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.