Lesson 7: Assessments...

8th September, 2016

Today, we were introduced to the assessments we will be working on for this unit, which essentially consists of an essay about Film Noir and a 7-minute film (along with the production plan). Ms. Ward briefly mentioned the requirements for the tasks, and we were then put into groups of 3-4 after picking our desired role / role we would be interested in developing. 

I chose to be the editor for this unit as it is the role that I feel most confident about and I hope to start off the year with something I am more familiar first, so I can easily adapt back to the CISHK environment and demands. I also hope that I can learn from my group-mates' work and observe what their strengths are during this unit so I can be more confident with taking on a different role next time. I have always enjoyed editing, as I like how by controlling the sound as well as where scenes cut I can create completely different moods / atmospheres, which largely impacts how the audience will perceive the film. 

I was put into a group with Charlotte (cinematographer), Wing Kwan (director), and Henry (screenwriter & sound editor). The four of us gathered around a table and started discussing what our roles are, what our plot should be, and who should be the actor / actresses. At first, none of us were 100% willing to act in the film, and we thought about recruiting people to act for us. However, that would be very inconvenient since we will have to take the actor / actress's schedule into consideration. Therefore, Wing Kwan and Charlotte volunteered to be the actor / actress. Since Wing Kwan is the director and Henry is the screenwriter, they led most of the storyline discussion, while Charlotte and I listened most of the time. I think I could've contributed more of my ideas and be more active during the discussion, as I didn't feel 100% comfortable with my group mates since I do not know all of them well. I hope that over time, this issue will be solved and I can comfortably express my ideas, and focus on doing what my role is responsible for. After this lesson, I should review some film noir elements and think about how the different scenes can be portrayed.

Our group's next step is to finalise the details of the plot. Below is the summary of our story so far:

The protagonist, currently either a journalist or a detective, is revealed to have a lost loved one, who was apparently murdered. While investigating her death, he joins sides with the femme fatale, who promises to help him find the killer. Ultimately after following a few clues, the femme fatale presents the presume whereabouts of the killer, and they agree to meet up there. However, it is revealed that the femme fatale is actually the killer and she followed him on his case to eventually kill him. They end up in a scuffle and in the end both die. The protagonist manages to narrate the entire story, eventually causing the flashback timeline as well as the present timeline to merge. The protagonist dies.