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Steve Brooks Founder / Manager Northern California - United States 3780 Posts |
During the 1980's a very creative guy by the name of Michael Kaznetsis was on the magic scene and marketed several clever effects. Arguably the best of his creations was a trick called POLARGEIST. The trick made use of a standard Polaroid instant camera which was modified with a special gimmick. Michael supplied the special gaff and the performer used his own camera. Once rigged, you could photograph a spectator and immediately hand them the photo which the camera had just produced. While waiting for their picture to develope, you would have the spectator select a card. When the picture had finished developing, the spectator was seen to have the selected card on her shirt. The performer could then staple his business card to the back of the photograph and the mystified audience member went home with a great memory.
The trick could be obtained from most dealers and was distributed by Sterling Magic. By the way, there were actually two different versions available. The first always produced the same force card and had to be set-up by the purchaser while the second version came as a ready-made film pack which had multiple cards ready to go. The latter version of POLARGEIST was the way to go if you planned on repeating the effect for multiple spectators, although I personally used the former version with great success for many years. I still have the original gimmick buried away in a box someplace along with my antiquated Polaroid camera. This trick was extremely strong and in fact I had received many bookings based on that trick alone. Sadly, I haven't seen this trick offered anywhere recently, though you might get lucky enough to find a dealer who has a few buried in his back room. I would have recommend anyone interested to contact Michael Kaznetsis, but I do not have his contact information and Michael seems to have completely vanished from magicdom. A number of years later creator Mike Bent produced an effect known as SAY CHEESE. Making use of one of Polaroid's later model cameras ( The Joy Cam ), the idea was similar to POLARGEIST in regards to a chosen card appearing in the photo with the spectator, only this time the card is spelled out on a large zeppelin which appears in the background hovering above the spectator's head, or written graffiti style across a wall in the photo. The trick also sported six other special effects including a piece of cheese appearing on a previously empty plate the spectator had been holding when the photo was taken. Once again, a very strong effect which also had the advantage of the audience member leaving with a special memory. As of this writing, the Joy Cam camera can still be purchased from retailers such as Amazon.com and Mike's SAY CHEESE may still be found at some dealers, a quick Google should bring you some results. Now that I've given you a little background surrounding tricks which have used a camera and a deck of cards together, let us take a look at the latest photographic wonder, which not only makes use of the modern digital camera, but the ever popular cell phone. --------------------------------- Calling Card & Camera Card by Roger Lovins ------------oOo-------------- Description: CALLING CARD (Cell Phone Camera) or Camera Card (Digital Camera). The magic is the same whether you use a cell phone camera or a digital camera. Some people don't have a cell phone camera, but they have a digital camera, so they buy the Camera Card! They choose a card, It becomes a blank. They hold the blank card up near their face. You take a photo of their face and the blank card. In the photo the blank becomes their card! Wow! The blank card they are holding becomes the chosen card in the camera photo! No Refills to buy! Nothing to wear out! No Electronics involved! . --------------------------------- Creator Roger Lovins has put together a couple interesting packages which allow the performer the ability to cause a previously selected playing card to appear in a photograph with the spectator. Depending on which version you purchase, this can be accomplished using a cell phone which has the ability to take photographs, or the ever popular digital camera. As with anything, this trick has both pro's and con's to consider. The positive aspect is the fact that it uses a modern device (e.g, cellphone, digital camera) as opposed to the now outdated Polaroid camera that your parents used for many years. Add to that, you have no film to purchase and there is no long wait for the photograph to develope. Great. Sadly, there are more con's than pro's here. While the initial idea is great, this particular offering does have a few drawbacks and disadvanteges, especially when compared to POLARGEIST and SAY CHEESE. First, the gimmick must be custom fitted by the purchaser and may or may not work well depending on which brand of cell phone or digital camera you currently own. While I am confident it can indeed be used with common brands, there may be that one exception and you should at least be aware of this fact. Second, unless you plan on doing some after-show work using a program such as Adobe's Photoshop, there is no way that you can simply send them a copy of the photo taken without you spending a little time on your computer. Unlike the old Polaroid camera, there is no physical picture to hand out. Again, without using some kind of graphics software, even using a portable printer is just not an option here. Finally, without exposing the gimmick itself, all I can say is the human eye has one of the most sophisticated camera lenses in the world and is not too easily fooled, especially when observing things just inches away. If one is to successfully use this, a bit of distance is strongly encouraged. Now, I'm not saying the photo will not appear genuine. All I'm saying is: if the spectator is allowed to examine the picture more closely, you may indeed get busted. Still, the package does include a variety of different cards to choose from and given the right situation (e.g, a party, at the bar, etc) you may indeed be able to get some real use out of this little gizzmo. As for myself, I think I'll look for my Polaroid... My rating: Suggested retail is: $24.95 ---------------------------------- You can contact John Rogers 24/7 at: johnrogers@woodencigars.com You can order using a check or money order and when on the web, John even accepts PayPal payments! Visit John's website to order direct: Click here! John Rogers 1103 PARKSIDE DRIVE NEW CASTLE, IN. 47362 U.S.A. Phone: (765)529-9618
"Always be you because nobody else can" - Steve Brooks
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