***Once again cross-posted from the new site at http://frosty012.com/***
Hey guys! Today's the day...my short film is now released to the public! Take a look and let me know what you think. I appreciate everyone spreading it around via twitter/facebook etc. so thanks a lot. If you have a blog out there and wouldn't mind sharing the video, that would go a long way to having more people see it and would be fantastic. Feel free to speak your mind and leave whatever comments you want...this should get interesting! I'm going to be very active on twitter/fb/YouTube etc. and try to respond to everyone.
To put this film into context for you, it was shot about one or two months after this http://frosty012.com/2011/05/victory/, where I put in a heavy last minute grind in May 2011 to save my Supernova Elite VIP status on PokerStars. The film divulges the story of my poker background through interviews and some outside perspectives from some of my closest friends. I talk a lot about what I like to do away from the tables and I would say that the main theme of the film is how one can balance their online poker career with their social life. My acting skills are also put to the test with a little reenactment of my hectic grind at the end of May, where all of the stresses that I faced in that moment along with the sweet relief of victory are relived. Anyways, take a look and I hope you all enjoy it!
http://youtu.be/Y_Y7wkiIrrw
The making of this film was done near the end of last summer and was a very unique experience. I always find it interesting to hear inside perspectives so I'll try and share a bit about the whole process of making the film. Basically, three guys were flown up to Vancouver (a director, a sound guy and a camera man) and were responsible for everything. Before I even met any of the film crew, I talked to the director (Ryan Firpo) via Skype a couple of months earlier and we decided what kind of things that we were going to focus on in terms of central themes. When the crew ended up arriving in Vancouver, they showed up on a Friday night right after the Canucks won a playoff game against Boston in the Stanley Cup Finals. The city was going crazy and everyone was in party mode so we went out for dinner and drinks and got to know each other while we discussed how things would unfold in order to make the film. Things had to be filmed in only one day so we managed to call it a relatively early night and agreed to meet on Saturday morning to make the film.
The next day, the guys brought a van full of equipment over to my apartment and turned my 2 bedroom place into what resembled a high budget porno shoot (not that I'm speaking from personal experience ;)). Big reflectors were placed around the room and cameras were positioned from a few different angles to record the interview.
The plan for the day was to record the interview, break for lunch, do the reenactment and then follow me for a night out on the town after dark. Only having done one brief interview before, I struggled at the start of the interview process because I was trying to word my answers well and ended up over-thinking things. After a while, I became more comfortable and used to the situation and things started to flow more naturally. The interview took a long time (didn't help that we'd have to pause every now and then when a faint train noise could be heard in the background) but by the end of it everyone was happy that we had got all of the information that we wanted. The rest of the day unfolded smoothly and just as we were finishing up the reenactment, some of my friends that I had planned on going out with that night started showing up to my place. The whole scene in the film when we're in my living room having some beers was actually not even planned-nor were the conversations or insight from my friends. What ended up happening was that we were all just relaxing trying to decide what we wanted to do for the night and Ryan decided to turn a couple of cameras on (mainly because he is filming like everything all the time, lol). I think he saw some potential for the film and started throwing out some questions about my start in poker etc. and that's when other people started chiming in. As it turns out, I think that that scene is pretty awesome as it shows how people with a different point of view observed my poker beginnings.
A little bit later, we left my place and all went out for dinner and then ended up downtown at a country club. I was wearing a mic, as were two or three of my friends and we were unsure how/if the camera crew would be able to take any equipment inside the club. In the end, it was no problem to get a couple of smaller cameras inside along with our mics. Thankfully, no audio from the club was used in the film (I can only imagine some of the drunken conversations that were captured haha, especially when I was talking to random girls) but some footage was included at the end. I had planned on using the situation of paparazzi-like pictures being taken of my friends and I to impress some women but for reasons that I cannot remember (or choose not to remember), I had zero success. And that was that...we ended up leaving the club, shaking hands with the film crew and parted ways.
I'd like to thank Ryan and the guys for coming to Vancouver and making the film...it was a pleasure working with you all. It was really fun to have the opportunity to do something this cool and The attention that comes along with everything is pretty fun and I feel as if I played “movie star” for a day!
gl at the tables.
