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

Considering the fact that our film is based mainly on a poker game, it is hard to define a specific genre, however, we hope to emulate the conventions of several different genres, most notably Gangster and Genre. We studied similar movies to ours, such as 'Casino Royale' and '21' to research how these portrayed genre and to provide us with inspiration.



Whilst researching similar poker films (especially the film 13 Tzameti), we noticed that to create the intensity of the game, extreme close-ups of the player's eyes were frequently used combined with fast cuts between the players and their cards. We intend to attempt 'breaking' the fourth-wall, a technique popularised by such Directors as Quentin Tarantino, and by understanding the conventions of the gambling genre, we will be enabled to sufficiently break them, creating a unique idea.

During our research into the 'Gangster' genre, we found that they predominantly include an archetypal 'villian' with whom the audience can identify the contrasts between the protagonist and antagonist. Similarly, the dingy and foreboding atmosphere was something that we too wanted to recreate with our set. To create empathy with our main character, we want to take elements from the 'Drama' genre. For example, we decided to include information of the character's motives, so included his background, creating a situation to evoke sympathy. We also researched into live poker games, mainly on 'Sky Sports' to get an idea of what shots they use to create a coherent game.

Filming Day 1

During the course of our first day's filming, we encountered several problems involving our set, as the small room in which we filmed constricted our ability to film several shots, notably a 360 degree shot of the poker table. However, we were able to film the majority of our shots to a good standard, and the shoot was overall fairly successful. We had to keep in mind not to break the 180% rule, maintain the shot to shot continuity and make sure that the shots were all to a suitable standard.

We found the lighting of the room to be and issue during the shoot, as it was a bright day. This meant that the light behind the curtains affected the quality of the shots, however we managed to counter this by attatching a lamp behind the camera to make the picture clearer. 

Ancillary Task - Film Review

                    

This is our Magazine film review in the later stages of completion. We intend to find several appropriate screenshots after our film is completed and insert them where the poster is currently placed. Our main influences during creation were prestigious film magazines such as 'Empire' and 'Total Film', which we wanted to emulate with a 'mock' interview and similar font, headings and rating system.

Ancillary Task - Poster drafts

This is the final draft of our poster that we have decided on, as we thought that the use of creative darkness is much more effective with the sole poker table instead of the combination of that and the lamp.

Our original idea was to have the lamp shining light down onto the poker table, however we felt that if the table is on its own, then the connotations of loneliness is more stark, and fits better with our film choice.

We also experimented with having a horizontal poster, however since it would hypothetically have to fit inside a magazine/outside advertising it was not a practical idea. The only place this size would be relevant would be a billboard (however the film will most likely not reach that type of publicity)

Ancillary Task - Commentary

We created this commentary to discuss the both the poster and our magazine review. Narration from 3 of our group members was place over the top of examples of our ancillary tasks to match the narration.  We filmed ourselves commenting on the pieces then imported the video to Adobe Premier Pro where we unlinked the audio and video, deleted the video line and embedded the imported pictures into the sequence.

Storyboard Animatic

Once we had created a shooting script we decided to create a storyboard so that we can visually represent the shots we aim to recreate in our film. We then took photos of each individual storyboard picture. Using Adobe Premier Pro we arranged the photos into an animatic. We then downloaded non-copyrighted music from Freesound.com, choosing an harmonica and electric guitar style blues poece feeling that it represented a stereotypical image of the gambling genre.

Film Name - 'Face Down'

During the course of our planning stages we have taken inspiration from various poker themed films and the rules of the game itself to create a suitable and interesting title film. After extensive thought we have decided on 'Face Down', as it connotes multiple meanings, firstly the down on  your luck depressed emotion, and the more sinister connotation of death.