Title: Alarmed
Creators: Noel Qualter and Ade Gower
Price: $42.95
Where Can I Buy It? Trick Shop Magic
Effect (from the ad copy):
Contents of the DVD:
Trailer (2 min)
Live Performances (6 min)
History (1 min)
What you Get (2 min)
Handling the Gimmick (3 min)
Song Routine (9 min)
The 2 Pad Routine (7 min)
The Magnet Switch (8 min)
The Noel Qualter Routine (6 min)
Additional Ideas (2 min)
Bookmark Switch (4 min)
Packaging/Production Values: The dvd and gimmicks come in a smart folding cardboard package. The packaging looks great, but you may find that the cardboard bends too easily, which may make it difficult for storage without damage to the outside package. Nevertheless, the photo gimmicks and dvd are also individually wrapped for additional protection. The dvd production is top-notch, clean, and upholds the high quality Alakazam standards; it runs for approximately 50 minutes.
Quality of Gimmicks/Supplies: You get 5o photo gimmicks with your Alarmed package. Each performance requires you to use one of these, and then after finishing the effect, the spectator may keep the photo as a souvenir. These photos are slightly thicker than regular photo paper; they're closer to the thickness of a gift card. The size of them is a little smaller than a poker size playing card, which helps when executing a certain necessary sleight. The gimmicks are smart and self contained. The feature which allows spectator examination is particularly clever.
Teaching Quality: All of the teaching segments take place in the Alakazam studio with Noel Qualter and Richard Bellars. Noel is the main teacher of the effect, but Richard offers some tips and routines of his own and definitely adds in helpful comments. Together, their teaching is in-depth and lacks nothing as far as I'm concerned. They also discuss various additional ideas which can be used to enhance the deceptiveness of the effect; these certainly got my brain working and thinking about how I could add-on to Alarmed.
Difficulty: This routine is not particularly hard, but it must be practiced in order to increase your speed of performance and eliminate awkward pauses (you'll know what I mean when you get the effect). Thankfully a free PDF is also included on the dvd to help out with practicing. The difficulty also depends on what method or routine you use. I'd say the difficulty is about a 3 out of 5 (5 being the most difficult).
Angles and Reset: Nobody should be behind you when performing Alarmed, other than that angles are pretty good. Since each gimmick is basically self-contained, the reset is hardly any time at all. Maybe a minute if you're really slow.
Drawbacks: Of course the main drawback to this effect is the price of refills. Right now at Trick Shop Magic they are $32.95. Since a refill pack is needed every 50 performances, that amount of money starts to add up pretty quickly. Obviously this is NOT an effect to do at every moment, rather wait for that special crowd who you really want to remember you forever. Also, Noel puts his contact info on the back of the photo via a sticker, which may help pay for the effect by itself with future bookings. In other words, this effect is not for the hobbyists.
Another drawback is the time that it takes to perform this. If you really want to make this as strong as it can be and perform, for instance, the Song Routine, where a radio song is divined in conjunction with the time prediction, I think it will take more than just 3 minutes. So even though this effect will certainly work for walk-around, I think it would be best for a table where you have a large amount of time to build this up with. Again it all comes down to having the right situation.
Overall Thoughts: If Noel's original routine was the only thing presented on this dvd, than my review may not been as positive, but because of all the additional routines, devices, methods, and improvements that Noel and Richard presented, I am happy to say this is a worker. This is a perfect giveaway item for your spectators...especially the ones who look like they may want to hire you in the future. I think the people who use Alarmed in the right way probably won't mind the price of refills at all considering the future work it will get them. As a tribute to the Wizard Product Review's rating system, I give this 90%!
By the way if you have any questions about this effect feel free to write them in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer them!
Trailer:
[video=youtube;xN1Uk4h7I_8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1Uk4h7I_8&w=560&h=349[/video]