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I have really enjoyed this year and I have learnt a lot about preparing and making a film.
This blog is now over.

Feedback

After Fridays assembly we showed our opening to the Years 11's, Years 12's, some of our teachers ans even our Head Teacher. Knowing that we was going to show our opening to some of our school I was very nervous as I did not know if people will understand our opening without knowing the storyline to it. We gave out some questions to each person and asked for feedback to our opening and this is some of them:.
"Choice of location excellent- it can't be easy trying to film 19th century in a 21st century town and make it look convincing" I was very happy with this comment as this person understood the storyline and knew which century our film was set in. Also, in our group we found it difficult to set our film in 1888 as there were cars driving by, which could be heard in the audio but we muted it to add our music.
"Liked the music alot- set the scene" I was very pleased with this comment as I think the music really suits our opening well and it is nice to hear that people also agree.
Overall, I was really happy with the feedback as we was worried that people may not like our film though it seems like most people did enjoy it.

Our Music Piece

Emilys dad created the music for our opening, we uploaded on to Garage band to edit the music with the opening. With the use of the other programme we was able to include many instruments and different sounds. This is our music piece of the variety of instruments we used:.
The Ripper Score[1]
I really loved our music as I felt it fitted our genre, storyline and theme of 1888 well. I was really happy with how our music turned out, my favourite part of the music was when the victim turns around the music stops for a slight second which increases fear in to the audience.

Script to our opening

[The first shot we see is an establishing shot of a lamp post and a pub.]
- (Wide shot) Woman coming out of a rich looking building/house.
- (Pan shot) She then begins walking down into the alley.
- (Mid shot) Newspaper articles about Jack the Ripper and pictures of women.-
- (Close up/Extreme close up) Jack the Ripper hiding eye following woman.
- (Mid Shot) Woman still wallking through the alley unaware of being followed.
- (Close up) J the R feet coming out as going to follow.
- (Extreme close up) 1st victim being crossed out in blood.-
- (Pan shot follow) Woman turing around thinking someones following her.
- (Wide Shot) Empty street no-one there.
- (Extreme close up) Of the womans picture on the wall
- (Extreme close up) 2nd Victim crossed out in blood.-
- (Long shot) J the R standing by a lamp post with knife in hand.
-(Over the shoulder) J the R circles the woman in blood on the newspaper board
- (Mid Shot) Woman turns back around and carries on walking.
- (Wide shot) J the R walks past the camera following woman.
- (Two shot/Wide shot) Woman walking towards the camera with J the R seen over the shoulder.
- (Close up) J the R's hand over womans mouth.
- (Wide shot Of J the R dragging woman into the alley with the woman struggling.
- (Long Shot) J the R climbs on top of woman.
- (Close up) Of J the R hand up her womans skirt.
- (High angle shot) Womans hands being pushed to the ground.
- (Close up) Woman screaming
- (Mid Shot) J the R slaps the woman
- (Close up) J the R picks up the knife.
- (Point of view) Knife slashes womans neck.
- (Extreme clsoe up) The knife with blood on it.
- (Over the shoulder shot) Womans picture being crossed out in blood
- (Wide shot) J the R gets up and walks away into the light.
- (Over the shoulder shot) J the R circles the next victim.
- Credits

Ripper

We decided to name our film 'Ripper' as we thought it would be suitable for our film, so we used apart of his name as our film is based around Jack the Ripper. We all thought that Ripper suited our film as the viewer would have an idea that our film about Jack the Ripper. We was originally going to name our film 'The Silver Knife', although Jack the Ripper was named the Silver Knife we did not think that it would suit our film as in one shot we have a close up of a knife which has been coloured red, so there were scenes were we incorporated the title.
We used the idea of the victim being ripped in our opening as Jack the Ripper use to rip his victims intestines and organs out, so in our film we had a mid shot on the floor showing the victims torso and Jack the Ripper holding the knife, this portrays that the victims organs are being ripped out.

Evaluation

This is my evaluation for our opening and the final part to my AS levels Media Studies coursework. I really enjoyed creating my evaluation as it was insightful discussing what I have learnt from the Preliminary task to our opening of our film and to see our progression and the increase of our Media knowledge that we have learnt. I have gained a lot from this course such as camera work, editing and how to intrigue and target an audience.
Ripper Evaluation

A Tale of the Batman Gotham by Gaslight

I have recently read Gotham by Gaslight which tells the tale of Batman. However, in this story there is a twist, as Jack the Ripper has arrived in Gotham City, the murders in Gotham seem to resemble Jack the Rippers murders. There are suspects in the comic like Bruce who has been sentenced to be hung, but Bruce escapes. Batman interrupts just as the Ripper is about to murder his next victim which reminds me off when Israel Schwartz interrupted the Ripper whilst he was murdering a victim. It is revealed that Jacob Packer is the Ripper. Packer has gone mad, ever since Bruce's mother, Martha, laughed at him after he told her he loved her and he has been killing women who resemble Martha to silence the laughter he hears in his head. This shows that he is mentally ill, it was thought that Jack the Ripper was also mentally ill.
The letter in the introduction tells the reader about the murders, the dates of the murders, the suspects and about Jack the Ripper, though the letter seems like it was written by Jack the Ripper "Some said I was a doctor, a medical student, a slaughterhouse worker, perhaps a boot-maker skillful with a knife", this shows the different suspects and it seems like Jack the Ripper is laughing at the naivety of the public.
On the left hand side I scanned a page from the comic which my group found really interesting as we loved some of the shots and we incorporated some of the shots in our opening.
I really like the close up of the womens face with a hand covering her mouth, the knife shot and the women walking out of the pub. In our storyboard we was going to have the victim walking out of the pub, however we then decided we wanted to have the victim standing outside a house fixing her top to show that she is a prostitute.
I found the comic very interesting and I felt that it helped our opening as it inspired our camera angeles, the costumes and our props such as the knife and the long skirt for the woman.
Below is a camera shot which we used in our opening, the shot was inspired by the close up of the victims face with a hand covering her mouth, this shot shows the victims fear.

Serial Killers Book

In the Daily Mirror on Sunday there was a magazine about Britain's worst serial killers, the magazine had a double paged spread on Jack the Ripper. I found the article very interesting and I learnt many facts about Jack the Ripper from the magazine. Above and to the side are pages from the magazine which I scanned about Jack the Ripper.
More than 120 years ago Jack the Ripper murdered five women, all prostitutes in their 40's they are the known victims though the suspected total is 7-11 women in three months, even though during the 1800's there was no modern technology like we have now but it is surprising that Jack the Ripper was not caught, as there was police and vigilantes that patrolled London's East End. Also, I found out about the injuries e.g. Mary Ann Nichols died on the Friday night of August 31 where her body was found with a four inch and eight inch gashes from her throat to neckbone and the inquest recorded that the "lower part of the person was completely ripped open", Annie Chapman was next to die at 6am on Saturday the 8th of September her throat cut to the spine. Part of her intestine had been thrown over her right shoulder and her womb and bladder was "entirely removed". Three weeks later the killer struck twice in 45 minutes, Elizabeth Stride's body was not mutilated because the killer had been disturbed by a man leaving a political meeting. Isreal Schwartz who later told police he saw a man assault Stride but he ignored the incident believing it was a domestic dispute, I found this really shocking as he did not even try to stop the abuse. Jack the Ripper then found an alternative victim who was Catherine Eddowes who was a mother-of-four, Constable Watkins who saw Eddowes body said she was "ripped up like a pig in the market". Eddowes face and chest had been mutilated, her intestines cut out and thrown over her shoulder, her womb and left kidney removed. The killer had sliced of her nose and earlobes and slashed her checks too. Again, there was a witness. Cigerette-Seller Joseph Lawende's description of a shabby man, aged around 30, with fair skin and peaked cap which was almost the same description as the first witness of Jack the Ripper. On Friday the 9th of November Mary Kelly was murdered, Jack the Ripper slashed her neck to the bone, front, back and sides, hacked at her face and cut off her breasts. He then emptied Mary's abdomen and placed her womb and kidneys under her head. Police found her intestines and spleen on the floor and the skin and muscle which had been carved from her thighs on the table. More women were murdered in Whitechapel and the cases added to the Ripper file up to 1891. The mystery of Jack the Ripper has never been solved though Sir Robert Anderson, assistant commissioner for CID, who claimed to have solved the crime wrote "I am almost tempted to disclose the identity of the murderer... but no public benefit would result from such a course" I found this statement very weird as he says he knows who the murderer was but he will not say. Jack the Ripper is still well known to this date as there are hundreds of books have been written, policemen published memoirs, dozens of DVDs produced and there are guided tours and unbelievably Jack the Ripper toys.
There was information about the suspects and Jack the Ripper as well, Dr Edward Bond who examined the final victim, Mary Kelly, wrote of the killer: "The character of mutilations indicate that the man may be in a condition sexually that may be called satyriasis. It is possible that the homicidal impulse may have developed from a revengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that religious mania may have been the original disease". It will never be known if Jack the Ripper had "satyriasis" - permanent sexual arousal - but the nature of his mutilations were plain to use.
The suspects who were thought to be Jack the Ripper were Aaron Kosminski a Polish Jaw, aged 33, who suffered from from "mania" "delusions" and "hallucinations". He once threatened to kill his sister and was declared insane by his family in 1888 on grounds of "self-abuse". Scotland Yard chief Sir Melville Macnaughton said Kosminski had a "great hatred of women". Francis Tumblety an American doctor who was gay, hated women and was a notorious "quack". He was in London at the time and had an obsession with female reproductive organs. Tumblety fled to France in November 1888 following his arrest for homosexuality then returned to America. James Maybrick a Liverpool cotton merchant who confessed in his diary. Historians questioned its authenticity and the published admitted forging it. Forensic analysis showed the inks used were not available until the 1970s and the handwriting does not match his will. Seweryn Klowoski who was a Polish barber who later poisoned three wives and was hanged in 1903. He was known for his hatred of women and could have been capable. But modern criminologists are doubtful about his guilt as serial killers rarely change a successful method of killing. The last suspect was Prince Albert Victor the son of King Edward VII who has been the subject of many conspiracy theories. In one, the Prince went mad after contracting syphilis from a prostitute. Others suggest he had an illegitimate daughter with a Catholic shopkeeper and Government agents killed those who knew.
I found the article really interesting and I did not know this information before. I find it amazing how Jack the Ripper remained unmasked still do this day and there are theories that Jack the Ripper had died after the murders or perhaps he emigrated or was committed to an asylum. I think that Jack the Rippers identity will never be discovered.

Music Programme

For our music Emilys Dad created the piece, the piece is not copyrighted and we got permission so that we could use the music. The software we used was Cubase Essential 5 which is a music editing software, with the music we was able to mix numerous amounts of different sound like horse shoes, foot steps and different instruments.

Above is an example of a piece that was created using Cubase Essential 5, the programme is similar to Garage band though the programme is more advance and it has a wider variety of sounds. Cubase Essential is a sequel, it is a music editing software that allows the user to choose from more than 5000 loops on more than 600 instruments. This mix of genres, sounds and speeds gives the user an infinite amount of patterns and songs to make. You can then export these songs to ITunes or as a .wav file. There is also the option to perform and mix your songs live.

Epilepsy Warning

In the beginning of our opening we have flashing lights when our production company appears on the screen, when I showed my sister our opening she bought to my attention that we may have to have an warning sign in the beginning of our movie to tell the audience that flashing lights do appear in case of people who may suffer from epilepsy. I knew that some movies had warning signs and some TV programmes like E4. Then I decided to research to see if it was necessary to have the epilepsy warning and what causes an epileptic fit, I used the national society for epilepsy http://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/AboutEpilepsy/Whatisepilepsy/Triggers/Photosensitiveepilepsy Can TVs, computer screens and computer games trigger photosensitive epilepsy? The organisation Ofcom regulates material shown on TV to avoid causing photosensitive seizures. Ofcom restricts the flash rate to 3 flashes or less per second, and restricts the area of screen allowed for flashing lights or alternating patterns.
Because of the size of the screen and the low intensity it is rare for seizures to be triggered by watching films in a cinema, or by hand-held miniature screens.
Interactive whiteboards, sometimes used in schools, have not been found to be a particular trigger for photosensitive epilepsy, although triggers can be individual.
A seizure can sometimes happen by chance while someone is watching TV or playing computer games or watching television, and may be a coincidence. Tiredness brought on by watching the screen for a long time, or excitement when playing computer games, may also be a factor.
Common triggers for people with photosensitive epilepsy include:
-TV, video games or computer graphics - the images that are on the screen;
-a TV or other screen that flickers slowly - the flicker rate of the screen itself;
-strobe lights;
-sunlight coming through a line of trees;
-sunlight on water;
-looking out of the window on a train; and
-looking at a moving escalator.

I found this information very interesting when seeing if the epilepsy warning was necessary, after researching about photosensitive epilepsy I think that our film will need to have a warning as the flashing light appears twice. Above is the Epilepsy warning that we have included in the beginning of our film which lasts for four and a half seconds.

Picture in Picture Transition

In our opening we wanted to add a fade transition to add interest in our opening, though when researching finding a fade in transition appeared to be harder than we expected. Whilst researching we found a video explaining picture in picture which I really liked though we had to drag the picture to the from corner to the opposite corner. On the right hand side is an example of the picture in picture transition, I was very happy with the picture in picture technique as I thought it worked well with our opening as we have a shot of the victim screaming and the newspapers were the headlines are 'Murder' so both of these shots work well together as they tell the audience the victim was murdered.

The video below is what we used to help us to do the picture in picture transition as we did not know how to find it. The video explains where to find the transition, how to do the transition and how to make the two clips work well together with the timing.

The Ripper Drafts (part 2)

Final draft to Ripper

From our last draft we created a warning shot in the beginning of the opening for people who have photosensitive epilepsy to be aware that our film contains flashing images.

Im really happy with our final draft to our opening as I feel that we stuck to our Thriller/Horror genre and we kept our film looking like it was set in 1888. I am really impressed with how far we progressed with our film and how we made improvements to our film and we agreed that we liked the changes.

Ripper Draft 9 and Audience Review

This is our ninth draft of our Ripper opening, from draft eight we changed the credits and we made the music fit the movie more. This is our eleventh draft.:

We are now near the end of the deadline of our openings which means we have to finish our videos soon. I feel really happy with our film and the opening of our production company as the background is extra footage which we filmed the camera, the shot fades black to grey and then to white. I think the background work really well with the production company as it reminds me of a television screen flickering.

I decided to ask my friend to watch the film and give a review from what she thinks we could improve on and what shot she likes. This is a conversion through the internet I had with my friend about our opening.:

I asked my friend whether she thinks if there is anything we could improve on and she said we could improve on the music as it is good towards the murder of the victim however then the music seems to repetitive and the audience get use to the music. Though my friend said that we should keep the strings continuing after the death of the victim, however we should change the volume of the music towards the end so it could either go quieter to make the rest of the film more eerie, though the problem with making the music fade out is that it may seem more like an ending rather than an opening. Or we could make the music go louder and more chromatic this would make the opening seem more intense and dramatic which will bulid the anticipation for the rest of the movie.

This is apart of the conversation where I was discussing with my friend her opinion of what she thinks we should change about the music. My friend said we should make the music go louder in the beginning and then quieter as the victim is walking until she turns around and then when she carries on walking the music will gradually get louder. Until the women is getting murdered the music should be very loud but then the music should suddenly stop. I was thinking about my friends idea I started the imagine how the could make the music go louder or quieter, I then thought when the music suddenly stops as Jack the Ripper is walking away we could have we sound of wind, as the wind is going through his cape. However, my group is now going to have a discussion considering what my friend has said and thinking if the changes would improve our film.

I then asked her what her favourite part was in the opening and she said it was where the victim turns around to check to see if any one was behind her but the camera shows a point of view shot there is no one there and during that shot the music stops for a split second. Then I asked her why that shot was her favourite and she said that the audience could feel her apprehension and she later said that the music worked really well during that shot. Overall, she thought that our opening was really good and she thought it was dramatic, I am very happy that we had a positive feedback through our audience review.

The Ripper Drafts

Throughout the process of editing our opening we have changed many things such as we included different shots, adjusted contrasts and shortened shots. I wanted to show the progression of our opening as we have now finished our final of our opening.

The first draft to Ripper

This clip was from our first lesson editing our opening, we later stabilised the establishing shot as it was very shaky though the camera was on a tripod, we also cut the beginning of the opening scene as there was a jump to the shot. We added a shot of Jacks eyes quickly to scare the audience, as the viewer may only see the outline of his body, this will make them aware that he is watching the woman and that he is Jack the Ripper. We kept the shot reverse shot of the women walking, the first shot shows the woman walking, the next shot shows Jack the Ripper following her and then the last shot in the sequence shows the woman walking who is oblivious that J the R is following her. We had a high angle mid shot of Jack the Rippers feet to show that he is following her. Also, during the time we were editing the opening we thought that we was going to call the film The Silver Knife though later on we decided to change the name as we wanted something to make people more aware that our film is about Jack the Ripper and the Ripper has a harsher tone.

The second draft to Ripper

From the first draft we included new shots and we changed and shortened some other shots we used before. We included a flashback when Jack the Ripper was looking at the different articles this shows the audience that the victim was not the first victim and that she will die. After the flashback we had the victim thinking she heard something and turning around, when she turned around the shot is her point of view however in the final we shortened the point of view shot as it was too long. We also included another flashback of a picture of the victim as this shows that the victims murder was planned, we had another flashback of the newspaper articles saying 'Murder' to show the audience that he is a serial murderer, another flashback we included was Jack the Ripper circling and crossing out the victim to show that she is the target and that she died. We included a wide shot of Jack the Ripper stalking the victim and the knife is glistening, I really loved this shot because it is in night mode Jacks figure is really dark so the knife really stands out. The wide shot in this sequence has changed drastically as in this draft the shot showed the H sign which ruins the 1888 feel, however in the final draft we started the shot later on and we cropped the shot. In this draft the assault and the rape was shown, the assault shows the victim being strangled, slapped and then the rape. In the final draft we decided to make the assault implied as we thought it was too graphic for the audience in the opening and they not want to watch the rest of it. There is a close up shot of the knife which is black and white I really love this shot as the blood is dripping, in the end Jack the Ripper is walking away from the crime scene which shows the victim lying on the ground this shows that she did die. We had an ellipsis shot showing later on in the day with Jack the Ripper targeting the next victim. We did not have any music in this draft so you could hear the director and the sound of cars though in our final we had music which suits for time period.

The third draft to Ripper

This draft has changed a bit from the last draft, we stabilised the establishing shot so the camera was not shaky, we cut a couple of seconds on both of the newspaper clip as we wanted the shot to be a flash. We added some credits like we included the man who played Jack the Rippers name on his top hat and when the turned his head the name disappeared. The point of view shot showing the lamp has been shortened as if the shot was on as long as it was before the audience may be able to see where Jack the Ripper was hidden. The shot of the photograph of the victim is shorter so it seems more like a flash, the flash could represent the short life span that the victim has as she is young. We cropped the wide shot showing the victim and Jack the Ripper following her so the H sign is not in the shot anymore, this makes our film less contemporary. Also, we made the walking in this shot faster as it could be seen as boring and the audience looses interest. We included a shot of Jack the Ripper looking at the picture of the victim on a wall this makes it seem like he is laughing and remembering the murder. We made the shot of Jack the Ripper crossing out the victim slower to make it more dramatic and the close up of the knife we made the colouring red to represent blood and the death of the victim and the other victims. Jack the Ripper walking away from the crime scene is longer to make the scene more dramatic and intense, after the shot of Jack the Ripper circling the next victim we included a shot of Jack the Rippers eyes which is shown near the beginning of the opening. We included the title at the end of the opening as we thought it suited well though in our final version we placed the credits in the beginning as at the end it seems like a trailer.

The fourth draft to Ripper

In draft 4 we made the credits larger as before the credits weren't very big for the actors name and after researching we noticed that hardly any films have the main characters names small. We made the picture of the victim quicker than it was in draft 3 so if the audience blinked during that shot they will miss it. Also, we made the credits last longer as in draft 3 they usually lasted for two seconds.

Fifth draft to Ripper

In this draft we used a fade in transitions for the newspaper clips and we mixed the screaming of the victim with the newspaper clips this makes the opening more interesting and it reminds me of when people feel faint so it could show the victim slipping in to unconsciousness. In this draft we wanted to experiment with different ways we could use credits, we added black screens with our names in red font in the middle of the screen. However, the black screen was only used for James Mansfields name and the rest of the names were where they were before, we decided to do this as his name was not on the screen for the same amount of time.

Sixth draft to Ripper

In draft six we introduced music in to our opening, I really like our music as I feel it suits the theme of our film. However, when adding the music to our video we noticed that some sounds from filming volume has increased so we will have to mute that in the next draft. None of the editing of the camera angles has changed since the last draft though we will have to fit the music to the opening so some sounds will go well with some camera shots which will intensify some scenes.

Seventh draft to Ripper

In this draft we included the production company which was J.E.D.I Productions, in the background was a logo. From the last draft we changed the mid shot of the feets contrast so the shot is more grey so the audience can see the feet and we changed the credits so our names to do appear on a black screen. I really liked the font as it reminded me of Jack the Rippers handwriting in the letters he wrote though in the final draft we changed the font.


Eighth draft to Ripper

In draft eight we changed the production companies name and the shot, we used extra footage and placed the production companies name on the top of the shot. We fitted the music with the opening to the film, I really like when the victim turns around and the music stop for a split second I think this adds fear to the audience. We changed the font that we used in our credits as in this font the names are clearer, though the title of our film is still in the same font as it was before. We made the credits larger and we got rid of the ending of the last draft as with the title of the film the opening seemed more like an ending to a film. Also, we added jobs above our names e.g. Screenplay by
Dominique Shiells Edwards
We made the close up of the knife shot fit in with the music so when there was a ding when the victim is getting crossed of, I really like this shot as I think the music, the shot, the colouring of the shot and the positioning of where we put the shot fits really well.

New Credits to our Opening

We have recently changed our film credits because the font was too small and we wanted to have Screenplay by:........ because it was too long the job and name did not fit in a sentence so we would have to have made the font even more smaller. Though when we tried to press the enter button to go on to the next line it automatically went to the bottom of the screen, we made a group decision that none of us liked the structure of the credits so we decided to change the font.

Using the website http://www.1001fonts.com/ we searched 'Olden' fonts which would suit our opening, we then came across the font below.:

We all really liked the font and thought it would suit our film, thankfully we all agreed that we liked the font and the job and name is now under each other which we wanted the credits to be like.

We named our production company Pandemonium which means chaos, a state of confusion and disorder, which represents the victims feelings of confusion as she thinks someone is following her but she does not see anything and chaos as Jack the Ripper murdered many women but he was never found. We named our movies distributor as Neaveah as it is heaven spelt backwards, we liked the sound of the word and because as it is spelt backwards its seen as confusing which links to pandemonium.

The font is now used for our production companies and our names in the opening.

However, the production companies is in white font to make the name stand out from the background of the shot as the background colours are black and grey.:

I really like the font with the production companies it lasts for four seconds on screen, I like that each word is a different size font.

Though, in our name credits the colour of the fonts is different as it is red because our film was in night mode the opening is dark so we had to use a colour which stands our and red has connotations of death and blood. The credits last for six seconds and I really like the difference size of the job and the names. This is an example of the name credits.:

Shutter Island

I recently went to watch the movie Shutter Island and I was very impressed with the film due to the twist in the end but I thought it was predictable that Teddy the main character was the 67th patient in the mental institute. The storyline and the actors were amazing throughout the film I felt many emotions such as confusion, fear and suprisment
I originally thought that they're continuity errors like when Teddy was taking drugs with a glass of water but in the next shot the glass was not there though due to the twist in the end it was him thinking that he was doing it. I loved that the memories of Teddy was mixed within the film when Teddy was dancing with his wife and he dreamt she was soaked which in the end turned out to be that she drowned her children, bleeding in her stomach as she was shot and the ashes as he believed she died in a fire.
I was confused during the film because I did not know whether the workers played to be the patients, there was a continuity error as when he swam to get his daughter who had drowned and bought her on to land and laid her down which was a wide shot,then the next shot was a close up and then the camera was a wide shot again and the daughter arms were crossed on her chest however Teddy did not cross them and I did not understand the ferry in the beginning did Teddy make it up or did they go on to a ferry.
The film is very clever which makes the movie so intriguing as Teddys name was made up and it was anagram of the murderer and during the film I was terrified at the tunnel scene as it was dark and the audience was waiting for some one to jump out and the camera was hand-held during the films which was shaky which intensified the scene,
I thought the ending of the film was brilliant as the death of Teddy is implied "Would you rather live as a monster or to die as a good man". I recommend the film to anyone as it was a great thriller and it had the audience thinking the whole way through the movie.

Storyboard to our film

This is our original storyboard to our opening of our film.

Researching Production Companies

I have currently been researching production companies and the genre of the film they produce to try and give our group inspiration with names. We wanted to see if there was a connection between the genre the production company produces, the history of the production companies and the name of the production company, we have discussed many names such as, J.E.D.I which is taken from Star Wars and we did not want people to think that our movie is science-fiction.

Below is research of the production company and the movies that they have produced.

Lions Gate Entertainment
The company's roots can be traced back to the original, and now-defunct, Los Angeles-based studio and the Production company who was run by filmmaker Robert Altman in the 1970s, which the director called Lion's Gate Films. Altman named the company for a hometown landmark - Greater Vancouver's Lion's Gate. The term Lion's Gate references the famed Lions Gate bridge. As of 2007, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America. Lions Gate co-produced all of the Saw movies to date with Twisted Pictures. Lions Gate has produced a broad range of films with different genres, American Physco in 2000 and Crash 2004 which are both Thrillers, My Bloody Valentine 3D and The Haunting in Connecticut which are both Horrors, Youth in Revolt which is a comedy. Lions Gate produced many films with many different genres however it seems there are more Thriller and Horrors such as Crash, American Physco, The Haunting in Connecticut, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Teeth, Daybreakers and Drag me to Hell.

Paramount Vantage

Paramount Classics was launched in 1998 and released such art house fare as The Virgin Suicides, You Can Count on Me, Sunshine, Mostly Martha, Winter Solstice, and three Patrice Leconte films (Girl on the Bridge, Man on the Train, Intimate Strangers). In 2006, the Paramount Vantage brand branched off from Paramount Classics, which was relaunched in 2007 as a distributor of smaller, review-driven films including foreign-language acquisitions and documentaries. In 2007, Paramount Vantage co-produced No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood with Miramax Films. It seems that Paramount Vantage produce many Thriller films with horrific scenes such as Babel, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, The Kite Runner, There Will be Blood, Defiance, The Eye, The Duchess and Revolutionary Road.

Twisted Pictures

Twisted Pictures is a production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. It gained wide attention through the production of the Saw series. The Saw Series was co-produced with Lions Gate Entertainment, the Saw series was the highest earned film with Twisted Pictures however they have made other films like Dead Silence, Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Tortured and Chain Letter.

Miramax Films

Miramax Films is an art-house/independent film production company that both produced

and distributed films including foreign films over its 31-year history. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Miramax Films has produced many different genres of films such as Romantic Comedies She's All That and Bridget Jones Diary, the Crime genre like Kill Bill vol. 1 and vol.2 and the Thriller genre such as There will be blood and No Country for Old Men with Paramount Vanatge and Comedy like Adventureland and Smart People. Miramax Films has a very broad range of films and that stands out from the other Production Companies.

After researching Lions Gate Entertainment, Paramount Vanage, Twisted Pictures and Miramax Films I find that most production companies mainly stick to one genre. Lions Gate Entertainment main genre is Thriller, Paramount Vantage main genre is Drama and Twisted Pictures is all horror films. However, Miramax Films is the only production company where I can not see that there is one main genre as all of the films have very broad genres. I have decided that the title of our production company should sound professional and I feel that we should call our production company some thing relevant to the Thriller/Horror genre as we can say that our production company could target many Thriller/Horror films as the popularity of Thriller/Horror films are increasing.

Researching Openings to Thriller/Horror Movies

I have researched openings that are the similar genre to our opening which is Thriller/Horror movies I wanted to see where they had placed there credits, how long the credits lasted, colours of the font and if the writing was it capitals.

The Game

In the beginning the production company is named which is POLYGRAM underneath it says FILMED ENTERTAINMENT and underneath PRESENTS. This shot lasts for four seconds in white writing as the background is a puzzle so the writing stands out. The Presents is smaller than the production company showing that importance of the company. The next shot is writing A PRODUCTION FILMS underneath PRODUCTION 'A' and Production is smaller than the production company showing once again the significance of the company, the pause of the writing is for four seconds again. The next shot is of the Title THE GAME which is paused for four seconds. The background is unraveling the writing in each shot. All of the writing is in capitals and is shown for four seconds this may be because of the two production companies that helped make the movie have equal rights. The actors and the director is shown at the end of the movie. I really liked this opening as I liked the puzzle and that it relates to the title 'The Game' and I liked that everything was in Capitals which makes the writing stand out. However, I feel that the opening did not give me any ideas as it was very contemporary.

The Shining

Warner Bros. Pictures is shown in the opening before the movie begins. In the openings there are many wide shots showing a car driving which gives the idea of a peaceful journey, there is writing superimposed in 1 minute and 20 seconds in to the opening of A STANLEY KIBRICK FILM going from the bottom of the shot moving to the top of the screen the directors name is shown for eight seconds. However, near when Kibricks name is leaving the shot JACK NICHOLSON name appears at the bottom going to the top, the name is on the screen for eight secongs. Even though on the seventh second another name appears SHELLEY DUVALL name appears. The people named is the directors and the main actors in the movie. Next the title of the movie appears still moving to the top of the screen in slightly bigger font. The next names says FEATURING DANNY LLOYD the next six names are different actors. After the actors the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER underneath JAN HARLAN is shown, BASED UPON THE NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING and then the production company THE PRODUCER CIRCLE COMPANY. After the different names SCREEN PLAY BY STANLEY KIBRICK is shown again showing his importance in the film. Each name has the same length of time of the screen. The font is in blue which represents tranquility and calmness which contrasts with the film and all of the writing is in Capitals. I did not like this opening as I thought it was very long however I did like the opening shots of the journey showing the setting.

No Country for Old Men

In the beginning PARAMOUNT VINTAGE underneath AND underneath MIRAMAX FILMS and underneath PRESENT the shot is black screen with white writing in Capitals for four seconds. The next shot has the title of the movie in Capitals on a black screen in white writing for four seconds. I really liked the simplicity of the opening and I think that we could try and use an opening like this as it is not too modern and it seems traditional.

Researching Credits to Opening of Films

In class today we watched seven different openings to films such as Babel, Derailed, The Bourne Identity, In Bruges, The Life of David Gale, The Mexican and Angels and Demons. We was looking at the where the credits appeared, if the production companies and the films associations appeared before the title of the film. Also, to give us an idea as to where our credits should appear as when editing our film our credits appear at the end which makes the opening seem more like a trailer.

Babel

In the opening of Babel it first appears with two of the production companies such as Paramount Pictures and in another shot saying presents showing that the next shot will be the title. The screen is then black with white writing which makes the title stand out the title is paused for an average of four to eight seconds. The production companies appears on the centre of the shot, presents appears on the left and then the title appears on the right of the screen. When the title appears there is a sound bridge of some one walking. I really liked the opening to Babel as placing the writing around the shots keeps the audience waiting and the sound bridge with the title makes the audience impatient as to show where the setting is. I think in our opening we could use this type of opening as we could also have the sound bridge as our music as the church bells and horse trotting in the beginning.

Derailed

The opening sections shows Miramax Films the technical name of the production companies, the next shot has A film by Mikael Hafstrom who is the director of the film. In the next shot the names of the 'main' actors appear on the screen, first Clive Owen name appears as he plays the main
character the music finally kicks in during his name. Then in the next shot Jennifer Aniston name appear on the opposite side of the screen. The title of the film then appears on the screen. In the next shot then has the name of three actors underneath each other on the bottom right side Georgina Chapman, Denis O'Hare, Tom Conti this shows that the three actors do not as significant characters. I really liked how the opening did not just say directed by Mikael Hafstrom and Starring Clive Owen etc. By the way the names are structured shows that they are important.

The Bourne Identity

The production company appears before the film has started Universal Pictures, the next shot has a sound bridge of wind and rain as superimpose writing is used showing the location over top of the shots and the opening continues. The title of the film then appears however, it does not say the actors or the director in the opening of the film. I do not like the opening and I do not feel like we could use this opening as an inspiration to our credits as in the opening of the Bourne Identity there is a lot of action and the title in the middle of the opening slows the pace of the opening and it leaves the audience wanting to watch more, but our opening is slow pace as the sudden titles may leave the audience bored and loose their attention.

In Bruges

The production company appears in the beginning of the opening on a black screen Focus Features on the bottom left hand side of the screen and then the company appears in the next shot. The next three shots each show different associations in between each association is a short clip of the movie showing the setting. The shots has a sound bridge of a piano playing and over the top of the piano is a voice over as the shot is a black screen with the Title which can represent a person being unconscious and as it is a black screen it makes the audience focus on what the characters are saying. I really liked this opening as the title is at the end of the opening in which we originally wanted to do. However, in our opening we are telling a story establishing the rest of the film but In Bruges shots are close ups of monumental objects establishing the setting.

The Life of David Gale

Straight in to the opening is a black screen showing the title of the movie. The title of the movie is paused for an average of five to ten seconds. I think that the opening suits this film as the film seems like a documentary by the title and that is what documentaries usually have. I do not think we could use this technique in our opening as it is too contemporary.







The Mexican

This film is a Dreamworks production which appears in the beginning of the film. The opening starts with association on two separate shots on the bottom left corner in white font. Then the title appears in red which could represent death, love or passion. I did not like the opening as I did not think it was that effective and as the production company was Dreamworks I thought that the film was happy but there was a car crash. The opening did not show the genre of the film which our film does. Also, the credits were very contemporary as the setting of traffic lights was shown and the actors names and director is shown later in the movie.


Angels and Demons

The production company is shown in the beginning Imagine Entertainment and in the next shot another production company is named Skylark Productions. In three separate shots three production companies are named and in between the superimpose shots are pan shots of objects which may be to do with the film. The next shot is of the title of the movie in front of a clip in the movie. I found the opening boring however, it did relate to our opening as we originally had superimpose of our names in front of our clips. However, watching this opening I discovered that with the title and names in front of clips it is very distracting.

All the credits lasted for an average of 4-10 secs all gave time to see the titles. My general observation was that most of the titles appeared on black screens and that sound bridges were used mainly when the screen was black. Most of the films were by Universal Productions which could show the similarity of the openings.

Film Draft with Music

We have now added music to our draft, we have had some complications with our opening as some of our shots and music has appeared differently on http://www.youtube.com. Such as in the movie there is a slight pause on the video which did not appear on the Imovie, we recently got an audience review from our teacher and she did not like the silence as it loses tension and impact to the opening. The pause is too misleading as when there is a pause in a movie the audience immediently thinks that there will be a scary part where some one kidnaps a person, even though the scene is about Jack the Ripper stalking the victim. I am very pleased with the outcome of the music and the draft and that they fit well together. I really like signature tune of the church bells and the sound of the horses. We still have to make changes to the sound and editing.

The Yorkshire Ripper News

When researching The Yorkshire Ripper the Times Newspaper has recently written on their Crime Blog that the Peter Sutcliffe (Yorkshire Ripper) wants to get an early release. On the newspaper a victims Mother said that she believes that Sutcliffe should never be released, however there has recently been reports from Sutcliffe physcologist saying that Sutcliffe kept hearing voices as a 'medical report written by Sutcliffe's psychiatrist Dr Kevin Murray in 2006, they argued that the killer should not have been convicted of murdering either Barbara or any of his 12 other acknowledged victims because he was too mentally ill to be responsible for his actions.' This is a medical report from Sutcliffe physcologist. After reading the article I was very annoyed at the physcologist as Sutcliffe murdered people and I believe that he should not be released. The victims Mother said a statement in which I agree with '“I don’t believe any of that guff about him hearing voices, he just got his kicks out of killing people,” said Mrs Leach. “He will never be safe to to released, even if he manages to convince the psychiatrists and psychologists.” The counter argument between the physcologist and the Mother shows the different ideas about Sutcliffes state of mind during the murders. The article is from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7045570.ece which gives the full details of the attempt to release Sutcliffe.

The Yorkshire Ripper

Recently in the newspapers and news broadcasting channels there have been many stories about the Yorkshire Ripper who I originally knew was a 'copy cat' Jack the Ripper but I never knew a lot about the Yorkshire Ripper so I decided to research him.

When I was researching the Yorkshire Ripper there are differences as the Yorkshire Ripper got caught which led the police to his name which is Peter Sutcliffe. Whereas, Jack the Ripper never got caught this shows the development in Modern Forensic Technology as Sutcliffe was convicted of murder in 1981. Below is a picture of Peter Sutcliffe 'The Yorkshire Ripper'.:

I was very interested in the Yorkshire Ripper as I initally thought that the Yorkshire Ripper wanted to murder women to be like Jack the Ripper, however according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe Sutcliffe murdered women as he had a hatred towards them 'Sutcliffe frequented prostitutes as a young man and it has been speculated that a bad experience with one (during which he was allegedly conned out of money) helped fuel his violent hatred against women' When re-reading this statement I was very confused as Sutcliffe had a wife so I was confused how he could hate women. Sutcliffe murdered thirteen women, he mostly hit his victims over the head with a hammer, then stabbed them and sometimes he would slash the victims stomachs. In 1975 the first two assaults Sutcliffe assaulted but did not murder two women 'Sutcliffe committed his first documented assault on the night of 5 July 1975 in Keighley. He attacked 36 year old Anna Rogulskyj who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a ball-peen hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbour, he left without killing her. Rogulskyj survived after extensive medical intervention but was emotionally traumatised by the attack.
Sutcliffe attacked 46 year old Olive Smelt in Halifax in August. He used the same modus operandi, striking her from behind and using a knife to slash her, though this time above her buttocks. Again he was interrupted, and left his victim badly injured but still alive. Like Rogulskyj, Smelt suffered emotional scars from the attack, including clinical depression. On 27 August, Sutcliffe attacked 14 year old Tracy Browne in Silsden. He struck her from behind and hit her on the head five times while she was walking in a country lane. Sutcliffe was not convicted of this attack, but confessed to it in 1992.' This may represent that Sutcliffe did not want to originally murder women. The most horrifying murder I found was 'A murder in Chapeltown, claiming his youngest victim, 16 year old Jayne MacDonald, on 26 June. She was not a prostitute. In the public perception her death showed that every woman was a potential victim.' I found this awful as he murdered a girl to show that he would murder anyone even though he mainly murdered prostitutes. Below is a list of the murders and the victims.:

The first murder was Wilma McCann in 1975 who died at the age of 28. In 1976 Emily Jackson aged 42. In 1977 Irene Richardson died at the age of 28, Patricia Atkinson died at 32, Jayne MacDonald died at 16, Jean Jordan died at 20. In 1978 Yvonne Pearson aged at 21, Helen Rytka died at 18 and Vera Millward died at 40. In 1979 Josephine Whitaker died at 19, Barbara Leach died at 20. In 1980 Marguerite Walls died at 47 and Jacqueline Hill died at 20.Most of the murders took place within West Yorkshire which leads to his name 'The Yorkshire Ripper'. However, victim six and nine were murdered in the South West. Below is a map showing where the murders took place.

Font Research

As our film is based in 1888 we found it very hard to find a font which suits the time period we are trying to capture and to try and find a font which we feel as an element of fear. We searched through many different fonts using iMovie, however we felt that there was none that we felt suited our film except from Papyrus. We then decided to download other fonts we may be able to use this website http://www.1001freefonts.com/. Using this website we downloaded a variety of fonts that appealed to us and we thought that would suit our film. Even though we later saw that the fonts looked different such as the S looked like an F and when we viewed the fonts with our films we felt that some of them were too contemporary for our film. Below is the fonts that we researched and our original fonts for our credits:.

The font Papyrus from iMovie is what we was going to use this font originally. However, In our opening we changed the colour is red is symbolise blood and death as our film is in night mode as well we need our font to stand out from the shots. Our initial idea was to have this font as it seemed like a knife could of been seen to have been used, we felt that this did not suit the movie as there was no explanation as to why we wanted this particular font in our opening and it seemed too contemporary, so we decided not to use the font in our final of Ripper.

We downloaded the font A Charming Font from the website above, we really liked this font as it is really creepy and scary. I really like that the letters overlap.However, the font is too contemporary and too Gothic as it seems it is more relevant to a vampire or a horror movie instead of a thriller/horror. When we saw the font in our opening it did not seems to suit the film and it did not fit with the emotions and plot.

We liked the font Arrr Matey as it reminded us of the Olden writing in 1888. I really liked that the capital letter is bigger than than the rest of the word and it is placed in the middle. However, it seems like it should be in a pirate film so it does not fit in with the style of our opening.

Originally, we all really liked the font Slammer Tag as it seemed like it could of been carved with a knife and it seems very creepy as the letters are overlapped in which I really like the technique of as it seems rushed and reminds me of a murder. When we experimented with the font on our opening we felt it did suit the context but the 'E' seems too modern, so we then decided not to use this font.

The font Deportees I found very scary and it reminds me of horror movie credits. The font seems like it as been craved which we all found very interesting and we agreed that it may look good with our film. However, when we used the credits we felt that it was too contemporary and as our opening is of a women walking and Jack the Ripper stalking her, the font seemed to scary for an opening which is trying to dramatise and build tension.

The font Nerd Proof reminds me of the credits from Saw and the font reminds me of the credits from Horror movies as it seems intimidating and creepy. I do not think that this font suits our film as it seems too scary and it suits more of horror movies like Saw and Blair Witch Project and it seems too contemporary.

The font Rap Jack is very similar to Slammer Tag only bolder which is why I think it caught our attention. The font seems like it has been carved which reminds me of murder. However, it seems too contemporary and childlike, so we decided not to use the font in our opening of our two minute film.

I really like the font Pillar Opaque as it seems very Olden and it seems like it has been written in fountain pen. Originally in our credits we wanted to make blood droplets in the background of the title or to make the title seem that it was written in blood, we felt that this font seemed like there was blood around the title. We then thought that the writing seemed too olden for the film, when we added the font to the opening we really liked the effect as when Jack the Ripper turns his head the shadow of the title was still there. But sadly it did not fit in with the historical context of the film so we decided not to make the font the title.

Finally, we found a font that we all agreed suited our film and we all thought it looked good with our opening as it suited the social historical context of our film. We also thought that this font suited Jack the Ripper hand-writing which is shown on the right which is a letter from Jack the Ripper to the head of police. This is the font that we have decided to use in the opening but we will change the colouring to red so it will stand out in the opening.