The end is in sight.

With a large part of the filming completed and for a change everything has gone smoothly. Although the most important section to film is still to be completed. It was never meant to be this close to the deadline but unforeseen circumstances has pushed the filming dates back. A gambler who turned out to have a drink problem and very aggressive so after numerous interviews and organising filming dates around him I had to cut him loose. After a hunt to find a replacement with little success my friend luckily came to the rescue although he had to be made redundant to be able to take part.

All the filming is organised and ready to go. I have the location secured, the crew is organised and the equipment is ready to go. The editing of the film is well underway with just these final parts to be added. The sound designer is producing some excellent tracks to accompany the footage. Once edited over to a visual effects artist to add the effects and produce the DVD.

I am hoping to use this documentary as a blueprint to make another documentary about poker players but longer in duration even as a feature length documentary. tracking potential poker players over a number of months or years as they succeed or fail at the game.

This documentary has been a good experience and has taught me that being in front of the camera and behind is not practical even if you have help, as the filmmaker you need to be focused on the subject and keep the documentary on track. Being the subject makes it difficult as vanity and your image on screen becomes important as you can watch your footage back and delete and re -shoot anything you want. I would not class myself as a vain person and am quite happy to reflect my real personality but I did find it difficult to see and hear myself on the screen. The lesson here is I'm no Michael Moore or Louis Theroux but this was still a worthwhile project especially for my personal improvement into documentary filmmaking.

The filming Process

For the past few weeks I have been filming myself playing poker. This may sound straight forward but this requires setting up the camera, sound, lighting and then filming for 30 seconds before checking everything is in focus and the sound is not peaking and the lights are not too bright . Once this is set up I have to sit in front of the camera and talk to an imaginary interviewer. The best part of being a filmmaker is the fact that you are behind the camera and I wish that is where I had stayed. I did become more comfortable as time went on but I'll be staying behind camera in the future.

No one likes to see a friend hit bad luck but my gambler/poker player friend who is one of the reasons I got interested in the game. He originally declined to take part as he worked for a high street bank as a financial advisor and felt it would not reflect his job role in a good light if he is gambling and playing poker. He has unfortunately been made redundant which means he can now take part.

I've managed one full day of filming with my professional gambler/poker player Adrian. Which is a relief as he's been hard to book him in for filming. He has agreed to play me in a live heads up match which will be the finale of the documentary. Myself and Adrian have been friends for many years and I've always been envious of his success at playing poker, although he does ok in the gambling department I have never had an interest in that area. Adrian only plays live poker and feels more comfortable in that environment opposed to online.

In terms of his success the money he makes pays for his holidays and other gifts. Such as a Mercedes Car and luxury holidays in the Caribbean and Mexico.

I'm hoping I can persuade him to tackle the online poker world for this documentary. My progress is up and down I nearly doubled my starting bankroll at one point but am now sitting at around $180 so up about $60. It's strange I thought filming would change the way I played but once I'm in a game I forget its there.

Visual Effects

The issue I'm having with the documentary is making it interesting to everyone. I watch all the poker programmes on TV and really enjoy them. I did however notice that my girlfriend and friends do not have the same enthusiasm as me, they did like the really exciting big pots where hundreds of thousands of dollars are won and lost but when they start explaining pot odds and the value of raising or three betting in certain spots or using position to their advantage this is all totally lost on them and frankly bores them because they don't play poker. I want to have these aspects in the documentary but make them more interesting and maybe explain it differently.

The plan is to try and incorporate this aspects of the game in a visual representation. I will try and put some examples up of what I intend to do but the best way to describe it is how on screen maths problems are sometimes shown as a visual representation maybe in text form in front of the person which meant to be a representation of what they see. An example of this the television programme 'Lie To Me' which when someone is lying is often highlighted by a line and text explaining its meaning.

I may have cards coming up in front of the opponent as if I'm seeing a selection of cards I think he could have and why. In a similar fashion show the money in the pot and my odds/percentages as to why I'm folding or betting.

Documentary Drama Part 2

To unforeseen circumstances this project is becoming more and more of a docu-drama, where by interviews will be accompanied by the scenes being acted out. For example Kevin MacDonald's 'Touching the Void' (2003) about two climbers who get into difficulty is visually shown as the two climbers are interviewed about the event. The gambler who was meant to be in the documentary now refuses to be on camera but will allow me to use his stories and although I probably could persuade him he is very difficult and the last few times we met he was totally intoxicated which can sometimes be good for extracted information he was the total opposite and quite aggressive. I quickly running out of time so I'm using an actor to play the gambler and he will do the interviews and re-enacted the scenes. 

The big finale to the documentary was a live heads up match with me playing a successful poker player. It was to be filmed so that cameras saw our cards a bit like a televised poker event. However the player has now decided he does not want to be filmed because it might give away aspects of his game and how he plays. The compromise is that we will play the game which is a £50 freezeout with a minimum of 5 games meaning a £250 starting bankroll is required. I will then re-enact  the scenes with an actor, the poker player is allowing me to use real hands from the game and he will talk to me about why he played a certain way but the audience will never know who he really is. 

The positive of this I can control how the footage looks as I'm using an actor it will be kept honest so if I lose in the real match then I'll lose in the re-enacted game. This does not mean that I can't add a bit of suspense and make it more appealing to the audience. I'm thinking of filming this in the old hall at High Melton using one of the grand looking rooms upstairs, I'm going to give the illusion of a kind of television set up, so the players getting microphones put on them and cameras checking their position. I going to imitate poker programmes on television giving a familiarity to the documentary.

Documentary Drama

After a relentless battle to get hold of the gambler who was to take part in the documentary and get a more detailed interview from him I have had to admit defeat.  I managed to track him down last week as he stopped in Doncaster on his way to London. Only to find him totally inebriated and I mean so drunk he did not recognise me and forgot about the meeting. I had to put him on his train in which he got back of to find out where I was going and then became aggressive and verbally abusive, I left and there has been no further contact. I have left him message saying I'm going to use an actor in his place. He has signed a contract allowing me to use events from his life. I'll change the name and maybe mould the character around the actor. I would have preferred to use the gambler in interviews and then use and actor to play his life.

The documentary may go more in the direction of a docu-drama, the reason is if the gambler becomes a set up then why not all of it. As long as the elements it will give me more scope to make the documentary  interesting.

I may add a live heads up game at the end of the documentary as a build up and I think a live game will be more exciting to watch. I would prefer to set up the situations as I have the choice of the hands that are played. I will be playing a live game over Skype and depending the outcome will be my outcome in the live game. I no this is kind of cheating but I want to really give the exciting parts of poker, if there is such a thing anyone can get a string of good hands and win a heads up game so by setting up and having control of camera shots, the hands played I can build the tension to make it more interesting. 

The importance of sound

Sound in any production is vital it can add real depth and help communicate the emotions that are taking place on the screen. I have to say that I was thinking of just using free stock music or throwing something together on soundtrack pro. Thankfully one of my lecturers pointed out how detrimental this could be to my final production and introduced me to a sound student called Steve Dean. After having a conversation about the documentary and listening to some of his work which was excellent. I've sent him an email and will be sending him all the pre-production documents and hopefully he will be interested in creating some music for the documentary.

Just to clarify I will be doing the sound on location and for the interviews. Steve will be adding the non-diegetic sound and creating relevant soundtracks and sound effects. He will also be helping with any voice overs that are required. 

This is actually a real weight of my mind, I have been helping out on some of my fellow student productions and having a dedicated sound operator who knows what their doing is so important. In previous years we did it ourselves and added some terrible stock songs of cars and birds chirping and usually a rush job at the end of the edit before handing it in. 

I'm looking forward to hearing what Steve comes up with and I'm sure will add real depth to the documentary.

Documentary Angle

One area I may have overlooked in my quest to document the enthralling world of online poker is

the overall angle of the documentary or what I'm trying to say about poker. After an interesting and somewhat heated debate with one of my lecturers and my peers over whether poker is really gambling or more of a skill game. At the end of the debate and although I don't think either side really backed down I have to except that I may be somewhat biased in the direction that poker is not gambling and the better players will always come out on top eventually, but my lecturer and peers all appear to have the view that poker is gambling in the same respect as playing the lottery, betting on horse racing, playing roulette or blackjack are all as bad as each other.

I will be as unbiased as I possible can within this documentary but my hopes are to highlight how poker players earn a living and the strict rules many successful players follow to allow for the downswings and how they differ from gamblers. I except that many people out their play poker for fun and play for the thrill which makes them a gambler. I also understand many successful poker players can lose all their money but this often because of they stray away from the rules which made them successful in the first place. 

The outcome could show that poker is gambling like any other form such as the lottery or roulette or it could show how poker may have luck elements to it but is not a typical form of gambling and if played optimally can mean you beating the game.