The Trilogy - From a Beginners perspective.

Apr 6, 2010
256
0
Right, ive only been doing magic and card flourishing for the last two weeks but iv pretty much been at it non stop as i only work a few hours in the evenings. I got down the basics, charlier, revolution, swivel cuts, fans etc from youtube and practiced these till i had them down pretty comfortably.

I really wanted to have a source from which i could work around, and something that would last me a long, long time. At first i was sceptical about The Trilogy as many people and reviews told me that it was hard work and certainly not for beginners.

However, after purchasing it, despite the warnings i recieved and the price of it, i am incredibly pleased with the whole set. What follows is an explanation of my opinion about each section:

Tricks:

I havent used the Tricks section that much yet but im sure i will come back to it time and time again. There is a good solid collection of different card trick variations all with pretty good angles along with verbal advice and walkthroughs from both Dan and Dave. As i progress on the magic trick side of things im sure this will become a very helpful catylyst.

Flourishes:

What can i say? A timeless collection of flourishes that are, although mostly quite advanced, incredibly good looking and very intriguing. A lot of them are very difficult but that has inspired to me to work harder until i can do them. I have started with Eko and once i feel confident that i have got it to a decent level will progress to the harder ones. Theres certainly a lot to do here, to say the least. The camera angles are pretty good and there are small sections of text to explain each step. Unfortunately there is not any verbal direction on the flourishes and they run through the stages pretty quickly, meaning you have to stop and start the dvd quite a lot, which is both a good and a bad thing. (I will explain this in my conclusion.)

Everythingelse:

This is a very useful part of the collection. I went to this disc first to brush up on the basic fans, springs and cuts i learnt from youtube, and found some much smoother methods to accomplish these basics with. The flourishes 101 sub-section on here, which contains the previously mentioned basics, is fantastic, comprising of a wide variety of simple moves that will help add style and flair to your flourishing, and certainly encouraged me as a beginner, because i knew if i got too stuck i would have some form of foundations to fall back on at my finger tips. The rest of the stuff on here is brilliant with some verbal covering of other magicians tricks and some well explained flourishing basics such as the 360 deck flip.

The finger exercises, although not so useful in my opinion for building up strength in your hand, are good for warming up in the mornings when your hands are cold and i find them quite relaxing at times when im not in the mood to do anything. Finally, just to clear up on something i noticed in some reviews, although the original tutorial for the molecule cut is on The System, there is a neat 'molecule revisited' video on this disc that teaches it again, so if you buy all three discs you wont have any problems there.

Conclusion:

A lot of people said in reviews that The Trilogy, although amounting quantity, did not use very good teaching methods. Now, although i agree with this in reference to beginners, don't let it deter you. I do find it frustrating when i have to rewind the trick a few times to catch a small movement, but it also allows for something very good - intuition. In fact, in the booklet that comes with the boxset Dan and Dave state that it is indeed not meant to be a very clear learning process, but far more something that will teach you to incorporate a creative attitude into your flourishing.

If you work hard at it and spend a considerable amount of time on the flourishes, you will come away with a far better outlook, giving you inspiration to focus on the smoothness and flow of your movements. I have found so far that by not having everything laid out in front of me the easy way, i instead figure out the tricks in a way that you would if you were creating them in the first place. This is a really beneficial factor as it makes you focus on actually working the trick out instead of just absorbing it, leaving you with a much better mindset.

Everything in this DVD collection surpasses my original expectations. The design alone stands for what these brothers are trying to accomplish and i think that the effort put into this project has really shown how much they love what they do. It will, and has been, hard work for me, especially as a beginner, but working hard to learn is usually the best way because it teaches you things that you wouldnt know or understand were you to have everything fed to you. All i can say is, this will last me a very, very long time and is not so much a tutorial collection but a demonstrational lecture (in a visual way) that teaches you the value of each movement on top of the method.

9/10

Steve
 
Apr 6, 2010
256
0
I agree with you on the tricks. The collection on the DVD is very good and they arent bad, but despite their very visual feel, they dont seem that substantial.

Most of them are kind of, quick, in your face tricks and i guess this influence comes from Dan and Daves focus on flourishing.

However i wouldnt put it as a bad point, they could provide some very nice enhancements to more suitable tricks by other magicians.
 
Oct 29, 2009
971
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Just around
I agree with you on the tricks. The collection on the DVD is very good and they arent bad, but despite their very visual feel, they dont seem that substantial.

Most of them are kind of, quick, in your face tricks and i guess this influence comes from Dan and Daves focus on flourishing.

However i wouldnt put it as a bad point, they could provide some very nice enhancements to more suitable tricks by other magicians.

I personally loved the tricks section. I can see how it's not some people's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. I would also recommend people who don't like the Buck's effects, to still give the Tricks disc a look through, as it contains a LOT of great sleights, color changes, and such.

I can't speak for everyone, but I think most of Dan and Dave's effects work in certain situations, and I find myself in those situations a lot. The kind where you standing around friends (or something) and your flourishing or doing something with cards, and someone asks to see a trick. These effects are PERFECT for this type of situation. Specifically the Queens, Hand to Mouth, Tivo 2.0. and Twinsplit Remix. The other effects would work too, I just find that the effects listed above are the more impossible, visual, crazyness effects on the DVD. I can't do many of these yet, but I'm working on Tivo 2.0 and Twinsplit at the moment. Then I'll move on to the Queens.

Good review!

Cheers
 
Apr 6, 2010
256
0
Yeah they seem like they are more 'fill in' tricks than complete ones, perfect for when you dont want to get involved in performing a more substantial trick.
 
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