Please let me know if anyone uses or has this and what their opinion is.

Ellen
harryandersonfan.com

You might want to check Mike Close's review in this month's Magic.

The tricks on the video are okay and well presented. However, I think that it's way too overpriced

The only tricks that I regularly perform from the video are Trick Switch (Glide Switch), Chance Zero (Out of this world) and Trace Unseen (Using a gaff card).

I wish I would've spent my money on Paul Harris materials instead. But then again Ellusionist is the one that got me started on magic

How to learn street magic video is recommended for beginners. But a waste of good money for pros

You may want to log in On Genii forum. Quite a spirited disussion.

I'm not a fan personally, but what he's advocating isn't street magic, it's more like, "Hey, come 'ere. Stop what you're doing and Watch what I can do and if you don't, I'll follow you until you do."

Some folks like that, some do not.

Dave

What does Mike Close say in his review? Sorry, my subscription just ran out and I might not get this month's issue. I always respect what he has to say.

What my answer has tended to be to this recently is this, go to ellusonist.com and check out the demo videos...get the video of him on News Channel 7. He looks like the most stiff, most terrible magician I've ever seen. Why would I want to learn how to make magic from him? He's a fine technician but as is constantly being pointed out, technique is only a small portion of creating an entertaining experience.

All that being said, Street Magic was my first magic video (VIDEO, not product. I had books) and I thought most of the material was stupid. I did Trick Switch (Design for Laughter from Royal Road to card magic) and the "George trick" which is just a Downs' palm production. Ironically, he taught a lot of neo-classics of card magic (Out of this World and Card Warp, for example) and I thought they were stupid and only when I learned the proper names for them did I realize what I'd done!

-Dan

The Michael Close review in the Feb. 2003 Magic magazine actually is of a different ellusionist product, the "Crash Course 1" video. But the review still is much worth reading. It's pretty brutal, and I suspect that the upshot of some of his criticisms would apply to most other ellusionist videos as well.

Generally, Close complains that the ellusionist tape is an attempt to attract David Blaine wannabes, who in turn are likely to be "young, geeky boys trying desperately to look hip" who do not appreciate that Blaine's performances are full of background assistance and other context furnished by his crew out of view of the camera.

Close finds the material on the tape badly chosen and sometimes mistaught, and thinks there are much better resources for someone wanting to learn magic. That's a quick paraphrase of the review, and I can imagine someone quibbling with it. In the end, though, Close's verdict pretty much speaks for itself: "Here in Las Vegas we have a game called Keno. It is strictly for suckers. So is Crash Course Vol. 1."

I have always found Michael Close pretty reliable.

KF

Dang! That was brutal... and dead-on

This is currently going on:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......2&53

My opinion is that ellusionist products are okay in content, very well produced, but a bit overpriced. You'll get a lot of opinions about the products being garbage and Brad being a jerk - don't listen to such unconstructive attacks. Be your own judge on this one....

Hope this helps!

Here we Go Again!!!

magictricks.atinfopop.com

Check out this link for a mass argument about ellusionist.




jimesw
http://www.thehungersite.com

Putting everything else aside, I own some of the Ellusionist products along with a substantial amount of other books and videos and here is what I think:

1. The production quality is very good.
2. On each video, there are at least two routines or moves that make the purchase worth it for me.
3. That being said, I think the product is overpriced.
4. However, if I weren't satisfied, Ellusionist does offer a money back guarantee. I've never used it so I don't know how easy/hard it is to get your money back.
5. The main (only) benefit of the Ellusionist products is the ability to download the videos and store them on your computer and/or burned cd. This makes a difference when I am sitting in a hotel room with my laptop and no VCR. This feature is the only reason I bought the product. If I had the VHS or DVD versions, I'd ask for my money back because it is not worth the price and I have many other videos that are better.

A lot of the ellusionist material is good, if you don't care about credits, etc.


I personally will be spending my money on Card College and Ammar's videos rather than ellusionist in the future. They are much better!