Fresh Mint by Cameron FrancisEffects:THE FRESH MINT EFFECTYou display a small tin, wrapped in a rubber band, bearing the words “TIME CAPSULE” – this is left in full view. After asking for a spectator’s bill you have them sign their name on their bill (any currency) and hands it to you. Placing the signed bill inside your fist you give it a little squeeze and incredibly, THE BILL COMPLETELY VANISHES! Or did it? You go on to explain that you actually sent the bill back in time! The tin is opened and inside is discovered a ‘Tic-Tac’ box, through which a folded bill can be clearly seen! The ‘Tic-Tac’ box is dumped into your hand. You pop the lid off and cleanly dump the bill into your spectators awaiting hand – the box is now clearly empty. They unfold the bill and sure enough, it bears their signature!
The main effect, Fresh Mint Effect is by far my favorite effect taught on this entire DVD. What I like about this effect is how openly fair everything is throughout the entire performance. There are two ways I like to perform this effect, the first one is the exact method taught on the DVD. While having the container sitting out in full view, with a rubber band across it, is always right in front of the spectator(s). There are no funny, false transfers of the container. So after having someone initial the bill, (or you can have them write down the serial number for later verification), is cleanly and openly placed into your fist. You then can have a spectator place their own fist over yours that is holding the bill, and as if by magic the bill vanishes. Then you can say, “Actually it didn’t disappear, it has traveled back in time.” From here, you can have a spectator pick up the “TIME CAPSULE” themselves, remove the rubber band and then have them dump the Tic-Tac container that has a bill which is clearly visible inside. With no funny moves or awkward switches, you simply take off the top of the Tic-Tac container right in front of the spectator(s) and out falls their own signed bill. The Tic-Tac container is shown empty. And if you wish, you can end completely clean by giving everything out for examination, which is covered in the DVD, and is extremely clever. But I have not ONCE needed to do this because of how visual the effect is.
But it doesn’t end there! Cameron Francis’ ‘Fresh Mint’ is a true utility gimmick, limited only by your imagination! You can only switch bills, business cards, playing cards and billets invisibly! The DVD also contains four more complete routines:
MINTY FRESHA borrowed and signed bill mysteriously changes into a handful of Tic-Tac’s! The spectators signed bill is discovered sealed in the Tic-Tac box!
Another great effect that utilizes all the same moves already described above, gets extremely great reactions once they see how open the transformation is from their bill to a handful of Tic-Tac’s.E.S.P MINTAn ESP card, freely chosen by a spectator is shown to have been predicted on a business card, sealed inside a Tic-Tac container that has been in full view throughout!
I personally do not use this effect all that much, but the same procedure to attain this effect is the same method used for each and every effect you can perform with the Fresh Mint gimmick.MENTAL MINTA folded business card sealed inside a Tic-Tac box that has been in full view throughout, incredibly predicts the exact date or place a spectator thinks of!
The same can be said about this as I already mentioned about the E.S.P Mint effect. It’s a great effect and goes over very well, but just something I rarely use.MINTEDWorth the price of this DVD! An eye-popping transposition between a bill and a signed playing card! Just wait and see!
Now THIS is the second effect I use just about as much as the original handling of Fresh Mint. If you really, and I mean REALLY want to impress somebody, then this is the perfect effect for you. You take out your Tic-Tac container which contains a dollar bill inside, which you say, “This is my lucky $1 dollar bill and it will aid me in perform this effect. Placing the Tic-Tac container aside with the $1 dollar bill clearly inside, is set aside and in full view the whole time. You proceed to have someone select a card and have them sign their name across the card. Let’s say they choose the 9 of Hearts and after you replace it into the deck which seemingly vanishes. You take the Tic-Tac container with your lucky $1 dollar bill inside, and begin to wave it back and forth. Then, as if by pure magic, the dollar bill transforms into a playing card, right in front of their eyes! You take off the lid of the Tic-Tac container and cleanly and fairly dump out the card. As they open the card, it turns out to be their very own signed and selected card! So where is the $1 dollar bill you might ask? As you take the deck, you spread it across the table, and to the surprise of the audience they see a $1 dollar bill wrapped around a card. Upon closer inspection, it’s not just one card, but the three remaining cards of the signed selected card, the 9 of Diamonds, the 9 of Clubs and the 9 of Spades. You can then give everything out for examination.Price: $22.50 here on Penguin Magic
Teaching: As with all of the effects that come from the very clever mind of Cameron Francis, each and every effect is explained in great detail. David Forrest is also there in the teaching aspects of each and every effect. Acting as both the spectator and also giving tips along the way. So anyone who wants to perform any of these effects, will not have to worry about complicated explanations or not receiving the right tips and tricks.
Quality of teaching/instructions and DVD Visual and Audio aspects:As I already stated above everything is taught with great care and both Cameron Francis and David Forrest take their time to make sure you understand how to perform each effect. As for the Video and Sound quality, it’s not the best, but decent enough for you to see and hear everything well enough to understand. I’m not sure if it’s just the way Full 52 Productions record their products, which would be nice if it was close to HD, but regardless you will still have no difficulty watching and learning.
Quality of materials(if it is a gimmick etc): The gimmick that makes everything possible is so EXTREMELY clever and will never, ever lead your audience to sort of guess how the effects were accomplished. It does not come with any of the items needed to perform the effect, but take a quick trip down to your local Liquor store and you can pick up everything needed for about $4-$5 bucks.
Also, once you create the gimmick, which is very easy to do and not all that time consuming. You won’t have to ever worry about making another one, although if you want to perform the MINTED effect, then you’ll have to make a separate gimmick, but it follows the same creating procedures as the original Fresh Mint gimmick. I timed myself making both of them, and it only took me about 10 minutes to create, and they have lasted for many months now.
Difficulty: The difficulty to perform any of these effects would be about 3 or 4 out of 10. It is all very easy and clever to achieve the effects, and simplicity is the key here. Now, although it’s not that difficult to perform, I still suggest practicing any of the effects you want to perform for about a week, or maybe less. Just so you can fully understand EVERYTHING and you won’t feel awkward while performing. Like we all know, sometimes the simplest of tricks hit very, very hard. So if you like very visual and almost impossible looking effects, then this is the perfect effect for you. It truly is the ultimate signed bill to impossible location effect that I have ever come across.
Applications: A majority of the time I use this as a closer because of how powerful the effect is, so I haven’t ever tried using it as an opener or even close to the end of my routine. Simply because it hits so dang hard and people will definitely remember you after performing this effect. Here’s another application I have used the effect for, which also gets tremendous reactions. Now, even though I said I don’t use it for an opener, what I will do is ask to borrow a spectator’s bill that has been signed and make it vanish completely. Then I will say something like, “Hmmm, that’s odd, I didn’t think it would work!”
After that I say, “Well, we’ll get back to it in a moment” and then I will go into two or three more effects. All the while the spectator’s keep glancing at the “TIME CAPSULE” tin the whole time, just wondering what in the heck it is. The tension rises as they begin to wonder if they will ever get the bill back. So once I am ready to perform my last effect, I will say, “I noticed you guys have been staring and pondering just what this little container is, so remember that bill you signed earlier that vanished?” By this point they are twitching with anticipation and once I perform Fresh Mint, people absolutely FREAK once they find out their bill had been sent back in time and into the TIME CAPSULE.
So I HIGHLY suggest anyone and everyone to pick this up, because the reactions are out of this world.
Overall Rating:I cannot suggest this effect enough, it is so simple, clever and not to mention hits extremely hard. Here is one variation that I also have used to really take this effect to new heights.
After borrowing a bill, I have them write down the serial number of the dollar and keep for later verification. I then take their bill and tear it into a couple pieces, and then show that it still is the spectators borrowed bill with matching serial number. Then, after making the torn pieces vanish, I have the spectator open the tin, dump out the Tic-Tac container, and inside is the spectators very own bill, with matching serial number and completely intact! This effect is extremely versatile and I know that once you guys buy a copy, you can come up with all sorts of awesome variations.
So I hope you guys liked the review and that it helps to persuade some of you to buy the effect, because the effects and reactions you will receive is absolutely priceless.
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