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 Combining interactive technology such as EDIROL's PR-80 with illusion in the twenty-first century, Virtual Magician Marco Tempest captivates audiences exposing the same raw awe as his predecessors.
The allure of the magician has varied over time but the wonderment they instill has never changed. Acting as a channeling force in the early third century AD, Egyptian magicians kept society in harmony with the gods. With life threatening trickery performed in the early nineteenth century, Houdini kept spectators on the edge of their seat. Combining interactive technology with illusion in the twenty-first century, Virtual Magician Marco Tempest captivates audiences exposing the same raw awe as his predecessors.
 In addition to his TV show in Europe called the "Virtual Magician" which is currently being seen in 52 countries and on its second season, Tempest performs illusions around the globe for high-brow events such as international trade shows, corporate events and product kick-off's. It was in fact these high-tech product launchings in the mid-90's that brought about Tempest's infusion of technology into his magic shows. With clients such as Sony and Silicon Graphics Tempest employed the engineering he was hired to promote; what emerged was choreographed interactive magic extravaganzas.
Back then with projections on two screens running at the same time, Tempest used a Datatone system that controlled his external playback devices; multiple pieces of gear had to be manually activated making these shows memorably difficult. From there he used a combination of linear video equipment such as Betacam SP's, hard disk recorder/players such as Tektronic Profile, Doremi V1D and custom developed control software.
Although Tempest is U.S. based, he found out about EDIROL presenters while touring in Japan. Working for a Pachinko (combo of slot machine and pin ball) company who had their own setup for rapid-fire video clips, Tempest was impressed by the one piece of gear that was responsible for the video clips and that evening he researched the EDIROL DV-7PR.
Now EDIROL's latest presenter the PR-80 is within the Virtual Magician's magic arsenal.Tempest details the PR-80's role in his magic shows: "The PR-80 is used for non-linear video playback where I perform a trick called "Memento" where spectators are handing me random personal objects to perform magic with. As the objects are explored by me, the on-stage video backgrounds start revealing video sequences which are relevant to these seemingly random selected objects. This video playback and seamless blending of video is possible through the huge storage and dual channel playback capabilities of the PR-80." When pressed for more detail, Tempest smiled claiming the rest to be PR-80 magic!
Because of the PR-80's built-in editor Tempest can make changes minutes before airing; he elaborates: "What amazed me was that we had some changes that needed to happen such as a color issue and a shortening of the sequence and the technician was able to immediately make it happen with the built-in editor on the PR-80. Previously the technician would have needed to take the video back to a non-linear editor, make the change then save it again on a disk recorder or as a MPEG. Re-editing and adjustment is a new thing!" Another instance where Tempest was glad he had the PR-80 was at MacExpo in Cologne Germany where he had been given a low resolution version of the client's logo from the promoter and moments before going on stage, a higher res graphic was brought in; using the PR-80 the technician was able to import, apply motion using a pan/zoom effect and seamlessly drop it in to the video.
When working trade shows, Tempest relies on the PR-80's built-in scheduler enabling the "hands-off" playback of video clips at periodic times of day. Of equal importance, the PR-80 sits where a cluster of gear used to be that not only took up more real estate but needed to be manually triggered. And Tempest LOVES the presenter's aesthetically pleasing and uncluttered interface - the color scheme is comfortable on the eyes and it has no goofy icons!
 The learning curve on the PR-80 is slight so when additional staff has to operate the presenter, they are schooled on-site how to use it. For smaller events, Tempest may only have one technical director/manager who is doing everything and often Tempest's larger road crew of twelve is all that's needed. More typically his crew is folded into the event's staff such as at the Louisiana Super Dome where Tempest had 150 crew members working on his show alone! We asked him how on-site directors feel about the PR-80 and he responded with:"Local technical directors at various large scale corporate events are usually extremely surprised to learn about the low price point of such a fantastic machine."
The PR-80 doesn't accompany Tempest at all his shows as for gigs that demand HD presentations, Tempest uses HD Cam which bounces down to HDV and is then viewed on linear Sony HDV playback systems. For all other SD shows, Tempest carts along his PR-80. Even though the Doremi V1D that Tempest used in the past had SDI and RGB outputs which the PR-80 doesn't have, the difference in the quality isn't significant enough on the screen to warrant reverting to their old setup which was far more cumbersome and needed additional operational steps to implement. The PR-80 streamlines the Virtual Magician's bevy of gear.
 Tempest has an abundance of clients such as Apple Computer as he emotionalizes a product beckoning a personal and very human connection to that product. Tempest has mastered the symbiosis between magic and technology by altering our reality, transporting us back into the land of ancient wonderment.
"Remember where you've been. It's next to impossible to stay where you are". This motto explains Tempest's relationship with technology and how its evolution continues to expand his productions. In addition to his TV show and full schedule of event appearances, Tempest has an upcoming worldwide theatre tour called "Don't Blink". Check out Tempest's upcoming itinerary - www.marcotempest.com.
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