“Gravity Clips” is a visual mental effect large enough for stage performance.
A spectator freely chooses one out of 8 postcards depicting popular countries or cities in the world that a tourist will want to visit. This is then lost back into the packet of the 7 other counties and cities.
Another spectator (or the same one) is asked on stage to hold one end of a cord that has 8 paper bulldog clips attached to it at equal intervals.
The performer clips each postcard on the clips. He himself holds on to the other end of the cord. This makes a nice display of 2 persons on stage, each holding onto one end of a long cord and with 8 postcards attached along the cord by bulldog clips.
The performer reads the mind of the spectator and names the iconic landmark of the selected country or city. The spectator is told to concentrate on her selected postcard.
Magically, all the other 7 postcards drop to the floor except her selected postcard which remains clipped onto the cord held by both the spectator and the performer.
A mentalism effect that is visual and occupies a fair amount of space on the stage.
You receive the cord and the 8 bulldog clips already fixed in place on the cord. They come in a nice cardboard box. The base of the box has 8 slots for the bulldog clips and 2 additional slots for the 2 small metal rings, one at each end of the cord. Transporting the props in this way will prevent the clips and the cord from being entangled.
You are also given a link to a 26 minutes video tutorial conducted by Greg Van Holsberg himself. You also get a link to download a pdf that contains the 8 postcards featuring 8 different popuar countries or cities in the world that a tourist would visit. These pictures are for you to print on the printer and make up the 8 postccards. The pictures are graphically very beautiful.
The cord is a thin, but strong black cord. It measures about 5 feet and 9 inches. The 8 bulldog clips are already fixed in place on the cord. The clips are gimmicked such that when the ends of the cord are pulled, 7 of the 8 clips will readily open and the postcard that are clipped on them will fall to the floor.
This idea was a adaptation of the original idea by Stewart James. The original idea was for the selected playing card to fall to the floor while all the other playing cards remain clipped onto the cord. You can adapt the “Gravity Clips” to perform this way. Purchase 7 of the same bulldog clips from the stationery store and replaced 7 of the 8 gimmicked clips on the cord. Now, the selected card will be the only one that falls to the floor. In my opinion, all the 7 non-selected cards falling onto the floor may give a more visual impact to the audience.
In the video, Greg explains that “Gravity Clips” can be used not only for postcards but for movie posters as well. You can also do a “living and dead” test where the name of the only living person is the one that remains clipped on the cord. The video contains 3 live performances with Greg and his friends. There is one where different colour silks are clipped onto the cord. The selected silk remains onto the cord while the other silks flutter down to the floor. This makes for a very nice and visual effect.
The selection of the object is not forced. Greg teaches you how to track this selection so that you can get it to be clipped onto the only clip that does not open readily.
You can involve one spectator or several spectators to be on stage. The cord stretches for some distance across the stage and is visual. The magical release of the non-selected items onto the floor adds to the visual impact. By customising the cards to be used, you can present “Gravity Clips” according to the theme of your performance. The props pack small but plays really big. (Rated 5/5 stars)
