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.

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.

The Assault Scene

Originally, our group thought that having an assault scene would suit our opening and it would add more tension and drama to the opening. However, when we was editing our film we decided to have the assault scene implied as it leaves more to the audience imagination and the audience will want to find out what happened to the victim and watch the film. Having the assault scene implied it is possible to have the age certificate as a 15 as it has horror and violence, our film can then reach to a wider audience in comparison to if our opening contained the assault/rape scene it would have to of been an 18.
This is the assault/rape scene in which we have decided to cut on our opening.:

Watching the assault scene we all decided it was too graphic which it did not need to be in the opening as the opening is suppose to entice the audience and in thriller films the opening is suppose to introduce the story and build up the tension and drama for the audience to want to watch the film. Watching the assault scene I also released that we did not stick to the 180 degree rule as it was our first time filming.
I am very glad that we cut the assault scene from the opening as I feel in a thriller film there is always that one moment which sticks in the audience's mind and I do not want the most gripping scene in the opening as the audience may not watch the rest of the movie.