The era of the single trick DVD
Hello friends,
Some of you love the single trick DVDs, some of you "can't believe there is only one effect."
This is a relatively new idea but not really.
When I was kid, I went to the record store once a week to buy one or two of the latest singles of whatever top 40 songs were the in thing on the dial at the time. Some of you may be old enough to remember the 45 RPM records with the big hole in the middle? Later the Cassette Single & CD Single. Now you just go online and download your favorite songs. Anyway in any of these formats new or old, you could buy just the one song you liked or the whole album.
So long story short, singles were always there. They are just not available (usually) on another DVD as well.
But if you think the magic single trick DVD is new, think again. They have always been around though not on DVD but rather in a booklet.
An example of a great pamphlet of a single trick is Andrew Mayne's Facelifter. This is one booklet I believe, if he were just releasing it now for the very first time it would definitely be a single trick DVD.
The real reason you are seeing more and more of these is because DVDs are easy and inexpensive to produce.
The very first DVD single trick released I can think of is Aaron Fisher's Bicycle Thief. It comes in a DVD snap case and the special props inside the case.
In fact many of the packaged magic effects in the recent past, are now supplied with DVD'S instead of printed instructions. Two from recent memory are Entrapment Gold II from Alakazam and No Tear Newspaper by Tony Stevens. One day we had them with printed instructions and the next time we got them, they had DVDs instead. Some of the reason is they didn't have VHS tapes in the past instead of typed instructions were size of packaging, price, weight and NTSC or PAL format.
DVDs are easier and more cost effective to make. They don't take up much more room than printed instruction are all region free and play in any format. And of course are more appealing to our clients.
Daryl was one of the first to recognize this. He released 3 DVD volumes called Fooler Doolers. Soon after, he renamed some of his magic line and called it Fooler Doolers. All of the Fooler Doolers tricks that came with printed instructions were revamped, repackaged and now include a companion DVD for the specific effect.
Andrew Mayne was among the first to produce the Single magic DVD without props that needed to be included. Ghost Bills, Hyper Cards, Infusion.
Then came Sean Fields with The Linkage & Northbound and Nigel Harrison with The Loophole Gimmick & Hybrid.
Just about everybody's doing it these days. Both with and with out props from Jay Sankey to Criss Angel.
And let's not forget to mention the biggest name in single DVDs, Ellusionist. About one half of their current DVD library consists of these new fangled single effect DVDs.
Usually all of these DVDs have some special insight or bonus effect, interviews. You know interesting stuff, so you do get a bit more than just the one simple solution to the effect.
Like it or not, you better get used to more and more releases each month. The single trick DVD is here to stay, at least until the next type of media comes out.
What's next, magic on Blue Ray Disc or HDDVD? Maybe.
Until next time.
Thanks for reading,
Pete
Some of you love the single trick DVDs, some of you "can't believe there is only one effect."
This is a relatively new idea but not really.
When I was kid, I went to the record store once a week to buy one or two of the latest singles of whatever top 40 songs were the in thing on the dial at the time. Some of you may be old enough to remember the 45 RPM records with the big hole in the middle? Later the Cassette Single & CD Single. Now you just go online and download your favorite songs. Anyway in any of these formats new or old, you could buy just the one song you liked or the whole album.
So long story short, singles were always there. They are just not available (usually) on another DVD as well.
But if you think the magic single trick DVD is new, think again. They have always been around though not on DVD but rather in a booklet.
An example of a great pamphlet of a single trick is Andrew Mayne's Facelifter. This is one booklet I believe, if he were just releasing it now for the very first time it would definitely be a single trick DVD.
The real reason you are seeing more and more of these is because DVDs are easy and inexpensive to produce.
The very first DVD single trick released I can think of is Aaron Fisher's Bicycle Thief. It comes in a DVD snap case and the special props inside the case.
In fact many of the packaged magic effects in the recent past, are now supplied with DVD'S instead of printed instructions. Two from recent memory are Entrapment Gold II from Alakazam and No Tear Newspaper by Tony Stevens. One day we had them with printed instructions and the next time we got them, they had DVDs instead. Some of the reason is they didn't have VHS tapes in the past instead of typed instructions were size of packaging, price, weight and NTSC or PAL format.
DVDs are easier and more cost effective to make. They don't take up much more room than printed instruction are all region free and play in any format. And of course are more appealing to our clients.
Daryl was one of the first to recognize this. He released 3 DVD volumes called Fooler Doolers. Soon after, he renamed some of his magic line and called it Fooler Doolers. All of the Fooler Doolers tricks that came with printed instructions were revamped, repackaged and now include a companion DVD for the specific effect.
Andrew Mayne was among the first to produce the Single magic DVD without props that needed to be included. Ghost Bills, Hyper Cards, Infusion.
Then came Sean Fields with The Linkage & Northbound and Nigel Harrison with The Loophole Gimmick & Hybrid.
Just about everybody's doing it these days. Both with and with out props from Jay Sankey to Criss Angel.
And let's not forget to mention the biggest name in single DVDs, Ellusionist. About one half of their current DVD library consists of these new fangled single effect DVDs.
Usually all of these DVDs have some special insight or bonus effect, interviews. You know interesting stuff, so you do get a bit more than just the one simple solution to the effect.
Like it or not, you better get used to more and more releases each month. The single trick DVD is here to stay, at least until the next type of media comes out.
What's next, magic on Blue Ray Disc or HDDVD? Maybe.
Until next time.
Thanks for reading,
Pete
posted by Ronjo Magic at 11:59 AM
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