Witness by Lee Asher
The Official Spam-
The Story-
Well, when I first got Witness earlier today... I was unable to play all of it. It got to about 1 minute, and then it stopped. However, after several E-Mails back and forth with Customer Service, I got most of it to work. I was still unable to view all of the last section, but I got the essentials, and I want to come up with my own performance of the effect, anyway (the last section is "Selling the Effect").
What Your Spectators See-
You have a spectator choose a card, and hold on to it. While they are showing it around, a Ziploc bag is brought into play. Inside the Ziploc bag is a Joker. You ask a spectator that is not holding the selection to sandwich the Joker, inside the bag, in their hands. The selection is returned to the deck, and after a little bit of byplay, the Joker transforms into their selected card.
The Work-
In this effect, there are really only two sleights... and one of them you will already know how to do. The other, is one of those sleights that is so easy that it's almost self-working. Both of these take place near the beginning of the effect, so most of this awesome effect is all presentation on your part.
Gimmicks-
I am very happy to say that this effect uses absolutely no gimmicks. You do not have to alter anything that is brought into play during the effect in any way. However, you will need an "extra" something that you will definitely have laying around with your card collection.
Quality-
In this section, I am not talking about the quality of the effect, but rather the quality of the download. I personally just bought the download, so I don't know how the DVD is, but the download is very nice, and I could easily hear and see everything that was going on.
The Teaching-
As usual, Lee does a superb job teaching this effect, and goes over everything you need to know to be able to perform this effect, including what type of bag to use, what card to put in the bag (the Joker), multiple ways to pull of the first "sleight"... everything. And not only does he go over it all, but he does a darn good job of it.
Price-
At first I thought the price for this effect was a little much, but after forking over the money and watching the video, I soon realized that it was worth every penny. Unlike some effects, this does not come with multiple handlings, but the one it does come with is darn near perfect, and I honestly think a different one would be overkill.
Signature-
When first considering this purchase, I had a few questions that I wanted to ask Lee personally before buying this... one of them was whether or not the card could be signed. He told me that, in theory, the card could be signed, but that it would be overkill. I concur... it would just be overkill and a waste of time in an already powerful effect such as Witness.
2 of Hearts-
I had also heard the question going around about the 2 of Hearts, and why Lee always used that card. The reason is that it contrasts with the Joker, and has good visual appeal... that's it, there is no gimmicked or "special" card.
Overall-
Wow... this is a great effect, and I think it was totally worth the $20 I paid for it. I had been wanting this effect every since it came out on Halloween, but recently I had forgotten about it. Then, I got some money for my birthday, and I decided I would finally buy this. Now, I have a great new effect to add my repertoire. Thanks Lee!
The Official Spam-
The Story-
Well, when I first got Witness earlier today... I was unable to play all of it. It got to about 1 minute, and then it stopped. However, after several E-Mails back and forth with Customer Service, I got most of it to work. I was still unable to view all of the last section, but I got the essentials, and I want to come up with my own performance of the effect, anyway (the last section is "Selling the Effect").
What Your Spectators See-
You have a spectator choose a card, and hold on to it. While they are showing it around, a Ziploc bag is brought into play. Inside the Ziploc bag is a Joker. You ask a spectator that is not holding the selection to sandwich the Joker, inside the bag, in their hands. The selection is returned to the deck, and after a little bit of byplay, the Joker transforms into their selected card.
The Work-
In this effect, there are really only two sleights... and one of them you will already know how to do. The other, is one of those sleights that is so easy that it's almost self-working. Both of these take place near the beginning of the effect, so most of this awesome effect is all presentation on your part.
Gimmicks-
I am very happy to say that this effect uses absolutely no gimmicks. You do not have to alter anything that is brought into play during the effect in any way. However, you will need an "extra" something that you will definitely have laying around with your card collection.
Quality-
In this section, I am not talking about the quality of the effect, but rather the quality of the download. I personally just bought the download, so I don't know how the DVD is, but the download is very nice, and I could easily hear and see everything that was going on.
The Teaching-
As usual, Lee does a superb job teaching this effect, and goes over everything you need to know to be able to perform this effect, including what type of bag to use, what card to put in the bag (the Joker), multiple ways to pull of the first "sleight"... everything. And not only does he go over it all, but he does a darn good job of it.
Price-
At first I thought the price for this effect was a little much, but after forking over the money and watching the video, I soon realized that it was worth every penny. Unlike some effects, this does not come with multiple handlings, but the one it does come with is darn near perfect, and I honestly think a different one would be overkill.
Signature-
When first considering this purchase, I had a few questions that I wanted to ask Lee personally before buying this... one of them was whether or not the card could be signed. He told me that, in theory, the card could be signed, but that it would be overkill. I concur... it would just be overkill and a waste of time in an already powerful effect such as Witness.
2 of Hearts-
I had also heard the question going around about the 2 of Hearts, and why Lee always used that card. The reason is that it contrasts with the Joker, and has good visual appeal... that's it, there is no gimmicked or "special" card.
Overall-
Wow... this is a great effect, and I think it was totally worth the $20 I paid for it. I had been wanting this effect every since it came out on Halloween, but recently I had forgotten about it. Then, I got some money for my birthday, and I decided I would finally buy this. Now, I have a great new effect to add my repertoire. Thanks Lee!
