Narrative blog

When we first started planning the video we decided that the setting for the narrative shots should reflect the style of an illegal poker game being played in dark and dusty basement or garage etc. One member of the group had a cellar so we decided that this would be the best place to film, as although it was quite small, it fitted in very well to the image that we were going for, as it was quite dark and dingy, and seemed quite a secretive location, that only certain people knew of the illegal gambling that was taking place. We decided that the actor’s costumes should look quite “gangster-like” and sleazy, with the boys in shirts/suits and the girls in classy dresses wearing a lot of make-up, almost reflective of typical 1940’s mob style. When we first began filming the narrative we began to encounter some problems; first of all, although we’d managed to acquire a poker table, it didn’t come with a table or legs for it to stand up on, so we had the actors having to balance it on their legs, making the movements and filming very awkward. Another problem we found when watching the footage back, was the lighting. As it was quite dark in the cellar we brought in extra lights to increase the brightness, however when we filmed we’d left some of the lights in front of the camera, highlighting where they were and making the filming look amateurish. Taking these problems into account, we decided on having a re-shoot of the narrative, this time we were more prepared. We managed to get a table for the poker table to balance on; also we were more prepared and focused on where the lights were placed, so that we could get the best possible shots. This time round we knew what shots had worked and which ones hadn’t from the previous footage, so we were more organized as for which shots and angles we wanted to include, also our actors were a lot more comfortable in their roles, as they had already had a “practise” with them, making, in our opinions, the second shooting a lot more successful than our first go at filming.