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Patrick Kun: Share the Love Review

One DVD, six specially printed cards, one "special" envelope and $35 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Effect

This is a packet trick with pictures rather than face cards. First show a card with a "drawing" of a girl holding a heart. Pass your hand over the card and the heart the girl is holding is now partially colored in and a boy (supposedly you) has appeared on the card next to the girl. A quick shake of the card and a small rose appears in the hand of the boy and the girl's heart is now 100% colored in.

Next, another pass of your hand over the card and it goes completely blank. Before this all started, the girl you are performing for was given an envelope to hold. Before asking her to hold it you showed her that it was empty. But now that the card in your hand has gone blank, you open the envelope she has been holding. Inside of it is a card with the drawing of her again, but this time, the heart is empty. You then shake out of the envelope a chocolate heart.

Method

The method is pure sleight of hand with the aid of a few specially printed cards that are also gaffed. If you can do some standard packet trick moves, like a spread counts to conceal a card, or a block push off, etc., and if you can do a color change, then you can do this effect. If you're not able to do those, Patrick Kun will teach you how to do everything you need to do.

Two methods are taught. One that (apparently) uses only one card, and another that uses (apparently) three cards. Each has its trade off and proper place. Both methods are doable and can be learned by anyone willing to put in the practice time.

Ad Copy Integrity

Written Ad Copy

The written ad copy is fine, but I'm not sure what is meant by "Watch Patrick perform his legendary routine live across the heart of Vancouver, Canada." The don't show him performing it across the heart of Vancouver. The only performances shown in the DVD are the exact ones shown in the trailer which is really just one performance. The only reason this is a big deal is because Patrick Kun is known for making an annual Valentine's Day video. Share The Love was the effect he performed for his 2012 Valentine's Day video. So making a statement like "Watch Patrick perform his legendary routine live across the heart of Vancouver, Canada" would certainly seem to imply that we would see some of the footage of actual performances not just a handful of spectator reactions.

Video Ad Trailer

There are some problems in the video trailer as well. First, near the beginning, he performs an appearance of the drawing on the blank card. This is never taught in the DVD anywhere. Not only that, but the method seems to be that he's simply turning the card over under the larger action of waving his hand. However, that would require a card that has the girl printed on the front with a blank back. No such card is included. So based on the apparent method, this effect (appearing girl on blank card) isn't even possible with the supplied cards.

Further, the clip shows him taking that (clearly) single card and slipping it into the envelope. In reality, when setting up for this effect, you cannot simply slip a single card into the envelope. I might be able to let this slide because there are ways to handle this, but they don't teach it in the DVD. Also, since he's setting this up separately and away from the spectator, I can probably cut 'em some slack.

The clips of audience reactions don't really show what the effect is. However, when he goes over to sit down at the table and performs the effect for the blonde girl, what you see is exactly the effect as it really looks. It just requires some sleight of hand and the supplied cards. However, at the end of that performance, he turns the red envelope into a red rose. That effect is not taught on the DVD.

It drives me crazy when effects shown on the trailer are not taught on the DVD. It would be very easy for someone to decide to purchase this DVD solely based on that rose production. I didn't care for the main effect, but I really liked the rose production and could see myself using that. Had I bought this expecting to learn that effect, I would have wasted $35 bucks.

Product Quality

DVD Production

The DVD, as is typical with SansMinds, is well produced, well lit, well mic'd and easy to navigate. Also, Patrick Kun does a great job teaching everything in depth and very clearly. Of course, I'm referring to the stuff that he did teach, not the stuff that was left out of the DVD (e.g., the rose production and the drawing production). Everything you need to learn to do the effect (minus the two aforementioned productions) is fully covered and more than enough for you to learn and do the effect.

The Props

The printed cards are well made on Bicycle stock cards. They handle well and look good. It would appear that a lot of thought and care went into the design and printing of the cards. Also, the cards are printed in a particular way to make one of the changes look better. It's a simple thing, but it was a smart thing to make the effect look its best.

Final Thoughts

If you can see yourself performing the effect shown on the video trailer (sans the rose production), then you'll be very happy with your purchase. Everything you need is included and taught very clearly. If, however, you are wanting to do the rose production and/or the single card production of the drawing, you'll be sorely disappointed.

If it weren't for the two productions shown in the trailer not being taught, this would easily be 4.5 to 5 stars. However, due to the fact that you do not completely get what is in the ad trailer, I cannot give it that high of a rating.

Final Verdict:
3 Stars with a Stone Status of gem.