Tonight we finished up all of our shots for our poker trailer in Studio A. Overall, I'm really excited to see the final product on the big screen. We have a lot of cool closeup shots and montage scene that are going to make for a thrilling trailer. Our actors were great and we were really fortunate to get in the locations we wanted to shot in. The fresh your mind on the story line, two brothers (Josh and Dan) attend Ithaca College on academic scholarship. Dan loses his money grant due to poor grades, and the two resort to an underground poker tournament run by college graduates. Josh, the better played of the two, decides that he is better off on his own, and takes a loan from a loan shark. It just so happens the two meet up at the final table, one needing to win to stay in school and the other to pay back the loan shark riding on his back. Which brother will end up on top in this thrilling poker adventure.
Below are some pictures I found online that are similar to a couple of shots we used in our trailer: In post, we are planning to do a lot of motion effects, including slow motion scenes and a scene similar to this clip from the famous gambling movie 21.
We also decided to go with an announcer based trailer, instead of a dialogue driven trailer. With a lot of camera movements and zooms, we thought it would be better for the actors to talk over the the shots they are in, almost like speaking about what they are thinking in certain situations.
So the movie Moneyball came out today, which I have been waiting for since I first saw the trailer. The film takes place in 2002 about the Oakland A's having the lowest payroll in all of baseball but still managed to win 100 games in the season with a bunch of washed up players.
I found this footage and was astounded at the sparse amounts of people at the stadium and how long they were there for. Granted getting multiple angles and having visual effects teams, I could understand why there was a small crowd there. Since they are reenacting one of the most famous games of that season when they beat the Royals to win their one hundredth game, it had to be a night game it was going to take a long time for set up and shooting. This game was shot from the beginning of dark hours to the crack of dawn, making sure that all time was put to use.
The movie is based of a book and it is an excellent read, short and sweet. Even if you're not a baseball player, you don't need to be to understand the principle of not judging a book by it's cover. This is a miraculous story that I have been waiting to see on the big screen because it stands for a lot of my beliefs. You don't have to look amazing to be considered the best, you just have to show you can by your numbers or even your awards. Each individual player from that 2002 team got on base more than they struck out, allowing to produce more runs. Same thing goes in life, if you can be patient and get on base, you'll need someone to bring you in to complete your dreams.
In post, we are planning to do a lot of motion effects, including slow motion scenes and a scene similar to this clip from the famous gambling movie 21. 
