Ancillary Task- Magazine film review



Above is our near finished film magazine review, as part of our second ancillary task. In order for it to be completed, we would replace the current image that is in the middle, with still images that would be from our film. The design of our review came from the inspiration that we got when flicking through the reviews in the Empire film magazines, a majority of them consisted of a brief description of the details of the new release, such as the certificate, when its released, the stars in the film etc, so we included this in the top left corner of the review. Also an interview from either the actors or the director was a frequent inclusion of the reviews from the magazines, and we thought that this would be a good idea, as we could create a mock interview with our film director, Sam Tyler, and then record it and retype the interview as part of the magazine.  

                           

After filming, we carefully analysed the footage that we had shot, in order to select the most appropriate still images, that would be included as part of our final film magazine review. The pictures that we chose consisted of the two main characters in our film as they are the most influential, and they would be the main advertisers persuading people to watch the film. In doing this, it was important to show the mental state of the characters, to enhance their current feelings and the importance of them winning the game. The top image shows Sean, played by Sam Panton, heavily drinking the last of his spirit, this shows that the game isn't currently playing to his favour and he is now feeling that he may need luck to get him out of this horrible mess, this then enhances the bad times that he is suffering and is now showing his desperation. In comparison, the bottom image show Eddy, played by Edward Wills-Wood, smoking a celebratory cigar, as he is playing the game well, and it is working to his advantage. The facial expression of his face shows a smug arrogance as he feels that he is the only winner in this competition, and he will do everything within his power to reach his goal. 

In order to complete the process, we simply saved the still images from our film footage on Adobe Premier Pro onto a J peg. From there we were then able to import the image onto our film review on Microsoft publisher.    

Aucillary task- narrative of the process

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZZ36lHYTes

To underline the process of the production of our two chosen ancillary task, we decided that we would create a different type of distribution where all three members of the group each narrated the process. Achieving this was simple, as we firstly videoed ourselves talking, and then uploaded the video on Adobe Premier Pro where we separated the audio with the video, by deleted the video line. We then imported the relievent images to match the description and then placed them together to make the clip coheivive.

Ancillary task- film poster

Using Microsoft Publisher we created a teaser poster for our film - 'Face Down' embracing creative darkness inspired by the film 'Buried'. We narrowed our choices down to three a portrait poster with a poker-lamp at the top of the picture and a landscape or portrait  poster without the lamp. After discussing the options between us we decided that the lamp looked out of place and therefore ruled out that poster whilst the landscape poster is unpractical for use in magazines thus we chose the portrait poster without the lamp (poster 2). We also decided to ask for feedback from a focus group, another media student in our group Phoebe Ward commented "It's really good, it shows you what it is about in the poster as the poker table is the central focus however it doesn't give much away". We also found that most of the people we asked liked the film name - 'Face Down'. Sophie Sinclair said 'I think it's good, but it doesn't give much away and the gambling genre wouldn't appeal to us' however teenage girls aren't the demographic for our film. We asked another media student, Ollie Kent, to give us some feedback he said 'It's brilliant I definately want to  see it when it comes out, however maybe the poker table should be higher'.
     

                        

                                        

                                    

Film name- 'Face Down'

Our film name 'Face down' took a lot of discussion, debates and ideas, as we felt that it was vitally important that we chose the correct title that would express our film, we finally believe the name that we have decided expresses our clip very well. Our film name shows a lot of connotations that are relevant to the type of clip that we are wanting to display, firstly in the popular poker game 'Texas hold em', the cards are dealt face down in order to hind the cards from the opposing player. 'Face Down' also suggests that you are trying to avoid conflict and trouble, this is evident in our film as Shaun uses the aid of cheating to help ensure that he will win, and this act would obviously infuriate the other players. finally due to the horrible and troubled time that Shaun and his wife are facing, the term 'Face Down' also expresses that someones luck is down and they are going through a difficult period where they are looking for a way out.

Animatic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=372DuW0dnqQ

In order to create a visual movement of the shots that we want to include in our film, we produced an effective animatic, which shows the story of our clip in pictures. To make this, we drew by hand a rough sketch of each shot that we wanted cohesively. we when took pictures of each individual shot, and then uploaded it onto the computer through 'Adobe Premier'. We then cropped and positioned each shot, and put them all together to produce a short film animatic. We then downloaded a 'non copywrite' piece of music, in the genre of the blues and an electric guitar, we got this piece of melody from 'freesound.com', we chose this genre of music as we would consider using it in our film.

Script

The Poker Film

Written By

Daniel Norris

Samuel Tyler

Ian Fry

Blank black screen, Man narrates

MAN

(Voice Over)

“I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly lucky guy”

Flash of light as the blank screen changes to that of a room, with a dingy overhead lamp shining onto a large poker table. The shot shows a man sat at the table, cards in hand and a stack of chips in the centre of the table. The man’s name is Sean.

SEAN

(Voice Over)

“Poker’s a game where luck can come in pretty handy. Take a look (shows his hand of two Aces). But believe it or not this isn’t the type of place I tend to visit often or at all for that matter. First of all, take a look at my fine co-players”

Pan 360 degrees around the table revealing the five players at the table. The man running the game, called Eddie is sat at the end of the table nearest the corner of the room, and a ‘waiter’ is passing him an alcoholic drink from a tray. To his left is the woman dealing the cards, dressed informally. Next to her is sat a thuggish looking man with a shaven head, and in the seat along from him is a businessman in a suit.

EDDIE

“Call” (distractedly)

The dealer lays the flop, showing the Queen of Hearts, 7 of Clubs and the King of Spades

SEAN

(Voice Over whilst play unfolds)

“In fact, I’ve never met any of these people in my life before, thankfully. They’re not your average upstanding citizen.

THUGGISH MAN

“Call”

SEAN

(Voice Over whilst play unfolds)

“You see, I come from a pretty normal background, at school I wasn’t exactly a genius, but I wasn’t thick either. I wasn’t the coolest kid around but I wasn’t a loser either. I was normal. But there was one thing in life that I loved. The army, it was my life. I was a rifleman in Afghanistan, and served 2 tours of duty. And I was good… (Trails off)

But…I was wounded in the shoulder during operations in the Helmand province; perhaps you’d like to see it”

Flashback scene: (POV) Running facing the ground, heavy breathing, then explosion launching the character backwards.

SEAN

(Voice Over)

But I guess all good things come to an end. After that the army gave me a leaving present of a disability payment and an inability to work,

EDDIE

(Puts chips in)

“Play your hand or get out”

SEAN

(Glares angrily, signals to call)

The river is revealed, audience don't know Eddie's hand so suspense is built. Eddie confidently throws hand on table

EDDIE

"Read it and weep"

(Sean reveals his hand to be the winner)

(Glaring across at Sean furiosly)

“Just take your shit and go”

Sean picks up the briefcase containing the winnings and exits the room

THUGGISH MAN

“Hey boss…” (Shows Eddie the ace left in the deck, revealing Sean has cheated”

EDDIE

“What the? That son of a bitch was cheating!”

EXT. OF BUILDING

 SEAN

(speaking to the camera)

“You see, I make my own Luck”

(Reveals an ace hidden up his sleeve)

In the background of the shot, the bouncer from inside is seen approaching him, and grabs his shoulder.

END

How the hand is planning to unfold

Initial Hands -

Sean Carter - Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds
Main Rival - Jack of Spades, Jack of Clubs
Character 3 - 10 of Hearts, 2 of Spades (FOLD)
Character 4 - King of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds
Character 5 - 6 of Hearts, 6 of Spades

Flop

Queen of Hearts, 7 of Clubs, King of Spades

Sean has - Pair of Aces,
Rival - Pair of Jacks
C.4 - Two pair - Queen and King
C.5 - Pair of 6's (FOLD)

Turn

Jack of Hearts

Sean has - Pair of Aces
Rival - 3 of a kind - Jacks
C.4 - Two pair - Queen and King (FOLD)

River

Ace of Hearts

Sean has - 3 of a kind - Aces (Wins)
Rival has 3 of a kind- Jacks