Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Red by Taylor Swift
Wrong Way by Vernet Reviewed
One prop, one video download and $40 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
This is a typical children's show prop/gag/effect. Basically you show a big sign with an arrow pointing left. Then you show the other side pointing right. Then every time you turn the sign over, it's pointing a different way. You, however, are oblivious to this as the children yell out the direction. But when you look down at the sign, it's always pointing the way you claim. The patter, all the while, is about knowing your traffic directions (right and left) so that the police won't "get you."Finally as a kicker, the big sign opens up to a cut out of a policeman with a hole in the face where you place your face.
Method
The method is a self-contained prop that simply changes based on the way you spin the prop around. It's very simple and within the grasp of all performers. The method is very reliable and totally doable. The prop unfolds into the policeman very quickly and easily.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is spot on. They make no outrageous claims. This is something that packs flat and [potentially] plays big. It's the kind of thing that, speaking as a former children's entertainer, kids and adults love.
Product Quality
The prop is very well made. It's sturdy and thick and will last a long time as long as you don't abuse the thing. The instructional video was about 9 minutes long with English subtitles. The performance and explanation is in Spanish. I always mention this on subtitled products: It's often difficult to read the subtitles and watch the performer at the same time. That means that you'll, likely, have to rewind a time or two if you don't speak Spanish and you were trying to read the English text. However, I can't fault a product because the creator doesn't speak English.
In fact, in this case, the explanation is very well done and very clear, and you could probably get away with watching it without looking at the subtitles. You can easily learn the method and the functionality of the gimmick without the text. However, the basic patter and presentational premise is important to understand. For that you'll, likely, want to read the text.
None of this is a complaint or a negative. It's just meant to inform you. Last, is the only complaint I have. The video is a .rar file that you must download from Vernet Magic. For the unfamiliar, this is a compressed file much like a .zip file. However, in order to unzip the file, you have to download a special .rar unzipper program.
Personally, this is annoying to me. I'm not a fan of downloading software that I'll only use once in my life. It would have been better to either create a streaming video or just a .zip file which is the much more common compression software. Though .rar is gaining popularity and is, arguably, a better compression system, it's still not as common. Further, the software is a trial software and depending on where you try to download it, you'll have to jump through some hoops to get there.
After I downloaded mine, I found some customer information on Murphy's website for downloading the software that is the least painful that I've seen, so as a service for y'all, here are the links:
PC: WinRar
MAC: Rar Extractor
Final Thoughts
This is definitely a solid product that is well made, well produced, well taught, etc. I believe that getting the training for the product should not require downloading extra software. It makes for a less-customer-friendly experience. The kicker is that the compressed .rar file is 87.3 MB and the uncompressed video is 87.5 MB. In other words, the compression only saved 200 KB but it increased the customer pain factor much more than 200 KB. The could have just had you download the video directly. That's not as good as having you stream it but it's better than downloading an extractor program. Other than that . . . SOLID!
Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
9 Comments
Over the mountain was Ozzy, Blizzard of OZ, 1991 if I remember right. 🙂
Actually, it was from Diary of a Madman. 🙂
Ah yes it was!
Isn’t this based on an old effect called Crazy Arrow or Which Way?
@Carmelo – It seems like I had this trick in a magic kit from when I was kid. However, I don’t remember the surprise police officer reveal. I also spent a little bit of time trying to find the original but I couldn’t find it anywhere.
It was a close-up effect so the stage size is new as well as the cop figure revealed at the end. There are a couple of vids on youtube and some dealers still sell the original.
@Carmelo – Thanks for the update. One of my favorite things about this site is that many people post credits and history like this. I love it. Thanks!
Jeffro
The English pub magician Joe Riding included a Crazy Arrow routine in his lecture and cabaret lecture notes. (This was the first magic lecture I ever saw, circa 1979, at a restaurant a few doors down from Al’s Magic Shop in DC.) Patter was about the sign-painter given the job of painting all of the left-pointing road signs for the highway department. Riding had the personality and comedy skills to get a lot of mileage out of it.
The arrow he used was commercially available and popular – I still have mine. It’s a little smaller than Vernet’s but still stand-up size. I think a few years later somebody put another stand-up-sized one on the market that opened up to reveal an eye-chart.
I think that the Wrong Way Arrow / Crazy Arrow is still one step short of being a great trick. Like some other popular tricks (Topsy-Turvy Bottles immediately comes to mind), the good news is that the magical effect is inherently funny and naturally supports an entertaining presentation, but the bad news is that there’s no obvious stopping point or grand finale. You just quit at some arbitrary point when you start to get sick of it. Opening up the sign to reveal a policeman or eye-chart does give a clear “big finish” end to the routine, but this climax is not a MAGICAL climax. I was always bothered that the routine went “Magic! Magic! Magic! Magic!…uh, slightly lame sight gag!!!”
Somewhere out there is a great idea waiting to be found that will end this routine with a big MAGICAL surprise instead of having to resort to a sight gag to exit.
@Emory – Thanks for the comment! I hear what you’re saying, but I kind of like the police officer ending. 🙂