"Outside The Conventional" DVD by Christopher Taylor
Suggested Retail USD$50.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 6 Out of 10

"Outside The Conventional", a 2-disc DVD set by Christopher Taylor, is a good collection of common methods and a great collection of presentations that experienced performers will appreciate once they make it through a few annoyances.

We'll get to those later because, in the grand scheme of things, they really are just annoyances. For now, let's look at Taylor's work because it is definitely worth a look.

Taylor's work is creative in both method and presentation. Now, that's a weird statement to make about a performer who uses time-honored and time-worn methods that are as common to a mentalist (and, at times, a magician) as salt is to a chef. But in Taylor's case, and to his credit, it's true. His use of a coin gimmick straight out of Bobo to effect a very nice coin bend, for example, shows that refreshing creativity. On the presentational side of things, we've all heard (and probably done) the whole "imagine you're someplace else" thing, but when Taylor goes in it, it's with an eye on something strange, different, like the ringing of a bell, that makes the whole plot new and different.

I, for one, love that type of thing. So it's not a far stretch to say that I really liked Taylor's thinking on this disc and his material.

Speaking of material...

There are eight effects on this two-disc set. These pieces run the gamut of traditional mental effects -- drawing duplications, card revelations, bends, and the like -- and into the realm of the weirder stuff.

"Two Minds, One Thought" is a card revelation. Two spectators freely choose a cards suit and value, writing down their selection. The performer removes a card from a deck, setting it aside. When the chosen card is named, it matches the selection. This is a classical effect, to be sure, and Taylor's take on the old gimmick is interesting to say the least.

"Being There" is the first of Taylor's "imaginary journeys". In this one, a business card is laid on the table and the spectator visualizes a garden with a bell ringing. The spectator is asked to count how many times the bell rings and that number matches what is written on the card. I'm a bit prejudiced on this one because I don't like the gimmick Taylor chose here; however I'm not so prejudiced I can't love the presentation here. One of my favorites.

"Qi Coin" is a coin bend, but oh-so-simple. Two coins are shown and placed in a spectator's hand, which closes around them. After some thought by the spectator, they open their hand, revealing one of the coins bent. Using an old gimmick to effect a clean switch is clever and likely this will end up being a favorite of many. While I prefer a more visual bend, this is certainly easy and striking.

"Drawing Duplication" is exactly what the name implies, so there's little to describe here. This is a close-up effect using billets and is very, very nice. Taylor gets huge points for using a presentation that keeps everything, including those pieces of paper, logical. Another of my favorites here.

"In The Book" is "Drawing Duplication", but done for two spectators rather than one. Again, very nice presentational ideas on this one.

"There and Back Again" is another "imaginary journey", this time taking the spectator to a foreign country. It begins with a spectator choosing one of three destinations written on business cards. Two coins are placed in the spectator's hand. As the "destination" is revealed, one of the coins has changed to match it. This one I love and so do spectators; it gets great reactions. I'll be using this one when Docc Hilford's "Nightmare Coins" is just too dark.

"Mirror Mind". The performer has two cards chosen from a deck and, by gazing into an antique mirror, reveals the two cards. This is repeated with another card being chosen but a spectator revealing the card after looking into the mirror. Talk about being biased; I've been doing a version of this for years so I know the power it packs. What I didn't know was there is a simpler way of getting it done. My version just went into the trashcan; I'll be doing Taylor's version from now on.

"Room 7" begins with a rough drawing of a hotel on the back of a business card. The spectator is asked to choose the room number of the hotel room, a single digit number. Ashes from the now-burnt hotel are rubbed on the spectator's hand and the image of the room number appears. This effect is so completely logical it's scary. Everything from the use of "Acidus Novus" to the ashes is beautifully done. It's a pain to make up that first time, but if you do, you've got a hit on your hands.

Well, that about covers it. Oh, there are interviews on the discs with Peter Nardi and Marc Spelmann discussing things with Taylor and the discussion is interesting at times, but the real meat of these discs are in Taylor's creativity and he's got that going on by the bucketload. There are some issues with the methods, but they are ones of practicality. For example, the resets on some of these are just not possible without a trip to the proverbial bathroom. All of these issues can be addressed with a little thought, though, and therefore doesn't diminish the material much at all.

Those annoyances, though, do hamper things a bit.

I said I'd get to them, so here they are.

First, let me say that none of the problems with "Outside The Conventional" are directly related to Taylor or his magic. Okay, his instructional style is a bit off-the-charts in terms of tangential thinking and an almost constant repeating of things. Fair enough. That can be annoying but it's indicative of a man trying to cram as much of the info he's carrying around in his mind onto a video as he can and, since I share the same malady, I ain't gonna crucify him for that.

The director of the performance video, though, well, that's another story.

The performance section of these videos is, plainly, atrociously done. Beyond the horrible blocking that has Taylor in a precarious spot of isolating half his audience at any point in time, there's the camera length and that's what set my teeth on edge. Taylor's material is, essentially, close-up material. Spectators are drawing things, writing things, choosing things... none of which you get to see with the camera set for a medium-long shot. Was that a paper clip Taylor put on that piece of paper? What did he hand the spectator? What's he holding up? You'll never know for sure until you get to the explanation section. Now, throw in a group of spectators -- those poor, isolated folks I referred to a second ago -- that are what I would call a "tough audience" and the entire performance section of this simply fails to do Taylor's material any justice whatsoever.

If those problems didn't exist, this set would have been much better, much less annoying. Even a shoot without a live audience but with a view to the details of things, would have been preferred. As it is, it's just bad work.

Thankfully, Taylor's work isn't. Taylor's material is creative, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. If you can sit through "Outside The Conventional" from beginning to end and not find a piece that is interesting to you at the least or a piece that goes into your act at most, then check your pulse because you might be subbing for that proverbial doornail.

Now, I said way back at the start of this that I consider "Outside the Conventional" to be for the more experienced among us. The reason for that is not the methods used -- they are old enough and easy enough to be mastered by anyone relatively quickly -- or even the presentations, which are likewise simple and straightforward. The reason is that some of these routines will require you to be comfortable in your own skin, as the saying goes, meaning you'll need to work with these a bit more than usual to make them your own and fit with your performing persona. This set is definitely not one you can buy, learn, and do. If you've got the experience, then this is not a big deal at all; if you're not, it'll take you some time to make this all click for you. None of this is detrimental to the collection, you understand; it's just a warning that, if you're just getting your chops down in mentalism, you're better off starting with something a little less -- how shall I say this? -- demanding.

All in all, even with the problems, I can easily recommend "Outside The Conventional" to mentalists and bizarrists alike. There's a great deal of good thinking here that will spawn more and, brother, do we need to see more of that.

"Outside The Conventional" DVD by Christopher Taylor
In a Blink: 6 Out of 10

Material: 8
Method-wise, there's very little new here: you'll see the usual assortment of mentalism gimmicks and the odd magician's gimmick thrown into things. However, what Taylor does with some of the old standbys every now and again is very refreshing and very creative.

Practicality: 5
You'll find the usual assortment of practicality issues with this collection: angles to cover here, set-ups there, resets in the bathroom in lots of places. Overall the problems are the usual ones that you'll need to deal with. Luckily, they are able to be dealt with, even if a bit crudely.

Quality of Production: 3
The blocking and the filming hurts this one badly in the performance section: you won't be seeing the drawings that are made, the numbers selected, the cards chosen, or much else for that matter. Thankfully, that problem doesn't linger into the explanation section, but it does throw a wet blanket on actually seeing the effects being performed.

Quality of Instruction: 7
Taylor does a great job of explaining his routines, covering all the bases thoroughly, but with way too many tangents of thought and longer-than-necessary re-explanations. At times you'll feel you're watching the interview portions of the discs instead of the instructions.

Presentation: 10
This is where Taylor shines. Even when the presentation is not all that new, Taylor's twists on them are wonderful to see. A big thumbs-up here.


Shane

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