"Impact" DVD by Michael Paul
Suggested Retail USD$35.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Michael Paul's disc, "Impact", purports to be a fresh look at classics and, wonder of wonders, it actually is exactly that.

Personally, I wasn't ready for that. Most of the time, when you hear something along the lines of "a variation of the classic", what you're really talking about is doing a fingerpalm instead of a classic palm or the like, small changes for small results. Rarely, you'll find those variations which go beyond the classic in some way beyond basic structuring and methodology and, when it does happen, odds are that classic was ruined by improvement.

Then, very rarely, lightning strikes and the variation is actually something interesting in its own right and really does move the classic in an intriguing direction.

"Impact" is Michael Paul's own little lightning strike. His takes on some classics really do move those old things in a direction worth checking out. Rather it's a change in handling or a change in structure, Paul's thinking is solid and, really, I got a kick out of seeing what he did with some things I'd never look twice at under normal circumstances.

The disc is a little on the meager side: there are seven routines and six of those are card effects, with the solitary coin effect thrown in. But it's hard to tell if I was disappointed with the quantity of material or just wanting to see more of Paul's thinking. Either way, it's "quality versus quantity" here, and in this case, quality wins. As you'll see, for me to say that, well, that's saying something.

Here's what you're looking at:

"Four Ace Production" begins things. This is one of those themes I'm just bored to tears with. How many "versions" of this thing are there? How many more will we see? So I was barely paying attention when Paul started pulling Aces out of "nowhere" and putting them on the table... until I saw that, after three productions, there were four Aces on the table. Okay, so that got my attention. It's a neat idea and it's one of those valuable "brain-freezers". I'll cop to this one being the first thing I learned and did.

"Spectator Cuts the Aces" came next. Remember how I said I was bored with the "ace production" theme? Apply that here. But a free cut, with no crimps or forces or the like? Yeah, I was interested. As with Paul's best stuff, this is a well-structured bit with each phase building on the last quite well, going from simply cutting Aces to the spectator locating them under some slick conditions. That's a nice touch.

"Card to Shoe"? Who knew this was a classic? Anyway, it's one that I never was fond of, even when I delved into everything else in "Expert Card Technique". Paul's take on it is interesting to say the least: it's workable without the dreaded palm and without reaching into the shoe. I'll probably never do this, but I liked Paul's thinking on it.

"Coins Across" is one I'm on the fence on. Mark my words, folks, this is probably one of the biggest gut-checks in magic. Think of a standard, gimmicked "Coins Across" where the spectator not just holds but handles said gimmick. I don't know if even I'm that gutsy. Throw in using that gimmick for a slow-motion coin vanish and we're talking something that is a true test of performance bravery. Still, it's a good routine and that visual vanish really would make a powerful bit. Worth looking at, definitely, even if you chicken out (like I'm leaning to).

"Reality Displacement" says that it will have your audience doing a double-take; it certainly had me doing it. This one is easy to explain to hard to capture in words: a signed playing card inserted into the middle of the deck jumps from the deck to your hand. The cleanness and openness of this one is really something and is one of my favorite pieces on the disc, one that made it worth the price for me.

From that we go to "Initial Burn". A stranger selects a card, signs it, and loses it in the pack. A piece of paper is marked with their initial and placed on top of the deck, then set on fire. It vanishes (naturally) and when the cards are spread, one card is seen to be burned on the back with the burn in the shape of their initial. By this point, I was getting Michael Paul's idea of magic down pretty well: simple stuff, done with the barest of sleights and gaffs and gimmicks to get the job done. This is, then, the quintessential Paul. With a little preparation and very little work (once you do one thing, the spectator can do the rest and you never touch the deck again), Paul wrings the most out of this one. I like it a lot.

"Totally Triumphant" is Paul's three-phase "card act" revolving around the Triumph plot. It begins as an pseudo-explanation of stacking a deck and then goes south from there. It's interesting, but the thing that caught my eye was that, at the end, the deck's in new deck order. Lot's of places to go from there, certainly. That Paul put the whole thing together with minimal sleights (and those that are used are simple) and kept everything looking clean, makes this one worth a look.

So that's the material (not quite; there's an added bit that is a little hidden so I'll respect Paul's wishes and keep it so -- but it's very slick and sneaky.. the hidden material, not where it's hidden which is pretty much in plain sight). For the record, it's all really neat stuff to look at and chances are you'll find one piece you'll end up doing and lots of ideas you'll end up thinking about and playing with.

You should be aware, though, that Paul keeps things simple but not to the point of everything being self-working. Far from it: Paul's material uses simple sleights for the most part but at times you're looking at more complicated things (nothing finger-breaking -- that's not Paul's style -- but definitely more advanced techniques like the Zarrow and the Mercury). If you're not up on those kind of things, you'll need to brush up because Paul just glances over those types of moves).

If you're looking for material, you could definitely do worse than Paul's stuff; if you're looking for ideas, you'll find this disc loaded; if you're planning on releasing your own video, please, for the love of everything you hold dear and for everyone else's sanity, please buy this disc.

Why? Because, honestly, this is the way magic DVDs should be produced and Michael Paul comes across the way I wish more performers did.

The production first. The sound is great, the video as crisp and clear as you could ask for (not with the performance pieces, but I always take it easy on production values there; it's not like you can always control the environment in a bar or restaurant or the like)... even the navigation is set-up as it should be.

But this is the first DVD I've seen that takes advantage of the technology in such a consistently professional manner. "Impact" was a multi-camera shoot, which is pretty much mandatory as far as I'm concerned, but it's also user-selectable. Want to see a close-up of Paul's hand's? Hit the "angle" button on your remote (or similar function). Want to really get in close? Hit it again and try the "Burn His Hands" view. Zoom back out when you're done getting that tricky bit down. Need a bit more help? Hit SAP and listen to the secondary audio track when Paul gives even more detail on things. Man, do I love all of that. It really does make learning the way I want to learn a piece of cake and raises the bar on what quality magic videos should be.

And then there's Paul himself. He's clear and concise in his instruction, that's for sure, and he pays due diligence to all the details you'll need to make his material pay off for you. That's pretty much mandatory in magic videos (although more and more rarely seen). What is not, but which is just as important, is the manner in which he conducts the instruction. He is confident in what he's explaining. He knows what he's going to say and how he's going to say it. He doesn't hem and haw, he doesn't repeatedly struggle for words, and there's scarcely a "uh..." in sight. When Paul speaks, you get the idea almost immediately he knows that of which he speaks. And it's so refreshing to see that kind of professionalism in a performer, let alone someone teaching performers.

So Paul and his video get a thumbs-up from me, on lots of counts. The material is worth taking a look at (though I would have loved to have seen some of Paul's more original work on this video) and the production values and instructions are simply the best. "Impact" really does deliver.

"Impact" by Michael Paul
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 8
Paul's material is quite good. It's mostly cards (there is one coin effect), but his thinking is interesting on these admitted classics. It would have been nice to see how that thinking translated to more original effects, but overall this is a very interesting collection of material.

Practicality: 10
Paul does concentrate on the workability of his material; that's evident from the routines here. As a result, set-ups are small, the amount of gimmickry very limited, and resets are a breeze.

Quality of Production: 10
Ah, a disc that takes advantage of DVD technology. Yes, the usual pieces of production -- video, audio, navigation, etcetera -- are great, but this one gets a huge thumbs-up for adding user-selectable camera angles (three of them, in fact). This is what every magic DVD should have. And the secondary audio track with even more detail and thoughts on the routines is just icing on the cake.

Quality of Instruction: 10
I've never seen Paul before, but I love his teaching style. Cool, confident, clear, detailed, interesting... I wish all performers came across this well.

Presentation: 10
Paul's big thing is supposed to be visuals (and in that way his presentations are very, very good), but there's more working here than that. He has an interesting way of structuring effects that adds to the overall impact (sorry) of his material. That's very neat to see.


Shane