Analysis of Tv Drama Whitechapel opening

Whitechapel is a thriller/crime TV drama which is previewed on ITV1. Being a TV drama it differs a great deal from the opening of a thriller film however we thought it would be an effective opening to analyse. Each episode is split into a 2 part episode and the opening change every fortnight depending on the case. They all begin with a black background with cream coloured writing stating the name on the programme 'Whitechapel.' The writing itself looks very similar to an old fashioned typewriter. It also flickers making it looked like it is filmed on real film this could be closely related to the significance of Whitechapel, as it is closely related with Jack the Ripper. The shot then changes to a close up of the spanish fly beetle crawling around barbed wire, then cuts to another close up of these dead under a very old fashioned style magnifying glass. It then progress' to a shot of a woman asleep lying very still and rigid, almost as if she is dead with her hands crossed over her chest, and a man slithering over her, to get on top of her. The shot then goes to the same writing as the beginning to show one of the cast' names. The shot is then of a document with two old fashioned looking gentlemen's pictures. One of whom is H.H.Holmes, a serial killer from the end of 1800's, but the shot is in and out of focus making the actual writing difficult to read. There is then a quick cut to a shot of a butchers cleavers being slammed down by a blood covered hand, the shot then changes to another photograph which consists of a what appears to be  Jack the Ripper related, of a man all in black stalking a women dressed in white titled 'Whitechapel Mystery.' The colours of the 2 costumes can connote the contrasting differences between the women in white and her purity and vulnerability, and the man in black and his mysteriousness and evil. The following shot is of a hand taking a green coloured liquid from a beaker into a modern looking needle, this is a parallel difference to the surrounding vials of other liquids which have a very victorian look to them. This is then followed by a still of a book chapter titled 'Marquis de sade.' The shot used is a tilt. This adds to the confusion and mystery, closing tying in with the genre. There is a transition from the book chapter being in colour, to it then being in the effect of negative. It then cuts back to the cast' names and as before is in the same home style font. The next shot is an old looking book with the main image of a common fox. The shot zooms in on the fox' face, the shot is very sharp and grabs the attention of the audience. The next shot is distorted and unfocused but you can just about make out the bottle full of the same green liquid as shown in the earlier shot. The same hand that was using the butchers cleaver is seen in the next shot, still covered in blood but he is trying to clean some blood off of a sheet; the whole of this shot is seen through a half closed door which again adds to the mystery part of the genre as the audience what to know what happened and why. After this shot, the same liquid bottles as before are seen again with a pastor and mortar; this gives the whole shot an old apothecary feel to it. The remaining casts' names are shown, then a quick cut to a sewage pipe, the shot used for this scene is a POV shot, the shot is unusual as it is shot from and animals point of view and by the early indications it is likely to be a fox after this the screen fades to black and the program begins. 
Through out the whole opening credits there is no diagetic sound used, only non diagetic, e.g soundtrack and  SFX. The soundtrack used is a piano which plays the high notes of the melody and the violin playing along side, the music its self reminds me of something from the Victorian era and complements the pictures. Also using this it give the audience a chance to focus on to the images on the screen. The only SFX used are the slithering noise which accompanies the shot of the man hovering over the lady and a distorted sound throughout some scenes. 
Overall the opening is effective as it leaves the audience in the dark about the actually plot line but through the pictures it does foreshadow certain events. The opening is shot with dark lighting as it adds to the eeireness of the program and has the effect of wanting the audience to almost lift that darkness to see what lies beneath.    

Still shot of cast names'

Still of the title

Still of the negative effect

      

Mood Board

For our Mood Board we selected images relating to the type of Thriller we will be producing. We chose images with a stalker theme, and images with hidden identity as we think this is an effective way of creating suspense.

Animatic

This is our animatic. It shows our opening of our Thriller, in the version of a storyboard. It shows the scenes we will be shooting. Under the images we have included a brief description of camera shots, dialogue and diegetic and non diegetic music.

Preliminary Task

This is our preliminary task, in this we showed the basic camera techniques such as shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule.

shot reverse shot

Shot A

Shot B

Shot C

Short reverse shot is mainly used when filming a conversation between two characters or an interaction of two objects. These alternate between each other. Shot A shows the dialogue and shot B shows the recipient.

Match on Action

This shot requires precise timing and is very difficult to achieve, if it was not precise the door would be opening twice. Match on Action is when two shots that are connected are cut together where the characters action is finished in shot B that began in Shot A.


The 180 Degree rule

This is the basic guideline for camera shots. The rule says that two characters/elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. The camera should not pass over the imaginary line, the shot will become a reverse angle which would strange.