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Jay Sankey: Deranged Review
One DVD, some clever props/gimmicks and $30 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
This effect is a weird one to explain. I'll let you watch the trailer:
Method
The method is very simple and very clever. It's nearly self-working. Using a simple and clever optical deception and the gimmicked cards, the cards can truly be shuffled by the spectator face up, face down, any old way, and the effect will still work.
Further, though the cards are gimmicked, they are handled by the spectator with no problem, and there's a simple moment/subtlety involved that adds a further level of deception to the convincing of the normal-ness of the cards. The structure of this is really smart and really simple. You'll need to get the spectator to make a "selection," and you'll need to do a very simple and totally undetectable switch.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is accurate and the video is accurate. There is one part missing from both, but it's missing to partially protect the method. The missing component was mentioned above in the "method" section. It's a super simple, totally invisible action that is foolproof. This kind of cut/edit I have no problem with, because it's protecting the method and it makes no claims that are untrue.
Product Quality
The gimmicks are well made and look great. The DVD is well produced, well lit, well mic'd, etc. The teaching is just the right amount. Not too much and not too little. Everything you need to know is covered and taught well. You're taught several ways to get the spectator to "select" a piece of the card. They're taught well, but due to the nature of this effect, a different way to make a "selection" might be in order.
A couple of different switches are taught. One of them is the perfect switch that is 100% the right way to do it for this effect. It will go unnoticed, and thus, it allows you to hand out the packet of cards to be examined. Then switch in the gimmicked ones totally undetected, and they still handle the cards even after they're switched. It's very clean and very smart.
Final Thoughts
As is usual, this all comes down to what you think about the effect. If you like the effect as seen in the ad trailer, then you'll be happy with this purchase. The method is clean, easy, and very deceptive.
Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
10 Comments
I was impressed by this effect as soon as I saw the trailer. I tried to wait for Jeff’s review in case it was a let-down, but I could not wait & bought it anyway. It really is as good and easy as the trailer suggests & the method is very clever as Jeff says.
This review is excellent & my only disagreement is that I would definitely give it 5 stars. If you like the effect you will certainly not be disappointed.
@Alan – Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you liked it. As for the star rating, the only reason I gave 4.5 is because I felt that the forces taught were not the best suited for this effect due to the nature of the gimmicks.
Fair Point. The forces Jay teaches work OK with my spectators but I would also be interested in any other methods you can suggest Jeff.
@Alan – A few simple ideas: I think the cross-cut force would work fine in this case if you have the force card on the bottom of the stack, rather than the top. Also, I’m half tempted to make a force back out of a bag that looks like it might have been from the gift shop at the Louvre or something like that. It would, of course, require several copies of the post card to pull this off, but it might be worth it.
That aside, I would go with the version of the cross-cut mentioned above. You might be able to pull off a riffle force, but the packet may be too small. One other key is to make sure the force card is face down. The methods Jay used had it face up which made the force (particularly with the count down force) quite obvious. With it face down, there’s a really cool force that uses the Depth Illusion to keep (apparently) taking the top card and putting it in the middle, over and over again. Each time, you do so, when it’s the face down force card, you use the Depth Illusion. When it’s a face up card, you truly put it in the middle. You then tell them stop you whenever there is a face down card on top and that will be their selection.
The idea is that you tell them that you want them to pick a card without seeing the face. Just be careful when doing this procedure that you don’t end up with one of the non-force face down cards on the top of the deck.
Hopefully that makes some sense.
Also, there’s the classic force, but with such a small packet, it might be hard to do that.
@ALL,
I do not have this and so am not totally familiar with the conditions but perhaps a force commonly used in ‘newspaper tests’ might work here, such as Kranzo’s Tearify’ and several others.
I will describe another possibility that also may not work for the conditions required. It is my own idea, I have never read about it anywhere else and it has very limited applications and this may be one of them…or not. But apologies if this is already in print or video or e-book.
There is a way to secretly retain a coin that goes by the initials FP. The force selection would be held in this FP with the rest of the little cards held in a stack at the finger tips of the same hand with the finger tips on top and the thumb underneath. With the other hand, the little sections of card would be dealt on the table one at a time from the top until the guest says “Stop.” The hand immediately sets the remainder of the pieces onto the table and squares them and you can figure it out. Again, very seldom are we working with small sections of cards like that so very limited applications for it.
Again, not sure without the effect in hand if this might work.
I do like that depth illusion force.
RLF
@RLF – Thanks for the input. For the newspaper tests, don’t those have to happen while tearing the paper? In the case of Deranged, the card is already torn/cut in advance. As for the FP idea, it’s very clever, but due to the nature of the cards in this effect it won’t work. 🙁
Jeff,
Many newspaper tests involve a way of retaining the top piece of paper while dealing through the other pieces until “stop” is called. When you mentioned the cross-cut force, I thought this might be a viable option. Clearly though, I will have to get the effect, and learn the conditions before commenting any further.
RLF
@RLF – Actually that might be doable for this effect. Either way, it’s a good purchase.
Thanks Guys.
When all is said & done I think the Count Down force Jay suggests (probably after a lot of thought) flies by lay people, & I will use it.
@Alan – Agreed. However, in this context it’s a little more transparent. With the piece face up, as Jay did it, it’s very obvious what’s happening.