Red Pill Chris Ramsay
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It depends on what kind of performing scenario you find yourself in. It's not something that interests me for a few reasons.
The deck must be sealed is the biggest problem. If you want to perform this for a news appearance or on YouTube that's fine. It's probably best for a one off killer performance. It requires some set up.
If you are looking to perform this casually for friends, I'd avoid it. If you want to perform this for a bunch of people back to back at a VIP event or a restaurant it's not for you. Maybe you could do it twice a night, but you are burning through seals and cellophane. You have to carry a lot of stuff with you in order to set it up, and you have to by a bunch of cards. That makes it tough to be considered very practical for many scenarios.
A couple of pieces of magic that I would consider before this product would be Strange Travelers by Paul Harris Brainwave both are easier to do technically and have an instant reset. You might even check out B'Wave if you like the idea of a prediction effect you can carry in your wallet. I hope that helps.
The deck must be sealed is the biggest problem. If you want to perform this for a news appearance or on YouTube that's fine. It's probably best for a one off killer performance. It requires some set up.
If you are looking to perform this casually for friends, I'd avoid it. If you want to perform this for a bunch of people back to back at a VIP event or a restaurant it's not for you. Maybe you could do it twice a night, but you are burning through seals and cellophane. You have to carry a lot of stuff with you in order to set it up, and you have to by a bunch of cards. That makes it tough to be considered very practical for many scenarios.
A couple of pieces of magic that I would consider before this product would be Strange Travelers by Paul Harris Brainwave both are easier to do technically and have an instant reset. You might even check out B'Wave if you like the idea of a prediction effect you can carry in your wallet. I hope that helps.
I agree with Josh. It takes a while to make up the gimmick (certainly it took me a while) but it's not something that I would do consistently. I feel that red pill had been designed so you are actually having to give the box. I'm all for giving away souvenirs, but not a whole box of cards, routine after routine lol
BUT, I do think it's a pretty powerful piece of magic.
BUT, I do think it's a pretty powerful piece of magic.
If you're giving away a deck as a magic souvenir, that comes to about $3+ every time you use Red Pill (not including cost of gimmick making).
'Break' comes to about $2 every go.
I don't have Red Pill, but the way it's set up (emphasizing the cellophane like crazy), it seems like was made to fool magicians more than laymen.
Don't get me wrong, it looks neat, but it seems like that the audience wouldn't really focus on the cellophane unless you really pointed it out to them, in this case you really are. I figure pointing it out as much as demonstrated sends up red flags. Correct me if I'm being paranoid or wrong about this.
I also feel that Red Pill doesn't give you a whole lot wiggle room to be able to present it differently.
Also, while we are in the subject of souvenirs.
While a whole sealed deck seems more practical as a souvenir as opposed to a broken penny or a torn card, do people really keep magic souvenirs? I figure if you're a worker, the best souvenir would be a business card or something that can actually be used. Do people hold onto T&R cards and the such?
'Break' comes to about $2 every go.
I don't have Red Pill, but the way it's set up (emphasizing the cellophane like crazy), it seems like was made to fool magicians more than laymen.
Don't get me wrong, it looks neat, but it seems like that the audience wouldn't really focus on the cellophane unless you really pointed it out to them, in this case you really are. I figure pointing it out as much as demonstrated sends up red flags. Correct me if I'm being paranoid or wrong about this.
I also feel that Red Pill doesn't give you a whole lot wiggle room to be able to present it differently.
Also, while we are in the subject of souvenirs.
While a whole sealed deck seems more practical as a souvenir as opposed to a broken penny or a torn card, do people really keep magic souvenirs? I figure if you're a worker, the best souvenir would be a business card or something that can actually be used. Do people hold onto T&R cards and the such?
I used to bend coins regularly. There are a few people I know for sure still have those bent coins. One of them is now my wife.
I did a T&R card for a quincinera not long after I started taking magic seriously. That girl still has that card.
When you present the routine properly, the thing you leave with them becomes an impossible object with an anchored memory. That's a good thing.
The key is not assuming that just because you did something nifty they want to hang on to whatever you give them. What you want to do is either anchor the performance to a memory or emotion, or emphasize that you are creating an impossible object for them right in front of their eyes. At least, that's what works best for me.
I did a T&R card for a quincinera not long after I started taking magic seriously. That girl still has that card.
When you present the routine properly, the thing you leave with them becomes an impossible object with an anchored memory. That's a good thing.
The key is not assuming that just because you did something nifty they want to hang on to whatever you give them. What you want to do is either anchor the performance to a memory or emotion, or emphasize that you are creating an impossible object for them right in front of their eyes. At least, that's what works best for me.
I was recently at an audition for a booking agency where a few magicians were performing. I let one borrow a dollar for a routine. He destroyed it. It was torn, signed and ended up in a lemon. He gave it back to me and all I could think was that this was a piece of garbage. Over and over magicians kept giving their audiences garbage!
I just finished Jeff Mcbride's book "The Show Doctor" and he likes to emphasize gift magic. He makes it a point to make anything you give a real gift. Don't give out garbage!
Impossible objects. Linked rubber bands, twilight angels and anniversary waltz are all great.
Yeah. A lot of the buskers I know do things like Bill in Lemon so they can guarantee at least one tip - the volunteer usually doesn't want that bill back.
I think this goes back to the idea that not everyone loves magic like we do. Magicians think anything used during a magic trick automatically becomes super special. That is simply not the case. The item must be used in such a way as to create an anchor to a happy memory, or a feeling of mystery, in order to be something people want to hang on to.
This is the same reason I never do tricks with my business card to hand out. If someone is interested in my info, they'll ask for my card. Doing a trick and giving it to them just gives them something to throw away as soon as I'm out of sight usually.
I think this goes back to the idea that not everyone loves magic like we do. Magicians think anything used during a magic trick automatically becomes super special. That is simply not the case. The item must be used in such a way as to create an anchor to a happy memory, or a feeling of mystery, in order to be something people want to hang on to.
This is the same reason I never do tricks with my business card to hand out. If someone is interested in my info, they'll ask for my card. Doing a trick and giving it to them just gives them something to throw away as soon as I'm out of sight usually.
On the topic of Chris Ramsay's red pill:
Great effect, for laymen I'd say its a big few steps up from an invisible deck routine. My biggest sticking point for any effect is how convenient it is for the reaction you get, and this one is a PAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. We're talking, carefully opening and resealing decks, having to get new decks after every performance, basically no way to reset in between performances. If you wanted to do this for table hopping you're gonna need to make a few of these things, and if you aren't a working magician i do NOT think its worth the effort. Is it a fabulous trick? No doubt. This floors people *And magicians*
Its not for me, and if you aren't into major prep than i'd say pass. Its just not practical
On the topic of souvenir items:
A random mall magician did liquid metal for me 3 years ago when I was just starting out and I kept it. Im still not to sure how it works. The assumption I make is not everyone is going to appreciate items you give them and after you're done performing most people tend to forget you afterwards. Magic for me is a very "in the moment" deal. If a spectator actually decides to keep your gift instead of trashing it, I think red pill is a very weak souvenir item compared to a coin bend or liquid metal. I think there's something glaringly special about a contorted fork, not so much an ordinary deck of cards.
Great effect, for laymen I'd say its a big few steps up from an invisible deck routine. My biggest sticking point for any effect is how convenient it is for the reaction you get, and this one is a PAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. We're talking, carefully opening and resealing decks, having to get new decks after every performance, basically no way to reset in between performances. If you wanted to do this for table hopping you're gonna need to make a few of these things, and if you aren't a working magician i do NOT think its worth the effort. Is it a fabulous trick? No doubt. This floors people *And magicians*
Its not for me, and if you aren't into major prep than i'd say pass. Its just not practical
On the topic of souvenir items:
A random mall magician did liquid metal for me 3 years ago when I was just starting out and I kept it. Im still not to sure how it works. The assumption I make is not everyone is going to appreciate items you give them and after you're done performing most people tend to forget you afterwards. Magic for me is a very "in the moment" deal. If a spectator actually decides to keep your gift instead of trashing it, I think red pill is a very weak souvenir item compared to a coin bend or liquid metal. I think there's something glaringly special about a contorted fork, not so much an ordinary deck of cards.
So, I can't actually comment on the effect here because I just watched the trailer for the first time buuut does anybody else notice the guy annihilate the box to get to the cards??
Last time I saw something like that was when Ricky Jay did it in his 52 Assistants show xD
I purchased Red Pill last year and I've performed most of the times. What I can say is that you won't do it everytime you go out and perform, because the gimmick is not that easy to create and if you want to leave the the "impossibile object" you should consider giving away an entire deck. On the other hand, I always got great reactions out of that: I used to carry one single gimmick in my performances and I performed the effect only when I knew I had the good audience to do it; for this reason I do it as a closer, after having tested the audience response with other tricks.
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That's right! During my first performances I realized that some spectators took some time to understand the impossibility of something penetrating the cellophane, the very big reaction they had was about the revelation of the thought card in their hands. For this very reason I slightly changed my pattern in order to create the proper expectation.
That's such a good point! It all depends on how the spectator feels, but consider this: you can put in the box whatever you want, and that very box belongs then to the spectator. You could create the premise for another revelation of something else that stays inside the box, giving them the choice to unseal it or not. It sounds awkward to imagine a revelation that happens without the magician being present, but I saw other magicians playing with this idea (as Ollie Mealing here
That's something Peter Turner has worked with as well, basically giving someone an envelope with something inside, and telling them, "Don't open this now. Now is not the time. But at some point, you will realize that it is the right time and that's when I'd like you to open that envelope, and the message inside will be meaningful to you then."
I wasn't so much hung up on the souvenir for the spectator as I am for the realism of the actual effect of Red Pill. The trailer looks great. However even my favorite magician has used stooges. I'm just really unsure of the usefulness of it. I perform street magic only...by street I mean my kids lol.
I don't think it's all that useful, at least not for the venues I perform for. The trailer is a little misleading. They had to edit out some pretty heavy sleight of hand so they didn't tip the method.
The sleight of hand required works well for Chris. He's a bold and talented guy. These sleights would make many experienced magicians blush though. If you are caught as well (which is not unlikely) there's not a lot you can do to bail yourself out.
He must've learned from David Williamson:
I did that once at a talent show in Jr. High, after seeing David Williamson do it. Afterwards everyone was like, "What was that all about?!"
I definitely do this every time I open up a deck of Gold Monarchs
