Think about this... the magician draws a dove on a white board.. he produces a silk and starts to erase the dove.. little by little he erases the entire dove...he holds the silk up in front of him and pulls it away to reveal a dove.. with one problem. The doves tail is missing. The magician looks back at the board and realizes he's left the tail on the drawing. He erases the tail and turns back to the audience.. he runs the silk over the dove and magically the dove sprouts a full sized tail.

It's a new effect I've been working on.. but before I continue forward ( I have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to do it ).. I just want your guy's opinions on whether or not you think this is an original effect or not. I know their have been things like it.. but this is definitely my own creation.. well that I know of.. that's what you guys are here for!

Justin David

It really all depends if the audience can understand the effect from a stage. It really does not sound that powerful a trick. Others have pulled of the head of doves and put them back on. So you go the other end.

Try it out, if you are asking if it would sell, I don't believe so. If you are asking has anyone heard of such an effect. I have not. Others have used framed boards to produce birds. I believe Hocus-Pocus is selling one now on line.

LOL "so you go the other end." My water almost came out of my nose.

Well, I can see the way you are looking at it.. but I would definitely make sure it has a great flow to it. It's not meant for a final thrill, it's just another effect to add to one's repertoire.

It's something to build upon, but as always, I want to make sure I'm not stepping on any toes.

Thanks for the input, it's always appreciated.

Justin

Sounds nice,

But as wmhegbli said, will it make sense on stage (maybe for close up magic only)? Does everyone in your audience know what a dove looks like and the length of its normal tail? Are they even going to understand there is no tail in the beginning, Or for that matter that one has appeared? It seems to me that from the back rows of the theater if you cover a dove with a silk and remove it making a tail appear they will have no idea it even occured.. How will you hold the bird to cleanly display the tail before and after the effect? How about you do something with the tail before the appearance of it to make your audience concious of it, to focus their attention on it. Hope this will help and is valid.

DJ

Well yes.. I would obviously make sure the audience knew there was no tail on the dove before I finished the effect off.

I think it's pretty easy to tell a bird without a tail from any angle of a theater.. and especially when it didn't have one, and then all of a sudden does.

I will film it once I have the kinks out, and then have you guys give me an opinion of the video.

Justin

You gotta keep in mind what the audience will think of a dove with no tail, they may turn on you and find it inhumane...also keep in mind that the effect of producing a dove from nothing is a much strong effect and producing a tail on a dove, it will more than likely go completely over their heads.

Thanks for the input Dan. It's sad but true about the inhumane thing, people will try anything to make us look bad.

It's a work in progress.

Justin, creativity is always good. While your idea may not be feasible for stage, it could lead to other ideas. Speech over. Now, as others above have said, from a stage, this effect may not go over well. When you produce the bird, I'm assuming it is going to be flapping it's wings like normal in which case, the audience is going to be unaware of the tail. You'l have to go out of your way to point out that it's missing. If the bird isn't flapping it's wings, then the audience is going to think "fake bird". Remember, from a distance, all the audience sees is flapping wings, not the anatomy of the dove.

Here's an idea. After erasing the picture, open the silk and show an exxagerated picture of a dove without a tale. Notice the tail still on the board and finish erasing. Then either produce the dove right away or open the silk to show a complete picture leading into the production.

If instead you use a printed dove on the silk missing a tail, perhaps its head too - you could get some good play out of the moment. Crunch up the silk with the torso and wings, wipe the head off the board and produce the dove off the board back revealing only the head (pause a beat) then produce the entire bird.

I think the overall effect sounds great. Keep us posted!