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I have really enjoyed this year and I have learnt a lot about preparing and making a film.
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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.