossibly.
Rating: 9/10
The best trick of the DVD. Gimmick is really easy to make and the visual disappearance of the rubber band is great and impromptu. There is an impromptu teaching too on papercraneproductions.com for all the purists like me, but I think the gimmick is just as good but does not allow you to end clean. With audience management, this trick is great. The only downfall is the audience management itself, where if at the start you cannot draw attention away from the phone you place in their hands, the tricks is instantly ruined. An easy way I have found to remove this risk is to ask the spectator to cover the phone between both hands. Good job Calen.
• SUSPENDED
You hang one band on another. Then in an instant half of the supporting band vanishes for just a moment leaving the band hanging in the air! Pure visual goodness!
Rating: 7/10
I might be biased on this one, but I don't like this particular gimmick although the visual aspect to it is great. I guess gimmick lovers would like this one, but its just not my cup of tea.
LOADED (1.0)
If you perform card under box, you will love this powerful routine!
Rating: 7/10
Card to foot routine where a card jumps to under your foot, then the whole deck vanishes and appears under your foot again. Nice trick, although not entirely different from the Card to Pocket sequence. This trick, however, is good for street performances. Misdirection is a key factor though. Without appropriate timing this effect fails miserably, just like Transport.
LOADED (2.0)
A card to hat with a kicker ending that will blow your audience away!
Rating: 8/10
The same plot as its first version, just that this time the card travels to your hat, then the rest of the deck. I like his sunglasses appearance, really cool. This trick is perfect for cap wearers like me and I will certainly perform this. Visual and entertaining, but a note is that both versions of Loaded, personally, have no WOW elements that stun audiences. It's more of a "That's impressive" or "Good trick" sort of reaction, which is why I cannot give the trick higher than it already is. The spectators' reactions confirmed my theory.
• FRICTION
An insanely visual rubber band thru bill routine! Impromptu and easy to learn.
Rating: 8.5/10
Visual and impromptu, what more can you want? Great illusion, good angles. No spectator involvement but that doesn't take anything away from this effect. I will perform this one.
• SUGAR FREE
A piece of gum visually jumps from the pack to your mouth, instantly!
Rating: 6/10
Not too sure about the gimmick and method, as nothing is examinable straightaway unless you swap the gum pack immediately. And I think this is the type of trick that spectators want to check out. Didn't like this one. The 6 points come from Calen's creativity, the quick reset and the visual aspect of the trick.
• TRANSIT
An ordinary rubber band is wrapped around your finger and visually jumps from finger to finger. Calen is back with two new handling on this super visual effect.
Rating: 6.5/10
One we are all familiar with at theory11. Band through fingers. Cheeky "gimmick" and visual penetration but looks unnatural as the finger with the rubber band must have the two other fingers clipping it. The part where the band travels to the thumb also does not make sense, other than for cleanup. It is not really a magical moment for me.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Good attempt by Calen, and I probably will add two or three tricks in function(9) to my repertoire. Mr. Morelli is one to look out for in the future for sure.
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