The Ripperologists

I found this book review about Jack the Ripper called "The Ripperologists" and I thought it was quite interesting research and they try to rein act the murders of Jack the Ripper:

"The Ripperologists" is a contemporary thriller about two competing experts who are forced to work together to beat the clock when a copycat serial killer begins recreating Jack the Ripper's 1888 murder spree.

"I really enjoyed it. Most entertaining and showed a great insight into 'Ripperworld' - a strange and unique place." Stewart P. Evans (author, "Jack the Ripper: Letters From Hell" and "The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion")
Famous mystery novelist Barbara Thomas -- who has once again topped the best-seller lists, this time with a new, nonfiction book she claims reveals, once and for all, the true identity of Jack the Ripper -- is paired with legendary Ripperologist Henry McHugh, a renowned and beloved expert in the field.

Brought together by an eager police detective, the two rivals must put aside their differences long enough to piece together the identity of a killer who has ingeniously recreated Jack the Ripper's first murder -- and looks to be well on his way to re-committing the next four.

With wit and suspense -- and set against the backdrop of the fascinating subculture of Ripperologists -- the story takes equal stabs at the disparate worlds of publishing, Ripper studies, fan conventions, and Internet chatrooms, as our two unlikely heroes employ their (often contrary) knowledge of a 120-year-old phantom to hunt down a modern killer.

Jack the ripper documentary

Here is a documentary about Jack the Ripper:

Jack the Ripper

Our group has decided to base our 2 minute film on Jack the Ripper as it is a true story and a thriller and it interests all of us. Michaela even found a tour that we could go on to discover more about the location and set and to where we can film our film...here is the link:
http://www.jack-the-ripper-walk.co.uk/

http://www.casebook.org/intro.html
"Jack the Ripper" is the popular name given to a serial killer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. The name originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the killer published at the time of the murders. The killings took place within a mile area and involved the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate, and the City of London proper. He was also called the Whitechapel Murderer and "Leather Apron."

It is unclear just how many women the Ripper killed. It is generally accepted that he killed five, though some have written that he murdered only four while others say seven or more. The public, press, and even many junior police officers believed that the Ripper was responsible for nine slayings. The five that are generally accepted as the work of the Ripper are:

Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols, murdered Friday, August 31, 1888.
Annie Chapman, murdered Saturday, September 8, 1888.
Elizabeth Stride, murdered Sunday, September 30, 1888.
Catharine Eddowes, also murdered that same date.
Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly, murdered Friday, November 9, 1888.

Besides these five there are good reasons to believe that the first victim was really Martha Tabram who was murdered Tuesday, August 7, 1888, and there are important considerations for questioning whether Stride was a Ripper victim. As to the actual number of women that the Ripper killed, Philip Sugden wrote in his excellent book, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper, "There is no simple answer. In a sentence: at least four, probably six, just possibly eight."

All five of these listed plus Tabram were prostitutes and were killed between early August and early November 1888. All but Tabram and Kelly were killed outdoors and there is no evidence to suggest that any of them knew each other. They varied in both age and appearance. Most were drunk or thought to be drunk at the time they were killed.

This research can help our group to decide what kind of characters our film is going to include and the time period that these murders took place. However we might decide to do a modern take on this story as it will be easier to film and we have loads of ideas.

I have also found a link to a film that was made: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074408/

Thrillers

I researched some of the thrillers from 2009 that are still out at the cinema and there are quite a few, such as: Sorority Row, Whiteout and A Perfect Getaway. All of these films look really appealing and the music used really sets the genre. I have seen 'A Perfect Getaway' and it was really good, but quite slow to begin with. Looking at these films has given me some ideas for the film that we make and I definately think it is the right choice to make a thriller. If the music is just made to be eary and misterious, then it will introduce the genre well. Here is the trailer for Sorority Row and as you can see it begins with a graduation cermony which is a good way to introduce the film.

Today we were discussing what genre we are going to do for our 2 minute film. There were a variety of ideas such as chick flick, Rom Coms, comedy and thriller. Out of these ideas I personally would like to do a thriller, as there are lots of ideas that can be developed and I feel that there would be a lot more we can do with this genre in terms of camera shots. However some of us would like to do a comedy and although I think it would be good to do this, because it is something different, I think it is hard to show what genre it is in the amount of time we have to film. I also think that we could be thinking too much about making the film funny instead of concentrating on the important parts.