Film Shots

This is the shot of our villain Eddy - we have a red backdrop behind him which connotes danger and evilness, and to reinforce his dominance a man is lighting his cigarette but only his hands are in the shot whilst Eddy takes up almost the entire shot.

This shot is of our main protagonist - Shaun, exiting the building with Eddy's two thugs close behind him - the symmetry in the shot is something we are pleased with and in Guy Ritchie style Shaun is looking at the camera oblivious to the thugs that are about to capture him

This shot shows the busyness of the poker table and could be used as a establishing shot showing the characters, poker scene, drink and general mise-en-scene.

This summarises our protaganist's character as the shot of Shaun shows his uneasiness in the situation as he timidly sips on his drink whilst the thug in the foreground looks menacingly ahead - focused on the game.

Magazine Film Review and Poster - Ancillary Tasks

Now we have some footage we were able to add in some stills from our film, additionally we shortened the names 'FilmMonthly' and 'Samuel Tyler' to 'FM' and 'ST' after the first two names. Also, we changed the colour of the font colour in the top left so the audience can more easily differentiate between the text and we started the article with capitals to clarify the start. As before we followed the conventions of other film magazines such as 'Empire'. We saved the publisher file as a jpeg so it can be clicked to enlarge as a full review on the blog. As the film received 4 stars once we have finished our film we will add some critical analysis into the review to justify why it wasn't perfect. Therefore our poster is complete and the magazine review near completion with criticism the only thing to include. (our poster is below).

Re-shoot Shooting Script

After importing the initial footage we need add some shots in and re-shoot others due to sound and continuity. Obviously we will need to consider continuity and we intend to re-shoot the main poker game again using the following shots;

Panning shot right to left of players

Wide shot of dealer handing out cards

Mid shot of every player looking at their cards then putting the blind in

Close up of player's cards

Reaction shot of cards (smirk, etc)

Close up of flop

Mid shot of every player checking

Close up of Turn

Remind audience of every ones cards in relation to the flop

Mid shot of Shaun drinking to connote nerves

Over the shoulder shot of Eddy putting chips all in

Mid shot of Eddy going all in

Close up of Eddy pushing chips in (repeat same shots for every player)

Wide shot of all players going all in - one after another

Extreme close up of every players eyes alternatively

Close up of River (last card on flop)

Reaction Shot Eddy happy - 'read em and weep'

Mid shot of Eddy revealing cards

Reaction shot of Thug annoyed

Mid shot of thug throwing cards on table

Reaction shot of Shaun - initially looks worried

Mid shot of Shaun revealing he is winner

Close up of Shaun smiling

Wide shot of dealer giving Shaun chips

Over the shoulder shot of Shaun - Eddy says 'just take your shit and go'

Mid shot of Eddy saying the above

Shot of 5 of the same cards on table

Reaction shot Eddy looks surprised then angry

Over the Shoulder shot Eddy picks up cards

Mid Shot Eddy smacks the table 'that son of a bitch cheated!'

Extra Mid Shot of Shaun, Eddy and Thug - checking

Shot of Shaun clicking his fingers

How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media influence your production work?

We researched similar film genres to see who was the distributor, the gambling film '21' used Columbia Pictures to distribute their film whilst '13 Tzameti' was distributed by Palm Pictures, a much smaller company who focus on innovative film. Our film isn't similar to many Hollywood blockbusters so would most likely use a smaller production company for distribution. Our film is quite artistic with lighting effects, stop-time shots and the breach of the fourth wall so it is not conventional, therefore a smaller innovative distributor or independent company would be appropriate.

However the film 'RocknRolla' shares many similarities with our film in terms of themes and cinematography thus the production company 'Dark Castle Entertainment' an up and coming company only established in 1999 that is most notable for the horror genre but is broadening its view. An aspiring company like this that is producing stylistic films such as RocknRolla would suit our film well. In addition the distributor of Warner Bro. would be ideal as it reaches a wide demographic maximising the chance for profit.

How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?

During the  production of our film, we encouraged feedback from audiences, in order to create a better film that is more suited to our demographic. We were therefore able to get an objective response from individuals which gave us a sound indication on the where we could improve on making a gambling film.

When we were creating our poster we asked a variety of different people their opinions which we took in board, we received mixed feedback some citing it was too ambiguous whilst others enjoyed the enigma. From this, a clear gender divide emerged with the majority of negative feedback coming from females who 'didn't think it was there type of flm' whilst positive feedback from males was more common. Thus seeking audience feedback proved a valuable tool to enhance our product; as we could cater the product to our audience. When we established our demographic we pursued the gangster 'Guy Ritchie' style even more using split screens and funky bass music. 

The potential audience originally had doubts about our first idea for a film, which was a football music video after being inspired by the previous World Cup tournament in South Africa. They believed that the concept would be 'hard to recreate' and this led us to changing our idea to the current gambling film to which we received positive criticism. The comments made from focus grouping are always insightful and valuable to the production of our film.

Indeed throughout the planning stage we sought audience feedback, through social networking sites such as 'Facebook' where you can post a video link and ask for response. This helped us narrow our demographic and improve our film. For example one person commented that their should be a definitive closure at the end to which we added the still of Sean lying dead on the poker table. In addition, audience research challenged our own ideas - and if we could explain a scene or idea to a viewer it made us re-think whether it was used correctly or necessary.

Additionally, we believe that the demographic for this film will largely be men aged between 20-50 who will be able to understand the technicalities of poker and complexities of the IVF treatment whilst also enjoying the gangster undertone - seen in films such as 'Scarface' that had a similar audience. 'Scarface' had an 18 rating and thus attracted an adult demographic, and with its mature themes and violence it would more likely appeal to the male gender.

How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?

As we are producing a poker film it doesn't directly fall into one genre but mimics the conventions of various other genres such as gangster, gambling and drama. We were able to find snippets in movies such as 'Casino Royale', 'Rounders', '13 Tzameti' and '21' where we could research the genre and recreate this in our own film.

From our research we discovered that the shots they use in the high tension gambling moments were often a sequence extreme close-ups of the eyes, evident in the Russian roulette scene in '13 Tzameti'. By understanding the conventions in the films of a similar genre we were able to deliberately break them and subvert them for effect, such as the breach of the fourth wall - something we took inspiration from the Guy Ritchie films.

 

We found that gangster films often have a powerful villain who uses suited henchman to impose his will, and we used this in our film, we also created the typical smokey atmosphere. However our film also falls into the genre of a drama, and in true 'Lost' style we hope to introduce flashbacks mid-poker game. Therefore by reseaching the genre we were able to follow the conventions shown as well as delieberately subvert them for effect, however further research into poker games on 'Sky' and 'Channel 4' to understand the logistics and meta language of poker as well as the characterisms of the characters when bluffing or raising etc.