Shin Lim, has a trick out called "The Switch". Here is a brief description from the horse's mouth:
And now the video:
From the creative mind of Shin Lim: THE SWITCH is the cleanest way to switch a folded card for a spectators signed card.
Imagine placing a Mystery card on a table, in someone's hand, in a clear box, well... anywhere. This is done in full view of the audience. You then have a another spectator select a random card and sign it. On your command you cause their sign car to vanish completely from the deck. The spectator is asked to open her hands, the mystery card that the spectators has been holding the entire time is opened. It is the signed selection!
THE SWITCH is the cleanest way to switch a card because there are no boxes, no envelopes, etc. Words cannot describe how clean the switch actually is.
I assume this gets deleted so here are the main bits: The folded mystery card is placed under a spectators hand and another spectator is handed the deck, so he can choose a card freely. That card is the Eight of Diamonds. Then the same spectator is given a pen to sign the card. Then a cut and we see the card being signed.... well not really, we see the pen moving, but not the actual signature. Only when the signature is finished the card is show bearing said signature. (this will become important) With no further cuts the card is placed in the pack in an outjogged position. What follows APPEARS to be the DB spread control, a bottom palm, a mercury fold, a palm and then the mystery card is unfolded to reveal to be the signed selection.
Appears is the word of choice here, as all these steps are faked. Let's compare the signed selection and the mystery card in the end:
They look very close to each other... Well just to make sure I put both images into Gimp and placed one image over the other, adjusted angle and size, then I changed the transparency of the top picture back and forth to compare the two cards.
Do you see that little bow? No, well here it is:
So if he uses a different card, that means the whole control, the palm and the fold are faked too. And that is hilarious. I took a look at the control in the video and there is no finger movement at all. And there should be some. Little, but some.
It also means the card was not signed in the shot. The signing was faked as well. Probably with a pen that doesn't write.
But here is the question: WHY? Seriously... Why. Only that the card on the table can be picked up more cleanly then it could be done in real life? Hardly, as the routine could be done for real and it wouldn't look much different.
WHY?
Strangely, your complaint and his reasoning are probably identical. "...the routine could be done for real and it wouldn't look much different."
ReplyDeleteWe hear this time and time again about demos - "that's what the audience sees." In this case, it's pretty close. So why the lie? Because it looks a bit cleaner and harder to reverse engineer. Or, Shim is so used to cutting corners and lying to us he just doesn't see any difference.
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ReplyDeleteYou have no idea what your talking about I have this and it's amazing and the card that's unfolded really is the card they just signed the end
ReplyDeleteI tell you. The demo is faked... And there is no need for it, as you know by now. It looks that clean, yet Shin Lim decided to fake the demo and use a duplicate. I don't know why!
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case Roland I apologise but it really is as clean as it looks when performed.cnt go into to much detail but its a gimmick you make yourself any back design you like,really is clever hope that helps m8
ReplyDeleteRoland, I have the DVD. And he performs it live flawlessly on the instructional tutorial. He DOESNT need to use a duplicate. He's a god when it comes to card magic(i've seen him in person before, everything he does looks like it was CGI). If you think it's "too" clean, then you're just jelous and envy his creative mind, and extreme dexterity. Oh, and by the way, you showing us the picture of the signed card is stupid of you. First of all, the pictures are too blurry to tell, and one card was folded and the other wasn't, thus making certain aspects of the signature change its state. And lastly, I don't see a difference in the signatures. They look identical. I've been a professional film editor for 20 years, so I have to look at digital footage A LOT. And trust me, I know this kid doesn't need to use a dupe to do something this easy. He's done much harder tricks before flawlessly
ReplyDeleteRoland, I have the DVD. And he performs it live flawlessly on the instructional tutorial. He DOESNT need to use a duplicate. He's a god when it comes to card magic(i've seen him in person before, everything he does looks like it was CGI). If you think it's "too" clean, then you're just jelous and envy his creative mind, and extreme dexterity. Oh, and by the way, you showing us the picture of the signed card is stupid of you. First of all, the pictures are too blurry to tell, and one card was folded and the other wasn't, thus making certain aspects of the signature change its state. And lastly, I don't see a difference in the signatures. They look identical. I've been a professional film editor for 20 years, so I have to look at digital footage A LOT. And trust me, I know this kid doesn't need to use a dupe to do something this easy. He's done much harder tricks before flawlessly
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a stooged trailer. I am tired of Shin and his friends deferring to " this is what it looks like live argument". Regardless of how good it looks live it doesn't change the fact that Shin Lim chose a dishonest way to market this effect. If this is what it takes to make a buck in magic, then I only see an even steeper downwards slope in the art. I feel so sorry for this current generation of magicians, you are so misguided...
ReplyDeleteWatkinzez, have you even seen the DVD? You probably haven't, and neither has the creator of this website. The evidence you both have given me is not sufficient bedsides, "Oh i know for a fact he cheats. I don't know whether or not he does, but based on my 0 evidence, I know he does"
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you guys sound like a bunch of idiots. Go play in your little playground and fight about something else. Before you come here trying to prove something so stupid, go buy the DVD and watch through the tutorial. I PROMISE, you will be very surprised how clever and simple and practical this is. And I can bet my last dollar you won't come back here to bitch about the trick, only because it is so fucking good. It really is, in my opinion, the best switch of the decade.
Jonathan you are missing the point. I'm not saying it is a bad product. I say that the demo is faked. And it is. If you look at the supposed control, you see absolutely no finger movement. If he really is using the DB control there would be a certain bending of certain fingers. This is not the case. FOR THE DEMO VIDEO he mimed doing all the action. He faked it. And as you point out, all of that could be done for real and it wouldn't look different. So there is no need by Shin Lim to fake the demo. Yet he did. So why is he doing that? I don't get it. Btw. I have a little more proof than a missing finger movement. But the cards speak for themselves I think. Put the picture into a picture editing software. Put them on top of each other, alling the edge and toggle back and forth you will see that those are different.
ReplyDeleteI think he did it for the same reasons as usual, to stop it being reverse engineered.
ReplyDeleteI have the DVD and it looks so good that he really didn't need to fake it but he did.
Ich denke auch das das Video gefälscht ist bzw. Nachbearbeitet wurde!!!! Alleine das Ende schreit förmlich nach Adobe after effects!
ReplyDeleteUnd jeder der was anderes schreibt der hat noch nie eine Karte hinter den Spiel gefaltet oder beim Falten die Hand in der Tasche gehabt.
Es mag ja sein das der Trick so ausschaut aber irgendwas will er verstecken.
Du bestellst Switch und bekommst ein Raven....lol
Na ja das war nur Spass!
Also ich denke das auch ! Aber ich werde es bestellen!
Frank
I too have seen Shim live. Every move a move. His magic works for magicians because they don't care that it's obvious he's switching cards. They only care because his switch is hard to do. Not invisible - a monkey knows the cards are being switched - just hard. And he has zero understanding of the structure and history of magic. I saw several classics butchered by making them different without any understanding as to why they worked in the first place, or what his changes added or detracted.
ReplyDeleteShin is a KILLER Magician no doubt but YES this was all "Stooged". Also if you look at the signature look at the very end of the underlined underline. The card on the right the end of the underline is straighter. Now look at the Card on the left, the underline has a slight curve. Anyone else see that. Look I have lots of youtube Magic Videos where cards need to be signed. I ALWAYS hold the card up a good 5 seconds so they can take a screen shot and then compare and I'll even point out the little nuances. Yes maybe I'm running while not being chased but for me personally I'll go toe to toe with people who think in MY videos I'm using a Duplicate card. Just a aside.
ReplyDeleteThanks, God Bless, Ed
I just reviewed this product the other day, and I independently discovered the same discrepancies (and more) in my reviewing of "The Switch." You can watch my video review and read the full details of the problems I found here:
ReplyDeleteReview of The Switch by Shin Lim
Some comments are hilarious. He simply chose to use an edited promotional video, rather than actually perform the trick in one shot as he does in stage performances. At least he actually does live performances rather than walk on water using props, actors, and video editing for tv magic shows.
ReplyDeleteUhm, it's actually not edited in any way. If you look closely, you can see the signed card in between his pinky finger and ring finger. His sleight of hand is incredible, but you can still see the change happening. I have no clue, however, where the folded card goes after the change.
ReplyDeleteUhm, it's actually not edited in any way. If you look closely, you can see the signed card in between his pinky finger and ring finger. His sleight of hand is incredible, but you can still see the change happening. I have no clue, however, where the folded card goes after the change.
ReplyDeleteUhm, it's actually not edited in any way. If you look closely, you can see the signed card in between his pinky finger and ring finger. His sleight of hand is incredible, but you can still see the change happening. I have no clue, however, where the folded card goes after the change.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time I have read a site where Shin has been accused of using duplicate signed cards. Watch his performance on Penn and teller. At the end of the trick he has the signed 7 in his mouth and a signed ace in a plastic bag. He "shakes" the bag and the ace "transforms" into the signed 7. I use quotes because all he really does is his flip the bag over. And without showing the initial 7 that he's holding In his mouth again, he "shakes" the bag and it turns back into an ace. Only then does he show that the 7 is still in his mouth. That would mean he used a double sided card and that the audience selection was not random and all the cards that he keeps producing from pockets and his mouth are already signed. I've study card magic for 12 years, and while there's still plenty I don't know, I call bull shit. And there's nothing wrong with bull shit. He fooled people into thinking it wasn't random. Again, I could be wrong, but I have replicated his act and it looks just as flawless using confederates.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time I have read a site where Shin has been accused of using duplicate signed cards. Watch his performance on Penn and teller. At the end of the trick he has the signed 7 in his mouth and a signed ace in a plastic bag. He "shakes" the bag and the ace "transforms" into the signed 7. I use quotes because all he really does is his flip the bag over. And without showing the initial 7 that he's holding In his mouth again, he "shakes" the bag and it turns back into an ace. Only then does he show that the 7 is still in his mouth. That would mean he used a double sided card and that the audience selection was not random and all the cards that he keeps producing from pockets and his mouth are already signed. I've study card magic for 12 years, and while there's still plenty I don't know, I call bull shit. And there's nothing wrong with bull shit. He fooled people into thinking it wasn't random. Again, I could be wrong, but I have replicated his act and it looks just as flawless using confederates.
ReplyDelete