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.