Last night I finally got around to recording a quick effect I was playing around with this summer, and I figured I'd upload and share it. (TL;DR: The video is at the bottom of this wall of text.)
The effect is more a demonstration of impossible skill than a standard card trick. Brief overview: deck can be shuffled, etc. to dispel thoughts of prearrangement. Spectator calls stop, magician shows the spectator the card they stopped at; spectator can change their mind as many times as they want. Once a card is finally settled on, the magician puts the card back where he found it, then places the deck on a table and allows it to be squared up and (optionally) inspected briefly to ensure that there are no bends, breaks, etc. The magician then picks the deck back up and proceeds to pull the spectator's card out of the deck in one quick motion.
A very slight modification would allow this same effect to be used for two selections: the first selection can be made and controlled, then the effect could proceed as in the video, with the removal of the two selections happening as in the video, except at the same time (or one at a time, I guess).
As far as the theory behind this thing goes, I like that it only uses one (pretty easy) sleight, and that the magician handles the deck very naturally and openly, with no shuffles or cuts or suspicious moves; setting the deck down emphasizes the hands-off nature of this effect and drives home the fact that the card is actually in the center of the deck. For all intents and purposes, the card is found faster than humanly possible, given its location somewhere in the middle of the deck.
As far as angles go, there is a half-second flash in the video due to the camera position, but you really have to know what you're looking for to see it (it's not during the sleight, but after). The sleight itself is, in my opinion, very well covered - I've used it in real-world scenarios and had no problem. The only real issue is the final reveal / card grab - the angles there can theoretically be really bad, but with proper audience control and positioning there should be no issue. I've also come up with what may be a feasible way to get full 360 degree viewing angles on the final reveal, but I haven't yet figured out a handling that is both effective and comfortable.
I'm toying with the idea of submitting this effect, with a tutorial of the sleight used (which, in my opinion, is one of the most useful controls I know), as a free download on The Wire... but that would be a few weeks off. If enough of you guys express interest, I might contact the mods and see if they think it'd be accepted, and go from there.
While I am definitely interested in your guys' opinions of the effect itself, I'd also be very grateful if some of you who have been in magic longer than I can tell me exactly where the sleight I use first originated... it's one of those things I started playing around with a while ago by accident, but I know it's not original, since it's similar to some of the stuff in, say, Expert Card Technique (but I couldn't find it in there). Since I don't know what the name of the sleight is, I've had some trouble finding its history.
If you feel like filling me in on the name and credit history of the sleight publicly would be exposure, please drop me a PM. Thanks a ton!
[video=youtube;KQ7wcncv2CA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ7wcncv2CA[/video]
The effect is more a demonstration of impossible skill than a standard card trick. Brief overview: deck can be shuffled, etc. to dispel thoughts of prearrangement. Spectator calls stop, magician shows the spectator the card they stopped at; spectator can change their mind as many times as they want. Once a card is finally settled on, the magician puts the card back where he found it, then places the deck on a table and allows it to be squared up and (optionally) inspected briefly to ensure that there are no bends, breaks, etc. The magician then picks the deck back up and proceeds to pull the spectator's card out of the deck in one quick motion.
A very slight modification would allow this same effect to be used for two selections: the first selection can be made and controlled, then the effect could proceed as in the video, with the removal of the two selections happening as in the video, except at the same time (or one at a time, I guess).
As far as the theory behind this thing goes, I like that it only uses one (pretty easy) sleight, and that the magician handles the deck very naturally and openly, with no shuffles or cuts or suspicious moves; setting the deck down emphasizes the hands-off nature of this effect and drives home the fact that the card is actually in the center of the deck. For all intents and purposes, the card is found faster than humanly possible, given its location somewhere in the middle of the deck.
As far as angles go, there is a half-second flash in the video due to the camera position, but you really have to know what you're looking for to see it (it's not during the sleight, but after). The sleight itself is, in my opinion, very well covered - I've used it in real-world scenarios and had no problem. The only real issue is the final reveal / card grab - the angles there can theoretically be really bad, but with proper audience control and positioning there should be no issue. I've also come up with what may be a feasible way to get full 360 degree viewing angles on the final reveal, but I haven't yet figured out a handling that is both effective and comfortable.
I'm toying with the idea of submitting this effect, with a tutorial of the sleight used (which, in my opinion, is one of the most useful controls I know), as a free download on The Wire... but that would be a few weeks off. If enough of you guys express interest, I might contact the mods and see if they think it'd be accepted, and go from there.
While I am definitely interested in your guys' opinions of the effect itself, I'd also be very grateful if some of you who have been in magic longer than I can tell me exactly where the sleight I use first originated... it's one of those things I started playing around with a while ago by accident, but I know it's not original, since it's similar to some of the stuff in, say, Expert Card Technique (but I couldn't find it in there). Since I don't know what the name of the sleight is, I've had some trouble finding its history.
If you feel like filling me in on the name and credit history of the sleight publicly would be exposure, please drop me a PM. Thanks a ton!
[video=youtube;KQ7wcncv2CA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ7wcncv2CA[/video]
