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.:

Screams

In the two minute opening the assault scene is implied and we were going to have music played over the top of the opening and we may have the church bells. However, I defiantly think we should include the woman screaming which we could do using an external microphone. I feel the scream should be placed in the opening when the assault scene is taking place and the camera could cut away of the road name 'Chapel Street' which is as seen on our preliminary exercise, if we did use this shot we would have to edit the shot using iMovie to darken the shot to make it seem like it is at night.

Another idea is to have a wide shot of the assault taking place and the scream can then be in that shot or we could include the scream to a cut away close up shot to the blood on the pavement and the blood will pour on to the pavement which represents death and it alerts the audience. The scream will dramatise the opening and it shows the victims fear. This is an example of a women screaming in which we could use.:

The Church Bells

This is the sound of Church Bells in which our group was thinking about including in our two minute opening:

The sound of the Church Bells would make the opening dramatic as the loudness of the bells is spine chilling and intimidating. The use of the church bells would fit in with the movie as there was the White Chapel Church near where the murders took place. The irony of the church bells which is leading up to the assault scene which is death and religion. The use of the bells could represent Jack the Ripper's feelings about the murders as he believed that he was right, it could be seen that he was playing the role of God as he decided when the victims will die, as Jack the Ripper was thought to be a surgeon and he helped save life's.
The Church Bells could be used when the victim is walking as there is juxtaposition as she has just finished her job as she is a prostitute and religion. The Church Bells will fade as the assault gets nearer as it will create tension and drama.

Footsteps and the Knife

Even though we decided that we will have music in our two minute film, we did consider having other sounds. We have to also think about the fact that our music may overpower the other sounds, so we would have to think about where to place the alternative sounds and when to lower the music.
These are the sounds that I have been considering adding.:

Footsteps

In one shot of our opening we have a close up of Jack the Ripper's feet which shows that he is going to go after the victim. I have been thinking that we should develop the music, such as a piano could be playing in the opening which gives a feeling of the film being tranquil and that the victim feels safe. Then the noise of the footsteps will alert the audience to danger. If we do decide to use footsteps it will not have to be that loud in the beginning. However, the noise will have to continue as the victim is walking but the music will also be developing maybe in to violins. This will be a slight problem that we will have to think about.

Knife

We have a quick shot of the assault scene and Jack the Ripper picking up the knife, so the knife sound will not suit this particular part of the opening. However, the knife sound may suit the newspaper flashes and the quick flashes which implies the murder. However, I do not know how we could make a stabbing noise, if it would suit the story at that point of the story and if the music develops how the sound could overpower the music. As all of the anticipation is leading up to the murder in the opening if the sound will be effective or if the music is better for the opening.

Editing- Implied Assault

Whilst we were filming we decided to add an assault scene which consists of stabbing which is not graphic as it is a point of view shot from the knife slashing the throat, we also had a rape scene where Jack the Ripper put his hand up the victims dress as it was believed he also raped some of his victims and some abuse shots where Jack is slapping, strangling and he also trips over the victim so she falls on the floor. Whilst filming we thought that adding these shots will be good and useful as it will give our film drama and we had in mind that horror and thriller films always have gore and horror.

Se7en- Trailer

However, after watching Se7en we realised that you can make a good thriller movie which does have implied horror. Whilst we were editing we decided that we would not have the assault shots as we believe that the shots were too graphic, which would make the viewer feel uncomfortable and I think it will make the viewer dislike the film as well if in the opening their is a rape and assault scene it will seem that the film will only get more violent. Also, if we did include the assault scene I feel that we would not have stuck with our storyline which was J the R stalking a women and he then murders her which was going to be implied. Also, the rape scene contradicted our research as their has never been proof of Jack the Ripper raping his victims and we only focused on the murders which we are suppose to be re-create the story of J the R and making it come alive on screen.

However, even though we decided not to use the rape or assault scene and make it implied we have decided to add a shot where Jack the Ripper is on top of the Victim and he picks up his knife and it looks like he is cutting out her internal organs. Even though this is not implied we feel that it gets the audience sitting on the edge of their seat, with the fear and the vulnerability of the victim is radiating of the screen which makes it so effective. With the use of this shot if the audience imagine how the victim is murdered it is horrible and spine chilling.

The ending of the film shows a photograph of the 'next victim' I originally thought that it was a good ending as we could carry on the story. After researching other movies I am going to discuss with my group that instead of ending our film like that we should use our shot we filmed of the close up and point of view of J the R shot of the victim screaming as I feel that it will be a good ending and it will be memorable as the audience would not be able to forget about it. After the victim screaming we could use the opening title of the film like Scary Movie as in my opinion it would be a very dramatic ending.

Ideas for the Name of our Film

In our group we have been trying to think of names that suit our Jack the Ripper themed two minute film. We came up with many ideas such as The Silver Knife which Jack the Ripper was known for. However, I am not sure about this name as I do not think that the viewer will know it symbolises Jack the Ripper and in our film we have a shot of the knife and 'blood' dripping of it we edited that shot so it is red, so Silver Knife would not fit in to the opening. Also, we came up with 1988 which is the year that the murders took place, but with this title I do not think it is catchy and I feel that if we named our film after the year we would need to explore the year more in depth to show how crime scenes were handled and we would need to get the historical context to do the name justice.
I recently watched Scary Movie it is a comedy film which mocks horror films as I was watching it I was amazed by how brilliant the title shot was and as I showed my group they also liked it.

Scary Movie

The film title is shown on 4.22 - 4.28. I like how there is a low angle shot before the titles of the murderer which shows his power in this stituation and a high angle shot of the victim showing her vulnerability. I like how the slash of the knife fits in with the sound which is a knife slashing. I love the editing of the shot as the titles are immediantly after the slash and the jump cut. I also like how the colouring of the text changes such as the text is white, then the red border over the white text and then red text. Also, I think how atmospheric the titles are and they also seem 3D when the text blurs and goes closer to the screen.

I was wondering if we could try and explore how my group could make our own ideas. I was thinking of getting fabric and ripping it for the sound over the titles as we are thinking about naming our movie Ripped or The Ripper, so I feel the sound will fit in with the name. I was also thinking about using the slashing as our opening titles but how we have edited our film so far it will not fit in and our film is also implied.

I will be looking out for other films and how they edit their credits to gain border ideas and knowledge about titles.

Problems with our Film

When our group uploaded our film on to Imovie we were all disappointed with the outcome of the film due to many reasons but there also good shots such as the assault scene as there was a hand held shot which looked very effective and makes the audience tense. Our group was also very impressed with the acting as Michaela Carberry who played the victims and James Mansfield who played Jack the Ripper were very professional, took both their parts very seriously and got in to character.
Although we did have problems such as the lighting as the shots were all dark and you could hardly see the actors. The torches were not effective as there were still hardly any light and it looked really unrealistic as the street lamp light was high angle whilst the torches were low angle and they were both different light colours, brightness and they did not look effective. Whilst we re-shoot we will overcome this problem by using night mode on the camera which we were not aware of before, or we will point the camera on to the direction of the light.
Also, what we have learnt is that we all need to work as a team more as we left Emily to direct and we did not have any discussions about the camera shots, angles or how the shots looked as we rushed to get the finished product and we did not stick to our story board as well as should of therefore we did not have a variety of camera shots or angles to choice from. We also had a huge issue with the battery life on our cameras as we charged it the night before but the battery dies so quickly, to resolve these problems we will charge the night before and the morning of the day we are re-shooting.
Our group decided to re-shoot our two minute film as we felt that we were unprepared.
Next time we will talk about each shoot and see if we are all happy with it, we have all decided we will take turns to film and we will leave record on for a longer time and we will try different camera angles and shots to make there be a broader selection for editing and our two minute film. We also decided that if we had the same problems that we did with the first filming we will re-shoot for a third time but hopefully we will have good footage that we need. We will also be filming other scenes on different days encase we forget anything.

This is the re-shooting schedule:

Tuesday- Re-shooting:

5.00pm - 6.30pm: Filming in the Conference Room (Newspaper Scene)
6.50pm - 8.30pm: Filming Gentleman’s Road, Enfield Offices and Archway (Walking and Assault Scene)

Wednesday- Uploading and editing

First Filming Friday 6th November 2009

Friday after school our group decided to meet at 6pm at school till 9.30pm. We filmed the majority of our film but there were many problems such as we did not anticipate the heavy rain the whole time we were on set.

As we arrived on to set we all knew it was heavily raining and it was really cold but we decided to film knowing the conditions but we thought it may add to the thriller/horror effect of the film. However, with the rain we found it really hard and uncomfortable as Michaela’s hair was already wavy but throughout the film it got straighter as it got wet and it may have not looked correct due to the transition and we did not film in order of our storyboard.

We decided to film shoot the main section of our film first where Jack the Ripper is following his victim as they are walking through the alley. The alley had many street lamps that we wanted to include but we all thought that the lighting was well lit on the actors throughout the scene but through the camera you could hardly see anything, luckily we bought torches with us but then there were two different types of light as one as white and very bright which was the torches and the street lamp was yellow and bright. Therefore, we decided to use both the street lamps and the torches purely hoping it would look okay when we upload the filming.

We then decided to film the assault scene, I was very happy how well the actors dealt with the assault scene as there is implied 'rape' and they kept very professional. There was more lighting in this location in comparison to the alley as there was a lamp in front and back behind the archway. The only problem with the assault shot was we had to stay very close to the opening of the archway as there was only a bit of shelter. With the assault scene there were a few injuries such as Michaela bruising her wrist and James the male lead actor cutting his finger as we had to use a knife as a main prop in a part of the shot.

I feel that we defiantly picked a hard night to film due to the rain and everyone felt uncomfortable and we was prepared but not as much as we should of been.

I feel that the shot did go well but were all really nervous when it comes to uploading our film as we were not sure how it turned out. With editing and the clip adjustments our clips may off been okay. If it was not we would have to film the whole shot again to make sure that the transitions is good.