The sharing of another idea from the ever fruitful, though obviously disturbed, mind of Stephen E. Young (No I've never heard of him either)

I've been struggling for a while with Torn 2 Pieces by Shawn Farquhar (hope I spelt that right)
Not with the effect itself, it's a stunning piece of magic,
But with the choice of photograph.

Why would I want to leave someone with a miss-made photo of somebody's face.
"Because I can" isn't good enough, I wanted a premise that made the end result meaningful.

This is what I came up with;

The photo used is a photo of an album cover from a famous band
(for those younger than myself albums were what came before CD's)
(sorry CDs were what came before MP3s)

I explain that band released albums and fans would take them to concerts to hopefully get a signature from one of their idols (this is when I get them to sign the photo as a pretence of the rock stars autograph)

I then explain that inevitably bands split up (tearing the photo as I speak)

But, when the money runs out they quite often re-form (show photo from back)

But there are very rarely anything like the band they used to be (turn photo around, hand it out, walk away)

regards
Steve

Very nice idea, thank you for sharing.

Good thinking Steve. I like this idea better than your last one.

I'll have to give serious consideration to this as an alternative to the one I previously suggested to you. How do you play it if one of the original band members is dead or dies- unfortunately a not uncommon occurrence in that industry.

Usually bands replace one or more of the missing members.

Guns N Roses are on tour at the moment and there's only Axl Rose from the original line up.
I don't think missing members is an issue if you choose an album cover that has an picture rather than photos of the band.


Steve

Very nice & logical idea. Thank you for sharing.

Nice thinking Steve.

There are so many bands that have done that or are doing it.

Glad there are some who like it.
Ustaaad, logical is exactly what I was aiming for, thanks.


steve

Logical, engaging, contains the celebrity factor...a very compelling spin on a powerful effect.

Well played!

Well, you've convinced me. Try as I might, I cannot come up with anything better. Well done, Steve.

Thanks guys.

Mr Crocodile, I'll be contacting you tomorrow.


Steve

Thanks guys.

Steve

That's a great idea, thank you

May I have permission to perform this scripting?

Of course. feel free.

steve

I just received this effect and I think the album cover is a great presentation idea. Definately gonna use it. Thanks for sharing.

kind regards
Sean

Steve, your stories are great and you definitely have a story teller talent. These story however are only illustrated by the magic and not about magic. It seems to me that our art would be served better by your obvious gift if you would make magic the main character of your stories.

Really great idea, I like it!

THANK YOU. I have struggled with performing this exactly for the reason Stephen noted. I think this "band" plot is provides a "logic" and opens itself to other "group" structures

I know this thread is old but here is an alternative presentation.

Have you heard the expression seeing is believing?

You might hear it every now and then but when it comes to magicians, we don't get the benefit of the doubt. In fact among many expressions such as the hand is quicker then the eye and it's up his sleeve we are also often accused of trick photography. This usually rears it head on TV shows where a magicians performances are so unbelievable the spectator can only think that there has to be a conspiritus arrangement to what their seeing.

Well for today's performance we are going to show everyone some trick photography using this photo.

Now to be honest magicians have only got onto trick Photography over the last few years, where industry's such as the fashion industry and Woman's Magazines have be photoshoping and paint brushing images of people for even longer.

What they do is they dissect the image (start tearing the photo into quarters) and scrutinise every part (look at each turn part)then in some vain attempt to make things better then modify it.

When the image is put back together (restore the pieces) it resembles nothing as it originally was.

Magically


Aus

"it resembles nothing as it originally was. "

This theme keeps coming up in regards to this effect. I think the same can be truthful about our own selves... That sometimes we might go through a rough time or a difficult situation and although we have healed .... we resemble now an alternative version of our former selves ....

Signing the face of the photo the spectator becomes that photo and you may ask " Can you think of a time when you felt like you were torn?"