My Evaluation

This is my evaluation for my film, The Gambler. I filmed this in a press interview style recording and interlinked this with examples from the film and other sources enforcing what I am saying.

This is the final edit for my film, The Gambler.
Overall I am very pleased with this video. I think the music works perfectly and compliments the genre codes and conventions. I am also very pleased with the way the character of Vince has been represented, his character is conflicted.

I am also very pleased with how once the music stops the mood changes completely, as this is the point when Vince changes and becomes violent.

Aims and Context

* Opening Sequence, British Gangster movie with comedic elements

* Target Audience Of 18-30 year old males

* Apply cinematography and editing techniques developed in FM1.

* Explore codes and conventions of genre and apply theorectic work on gender and star power. The lead actor will assume the role of a young Michael Cain or Jude Law.

* As director I would try out the directing and wiriting techniques of Guy Ritchie.

* I would let my main actors use the acting improvisational techniques of Mike Leigh.

extra filming - 20th March

After my first edit of my film it became apparent that the long shot of the basement was good in its intended metaphorical impact, however it was too long and became boring. I decided to get my dad to pose as Matthew as he is older and just like the character, he is a father. What I decided to do was shoot several shots establishing why Matthew is in the mess he is in.

We went to Wimbledon Dog Track along with my uncle Bob. He was to pose as one of Vinces gang who takes the money. We did several shots which included.

* A close-up of Matthews wallet full of money.














* A two shot of Matthew handing money to one of Vince's men rather than a regular bookmaker.














* A short sequence of Matthew watching the greyhounds run.


















* A mid shot of Matthew ripping up a ticket, showing yet another loss.















* A close up of Matthews empty wallet showing that he is out of money.














* A low angle mid shot of Matthew on his and his wifes bed looking desperate and annoyed at himself showing his desperation and that he has a problem and a family.

Filming 18th and 19th Feb

On the 18th Feburary I began the first stage of my film production to be based in Southampton, which was the audio recording. The audio recording is for the scene where Vince kills Matthew, a man with a gambling addiction who owes Vince alot of money. This audio is going to be put on top of a long shot of the basement door. The reason I did this separately instead of having the actors do the lines in the basement and record it that way was because the audio wouldnt have been to the best quality it could have been compared to how it could have been if it was done separately. I wanted to make sure the audio had a 'muffled' feel enforcing the 'behind closed doors' feel to the scene so i put the camera in a wardrobe with the actors on the other side of the door, reading the lines. This would give the muffled feel yet also be very clear for the audience to hear.



The following day (19th February) I shot the rest of my film beginning at 8:00. The reason I started so early was because I would be able to get on and film the monologue scenes down roads which would be quiet so less people will be out distrupting the shoot. This is because uni students notoriously don't get up early so this was the best time to shoot.

This took on average about an hour and a half to shoot. We had to do several takes of each section of the monologue due to it being distrupted by other people and also just to get better takes.

The next section of filming was the basement scene. For this we walked over to the house where it is set and set up the shoot. First of all we did the shot of Vince walking up to the house and knocking on the door. We then did a shot from inside where Daniel Chenery opened the door and greeted Vince in a more cheerful manner. This was to make the scene more innocent before the violent ending thus having a 'tickle/slap' effect.





After this shot was done we then went to the final shooting destination, the house which would be Vinces home. For this I went inside and did a shot of him walking down the stairs and out the door. I then went outside and filmed him coming out the door and walking down the street. I then filmed several other tracking and close up shots of Vince walking along, climaxing with him walking towards the camera whilst it slowly zooms out keeping Vince central to the shot and he gets up to the camera and turns down into another road.

Later on, once finished it began to rain. This weather was perfect for the final shot of Vince walking away after killing Matthew because it gave a different more evil feel to the shot, this was enforced by the fact I shot it against him walking beside a bar fence thus symbolising prison/criminality.

Southampton Location Scouting

On the Thursday and Friday during half term I went down to Southampton to do the filming for my film, 'The Gambler.' I chose Southampton as it is a modern yet industrial city and where the majority of student houses were is a perfect setting for my movie, it has a great gritty feel to it. The reason I wanted an industrial feel to the movie is because of the short documentary for 'Rock N' Rolla' entitled, 'Guy Ritchie's London,' where he talks about the new image of London and the building of new buildings.
The skyline of Southampton from my brothers student room there had a brilliant establishing shot of my desired imagery. It included a football stadium, block of flats and cranes from the docks.



I spent the first 2 days planning and finding suitable places to film. I needed a long quite street for the scenes with Vince talking, a house for Vince to walk out of and pose as his 'house' and a house with a cellar. I chose to film most of the getting ready part of the scene within my brothers own room as it would be easier and it is more modern, however the rest of Vince's house is filmed in his friends student house because it is more suitable to the image I had hoped for. Luckily enough one of my brothers friend's student house had a basement which was perfect for filming and also the guy whose house it was, Daniel Chenery his gangster image was perfect for a cameo role within the film, something which he very much wanted to do.

Changes To Be Made.

When looking back at my animatic I decided there was some changes I wished to make in order to make my film more meaningful and powerful.

The first one of these was to not use the shot reverse shot sequence where the character of Matthew is killed by Vince. Instead use a handheld camera to focus on the basement and just hear the audio of the killing instead. I made this decision because the opening sequence is to show Vince and give him a more cheeky friendly vibe to him and however make him more suspicious so by keeping this hidden will re-enforce this hidden background. Also this will re-enforce the feel of secrecy in Vince's lifestyle. This way of filming will seem more creepy and frightening too.

The second change I made was on Vinces monologue. Instead of one long shot of Vince talking towards the camera I wanted to make it more similar to the narration in the movie 'Alfie' with Michael Caine. By having several different shots of different angles with Vince talking about different things in the shots this will make the scene easier to shoot for the actor and also be easier for the audience too as one long shot may be too boring and long. This way the scene is broken up and more creative and friendly.

One more change I want to make is in relation to the documentary, 'Guy Ritchies London.' In this he talks about the new building developments in London. When staying in Southampton on set from the bedroom window there was an amazing view which illustrated this view perfectly and it has a tower block, football stadium and cranes. I decided to use this scenery at the beginning of my film with the radio broadcast used alongside this. Also I wanted to shoot this in the morning between 6 and 7 as the sun rises, so in the edit I can speed it up so the audience sees the sun rise in the city. If this doesnt work or look good I have also filmed the same setting but in a plain normal sunlight.