Film Opening - Blog #13 - Crime Families

    Nathan Hill, our main character, is the son of a criminal now finally behind bars. Isolated within his father's circle and his current high school friends, he strives to get by with his tricks and plans. He is one of mystery and secretive assassin-like methods. He gets his job done and swiftly in a lurking manner; He is a man in the shadows. Like father, like son as they say. Here are some prime examples of well-established criminal families from the 20th century to current times.

These are the three most notorious of the "Five Families" in New York City.

Genovese Crime Family

(Vincent Gigante, 2005. Photo: wikipedia.com)

    This group was the primary center of the American Mafia for New York and New Jersey. Their founder was Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who had originally called it the Luciano crime family until its renaming in 1957 under Vito Genovese. They are the eldest of the five known New York groups, who ran mortgage frauds and discovered every which way to sap money from innocent people. They also took advantage of illegal gambling over the coast through the internet. Since 2005 they have been frozen in inactivity, as this was the time their latest leader Gigante had passed away. They have the least amount of people turn in evidence against them compared to other groups.

Lucchese Crime Family

(Tommy Gagliano was boss from 1931-1951. Photo; wikipedia.com)

    Ironically one of the more peaceful of the five families, they were still responsible as an active partisan group in the Castellammarese War. This took a turn for the worst when Victor Amuso and Anthony Casso were named successors by Anthony Coralla. They re-established themselves as one of the most violent groups in American history, murdering absolutely anyone who poked troubles with their clan. After the total counted 140 murders, he was sentenced to 455 years in jail. He is a man of the past but has stained New York and the NYPD with corruption and damage. Members turned against them and half the cartel was imprisoned.

Gambino Crime Family

(Carlo Gambino, the most famous leader. Photo: wikipedia.com)

    This man was the most infamous leader amongst the Gambino group when he gained power by assassinating the leader Albert Anastasia, the man behind "Murder, Inc" until its destruction in the 1940s. He had organized Albert's murder to overrule his family and establish himself as the new leader. Their biggest influences were the gambling crimes in Cuba throughout the 60s and 70s. He appointed his wife's brother Paul Castellano when he died in 1976. The Gambino family as a whole was terminated in the early 90s when John Gotti was given away to the FBI by Salvatore Gravano as revenge for murdering Castellano back in 1985. 

Film Opening - Blog #12 - Representation

    Our main character Nathan hill is the pristine representative of the juvenile delinquent. Despite his poor choices, his hustle requires his massive intelligence and exacting plan executions. Reckless mischief, one who is a vicious, heartless demon with an innocent name. This monster of cunning skill is tucked in a pretty boy face, mute in his expression. There could be no better prime example of such a character in real life: Chris Benton.

"Benton is among a small but apparently growing group of young people who see playing poker online as a way to earn income and hone their skills in psychology and strategic thinking. They distinguish themselves from gamblers, such as Lotto players who rely solely on Lady Luck, and take a more studied approach to poker playing. Just among Benton’s former classmates at Fremont’s Washington High School, he said, more than a half dozen think of poker more as a vocation rather than a pastime." - The Mercury News, September 13th, 2007

(A teenage criminal. Photo: the-line-up.com)

    Chris ran his whole internet scheme with other delinquents who operated an online fraudulent group that used online poker games to exploit others for thousands. Their exploitation of others and strategic thinking was unrelenting on the whole online community. Indian online games were the source of the victims of their crimes. The rampant addiction to the game has to lead the US government to ban online access and financial transaction interactions with poker sights.

"A lot of kids have grown up with legalized gambling. College students are the most at-risk group because they have access to money and credit." (Kristy Wanner, University of Missouri-Columbia)

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.