DVD Review: Xtreme Beginnerz

There’s an amazing array of supplemental and background information that covers: what cards to use; equipment; recovering from drops; picking-up dropped cards; taking care of the hands; basics on Finger Fitness from Greg Irwin; getting bookings; jewelry; using sound systems and more. It’s a wealth of useful information.

The final section profiles a young man who is learning the basics of XCM and allows the producers to document the process. The student, “Q,” demonstrates his successes and troubles and offers useful advice on how he solved problems. He makes admirable progress in his four weeks of private lessons with the pros.

The DVD offers lots of innovation. Many segments feature close-ups of disembodied hands, courtesy of chroma-key/greenscreen technology, which allow you to get as close as possible to the action of the cards. While the techno music plays, the screen provides captions that serve as instructions. The approach works splendidly and in some ways, it’s almost like watching a music video.

The video also offers various angles for many moves and repeats the instruction so they’re easier to follow, which keeps “rewinding” to a minimum. There are some conventional talking head segments as well.

The menuing system is intuitive and offers good navigation, but some moves are combined with others in some segments. As a result, because there is so much material, it can be difficult to locate the move that you want to review because it’s the second or third one in a particular sequence.

In Xtreme Beginnerz, Ellusionist has created an excellent, comprehensive and effective teaching tool. Those who want to add some flair to their card routines, and those who are beginning their roads to XCM should definitely check this one out. I know that I learned from this DVD set and only wish that it had been around when I was starting out and learning to manipulate cards.

-Wayne N. Kawamoto