Title: Acting Naturally: Elemental Coin Magic
Medium: DVD
Arena: Close up / stand up
Available: Any shop, distributed by Murphys Magic Supplies

I freely admit that I am not much of a coin man. I want to be but need to dedicate the time needed to be good at this discipline of the art. I have a killer retention of vision vanish and can do some basics but I really am not good enough to perform any of the good stuff. There have been many coin magic videos put out and many other videos that have at least one coin routine. The books most associate are Bobo and Modern Coin Magic by the great David Roth. Coin magic is fun because you can use regular coins and there are some brilliantly devious gimmicks out there. Some very expensive, some a few bucks. I’m now trying to improve my coin abilities and Acting Naturally: Elemental Coin Magic by Allen Zingg looked to be a good place to start.

Let’s take a look at the production level, as usual. This DVD has no buzzers and bells. You will not see anyone in a t-shirt standing on a stone with his arms spread while the camera circles him. You won’t see any giggling girls or screaming people or teens telling the camera that it is the greatest thing ever. The video is basic yet done well. By this I mean Allen performs standing in front of a curtain, the explanations are done with Allen either standing or sitting. They use various camera angles and use them pretty well, the sound is fine through out. This isn’t something that you will be bringing your fellow street assassins over to watch with the volume up to catch the rock music and some may think it isn’t produced well because there isn’t a cool video with people on the streets. I liked the way this one was done because there is no BS about it.

Allen seems to have put this out because he wanted to share his many years of experience and I would think leave a record of his magic behind. He certainly does know how to work with coins. What you get are a number of routines of various sorts that are the type you will likely be doing for people. The coin from flames, coins across, a variation of Misers Dream, and others. What I found of most use was Allens discussions about how to do vanishes, conceal coins, showing the hands empty, and how to use movement and body language to make the magic sell. Also covered are productions and all kinds of things that we budding coin men need to know but often learn the hard way.

Allen really does a great job on going over the components of the routines and the methods of coin handling. For example on many DVDs the instructor might spend three minutes going over something because they want to jam as much other material that no one does into the mix but here Allen will spend ten minutes or more going over details. This is good because, to be frank, that is what is often needed to get the instructions across. Allen suggests, and I agree, that you watch the entire DVD then go back and watch the areas that interest you and areas you need help with. The menu is broken down into many sections so you will have no problem tracking down things you need. I think it is a good idea to find a routine you need to work on and focus on that specific routine until you get it down. Because Allen is very thorough trying to absorb too much at one time can be draining.

If you are looking for a single DVD with solid coin material and instruction on how to handle coins in general without filler this is it. Just keep in mind that it is a very direct instructional video and no effort is made to make it artistic or ‘fun’ to watch. The only thing artistic is the routines and teaching isn’t always exciting to watch and listen to but it is the best way to learn. I really enjoyed this DVD because it has on it what I need to improve my coin magic and it gives me the tips and attention points left off the other DVDs that have coin routines I like. If you want to learn coins this is a very good way to do it and it will give you the tools you need to move into other routines from other performers.

Thanks for reviewing this, been looking for a review for a while.
just ordered it!

You're welcome. It is an academic study in coin magic and like I said, some will find it boring (meaning they may not have the attention span to follow) but it has the right stuff on it. Note Allen uses US dollar size coins, half dollar size can also be used. He justh as bigger hands I think.

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Anymore thoughts on this DVD????
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Any link where to get it?

Thanks
Bob

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Here ya go.................

http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/acting-nat......512.html
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I reviewed this one some time back:

http://magic.about.com/od/magicreview/fr/071507zingg.htm

-Wayne