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Mark Southworth: The Box Review

Two boxes, 1 gimmick, 3 "stuffs" for making more gimmicks, a small bag, 1 hour and $75 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Effect/Method

What you're getting is a utility device that can be used to switch objects, vanish objects, etc. There are many effects possible, most notably: signed card to impossible location (i.e., the box with the clear lid that's been sitting on the table the whole time). There are many products like this on the market for showing an item in a box, dumping it out, and secretly switching the object.

However, this one has several advantages over any that I've seen before. First, once the object is "dumped out," the box is examinable. There is something to find, but they won't because the device locks. Further, the object (e.g., playing cards, dollar bill, billet, etc.) that is showing in the box is easily interchangeable. You can (in just 2 seconds) swap out the card gimmick for the dollar bill gimmick, for example.

The method is mostly dependent upon the box/gimmick itself. There is, however, sleight of hand involved as well. For example, with the card versions, you'll need to be able to do the MCF. For other effects, there's less sleight of hand needed. The box can be used as an incredibly clean vanish that requires no sleight of hand. There is also an effect shown near the end of the DVD that requires no sleight of hand with the gimmick. You'll still need to be able to force a card. The effect is that you have a $20 bill (or whatever denomination) in the box.

You claim that if you can't find their card, they can have the $20 bucks. After several failed attempts, you have them cup their hands together. You open the lid of the box and dump the $20 in their hand, but instead of a $20, there is a small note that says, "Your card is the Five of Hearts" (or whatever card you forced). Other than the card work, the effect is sleight-free. The gimmick does all the work automatically, and very cleanly.

Included with the DVD is a card gimmick already made up. If you're planning on doing it with money or a billet or something else, you'll have to make your own gimmick and add a little extra something to it. There are three extra somethings included, so you can make three more gimmicks. Let's say you make a $10 bill, a Billet (for confabulation or other predictions), and blue-backed card — you're already supplied a red-backed card gimmick.

You can have one gimmick set up in The Box, and the other 3 can be in your pocket or even a vinyl wallet — they take up very little space. Then you can do an effect with the red-backed card gimmick at one table and on the way to the next table, in 2 seconds, swap out the gimmick for the $10 bill and do a bill trick at the next table.

All of this is very doable and very simple. Practice will be required, but none of this is a pipe dream and the reset is 2 seconds.

Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy is accurate, but I do have one issue, and one point of clarification. First the point of clarification. The claim that the box is examinable is true. However, when it's set to display the card (or whatever), it cannot be opened by the spectator. They will "find stuff" if they open it. However, they can hold the box as long as they don't open it. Mark Southworth gives several simple ideas to prevent them from opening it. One simple one is to just wrap a rubber band around the box.

Once the gimmick is activated and the card has been switched, the box can instantly be handed to the spectator to be examined. I don't know that it's needed, but it can be done. The box is gimmicked, but it locks into place leaving them with nothing to find.

The "issue" I have is found in the video ad trailer. The moment that shows the card being "removed" from the box is different from any techniques shown in the DVD. The DVD teaches you to dump the card out into your hand. That dumping action is what activates and locks the gimmick. So I'm not sure exactly how he did it in the trailer. I have an idea of how to do it, but in order to do what I think he's doing, some finer points need to be discussed. None of that was in the DVD.

Product Quality

The gimmicks and stuff included are very well made and of excellent quality. Plus they went the extra mile by giving you the stuff to make the interchangeable gimmicks, and they give you an extra box in case the first one breaks or gets dropped, etc.

The DVD, on the other hand was poorly produced, had no menu, bad lighting and less-than-average audio. When clicking the forward button it just skips ahead to a seemingly random spot, so it would appear that there are no chapters either. The teaching segment was also a bit rough. There were several problems.

Over Explaining

For the first part of the DVD, you get Mark Southworth explaining how everything works. He does a good job, but then he repeats the same thing as he says, "from the beginning." In some cases he went through the exact thing 3 times in a row. It was too much.

Rambling

The teaching on this can be best described as scatterbrained. He was all over the place, and it only got worse when he was joined by Stephen Leathwaite — more on that in a moment. A lot of the material was covered in what I felt was an out of order sequence. It was just a bit messy.

Literally

Ok . . . This one won't affect the star rating, but I've got to know, what is the deal with people from the U.K., saying "literally" in almost every sentence? For example, "I just literally hand them the pen, and they just literally sign it, literally right on the face of the card." WHY!? If you know, please post a comment below.

Too Many "Chapters"

As I mentioned earlier, there are no meaningful chapter breaks. However, at the beginning of the DVD, the first 4 minutes (ish) of the DVD had three or four fade-out, chapter title, music, fade-in moments. This actually happened: the screen faded in to Southworth sitting at a table and he said, "Let's look at how the box works." That's all he said. Then the screen slowly faded to black. Then fancy effects with a title comes on the screen that says "How The Box Works" (or something like that). Then the screen fades in to Southworth at the table again. Then he says "Let's look at how the box works." Then he explained how The Box works. Was that really necessary? I think: not!

No Performances

This one bugs me quite a bit. Nowhere is there a performance of the effect, not even in the trailer. You see the moment of how the gimmick works, how visual it is, etc., but no performance. I'm not even asking for one in front of spectators, but how 'bout one for the camera, so we can at least get a sense of the flow of the routine.

To add insult to injury, he explained with words only a variety of different effects. Imagine someone, with no props, just words, explaining a cups and balls routine or in this case, a Chop Cup routine. The worst part was that the explanation was extremely all-over-the-place.

Over Talking

Finally, we come to the worst part of the DVD, I was literally ready to literally throw my laptop literally across the room. I was getting irrationally angry. Stephen Leathwaite joined Mark Southworth, and they discussed several different ideas. For the record, they were very clever and good ideas. They, of course, were mostly just "talked" about and not shown or even "walked through."

That aside, the problem came when Leathwaite and Southworth would just talk over each other and they were both so passionate and excited about what they were saying that I could barely understand anything. Though the talking was all friendly and positive, it was very much like watching two people argue over the top of each other without listening to

Final Thoughts

I know that's a lot of annoying stuff on the DVD. However, other than the fact that there is no full performance shown, everything else is covered eventually, and if you just block out an hour and watch it from start to finish, you will learn everything you need to know. You might be a bit more cranky by the time you're done, but you'll be well educated. Couple that with the fact that the gimmick is top notch and well made, and very easy to use, it's hard to give this a horrible rating. I feel like the majority of the negative stuff mentioned above is more like "something you need to be aware of" before you buy, but not necessarily something to say that this is a bad product and give it a bad rating.

Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.