Review of the M5 System from ellusionist
Well, I just spent a good part of my weekend
watching the Basic and Advanced M5 DVDs from
ellusionist. Not being familiar with M5 I wasn't
sure what the DVDs would be all about. For those
of you like me who live in a dark cave and rarely
come out, M5 refers to a powerful magnet that
may be worn around your wrist, beneath a jacket.
With this magnet in place, you can accomplish
miracles.
The Basic DVD covers the general use and
performance of effects with the M5 system which
includes the magnet, an elastic band, a safety pin
and other accessories required to perform some of
the illusions. The material in both the Basic and
Advanced DVDs is presented by Justin Miller who is
on the ellusionist team. Justin is a
straight-shooter, and some of the best tips come
as apparent after thoughts as he is demonstrating
and teaching the effects.
The Advanced DVD focuses on the use of the M5
system and the Raven. As Justin explains what
comes in the kit, he refers to additional notes
from both Chazpro and ellusionist. They include
shims and steel coin shells and gaffed objects.
You get everything you need to recreate the
effects on the DVDs.
Justin says that ellusionist challenged him to
play with the M5 for a few weeks to see what he
could create. Some of the material on these DVDs
is very, very good. Spooky, visual magic.
Now the last time I played with magnets and magic
was the old Poltergeist effect that started it all
several decades ago. It consisted of a heavy and
bulky magnet that many people strapped to their
legs or put inside their cowboy boots. For me, it
was impractical.
Since then magnets have gotten stronger and
smaller and thus easier to conceal and use. I've
seen David Blaine and others work some apparent
miracles. These DVDs have some reputation makers
on them, but they will take practice. Too many
magicians, especially the younger set, will
probably rush out to perform these effects and
draw suspicion. It's all in the finesse. And that
takes time to develop and master.
Among Justin's better effects is a Haunted Pack
where a deck cuts itself inside a ziplock bag to a
selected card. I've always liked self-cutting
decks like the Cobra Deck but hate ending dirty. This
is a way to get a similar effect and end virtually
100% clean.
Another effect he got a lot of mileage out of was
a dime and penny exchange. I laughed when he
performed it because most of us have an old
shimmed penny shell somewhere in our drawers, and
probably forgot how great an effect this can be. I
think my penny shell came from an old Adam's Penny
and Dime trick, but now I have an actual way to
use it to accomplish a real neat exchange in the
spectator's own hands and end clean. This is
simple but powerful magic.
Justin shows a few effects where he stops the
hands on a borrowed watch and shuts down a cell
phone. Both are returned unharmed to their owners.
This is where I draw the line. He says you can do this
without harming either device, but he advises not
to try it on an iPhone because you might wipe the
micro hard drive. A lot of devices these days have
micro hard drives, so this kind of scares me. It
looks freaking great, but I'm not sure it is worth
the risk.
He gets an amazing amount of mileage with making
a gaffed matchstick stand up in a spectator's
hand. This is the effect that started the whole
Poltergeist thing so many years ago. Justin is
doing it in people's palms while the old effect
had the match rising and falling under a glass.
Both look good, but having a spectator involved is
stronger.
Since no M5 kit was included, I could not try
performing any of these effects, but they all look
doable and commercial. One of my only complaints
about the kit they show on the DVD is that Justin
goes through a very thorough explanation about how
to modify the elastic strap to resemble Brad
Christian's set-up. This requires you to sew a
pocket into the strap to hold the M5 magnet and to
add some velcro straps to secure it around your
arm.
My question is would it have really cost that
much to include a prepared elastic strap? When you
are going to spend almost $100.00 for the two DVDs
and advanced kit, one would expect to be ready to
go when the stuff comes out of the box. It might
be a disappointment to those who make the
investment to have to first make the modifications
to the elastic strap themselves. It doesn't
require a lot of effort, so why not include a
properly prepared elastic band to begin with?
Other than that, I found these DVDs to be
well-produced and the material well thought out
and implemented. If you want to add some powerful
effects to your magic, then the M5 DVDs might be
the way to go.
If you want to receive a 5% discount on your
purchase of the m5 system and DVDs or any ellusionist
merchandise, please click here.
Until next time,
Steven
watching the Basic and Advanced M5 DVDs from
ellusionist. Not being familiar with M5 I wasn't
sure what the DVDs would be all about. For those
of you like me who live in a dark cave and rarely
come out, M5 refers to a powerful magnet that
may be worn around your wrist, beneath a jacket.
With this magnet in place, you can accomplish
miracles.
The Basic DVD covers the general use and
performance of effects with the M5 system which
includes the magnet, an elastic band, a safety pin
and other accessories required to perform some of
the illusions. The material in both the Basic and
Advanced DVDs is presented by Justin Miller who is
on the ellusionist team. Justin is a
straight-shooter, and some of the best tips come
as apparent after thoughts as he is demonstrating
and teaching the effects.
The Advanced DVD focuses on the use of the M5
system and the Raven. As Justin explains what
comes in the kit, he refers to additional notes
from both Chazpro and ellusionist. They include
shims and steel coin shells and gaffed objects.
You get everything you need to recreate the
effects on the DVDs.
Justin says that ellusionist challenged him to
play with the M5 for a few weeks to see what he
could create. Some of the material on these DVDs
is very, very good. Spooky, visual magic.
Now the last time I played with magnets and magic
was the old Poltergeist effect that started it all
several decades ago. It consisted of a heavy and
bulky magnet that many people strapped to their
legs or put inside their cowboy boots. For me, it
was impractical.
Since then magnets have gotten stronger and
smaller and thus easier to conceal and use. I've
seen David Blaine and others work some apparent
miracles. These DVDs have some reputation makers
on them, but they will take practice. Too many
magicians, especially the younger set, will
probably rush out to perform these effects and
draw suspicion. It's all in the finesse. And that
takes time to develop and master.
Among Justin's better effects is a Haunted Pack
where a deck cuts itself inside a ziplock bag to a
selected card. I've always liked self-cutting
decks like the Cobra Deck but hate ending dirty. This
is a way to get a similar effect and end virtually
100% clean.
Another effect he got a lot of mileage out of was
a dime and penny exchange. I laughed when he
performed it because most of us have an old
shimmed penny shell somewhere in our drawers, and
probably forgot how great an effect this can be. I
think my penny shell came from an old Adam's Penny
and Dime trick, but now I have an actual way to
use it to accomplish a real neat exchange in the
spectator's own hands and end clean. This is
simple but powerful magic.
Justin shows a few effects where he stops the
hands on a borrowed watch and shuts down a cell
phone. Both are returned unharmed to their owners.
This is where I draw the line. He says you can do this
without harming either device, but he advises not
to try it on an iPhone because you might wipe the
micro hard drive. A lot of devices these days have
micro hard drives, so this kind of scares me. It
looks freaking great, but I'm not sure it is worth
the risk.
He gets an amazing amount of mileage with making
a gaffed matchstick stand up in a spectator's
hand. This is the effect that started the whole
Poltergeist thing so many years ago. Justin is
doing it in people's palms while the old effect
had the match rising and falling under a glass.
Both look good, but having a spectator involved is
stronger.
Since no M5 kit was included, I could not try
performing any of these effects, but they all look
doable and commercial. One of my only complaints
about the kit they show on the DVD is that Justin
goes through a very thorough explanation about how
to modify the elastic strap to resemble Brad
Christian's set-up. This requires you to sew a
pocket into the strap to hold the M5 magnet and to
add some velcro straps to secure it around your
arm.
My question is would it have really cost that
much to include a prepared elastic strap? When you
are going to spend almost $100.00 for the two DVDs
and advanced kit, one would expect to be ready to
go when the stuff comes out of the box. It might
be a disappointment to those who make the
investment to have to first make the modifications
to the elastic strap themselves. It doesn't
require a lot of effort, so why not include a
properly prepared elastic band to begin with?
Other than that, I found these DVDs to be
well-produced and the material well thought out
and implemented. If you want to add some powerful
effects to your magic, then the M5 DVDs might be
the way to go.
If you want to receive a 5% discount on your
purchase of the m5 system and DVDs or any ellusionist
merchandise, please click here.
Until next time,
Steven
posted by Steven at
9:56 AM
