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The Step System Vol. 1

Smith, Lee

RSVP - Russ Stevens

(Based on 1 review)
Welcome to 'The Step System' the brand new two disc set from UK magician Lee Smith. So, what is 'The Step System'? Well it stands for Simple Tricks Extraordinary Power and proves that YOU can get fantastic reactions and make a great living performing effects that really are simple to do. The reactions on these DVDs prove it!

CONTENTS:

VOLUME 1

Ice Breaker
Lee's 3 Phase opening routine. Cards jump from hand to hand, vanish and appear in impossible places! Included is an in depth discussion on character types for different audiences, approach and much, much more.

Walkaround 2 Cards to Pocket
Two cards are lost in the deck, then found and then they swap places. Snappy, fast and a real attention grabber. Utilizes the Ollie Mealing 'Switch Trick', one of the best glimpses ever! Worth the price of the DVD!

Trans-box-ition
One of Lee's signature tricks being explained for the first time. An awesome routine in which a card jumps under the card box not once but twice and even escapes a spectator's hand. A third phase ends with the ENTIRE DECK UNDER THE BOX. Best of all its easy to do!

You Keep Mine
A superb multi-phase routine that ends with the spectators signature jumping from their card to one that has your business details on the back. The perfect giveaway that's sure to get you more bookings.

Bold Business
An amazing feat of mind power. Leave the spectator thinking you really can read minds! A miracle using nothing more than a marker pen and some business cards (again worth the DVD).

Third Degree
Three cards are chosen, one even imagined. All three are revealed in progressively harder ways until the magician reveals that the thought of card has been in their hands right from the start. A masterpiece of audience management and psychology.

Bonus PDF of Lee's walkaround Lecture Notes
Included on this DVD is a complete PDF of Lee's 'Walkaround Lecture Notes' which inspired this project. Selling at $20.00, you get this for FREE!

Running Time Approximately: 1hr 55mins

Reviews

Joe Diamond

Official Reviewer

Jan 07, 2011

These DVDs come from charming new comer Lee Smith. Lee is a nice English fellow who is a real world worker. His material is solid, and his technical chops are on par with his people skills. He knows how to get big reactions from people, and what he focuses on these DVDs is simple tricks. These aren’t easy. They are quick, engaging, and have a nice flow to them.

Some of the effects are a little confusing, however the flow of the larger routine helps these moments. Lee performs mostly in bars and loud clubs, and so his material is designed to work in these environments.

While he does all of this right, I do have some problems with both of these DVDs. The biggest one is the gentleman who sits in for the explanations. The task of this person is supposed to help keep the discussion organized, and ask potential questions the home viewer may ask. All he helps with is making sure they constantly repeat themselves, and complimenting Lee how great the material is. Before we even see any effects on volume one, they talk for seven minutes about Lee’s opening effect. Everything they say could have been summed up in about half that time, maybe less.

I also feel that both these discs could have been complied onto one disc. That said, the material plays really well, is very versatile, and extremely visual. Many of the routines are focused on card changes, double lifts, and passes, but this is well within the skill range of most performers. However, there are some effects that aren’t particularly good or original, such as his rubber band routine, or his performance of Paul Green’s Coming Together. His technique is a little sloppy at times, and there isn’t much as far as the scripting goes.

Some of the effects aren’t taught on video, but on a PDF file of his lecture notes on Volume One. Unfortunately, these aren’t extremely well written, and could have been much more in depth. All these negatives out of the way, you can tell Lee is a hard worker who knows how to entertain his audiences, and several of the routines look great.

I think if you are a real world worker, you’ll be able to see past the negatives on these discs, and find some really good material. As a worker, I enjoyed the material. However, as a reviewer, I regret that I can only give this two and a half stars.
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