Preliminary Task - Brief

The Story So Far...
So far in our project, we have completed our taught lessons on the film genre (as detailed in the Overview First Post) and have presented a group presentation on the class to demonstrate both to ourselves and the class the knowledge we have learnt. We also researched specific directors and the style of film known as Film Noir so that we can apply these conventions to our main task if we feel it would improve and diversify our final project.

Our Next Task
Our Preliminary Task, although not directly marked (marks are deducted for incomplete work),, is a chance for the group to work together for the first time as well as get to grips with the techniques of planning, filming and post-production. We also feel that as a group it allows us to develop our plot ideas; although at this point we do not feel that our preliminary plot will be extended or used in anyway during our main task (i.e. The Main Task will have an unrelated storyline). Over the next days and weeks, we will post updates detailing the script and back-story for our Prelim. Task as well as a storyboard/plan that we will produce to aid our filming.

Decisions Thus Far
In order to keep things simple the group have so far clarified the following aspects of our Preliminary Task in order to keep things simple for our "practice run"

• The Preliminary Task will be shot in Black & White, with high-key lighting and large amounts of shadow. We are aiming for a Film Noir style both to create atmosphere and tension for the audience as well as to experiment and establish whether the Film Noir Style is something we would want to use for our Main Task.
• Because of time constraints; the group has opted to film the preliminary task in school. We understand that this will give a less-polished or realistic look to the final outcome and most definitely will not adopt this model for the creation of our main task, but on the whole feel the Preliminary Task's primary purpose is to allow us to gather our ideas and skills in preparation for our main task.
• We have also opted for a short sequence with limited dialogue so that the scene does not become overly complicated to film (see above).

Schedule Update
Our Schedule should have been as follows -

Preliminary Task ::
Storyboarding & Filming - Until 30th January (Not Met) - Not Yet Completed (as of 4th Feb.09)
Editing/Post-Production & Completion - Until 6th Feb (Not Yet Begun)

Unfortunately, as acknowledged by our subject teachers; we had originally overrun on our lessons regarding the taught section of our coursework unit. We also understand that there have been some lessons cancelled due to staff training but at this present time we do not expect our Preliminary Task to be completed on time.

Please Note: Due to adverse weather conditions in Early February 3 hours of lesson time has been lost due to school closure; and this has, as one can imagine, affected the schedule and our ability to film our Preliminary Task.


- Rory Jee