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.