Title: Solomon’s Secret Subtleties
Artist: Dave Solomon
Producers: Big Blind Media
Retail Price: $34.95 USD
Learning Difficulty: Easy


Features:
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This is a collection of the best of the best card miracles Dave’s published in is newsletters over the past five years.

Dear magic production companies. Invest in a DP (Director of Photography) when you are shooting your DVD’s. You really need someone who knows what the hell they are doing when it comes to lighting and framing your shots because it’s clear from this DVD you don’t have a clue what to do. Hard back lighting aimed directly at the camera lens is a pain to watch. Also the lighting set up for this project was really awkward in general because of the hard shadows it was creating. It doesn’t matter how good the material is in the DVD… if it’s unwatchable, it’s as good as crap.

Honestly I didn’t make it all the way through this DVD the first time I watched it. I watched the first two or three tricks, and then decided my time was better spent elsewhere. I hit eject and moved onto the next DVD. It wasn’t until after I made myself come back to the DVD and watched it again that I came to respect the magic that’s in there. Magic wise there’s some good stuff in here from what I’ve seen. I know of Mr. Solomon’s reputation in magic and needless to say he’s known for being one of the more brilliant thinkers when it comes to card magic. His fame is well earned, but Big Blind Media did him no favors with how they shot this DVD, and its final product scores are suffering because of it.

There’s enough practical card work in this DVD to build a full act. I think there’s something for everyone, which is good. Dave’s handling on Switchcraft is smooth and I really liked his “Anytime Double Matcho” and “Reading The Tea Leaves” routines. Some sleight of hand will be required but these are good magical bits that you will use anytime you want to do card tricks. If you can suffer past the horrible lighting problems Solomon’s Secret Subtleties is a good find.


When I give my product scores below I am measuring them on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 Being absolute the worst score possible, and 10 being the absolute best, making a score of five average. The four points that I grade upon is Product Quality, Teaching Quality, Sound & Video Quality and Overall Quality.

Product Quality: 5
Good magic, horrible filming.

Teaching Quality: 8
Dave is really easy and entertaining to listen to. He makes learning the moves really easy.

Video & Sound Quality: 4
The sound is good, thank god, but the lighting in this video is a real piece of crap. Honestly you would have been better off just filming it under normal florescent lights instead of the setup they used. The hard shadows and lights aimed at the camera was a real eye sore.

Overall Quality: 4
Good card magic. Lousy production. Product fail on a technicality.


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