The Casino and The Film Industry

Casino (1995)

Casinos have been a fixture within the film industry since the gilded age of Hollywood. The glamor and glits emanating from these manufacturers of dreams and decadence can be found in some of Hollywood's best movies.

The world of the casino is a compilation of the cosmopolitan; ordinary people, gangsters and spies, winners and losers, dealers and punters. Nobody is out of place. This may support the reason why the film industry retains a fascination with the ideals of the casino. It is the junction between riches, bankruptcy, and self-determinism. Any man can walk into its throngs and depart rich. It is  symbolic of a dollar and a dream. Ultimately, the casino has the propensity to pry away both.

Casino Royale (2006)

The film industry shares a similar structure. People flock to this profession with deluded fantasies of fame, fortune, and recognition. Often, they are unapologetically thrust into the reality of our predicament as filmmakers. Nothing is guaranteed. Everything you've strove towards can be taken away in mere moments.

Many popular casino movie feed into this notion. The American Dream and its ultimate downfall. The original Ocean's Eleven and its 2001 remake by Steven Soderbergh cast a lighter play on this theme.  More brutal films such as Casino (1995) by Martin Scorsese which included some overtly violent scenes represent the darker side.

21 (2008)

James Bond films also tend to heavily dable in the juxtaposition between the lavish stylings of casino, and its underbelly. None more so than 2006's Casino Royale. Several enthralling casino movies are based on true life. Casino, mentioned above, is based on casino games all over the world.

Owning Mahowny (2003)

Real characters and events in the early days of the Las Vegas casinos and 21 (2008), a movie that received mixed acclaim when it was first released telling the true story of a group of students from MIT who used card counting to win small fortunes.

It has some particularly memorable casino scenes especially those depicting their card counting techniques. Owning Mahowny (2003) is another gambling movie based on fact. It tells the true story of a bank manager who embezzled the bank’s money to bankroll his gambling activities at Atlantic City.


What has Hollywood and its portrayal of casinos given to us? A mixture of hope and despair, trial and tribulation. It is a game of winners and losers, much like the film industry itself.

Kevin McCall

The semester is approaching its end! In a few weeks I'll be finished with my first year as a graduate student at USC's Film Program. I'm still deciding my path for this summer. I need to make sure I'm being productive. As an undergraduate at Alabama, I quickly learned the majority of my education would not be in the classroom. This is not to say Alabama's TCF department didn't teach me. That is far from the truth. My best experiences were outside of class on projects with classmates, colleagues, and professors.

This is why I'm so adamant about productivity. You should always work on projects outside of your education. You will learn volumes. One of the biggest projects I've done since moving to Los Angeles, CA is my work with artist, Kevin McCall.



Hip-Hop fans will remember K-Mac as one of the featured artist on Chris Brown's "Dueces" music video. K-Mac was the songwriter as well.

Kevin Lamar McCall Jr. was born on July 25, 1985 in, LA Watts, California. He is the 2nd oldest out of 3 sisters and 1 brother. Kevin affectionately known to friends and family as “K-MAC” was introduced to music at a very young age by his family who noticed Kevin’s desire, talent and interest for music early on. Like many artist Kevin’s love of music stemmed from his time singing in the church choir.   

In his short time as a new songwriter and producer in the industry Kevin, has been fortunate to collaborate with both established and up and coming artist such as: Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, Tank, Trey Songz, Pleasure P, Keisha Cole, Kelly Rowland and Rich Girl just to name a few. As a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc, Kevin has created a name for himself on the college circuit from performances of his original songs and also songs he has written for his fraternity.

I was invited into the studio with K-Mac in between producing the first film of the semester and directing the second one. K-Mac was preparing for a show the next day, and his manager wanted a behind the scenes video to use as promotion. We ended up making two.

It's essential as a filmmaker to constantly produce work outside of short films. Everyone wants to be a director, but few are given the opportunity at the beginning of their career. The capability of producing work you may not be accustomed to is beneficial. This isn't my first music related video or promo, but without these previous experiences, I may not have been prepared to produce work for a high-profile artist. 

While you're reading be sure to check out what else I've been doing!

Featured on Blerd Nation. Read HERE

One of my most popular articles on Tumblr HERE

Read up on my Black History Month Spotlight HERE.

I've been busy in California, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

USC School of Cinematic Arts - 2nd Semester

It has nearly been two months since my last post. It has been an unbelievably stressful time as a graduate student at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.

Currently, I'm working on my second semester graduate film project, Magic.

Actor, Tristan Bailey, plays the lead role of Austin Gray

The second graduate semester at USC's School of Cinematic Arts is considered the hardest semester you'll face during your tenure as a student. It is known as the dreaded, 508 semester. In my follow-up post, I'll go in-depth on the first year graduate student experience at USC's Film School.

I'd like to say another big thanks you to everyone who helped me out so much during the Dr. Pepper Tuition Scholarship Competition. I received such an amazing amount of support.  I also entered a competition to be a part of this year's Oscars recently. I went to the second round, but was not chosen. Still, we ended up making a great mini-commercial explaining why I love cinematography. 

I'm going to try my best to consistently post on Que The Lights from this point forward. I believe a good amount of filmmakers would be interested in learning about my ongoing experience at USC's Film School, especially for those who want to apply sooner than later.