"Trespass" DVD by Dan Army
Suggested Retail USD$29.99
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 1 Out of 10

"Trespass", a DVD by Dan Army offering his two takes on the "object-in-bottle" plot, fails all the way around to even seriously approach the theme, let alone address it in as commercial routine.

And the hype in the ad copy -- which truly re-defines "hype" for a new generation of "creators" -- doesn't help this one at all.

I'll cop out here and just let that ad copy speak for itself:

"Just imagine this for one second. Any SIGNED object is borrowed, and a bottle is borrowed. This defies all scientific laws. The object is dropped onto the bottle. Naturally, it would just stop, and fall to the ground. Not with Trespass. It is seen in full view, and it visually penetrates as it drops. The coin is seen inside, and heard. You hand the bottle back, and they can keep the bottle FOREVER with the coin inside. This miracle came from the twisted mind of Dan Army. They can stare at the bottle until their blood runs cold, and they will not find even the slightest defect to the bottle. The object will stay inside until doomsday. It's not going anywhere. This beats out any effect like it. Trespass is the most impromptu effect of it's kind. Get ready for Trespass."

Salivating yet? You probably are -- it does sound pretty spectacular, doesn't it, what with the examinable bottle and signed object and impromptu thing being touted? -- but then you'd be in for the let down of a lifetime.

You see, the bottle is gaffed and simply cannot be examined. Period, end of story. Second, the method taught with a glass bottle (whose mouth has to be large enough so that you can pull the object out of it once it's inside) is so patently obvious I can't imagine it fooling anyone, let alone astonishing somebody to the point it's considered a miracle (I'm not going into a lot of detail with the glass bottle handling, since it's obviously not the one touted so heavily in the ads -- it's sufficient to say it's an incredibly weak handling and not worth watching, let alone practicing and never mind performing).

Think of it this way: if you were to ask a friend or a family member how they'd get a coin into a plastic bottle that doesn't fit through the hole in the neck, the method they'd lay out for you is very, very likely to be the method used in "Trespass". It's as simple as that.

And if it's that simple, brother, that ain't magic at all; it's a gag.

Then there's the whole instruction thing. Army bobs and weaves throughout the instructional segments of this as if he's getting ready for a twelve-rounder with Mike Tyson. He might be working on his right jab, too -- his insanely repetitive and out-of-frame hand movements (presumably to add emphasis to what he's saying) certainly suggest that. However, in thirty seconds, all of this became so distracting it was all I could do to watch the rest of the video. So, thinking nervousness was playing a big part here (and Army is quite young enough to have that feeling), I concentrated more on what was being said than shown. This proved to be a mistake. Army runs on and on and on and says very little, almost babbling his instructions as he goes. If ever there were a "poster-child" for the use of script, it's Army. But that's all style and the lack of it; the painful part is just how awful the instructions are.

Things are mentioned about the handling but never shown. Talk about misdirection and timing is simply wrong. Mention of working with angle problems is at times ludicrous. Even instructions given about constructing the gaff are horrible (my favorite part? Telling viewers to be careful using a knife while Army acts the part of the baton twirler with a kitchen knife).

And the list of things wrong with "Trespass" goes on and on.

Give this one a pass. End of story. Spend the money for a better version of the effect by someone who has been around the block a few times or, at the very least, presents a good idea concerning the "object-in-bottle" plot. Neither of those is present with "Trespass".

"Trespass" DVD by Dan Army
In a Blink: 1 Out of 10

Material: 1
You get a couple of ideas here -- a couple of very basic, very obvious ideas. There is little real thinking here as to the problem of the theme beyond what you would expect from an amateur magician or an overly-interested spectator.

Practicality: 1
Anyone seeing this performed live and not in some edited video will go right to the solution. Forget about handing the bottle out for inspection (which is going to be pretty much demanded by the spectators). The second version is so basic, the handling so cramped, getting busted is going to be an every day occurrence.

Quality of Production: 1
There are, simply, no production values here. The sound and video both are about as amateurish as you can get or should have a right to expect.

Quality of Instruction: 1
Along with the poor video come poor descriptions of the action. Things are mentioned that are never shown, obvious weaknesses are never addressed... All in all, Army seems more interested in hyping the already-purchased disc than teaching much about how to get this thing to work for a real audience.

Presentation: 1
What presentation? The visuals are okay, but the methodology so obvious and so up-front that a presentation must be structured to cover it and that just doesn't happen here at all.


Shane

Available direct from your favorite dealer. Dealers, please contact Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc. toll-free at 1-800-853-7403 or visit Murphy's Magic Supplies website.