Film Opening - Blog #11 - Chaos Unfolds

    With a mere 2 days of Florida action left, my main goal is to get some fire new clothes ready before the trip. I needed new clothes away, and American Eagle was a goldmine of new styles that were a compatible fit for my body. I can't say that often about many stores, and I was also able to grab some nice new camo-joggers. The blissful saga of my high school life shifts to a new era of modern styling, and you bet I love it!

    Currently, we are planning these things into our basic concepts and then continue from there.

• Center our camera work in an arc fashion around the poker table.
• Create a name of the "tournament" fraudulent scheme Nathan will devise. 
• Opening will conclude a montage of others waiting outside the ring to join or participate in the game, maybe a list of competitors.
• Invitation style hustle, similar to Fight Club.
• Have the main team, including Nathan, consist of his main friend Rebeca and on other.
• "World Poker Tournament"
• "Beverly Hills S2E4" Poker Scene
• Graphic match of poker chip from school montage scene into the poker scandal with Nathan running it all.
• Have main order to scenes consist of the school first and then the poker scene as the conclusion.
• Write in some conflicting or traumatic history behind the main character of Nathan. 

    Basic outline for ending half of short. 

• Teen exits house, heads to friends saying goodbye to his mother. 
• He'll be doing "homework"
• Nighttime, walks to house with a backpack and hoodie.
• Slips into garage through backdoor
• Enters active poker game, and the challenge is on.

Film Opening - Blog #10 - Big week, and soon...

 

    Finally, I get my weekend, and frankly, after one crazy week of Pre Calculus and my first SAT, I'm surely burned out. Frankly, I over prepared myself for that one. Twelve of my Sunday hours prior to it had been 260-ish math problems, and I over-estimated their expectations for me. Whoops. Aftershock, my high school's weekly airing television show is one of my favorite classes Cypress Bay can offer. Tuesday is the day I'm flying out to DC. Flying in a giant metal tube with wings than Man 100 years ago would've died for, all for $200. The frightening reality is this is the test of my skills in cinema and TV production. STN (Student Television Network) competitions are the big thing across the States for connections and getting out there in media for high schoolers. Despite missing so much class, I would never pass it up without a fight. Every year it proves to be an incredible adventure and peek into the lifestyles of free American individualist adults. "Go have fun, go crazy!" they say, and we do. Its some of the best content we make all year.

Group as a whole at Boeing, Nashville, TN

Left: Aracelis Partida , Right:Me, with some smoothie thing.

    I definitely will be continuing the blogs as I leave my team behind in lil' ol Florida winning trophies with my team for our school. The feedback I (hopefully) will receive back as our script and concepts continue to evolve without my home presence are vital for my writing. I'm going to depend on them for my work. I can't wait to see how the script will piece itself together. You can't have everything, but compromises are always possible! Daytime: filming and editing. Nightime: Clacking away at the keyboard and overworking, by that point, a fried noggin. Goodnight to all of you chaps, maybe tomorrow I can get an update on what the wakening blossom of our outline is. If I do, expect it sometime soon! Cheers.

Film Opening - Blog #9 - Criticism

    The day has come for the revision of our concepts within the plot for our characters Nathan Hill and his best friend Rebecca Martin. Our trio takes an AICE Media Studies AS level class at Cypress Bay High school: the opportunity to hear supportive and productive feedback into the development of our short opening was critical to our processing. It helped us complete the basic blocking behind the design in what each of our scenes would be and develop it. Our particular priority was to figure out how we could show the characters we had written origin stories for in ways that presented their traits and interests within two minutes. Tuesday was one of our most productive days in creative flows of thought. The hustle of a high school teenager as he gets by running his whole scheme of fraud, sucking out the flood of easily manipulated young adults for personal gains, like that of a vicious vampire. Nathan is undergoing the largest financial scam in the history of mankind, crafting the perfect plot to use games to his advantage. Yes, all of it is a game; He chooses to play his cards in the most exacting fashion to turn the tides for himself and him only. It is horrifyingly sickening knowing the true filth underneath each sliding chip on the green carpet top, understanding the criminal charlatan behind it all. Would you do anything to learn what happened to your father and survive the journey?

(Photo: theinsightfulpanda.com)

    I love the thrilling tension behind the history of the character. It brings a magical, endless charm to the excitement of a story and the plotline. The tease makes me itch from the inside out and I'm along for the ride on the edge of my seat. Our project's goal is to deliver two quick scenes following characteristics similar to Quentin Tarantino's films Inglorious Bastards (2008) and Django Unchained (2012). Both are remarkable for the harmony in the score, set, editing, and cinematography for their opening scenes. Every shot has a purpose, and the first scene hopes to deliver the hunter/predatory observer traits to Nathan as he goes hunting for his financial prey. He leaves a looming tension bottled up inside, an uncanny discomfort. Something is going down. 

Left you on a cliffhanger? My apologies! I will elaborate further on scene one tomorrow and introduce the second portion.

Film Opening - Blog #8 - General Props

   A major segment of the fundamental pieces of filmmaking ultimately is the set design itself. It is essential to create a set that can attribute to the scene of characters and conflict through multitudes of expressions. This can include props and their coloring, lighting, design of the themes, cultural references, and how it is all strategically arranged. Our team definitely wishes to create a comfortable environment with stylistic choices similar to a man-cave, yet with looming harsh darkness in the back. For our primary garage scene, there are 5 key elements we want to attribute around the poker game battle.

Poker Table

One could surely say this was pretty important right? Its possible one of our team members has first-hand access to one from his family members, but the current status is no promises. Amazon offers premium deals on products that are within our financial tolerance; Perfect for our budget. Walmart is able to deliver similar deal guarantees.

Walmart search for "Poker Tables" under $100

Amazon search with similar criteria

We're more than satisfied with the basis for our set design in a short, easy reach by spring break!

Poker Chips

For some particular reason, no one has poker chips in their house, which is most definitely not pleasing to learn. However, we aren't penny pinchers and ten dollars never killed anyone. Amazon also happens to over some amazing steals for said chips. Their algorithm that contributes to their selection of ideal products greatly offers us variety in quality via price, giving us a solid broad spectrum to quickly overview. A proper collection of professional-looking chips, so well organized. The ideal look is for a silver hard-case and a slick look. 

Tuesday is the beginning of the work for the structure on our plot. Priority will be for the character symbolism and the blocks to the opening scene. We can't wait to deliver special charms to each trait of our film! This is the start of "Bad Beat"

Film Opening - Blog #7 - The Game at Hand

One of the major implementations of the opening film for our scene is when the high school students coordinate an elaborate game of poker. Poker has shown itself to be a game with high stakes, one with strategy, and superhuman skills. A just a single one of 52 cards can mean the difference between winning and losing thousands in gambling. The strategies are maliciously cunning and ruthlessly exacting. The culture behind the whole community of gamers has become one of the mute expressions and a particular goal in mind: eliminate others and prevail.

Variations of Poker

Straight

(Photo: phys.org)

A true classic origin to the game most are familiar with. This version consists of basic parent fundamentals that are almost always paired with other mechanics to add strategy in the fallout. Beginning with 52 cards ranked high to low (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, etc), however, the suite is irrelevant. The end is simple; Whoever has the highest collection of 5 cards at hand is the winner. There's a collection of ranks to classify different possible combinations; "Four of a Kind", "Full House", "Flush" and so on are some examples. 

Stud Poker

(Photo: quazoo.com)

A poker variant where each player receives a set of cards; Some are faced up and others aren't. Whoever will bet first during the game is variable throughout the session, so it does not matter who is physically where on the table. The common theme is whoever has the most face-up cards is most likely to win. There are four or fewer rounds in one game, and some styled versions of Stud Poker include "Six-Card stud" and "Caribbean Stud" Besides these key differences it follows the classic orientation of a typical poker game. 

Texas Hold Em'

(Photo: renorodeofoundation.org)

Yee-haw! Especially down here in the South, we Americans love so dearly. Two "hole cards" are given to each player in the start. The main stage consists of "the flop", "the turn", and the final one, "the river" The main goal is to collect the best combination of five card sets from the rest of them. The cards are dealt randomly and each player needs to manage their "money" within set of cards. They can chose to trade there cards and auction them around in such deals between other competitors. The winner is ultimately the one who has comprised the best hand and not gone bankrupt by the finale: A fat cash prize known as "the pot" This variation blossomed in Robstown, Texas around a century ago, bringing an American classical variation to the table. 

Understanding the fundamentals of the the styles poker has brings us creative opportunities to clash conflict among the cards with each of the characters we write. The micro war is full of twists and turns to excite the audience and drive tension or drama that will not be let go so easily. The high school hustle is swift and sly, and our main character must not have his scheme exposed in the neighborhood clique. 

Film Opening - Blog #6 - Equipment

     Years of development in my skills and return investment into effective products keeps the quality and traits of my content up to standards. Multiple commissions, school projects, and other events have offered me an opportunity to handle my net savings back into high-quality tools video production and other cinema gigs. Middle school was the origin of it all, as I had started with just a little adorable Canon point-and-shoot to work my way up to the set up I have now. I'm more than glad I can contribute to my team's upcoming project with cinematic attributes. I love that I have the skills and strengths to use my gear in its fullest potential for films that can match Hollywood productions.

Camera Set-Up

1) Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

(Picture: bhphoto.com)

     This beast has the workhorse powers unseen with a camera of its cost until now. For $1,300, you get a cinematic monster with 4K DCI recording up to 60 frames a second, in BRAW Q0. BRAW has become Blackmagic's answer to the lossless nightmare of CinemaDNG and created an efficient codec that could process RAW metadata into flat images to run smoothly on many systems of varying processing power. The color sciences of their new tech has proven itself as a big player with competing brands' similarly priced digital cinema cameras. This camera has given the chance for premium motion pictures at consumer-friendly costs. It is the pinnacle of "the most bang for buck"

 2) Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Canon EF Lens and Metabones EF-MFT Ultra 0.71x Speedbooster

(Photo: bhphoto.com)

     It is often heard that the Micro Four Thirds mount has its fundamental downsides, which it does. The crop factor, lack of diversity in lenses, and so on. Metabones has done a great service to the industry by introducing magnifying lens adapters in numerous flavors on mounts. Famously have they offered one designed for Canon glass onto the native MFT mount; Perfect for the Blackmagic. Not only does the Speedbooster increase sensor size by multipling the crop by 0.71 times (effectively making it 1.42x like a Super 35 camera instead of the 2x natively) and make paired lenses faster in exposure, it allows a much wider range of fantastic aftermarket lenses. The Sigma 18-35mm lens is famous for provided an incredibly sharp and versitle image in photography and filmmaking, and has rightfully become incredibily popular as a great wide-zoom, especially in low light scenerios. The bundle of tools together has created a ruthlessly valuable mechanism to spawn something beautiful in every project. 

Forever will these tools be at my side to create spectacular art!

("Dean Milan", Youtube.com)

Film Opening - Blog #5 - "BAD BEAT" Scheduling and Characters

     "Bad Beat" is going to be the official name behind our new film concept to come into production. Our research into the poker community and trends in the game spawned a term we believed our main character, Nathan Hill, fit flawlessly. The term refers to a "bad beat jackpot" in the game of poker, in which the one who seems to have the advantage, looses in the end. It's a satirical twist stinking of mockery and ego; The man who believes he is on a pedestal above the lame kid gets the tables flipped on him and is crushed beyond his dominance. This phrase gives an appropriate tribute to the style and charisma of our main character. Today our team met up in a group to discuss how we were going to invest in what props to purchase and how we would block up who would work on what in particular. Our main concern was creating a set of intricate detail yet have it be financially efficient. Our current focus is figuring out the web of characters in our scheme and planning the rest of the project.

Scheduling

Characters

The opening scene will consist of these characters and what their relationship is. Nathan Hill is the primary character in the story, and he is a high school senior student how running poker scams to get by financially. His uncle, Chester Hill, is an aged man yearning for a future since his divorce, yet after Nathan's father is slammed behind bars, his focus is to be the guardian of and befriend Nathan. Rebecca Martin is Nathan's best friend, the only since childhood. No other pair of peers is bonded so tightly, as they are the unbreakable bond of effective criminals. No crime is done without the other, as they fix their hustle getting each other's backs, no matter what they run into. 

Nathan begins the night with Rebecca, challenging two swindlers coated in black leather to a poker game in his home, a gamble indeed. He invites them to search for the answers of what exactly went down for his father, as these men are associates of the Mafia group that butts heads with his dad's group. Nathan and Rebecca execute their cunning tricks to assassinate these men, defeating them in an embarrassingly quick fashion. They had come to spell trouble, but Nathan isn't letting them put a dent in his shield yet. An unsettling foreshadowing reeks off these chaps as they proceed off into the darkness down the block. 

An imminent fight sees them for the fate, but he must find out the truth with his dad first. A new week of planning and sculpting of the plot will continue Monday, so see you then.