ACE

Location
We decided to film in the film studio at Hurtwood as apposed to on location because we thought that it would be the best use of time, the easiest place to create the atmosphere that we wanted, instead of trying to find a location that fitted the sequence. Luckily, it worked really well, and turned out how we wanted it to.
We chose to film in the Hurtwood Underpass as it has a raw, bare, edgy feel, and also because it has an 'underground' feel to it, which is primarily our first idea. Again, this worked really well as it had an echo with the shoes, and there was no need to use additional lighting which saved a lot of time.

Set
The set we had set up in the film studio was in a closed confined space, surrounded by brick walls. There was a door on upstage left and the poker table was in the centre. In the top right corner of the set we had set up a small drinks table.
The poker table itself, was very realistic. I had bought in a poker set including the poker table top. We had divided the chips out, set the cards out, and poured the drinks into the glasses, borrowed from David Broom.
We used very dimmed lighting, which made the scene more atmospheric. We had a naked bulb hanging above the table, which added rawness and then we also had the studio lights to add some extra lighting. The lighting was exactly how we had envisioned it being on the shoot.
We had the use of the smoke machine; this again added some atmosphere to the set. However we couldn’t use too much, as it got looked stupid with too much and became unbearable with all the fumes and smoke around, although the use of it created a mysterious feeling, and worked very well with the sequence.

Costumes
The poker players were in suits, but each person had there own style. We tried to get a gangster feel, for example we had some in hats, one in a cravat, and one in a fur coat. So it was smart but with a touch of gangster/poker/criminal!
The ‘toyboy’ wore a brown Suit, with a grey jumper and a white shirt. This worked well as he needed to look smart but he had to be able to be distinguished as younger and different from the poker players.
Nikki wore a red dress, with a fur coat and black heels, along with some diamond jewelry. This worked well as the red complimented her role as boss. It made her stand out, and made the poker boys look less intimidating.