Team 2 - Examples of Films With Similar Genres

Our film falls into the thriller genre and is similar to the films 'Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve and Oceans Thirteen'. The camerawork and editing in the Oceans trilogy is the sort of thing that my group wants to use with lots of freeze frames, slow motion shots and montages.
Along the narrative, our film needs to be similar to the Oceans trilogy in that we will use a lot of high risks, gambling themes that take place within the poker game. For example, at the end of the film where it is revealed that Hustler actually cheated to win the poker game, it would be ideal for a montage to explain how Hustler managed to set up the con, which is something that happens in the television series 'Hustle'.

Team 2 - Synopsis

Our film is called Burning Aces and would follow the genre of thriller. It tells the story of a poker game between Bouncer and Hustler which goes wrong as Bouncer, the antagonist, uses brutal force through a hired assassin to win his possessions back from Hustler, who won them fairly in the poker deal, but as the brown package that Hustler uses in the pot of the deal is valuable to Bouncer, he desperately needs to get the brown package.
Hustler, who is the protagonist is then involved in a chase with the assassin hired by Bouncer, after Hustler left the table through a mobile phone, but manages to escape much to Bouncer's dismay. It is revealed at the end of the film that Hustler actually cheated and had a number of Ace cards up his sleeve, which gives dramatic irony to the character who was represented in the film as the protagonist.

Team 2 - Evaluation of Filming

Having seen my preliminary sequence with it all finished, there were a few noticeable errors that occurred in our sequence. Although overall our preliminary sequence was good, there were a few errors that we encountered that were most probably avoidable.

The first error was the 180 degree rule that we disobeyed once with the changing of characters on screen. Hustler was supposed to be constantly on the left; however, on one shot Hustler is seen on the right side of the shot with Bouncer on the left, although he was supposed to be on the right. Despite this, we stuck to the 180 degree rule on every shot very well.
Another error was that we filmed a shot looking at the table lighting up in the room, but then the next shot was a Point of View shot from a different angle.
Unfortunately, due to no tripod, the camera was a bit shaky which was not ideal; however, I do not believe this was a major problem after viewing the preliminary sequence all shot together.

We used a variety of shots such as the over the shoulder shot, establishing shot, point of view shot, which gave our sequence some sort of variety and didn't make the sequence boring.
Also, our shots were not too long so no shots seemed awkward or boring, which helped to the enjoyment of watching the sequence.

Overall, although there were some errors that we definitely avoidable, our preliminary sequence was successful at fulfilling the criteria that was needed to be obeyed.

Team 2 - Preliminarily Sequence

Our preliminarily sequence was never going to be detailed and was to be a rough sketch of our final piece. The preliminary sequence gave me a good insight into whether our plan and our ideas were correct. More importantly, this chance to film gave me some ideas on the type of shots that I needed to do (i.e long shot, establishing shot etc.)

I wanted our preliminary sequence to be enjoyable to watch, not boring and full of different types of shots and lots of cutting that would not make any shots too long so that there would be an awkward moment. We filmed the sequence which would only be a vague, brief sketch of our final piece.......

Team 2 - Plan B

My group are doing a Texas style Poker game sequence for our main coursework. We are going to begin our sequence by introducing the characters and their names. Our group consists of Sheridan Martin ("Bouncer") and Matt Game ("Hustler") with me Connor Speed as the cameraman. Hustler is walking through a number of frames with a brown envelope to meet Bouncer who is sitting at a poker table waiting for him. Cards are dealt by a female dealer to the two players. Through the course of the match, a number of shots will be done such as the 'over the shoulder shot' by the cameraman Connor Speed. Hustler is the protagonist and eventually wins the deal, where he collects his winnings and leaves the shot, leaving Bouncer in the shot crying.