State of Play Opening

I am currently watching State of Play and I have just seen the opening which I find to be brilliant. You are opening with a pan follow of a young man running across a street therefore being hit by cars then in to a restaurant braking plates, hitting people and falling over. The man seems to be in panic and scarred which makes the audience think why is he running? and what danger is he in?.
Then the man is hiding and he suddenly gets shot and the viewer sees the murderer and then an innocent civilian goes by and then the man shots him. I find the opening really depressing but action packed and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat which makes a good thriller film. The extreme close up of the young man who was shot then the effects and lighting changes so its red which represents blood and the lighting is very bright. The titles are then on the low right hand corner.
Judging on the opening the film looks really good. Now I am going to get back to the movie.

Jack the Ripper Pictures

I have researched Jack the Ripper photos on http://www.google.co.uk/. I was very interested in to peoples own interpretations of how they think Jack the Ripper would look like and ideas and theories about him.

This picture is an adaptation of Batman as Jack the Ripper in the comic Gotham by Gaslight.

This is a comic strip of what happened in the comic. I love this storyboard as it has given my group a lot of ideas.

This is a link of the information and pictures of the five victims: http://www.casebook.org/victims/

I love this picture and I would love to try and include this shot in to our two minute film:

I like the smoke in the background of this picture as it makes it seem frightening and atmospheric:

This is a letter from Jack the Ripper. I found this photo interesting and ironic as he uses red to represent the blood:

Preliminary Excerise Analysis and Audience Review

When my groups preliminary exercise was viewed in our Media lesson the general thought was that it was good but there could be improvements such as, when Emily walks in the shot is a pan shot follow and the camera was not high enough so it cut of apart of her head, this is what we really needed to focus on because it was our only take we had to have it, so we can improve try to film a lot more angles and more takes for our two minute film.
Also, we need to improve on keeping the actors positions when we shoot different shots. When we filmed Michaela's close up her head is resting on her hand with her knuckle inward, but when go to the two shot her head is resting on the palm of her hand. I have defiantly learnt that we need to keep the movement and positions continuous throughout each shot.
In an anchor shot we have of Michaela a bit of her head was cut off so we should of had the camera a bit higher.
Finally, the background audio is buzzing to resolve this problem for our two minute film we will need external microphones.
Our group main concern is making sure when we are filming we are not cutting off peoples heads and to film more takes, angles and more material so we could experiment with shots and we could use different takes. In our two minute film we will all be directing.

The Art of A Title Sequence

This website is very useful in our Media Studies lessons as it shows what an opening should be like encapturing, giving a taster of a film but not giving away too much.
What I find the most interesting is that they said that darker material gets a lot more attention. Also, they have given a number of films to look at and directors research aswell.

This is the link to the interview: http://www.school-video-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=453:the-art-of-the-title-sequence&catid=44:edit-post-production&Itemid=111

This is the link to the Art of a Title Sequence: http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Depth of Analysis

When I do analysis in Media studies I am to have to refer to this presentation which tells me what to include and gives me advise.

Jaws Shot By Shot - Part 1

View more documents from The Cottesloe School.

Media terms and definitions

I will need to learn the terms and definitions for my Media exam.

Introducing AS Media

View more documents from The Cottesloe School.

The Final of our Preliminary Excerise

This is our final preliminary exercise. I am very happy with the editing as we were the first group to edit ours and as we only done one take each shot we found it easier to but them together.
Our storyboard has changed as we felt some shots fitted better with other for example, a close up then a over a shoulder. Editing was difficult as you have to be precise when you cut or add another shot. Also, the IMovie did not leave a mark where we wanted the shot to cut so we had to memorise were it stopped.
This is our preliminary task:

Jack the Ripper Ideas

Our group has decided to base our two minute film on Jack the Ripper. All of our group has decided it will be interesting to film as it is a true story, based in London and we can see it being a good thriller film. Michaela has even researched our group into going on the Jack the Ripper walk to get an idea of the set and background information of it. Here is a website of the walk http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ripper_jack_the.shtml. This is some of the research information and the websites:

Jack the Ripper is a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer[1] active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London in late 1888. The name originated in a letter sent to the London Central News Agency by someone claiming to be the murderer.
The victims were women earning income as prostitutes. Most victims' throats were slit, after which the bodies were mutilated. The removal of internal organs from three of the victims led some officials at the time of the murders to propose that the killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

Jack the Ripper was an alias for a killer who preyed on prostitutes.
The nature of the murders included throat slitting and abdominal mutilation. Surgeons who examined the bodies saw evidence of a degree of anatomical knowledge on the killer’s part, which included clean cuts and exact excision.
The “Jack the Ripper” handle was derived from a mysterious letter that was sent to Central News Agency, and then forwarded on to the Metropolitan Police. The letter related that the author was “down on whores” and that he wouldn’t cease “ripping them.”
- http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/history/jack-the-ripper-15-facts-about-a-notorious-killer-and-events-that-followed/

The first murder, of Mary Ann Nicholls, took place on 31 August. Annie Chapman was killed on 8 September. Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddoweson were murdered 30 September and Mary Jane Kelly on 9 November. Violence to prostitutes was not uncommon and there were many instances of women being brutalised but the nature of these murders does seem to suggest a link between the perpetrators. Jack the Ripper was never caught and he is not thought to have killed again after November 1888.
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ripper_jack_the.shtml

Our Preliminary Exercise

On Wednesday 7th October our group finished our two minute preliminary exercise. I was very happy with how successful our preliminary filming was as I did have a few concerns such as if the audience would be quiet enough and if i could work the camera probabley. However, I think our group suprised our selfs by how well we worked together as we filmed all our shots in one take and how well we all were in our different sections, Michaela and Emily acting and me and Jessica directing. I feel very proud of our group as we were very prepared in all cases such as the script, individual roles and angle shots.
I learnt alot from this task such as you can film different shots not according to the storyboard and how important editing is in filming as you can make all of the shots go in chronological order and how much I like directing.
This is our script and our first storyboard:

Script:
Plot- Argument between two friends. Cause for the argument being late
Actors- Michaela and Emily
Directors- Jessica and Dominique
Emily- (walking through the door)
Emily- (sits down)
Michaela- Where have you been Em? I've been waiting for half an hour.
Emily- I'm really sorry. I thought we were meeting at half one.
Michaela- You do this all the time. Next time I'll tell you to come an hour early.
Emily- God! I said I'm sorry
Michaela- Whatever!
(End of scene)

Storyboard:

Preliminary Excerise Observation

In Friday's lessons we watched Group 1 preliminary exercise. After observing their work I found out that the camra needs to film for an extra amount of time to make sure that the filming is enough and that we have not left any vital shots out. I also learnt that the camra picks up every noise so the audience have to be quiet for the scene or it has to be redone. There was also technical difficulties with another group which shows that we should not rely on phones or ipods as it may not go to plan or have it on a set time. After observing other groups we will not change our storyboard as the shots suit the plot which is an argument.

Preliminary Excerise Prep

In the lesson we learnt about the 180 degree rule which we will be filming for our preliminary exercise. In our group we were discussing ideas for the plot in our exercise which will involve the different camera shots.
We also watched last years preliminary exercise and we thought about errors that acquired such as song lyrics you may end singing along to it and we end the shot sitting down and we want to make it seem real as next years year 12 media class will be watching it so it cannot be embarrassing.
We finally came up with an idea of an argument between two friends as we wanted to involve some acting as we have two drama students which we thought will be nice to have them act as they have experience.
Also, we have created a script and a story board of what will happen and the different camera shots.
Fingers crossed it will work out correctly!.

Mise-En-Scene

In lesson we have learnt about mise-en-scene which is translated as 'Everything in the scene'.
Mise-en-scene literally means everything put in the scene or film to be filmed.
Analysing a mise-en-scene we need to comment on numerous amounts such as Characters as they are very important in a film, as characters and actors make the film seem like reality and to grab the audience attention.
Props are also important as the point of a film is to make it seem real from a horror to a comedy, and if no props were used the film it would not attract the audience as the audience are going to be watching the film for an hour and a half, it needs to keep them engaged, as the directors also need to think about the critics as many people judge there opinions on reviews from friends or newspapers before they see it.
Costumes also need to be commented on as costumes make the characters. A person dressed all in black can stereotypically be a villain and the audience need to judgements to make their predictions later on in the film. Costumes are also needed to set the time period for the film.
A set is very important as it creates the mood and atmosphere for a film. If the set was a small, dark room with pictures or notes everywhere it could represent isolation from the outside world. A set can also be symbolic as it could represent the character as well. Set is also needed to show the time period.
The location is very significant as you need to know where the film is set to try and get in the mind set of the location. It may also be significant as it shows the time period and the stereotypes or social class of the people for example, if a family lived in a palace they would be seen as rich.
Make-up is also needed as it makes up the reality of the film, it may also represent the character such as a women with red lipstick may be seen as promiscuous, sexual and dominate.
Body Movements are significant as it can create tension or a relationship such as if two people had an argument they be opposite each other and in each others faces to represent a barrier that cannot be crossed.
Extras are also needed to make the film seem real as you cannot have only the main character in a film as there are people and it will seem unrealistic.
The use of colour which can be symbolic for a personality or the emotions of a character such as light blue may represented sadness. Also, pathetic fallacy could be mentioned.
The use of lighting is very significant when analysing as it can create a mood and it can represent a genre for example, low key lighting is often used in mysteries and thrillers.

Thriller Research- Ideas

My group have been researching the thriller genre. I have become very intrigued in to the idea of basing the two minute film around a real experience.
There are many interesting stories that we could research more in to. However, many will be too hard to do, as we may not have sufficient resources and it will hard to try and get other people to act in the film as they may not be reliable or they may not be able to film.
I personally thought Jack the Ripper may be interesting as he is very historic and we could use or make interesting props, play on the idea of a villain and to keep him mysterious throughout the film and to create suspense and intense moments and we could also use Low Key lighting.
I really like using this idea but it seems more like a horror genre rather than a thriller.
I am going to research more real life experiences to try and to see if it is possible to have a Thriller film based on a historic experience.