Matthew Johson - Melt

  • last year
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 [INAUDIBLE]
00:30 Now, here's one of the coolest pieces of visual magic
00:33 you can do.
00:35 Imagine you borrow a bill, and you have a card chosen.
00:38 And then you push the playing card straight
00:40 through the middle of the bill.
00:43 But that's not it.
00:44 You don't give them everything back.
00:45 You give them the bill, you give them the card,
00:47 and they can examine it all day long.
00:49 There's nothing to find.
00:51 Instant reset, visual magic, mind blown.
00:55 Or melted.
00:57 Check it out.
00:58 [LAUGHTER]
01:00 There is no-- oh, it's magic.
01:02 It's magic.
01:02 I know, it's magic.
01:03 It's trippy.
01:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:18 This is my favorite song.
01:19 We're going to create an illusion.
01:21 Amanda, right?
01:21 You like Laura.
01:23 I do.
01:23 I love this song.
01:24 We're riding Cadillacs in our dreams.
01:26 We're going to create an illusion.
01:29 Here's the idea, Amanda.
01:31 We're going to create an illusion.
01:32 It's an optical illusion.
01:33 What you're about to see is actually not going to happen.
01:35 It's not happening.
01:35 It's going to look real, but it's really not real.
01:37 It's really an optical illusion.
01:39 It's actually a freaky kind of natural thing
01:42 of the way the lights hit the table
01:44 and your beautiful angelic face.
01:45 It's kind of that.
01:46 So here's the thing.
01:49 Here's the thing.
01:50 I got a pack of cards.
01:52 And we got your bill, right?
01:54 And I'm just going to ask you to choose a card,
01:57 is what you're going to do.
01:58 So I'm going to run my thumb down the edge here,
02:00 and you're just going to yell stop.
02:01 And whenever you say stop, we're going to use that card, OK?
02:05 Perfect.
02:05 Now do me a favor.
02:06 It actually doesn't matter what the card is.
02:09 It's not important.
02:10 It's not important what the card is.
02:11 What's important is the optical illusion.
02:16 Let's give this a try.
02:17 We're going to create an illusion
02:18 like the card is actually going straight through the bill.
02:20 That's what it's going to look like.
02:22 It's going to actually look like the card is passing straight
02:24 down through the bill.
02:28 It should look like it's going straight through.
02:32 Wait a minute.
02:33 Do me a favor.
02:34 Do me a favor.
02:35 You, you.
02:35 Hold this end.
02:36 Hold this end here.
02:37 Alyssa, thanks.
02:38 Don't move.
02:38 Don't move.
02:39 Really important.
02:39 Sean, hold this end here.
02:40 Hold this end.
02:42 Don't move.
02:42 Don't move.
02:43 It actually looks like it's going straight through there,
02:45 doesn't it?
02:46 Yes.
02:46 But it only lasts for a few seconds.
02:48 Look.
02:48 Watch.
02:50 Watch.
02:50 Would you do me a favor?
02:54 Would you hold on to this end?
02:56 Would you, Sean, hold on to this end and stay real still?
03:00 Watch.
03:02 Watch.
03:02 Watch.
03:03 It actually looks like it comes back straight through the bill.
03:05 So there should be a hole in the bill
03:07 is the only way it could work, yeah?
03:08 Yeah.
03:09 Yeah.
03:09 Do me a favor.
03:10 Open up the bill.
03:11 Unfold it.
03:12 And look for the hole.
03:13 Do you see a hole?
03:14 Do you see a hole in the card?
03:19 If you love it, scream.
03:23 [SCREAMING]
03:26 Where's the hole?
03:28 There is no hole.
03:29 It's magic, man.
03:30 It's magic.
03:31 I know it's magic, but it's creeping me out.
03:34 Devin, Devin, Devin, Devin, Devin.
03:35 We're going to create an illusion here,
03:38 an illusion in miniature.
03:39 Here's the idea.
03:41 I got a pack of cards.
03:43 You're going to choose one.
03:44 It doesn't matter what the card is.
03:46 It's not important.
03:47 It's not important what the card is.
03:50 The card is the thing, not what the card is, yeah?
03:52 So I'll just go like this.
03:53 You just say stop.
03:55 I did that with my mind.
03:57 I just went like that.
03:58 It's going to blow up in a minute.
04:00 Five more.
04:01 Gone.
04:02 You'd freak out if that happened, though, wouldn't you?
04:04 I think I might leave.
04:06 Sweat my ass off here.
04:07 All right, so Devin, I'll run my thumb down.
04:09 You just say stop.
04:10 Ready?
04:11 Stop.
04:11 OK.
04:12 It doesn't matter what the card is.
04:13 Doesn't matter.
04:14 We just need the card, OK?
04:16 We're going to create an illusion.
04:17 Now, this is not real magic.
04:18 This is an optical illusion.
04:21 It's going to happen for like a second,
04:22 and then it's going to be gone.
04:24 That's the idea.
04:26 You're being honest.
04:27 I'm just-- yeah.
04:28 You're being honest.
04:28 Yeah, it's not magic.
04:29 It's not magic.
04:30 I'm going to fold the bill such that it looks like the card's
04:33 going through the bill.
04:36 But watch, watch, watch.
04:39 There.
04:40 There's where it happens.
04:40 There's where it happens.
04:41 It looks like the card's going through the bill, right?
04:43 Yeah.
04:44 Do me a favor.
04:45 Devin, just hold this end of the bill, Devin.
04:47 Hold this end of the bill.
04:49 Hold this end.
04:50 Stay there.
04:52 Wait, wait, wait, wait.
04:53 [LAUGHTER]
04:55 Wait, wait, wait.
04:56 Don't move, don't move, don't move.
04:57 Don't move.
04:58 Watch, watch.
05:00 Just hold here and here.
05:03 Don't move.
05:04 It actually looks like it's going through, right?
05:05 But watch, watch.
05:06 I'm going to pull it out slowly.
05:07 Now watch.
05:08 The card's fine, but the bill has obviously
05:10 got a hole in the middle.
05:11 I mean, that's the only way it can work, right?
05:12 Do me a favor.
05:13 Open up the bill and check it and see
05:14 if you can find the hole in the middle of the bill.
05:16 Open it up.
05:17 You find the hole?
05:19 Did you find the hole in the card?
05:20 Oh my god.
05:22 You see the hole in the card?
05:24 You see how it went through there?
05:27 At all?
05:28 Is it--
05:28 No.
05:29 Are you sure that's not magic?
05:31 It's kind of magic.
05:32 It's kind of.
05:33 It's kind of magic.
05:33 It's kind of magic.
05:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:39 Melt.
05:40 What do you think of when you hear the word melt?
05:42 I think of a Philly cheese steak.
05:44 But what you should be thinking of
05:46 is one of the coolest pieces of visual magic you can do.
05:49 Imagine you borrow a bill and you have a card chosen,
05:52 a playing card.
05:54 And then you push the playing card straight
05:56 through the middle of the bill.
05:59 But that's not it.
05:59 You then give them everything back.
06:01 You give them the bill.
06:02 You give them the card.
06:03 And they can examine it all day long.
06:04 There's nothing to find.
06:07 That's it.
06:09 That's melt. Instant resets, visual magic,
06:13 mind blown, or melted.
06:16 Check it out.
06:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:22 So this is the stuff you're going to need for melt.
06:25 You're going to need some double-sided sticky tape.
06:28 You're going to need a pack of bicycle playing cards
06:31 with a duplicate of one of the court cards.
06:33 I'm going to use the Queen of Clubs,
06:34 but you use any of the court cards you want.
06:35 But you need two.
06:36 You also need a pair of sharp scissors.
06:38 And you are going to be borrowing a bill.
06:40 So let's go ahead and make the gimmick for melt.
06:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:47 All right, so to construct the gimmick for melt,
06:50 you're going to take one of the Queen of Clubs, the court cards,
06:53 and you're going to cut it straight down the middle.
06:56 Following the back design, just cut it straight
06:58 down the middle of the card like this.
06:59 You only need one of the halves.
07:01 So the other half, you can throw away.
07:03 So you are going to take some double-sided sticky tape
07:06 and peel off a piece longer than the width of the playing card.
07:12 Now, you're going to attach the sticky tape to the playing card
07:15 along this white border.
07:16 So there is going to be some overhang of the tape.
07:19 You want to keep it along the white border here.
07:21 So essentially, I'm just going to attach the sticky tape
07:25 to the card along the white border.
07:28 It doesn't have to be exact.
07:29 Don't worry about it too much.
07:31 You take the other Queen or the other court card,
07:34 and you're going to marry up this.
07:35 So basically, it lines up with the edge of the playing card.
07:40 Now, it's really important that you get this precise.
07:43 You don't want a little overhang of the flap
07:45 on the side of the card.
07:47 Once you've got everything lined up best you can,
07:50 you then go ahead and squeeze at the top here,
07:53 lining this up and squeezing down the flap.
07:59 Now, you go ahead and take your scissors,
08:02 and you just cut off this excess tape around the playing card
08:07 like this.
08:09 And you just want to get it all off there.
08:11 And when you've got it all off, you
08:13 can go ahead and just feel the edges
08:14 and just trim off any excess bits
08:18 that you feel sticking off the edge of the card.
08:21 And essentially, that's it.
08:23 We now have the melt gimmick, which has a flap on there.
08:28 And because of the optical illusion,
08:30 you can't see the flap from this angle.
08:32 But if I turn it around, you can.
08:34 So we kind of use that through the routine to our advantage.
08:37 So that's it.
08:37 That's the gimmick for melt. You're set to go.
08:40 Let's go ahead and learn the routine.
08:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:44 All right, so here we are.
08:48 We've made the gimmick.
08:49 And I'll explain what the gimmick is a little better.
08:52 Essentially, it's just a card with a card flap on the top.
08:56 That's what the gimmick is.
08:57 This is what we're going to use for the effect,
09:00 so as long as you understand what that is.
09:02 Now, to set up the effect, before we actually even
09:05 borrow the bill or go to the spectators,
09:07 we're actually going to take four or five cards
09:09 on the bottom of the deck and flip them facing the deck.
09:14 Our regular card that matches our gimmick
09:18 is going to go on the face.
09:20 And then we're going to turn the deck face down.
09:22 So now the whole deck is face down,
09:23 except for those four or five cards face up.
09:26 And then we have the matching card to the gimmick on the face.
09:31 So it's like this.
09:32 And then the gimmick card, the flap card,
09:35 goes on top of the deck with the joined end
09:39 facing the spectator.
09:40 So the open end of the flap, the gimmick, is towards me.
09:44 So that's the setup.
09:45 This all goes inside the box, and you're ready to go.
09:47 Now, every time we do this, it's going to be instantly reset.
09:51 So once you've got this set up and it's in the box,
09:53 you're then ready to go every time
09:55 you want to perform the trick.
09:56 So now we're ready.
09:57 So we start by borrowing a bill.
10:00 Now, you do have to do a little work with the bill
10:02 when you borrow it.
10:03 But it's real quick.
10:04 It's real easy.
10:05 It just makes the actual handling of the routine easier.
10:08 It's not necessary, but it's going to make
10:10 your work a lot, a lot, a lot easier.
10:13 So I borrow the bill from the spectator.
10:16 And as I'm talking to them and just introducing myself,
10:18 I go ahead and I fold the bill in half.
10:22 But it wants to be stepped.
10:23 So it's about 1/3 of the bill is actually folded over.
10:28 And I go ahead and crease that.
10:30 And then, I could just leave it like this,
10:32 but I actually like to go ahead and fold it backwards as well
10:35 and crease it again.
10:36 So I've got a really malleable, softer crease
10:41 along the middle there.
10:42 So I've gone ahead and done that.
10:45 Now, I need the spectator to choose a card.
10:48 So essentially, I'm going to force this top card.
10:52 But ideally, I don't want to flash this bottom card.
10:57 Now, there's enough time misdirection
10:59 that you could actually show the face of the deck
11:02 and just overrun these four or five cards.
11:04 If you want, you could say, look, a deck of cards.
11:06 And I'm just holding back on that block
11:08 there, thumbing off the first seven or eight
11:10 so I don't show these.
11:12 A deck of cards, they're all different.
11:14 And I'm going to have you-- you could do that.
11:17 And then, you could say, could I borrow a bill?
11:19 So you could do that before.
11:20 So now, you borrow the bill.
11:21 You fold it, and you're ready to go.
11:22 So now, what we're going to do is
11:24 we're going to force this top card here.
11:26 And you can do this any way you want.
11:28 But my favorite is I'm going to run my thumb
11:32 down the edge of the cards.
11:33 And I'll show you the actual thing at speed first.
11:37 Then, I'll break it down.
11:38 So I run my thumb down the edge.
11:40 And then, wherever they say stop, I cut.
11:42 And I thumb off the card.
11:44 And then, put these back on top.
11:46 So I've basically introduced the gimmick.
11:48 And the way this works is I'm going to thumb down
11:50 the edge until they say stop.
11:53 Now, my hand comes into play.
11:55 The block of cards rolls over against these fingers here,
12:01 contacts my right hand.
12:03 And then, my fingers of the left hand
12:05 continue to flip that over as I cross hands.
12:10 And it's this crossing hands that throws them off
12:14 that this came off the top.
12:15 And it's still in the same position.
12:16 So I'll do that again, nice and slow.
12:18 So I run my thumb down, roll that block over
12:22 from where they say stop, and carry on pushing
12:25 with the fingers.
12:26 And as it carries on, I cross the hands under.
12:29 And then, thumb off the top card.
12:31 So it looks like this at speed.
12:33 They say stop.
12:35 And we thumb off the top card.
12:37 Now, to bring this back together,
12:38 I cross the hands back together and just flip these back
12:41 on top.
12:42 So it's a repeat of what just happened.
12:44 So one last time.
12:46 Stop.
12:48 Thumb off the card.
12:49 And come back.
12:51 All right, so we've introduced the gimmick, which is here.
12:54 And we've got the bill.
12:56 Now, essentially, you pick up the bill.
12:59 And you've already put a crease in the bill.
13:01 So the 1/3 here has to be nearest to the spectator,
13:06 2/3 nearest to me.
13:08 Now, I'm going to come across from the opposite side
13:13 to hold the bill and reach over and grab the card.
13:16 Now, as I grab the card, this edge is the sticky tape edge.
13:21 So this is the thick edge facing the spectator.
13:24 I'm going to pick it up from this edge
13:26 and revolve it around so that now the flap is
13:31 facing the spectator, the open end of the flap.
13:34 Now, as I come around, my fingers here-- now,
13:38 you don't have to do this.
13:39 But essentially, the bill is gripped
13:41 between my first and second fingers.
13:44 And then I move my thumb across and kind of grip over here
13:47 between the thumb and third finger.
13:50 The reason I'm doing this is I want
13:51 to pull the bill kind of taut, kind of tight,
13:55 because I'm going to place what it appears that I place
13:57 the card on top of the bill.
13:59 It just appears that I do that.
14:00 But essentially, what happens is the card, the flap,
14:05 travels under the bill like this.
14:09 So it looks like I'm putting the card on top of the bill.
14:12 But I'm actually placing the flap under the bill.
14:16 So if you hold the bill like this,
14:17 it allows it to be tighter, allows
14:19 that to happen a lot easier.
14:22 Now, once you're in this position,
14:24 I turn everything so it's straight onto the spectator.
14:27 And I'm going to explain that I'm
14:29 going to create an optical illusion.
14:31 When you see the performance, you'll
14:33 see that I explain I'm going to create an optical illusion
14:35 to make it look like the card is going
14:37 through the middle of the bill.
14:39 So the first stage of this is I fold this flap up and under,
14:44 which covers the edge of the flap.
14:48 So now, this is where we're going for
14:49 at the end of the routine.
14:51 Then I fold around the left side of the bill
14:54 and the right side of the bill.
14:58 And then I turn this over and say, if you look closely,
15:01 it looks like the card is passing straight
15:03 through the bill.
15:04 And as I say this, I push with my hand.
15:06 And then I open the bill.
15:09 And now we're in this position.
15:11 So it looks, for all the world, like the card
15:13 is going through the bill.
15:14 Now, to show you the next part, I'm
15:16 going to get some helping hands here.
15:18 And I have the spectator hold the corners of the bill
15:22 like this so I can let go.
15:24 Now, this is a really sweet moment,
15:25 because now the spectator is looking at this card traveling
15:28 through the bill.
15:29 And I've let go.
15:30 Now, the only way that that card could be physically hanging
15:33 there is if it was going through the bill.
15:35 That's the only way it could stay there.
15:37 So it's a great moment.
15:38 So now I reach down and I move the card.
15:41 And I say, it looks, for all the world,
15:43 like that card is going through the bill.
15:45 Now, if we turn this ever so slightly,
15:46 we turn this this way, you can see
15:48 that what we're actually seeing from underneath is this.
15:51 But because of the flap being inside the bill,
15:54 it looks like the card's through there.
15:56 Now, you don't want to pull-- as you're moving this,
15:59 you want to just move it backwards and forwards
16:00 a little bit.
16:01 You don't want to pull it too far out,
16:03 or they're going to see this, which is going to, obviously,
16:05 ruin the effect.
16:06 So you move this backwards and forwards a little bit.
16:10 And then I take this back, and I refold the bill
16:17 back around the card, and I turn it over.
16:20 Now, at this point, I have them grip the edges of the bill
16:23 here and here, and I pick up the deck.
16:27 Now, what's going to happen is I'm now
16:28 going to pull the card out of the bill.
16:30 Because this is folded around the card,
16:32 it still kind of feels like it's actually
16:34 coming-- it's penetrating through the bill a little bit.
16:36 Now, I've got the deck of cards here,
16:39 and I've got five or six cards face-up on the bottom
16:41 with the Queen of Clubs on the bottom of that.
16:43 Now, we're going to pull this out, place it on the deck,
16:47 and then, as they're looking at the bill
16:49 to see if there's a hole, we're going to turn the deck over
16:52 to switch out the gimmick card for this card.
16:56 Now, don't worry about this, because there's
16:58 a lot of misdirection going on here.
16:59 So if I've got a big group of people,
17:01 I'm pulling all focus back to the bill.
17:03 So I'm saying, examine the bill.
17:04 There must be a hole in it.
17:05 Check it.
17:06 Now, they've got to open the bill twice and again
17:08 to actually get to the middle.
17:10 So there's a lot of time misdirection there,
17:11 which allows me to simply-- don't move before they start
17:14 opening the bill, but the second they start opening the bill up,
17:17 that allows me to turn the deck and put it down.
17:20 So that now, when this is over and they've checked it out,
17:23 now I can pick up the card and give this to them.
17:25 And these four or five cards are going
17:27 to allow me, just in case there's
17:29 any kind of displacement of cards here,
17:30 it still looks like the deck's face-down.
17:33 So here's what's going to happen.
17:35 So they're holding like this.
17:37 I'm going to remove the card from the bill.
17:40 And as soon as it's out, I'm going to turn the card over
17:43 and place it on top of the deck.
17:45 Now, from your angle, this flap is really visible.
17:50 But from the spectator's angle, especially
17:52 if I put a bit of pressure on here,
17:53 from the spectator's angle, you can't see that flap.
17:57 It's a really weird--
17:59 kind of really is an optical illusion.
18:01 Like, you can't see it from this angle.
18:03 It just disappears.
18:05 It's really cool, because what happens is I pull this out,
18:08 I turn it over, put it on the deck,
18:09 and apply a little pressure with my thumb.
18:12 So now, if they look here for anything,
18:15 there's nothing to see right away.
18:17 So now the heat's off here.
18:19 So the second the heat's off here, it shifts back there.
18:23 That's the important part.
18:24 So the heat's off.
18:25 So now, I don't make a moment of it.
18:28 I just turn it over, leave it there.
18:29 I hold for a second, so I see they register this.
18:32 And then I say, there must be a hole in the bill.
18:35 Go ahead, open up the bill.
18:37 Now, all their attention-- because this is kind
18:39 of a folded up origami mess.
18:40 So all their attention has to shift to this.
18:43 They have no choice.
18:44 So I say-- and they've already accepted
18:46 the fact that this is fine.
18:47 So now I say, go ahead and open up the bill.
18:48 Now, as soon as they start opening the bill,
18:50 the second, I just casually turn over and put the deck down.
18:53 So they open up the bill.
18:55 I say, do you see any holes?
18:57 As I'm saying that, I'm reaching for the card.
18:59 I say, check the card.
19:00 Make sure that's fine.
19:02 And that's the effect.
19:03 It's over.
19:04 So now, they can take the--
19:06 I give them the bill back.
19:07 I place this on top of the deck.
19:12 And we'll reset all but one thing.
19:15 As I turn-- so I've finished here.
19:17 I've finished with this group.
19:18 I've said my goodbyes.
19:19 As I turn, I'm going to put these back in the box.
19:22 I've got to turn the deck over and flip that card back.
19:25 And we're finished.
19:26 So you can do that nice and easy.
19:28 I mean, I can turn here.
19:29 I can walk away.
19:30 I just got to flip the deck and flip that card over
19:32 on the back of the box, and you're set.
19:35 So that's it.
19:36 That's Melt. That's how it works.
19:39 It's nice and easy.
19:39 You're going to have a lot of fun with it.
19:41 And you're going to fry some people.
19:43 So thanks.
19:43 So thanks, Dalton.
19:44 Good guy.
19:44 What a guy.
19:45 What a guy.
19:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
19:51 All right, so we're here in studio with Dalton.
19:53 We're going to do Melt.
19:54 I need to borrow a bill.
19:55 Ta-da!
19:56 As if by magic.
19:58 OK, so the idea is I'm going to create an optical illusion.
20:01 The optical illusion is that we're
20:03 going to actually push a card straight
20:04 through the middle of the bill.
20:06 I just want you to--
20:07 I'll run my thumb down the edge.
20:08 Just go ahead and say stop.
20:09 Stop.
20:10 Perfect, sir.
20:11 We're going to use that card.
20:12 It doesn't matter what the card is, just more that it's a card.
20:15 So here's the idea.
20:16 Here's the idea.
20:17 We're actually going to create the illusion
20:18 that the card is passing straight
20:20 through the middle of the bill.
20:21 Watch.
20:22 A little squeeze, and it looks like the card is actually
20:25 passing straight through the middle of the bill, yeah?
20:27 If I go ahead and hold this end right here and hold this end,
20:30 and it really does look like it's through there.
20:33 But it only lasts for a second.
20:35 If we just fold this up, I want you
20:37 to hold on to the edges of the bill right here.
20:40 And you'll actually see it melt through the bill.
20:42 I want you to go ahead and open up the bill.
20:44 Make sure there's no holes or anything.
20:46 You can examine the card as well.
20:48 And that's Melt.
20:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
20:55 So the history of Melt. Originally, this
20:58 was inspired by a great magician called Al Cohen, who
21:01 had an effect on the market called Blade Runner.
21:04 I saw Blade Runner, oh my gosh, maybe 25, 27 years ago
21:10 at a little magic shop in England.
21:12 And I'm not going to describe how that worked.
21:14 But needless to say that Melt is a different gimmick,
21:17 a different method, and a different routine.
21:20 But its origins are similar to Blade Runner.
21:24 So I want to make sure I credit Al Cohen for that.
21:28 Melt also-- I put a product on the market about 10 years ago
21:32 called Card Through Bill, which was actually
21:34 one of the first products I ever released.
21:35 And Card Through Bill is essentially Melt.
21:38 But Melt is what has happened to Card Through Bill
21:42 after it's gone through this long process of being
21:44 performed all the time in my close-up repertoire.
21:47 So I love to do this.
21:48 And it's a really visual effect.
21:51 And it's a great bit.
21:53 And spectators love it.
21:54 So that's essentially the history
21:56 and what's going on behind the thinking of Melt.
21:58 And yeah, so really, sincerely, enjoy it and use it
22:02 and have a great time with it.
22:04 It's a great little bit of magic.
22:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
22:08,