The Windows Project
by Michelangelo

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Note: the time limit for the free projectbook offer given below has expired. Thanks to everyone who participated! --M

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Hi.

It’s good to be back.

So, here we are. Over the course of the last year or so, I’ve been working on a number of projects designed to help me keep a promise. The promise of releasing illusion plans through Visions. What an interesting ride it has been. I have heard illusionists on more than one occasion introduce a piece by saying “the illusion I’m about to show you has taken years to develop.” While I never quite wanted to scoff at that pronouncement outright, having put years into a project does offer one a perspective and appreciation of such a circumstance happening to you personally. Projects such as these require research and experimentation and prototyping and — both regrettably and thankfully — chucking work onto the pyre of “things I wish I’d known before.” It’s fine, however, as long as the end result is worth the wait.

I think these results were.

Compact. Practical. Two-Person. Adaptable. Affordable. Performers ask a lot from an assemblage of wood and glass and paint. Oh, and if it will make the performer rich and famous without a lot of effort that would be good too. Well, I can’t guarantee the last part — illusionists have to work at their craft too and a prop isn’t going to compensate for a lack of preparation or personality or presentation.

About the prop. From time to time, illusions and boxes are declared out of fashion if not thoroughly dead. Still, I can’t envision the day when a full evening illusion program is presented to a live audience in a theater without props or platforms. So — the job at hand is to create a new kind of prop. One that looks like something besides a “magician’s box.” Solutions that have been used to great effect: make it look like furniture; make it look like an innocent object; make it look familiar; make it look like art.

The illusion is called “Windows” because it uses panes of glass as a focal motif. (And not because it crashes twice a day.) It looks interesting and familiar. It gives the audience the feeling that everything can be seen and so it opens the structure. And, hopefully, its openness adds to the deceptiveness as well. There are two or three commonly performed illusions that are similar. The nearest comparison would be the “Blammo” illusion, except with “Windows,” you are able to see all the way into the space even with the upstage curtain in motion. The additional elements in “Windows” add “beats” to the plot and work together to not only make the design more deceptive but to justify the existence of each part. Each part has a job to do that is clear to the audience while it contributes to the underlying mystery as well. As the illusion is performed, elements are taken away and at the climactic moment you are left with an open structure, empty but for the beautiful girl.

A video of “Windows” in performance is available through our website at www.illusionist.net.

Here is the deal. For the first 24 hours or so after the posting of this edition of Visions, anyone who would like a copy of the plans is welcome to them. No charge. A gift for you with thanks for sticking with me and with Visions Online. All I ask is for you to send an e-mail requesting the plans according to the instructions given below. Your information will not be shared with anyone else and if you prefer not to receive any more mailings your request will be honored. The details are given below. Thanks, as always, for reading.

The “Windows” Illusion Projectbook
The most comprehensive and thoroughly documented exploration of an illusion design ever developed, from concept to finished work, this Electronic Projectbook delivered in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) Format via e-mail includes:

To Request a Copy of This Projectbook:
Send an e-mail to michelangelo@illusionist.net with the following information:

In the subject line, please enter: “Free Windows Illusion Projectbook Request”

In the body of the message, please give your (real) name, mailing address and phone number.

Also include in the body of the message (you can copy and paste) the following text:

“I agree that I will only build (or have built for me) one copy of this, the “Windows” illusion. I will not sell, duplicate, lend, redistribute, expose, or modify this projectbook nor divulge or display its contents except as necessary for the construction, rehearsal and performance of the illusion. If the illusion is sold, traded or given away at any time, the projectbook with its accompanying serial number will be included with the illusion and I will notify Michelangelo Magic Works of the transaction. I understand that Michelangelo Magic Works is not responsible for injury or other damages resulting from the construction, rehearsal or performance of this illusion. I further understand that the method and design of the illusion and any methods or designs derived therefrom remain the intellectual property of Michelangelo Magic Works, Inc.”

Submissions without a valid name and address, or incomplete submissions, will not be honored. I am not responsible for incorrect or invalid e-mail address submissions.

The Windows Projectbook will be delivered via e-mail on or before December 31, 2006. It will subsequently be available for purchase after January 1, 2007 and Visions members will be eligible for a 25% discount off the current retail price through June 30, 2007.

Michelangelo