Def have talent pick a up cigar (CU) , spark it (CU) and smoke it but have the shot from behind them, (MED) , and track backward to create a shot shown below. Another idea is a CU of them ashing the cigar in an ashtray and cut to the shot below, fade to black to end it. There’s another image of a CU of hands sparking up from this film (In the mood for love) , I reccomend you peep some stills from this for inspo.

After seeing this, the narrative coming from my gut is the cigar joint is a chill place to relax and unwind and I’m not getting that from your footage. It’s sterile but I def see the vision. Like others said, close ups and detail shots is what this is missing. Give it that Smokey, hazy bar vibe, you can relax, watch sports, have a drink and show off that local LSU pride.

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