2. Question 1
“In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real life
media products?”
3. Inspiration
Our thriller, which is called Deceit, is strongly
influenced by Scandinavian noir and gritty film
thrillers such as The Bridge and Essex Boys. We aimed
to create the cold, gritty ambience that both these
media productions strongly consist of.
The BridgeEssex Boys
4. Location
The location we used for our media product “Deceit” is
similar to other thrillers. We used a house and the
driveway in Poringland, a typical English suburban area
that draws similarities to the scene in Kill Bill Vol. 1
(pictured below) where the main character, “The Bride”,
goes to her enemy’s house in the suburbs and a fight
evolves in the middle of the day. Suburban areas are also
used in the opening scene of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.
5. Characters
There are 4 characters in our
media product. Each of them are
different types of young persons,
and they all have a role in the
storyline of our media product.
6. Nature Brown
Nature Brown is a colourful
personality, which is reflected in her
clothes. The bright pink hair and her
comfortable, but colourful outfit
gives the impression that she is a
strong, flamboyant female that is not
afraid to be seen. Her way of speaking
is effortless and natural, and she
does not seem like any typical
teenager. She is the opposite of the
victim (Anna) whom is quiet and
insecure without her phone. The name
is partly inspired by Nature herself
and the main character in Jackie
Brown.
7. Anna Flones
The victim, Anna Flones, is a typical teenage
girl who feels absolutely dependent on her
social media, and therefore feels panic if her
phone is out of her reach. She is superficial,
fashionable, and wealthy. When arriving to
Nature`s house, she has absolutely no idea of
what to expect. Her fixation on her phone makes
her an easily targeted victim.
8. Victor Neal
Victor Neal is a typical troubled teeanger, the
kind of type that is always involved in some kind
of dodgy happenings, and is often associated with
drugs, vandalism and rather suspicious social
groups. His name is of latin origin and means "he
who conquers". He plans to kidnap Anna with Bill's
help, because her parents are very important
people who could help them out financially via
blackmailing.
Victor wears dark, plain, and comfortable clothes
such as sweats and hoodie, but occasionally buys
more expensive pieces pf clothing to impress his
friends. His parents named him Victor because they
are a family of winners.
His parents expect him to be victorious in
whatever he does,despite his strong sense of
apathy.
9. Bill James
The last character that the audience is
introduced to is Bill James. Little is
shown by his appearance, as he is
wearing dark clothing and never display
his face. However, he is operating on
the wrong side of the law, as he aims
to abduct Anna. Victor is eager to
impress Bill by involving in the crime
which will hopefully result in some
sort of monetary gain. The two
characters are similarly dressed in
black, an indication to what fate they
have in front of them.
10. Costumes
For my character in the thriller, whom is
the first victim, I have chosen to wear a
grey coat, black dress and red boots. The
colour of the shoes is mostly to hint to
whom is going to be murdered in the
thriller sequence, but also to make a
contrast in the shot where you can see the
victim`s feet as she is showed into the
boot. The brand of the boots are Doc
Martens, a well known British brand which
emphasises that this thriller is of British
origin. The colour of the dress hints to
the character`s destiny as she is going to
be assaulted and kidnapped.
11. Red is a significant colour in thriller films. It
symbolises both passion and love as well as murder and
crime. The use of red in the thriller that we are making
is for giving the audience a strong colour, a contrast to
they grey weather and grim environment around the house.
12. Props and objects
Contemporary youth nowadays tend to be over-reliant
on their mobile phone. They always have a mobile
phone with them. A phone is what Anna is going back
to the car to look after, and Victor uses his phone
to keep in touch with his partner in crime.
Screenshot from our thriller
13. We have also used a car, which is a quite common prop
used in thriller motion pictures. Having a victim in the
boot is seen in thriller productions such as Jackie
Brown, Salamander and Kill Bill Vol 1.
The Bride with
her hostage in
the car boot
in Kill Bill
Vol. 1
The victim found in
the boot in the
Flemish crime series
Salamander
14. Here are screenshots from our thriller
where we have used the car. Anna is
seen trying to look for her phone, and
then she is attacked and stored in the
car boot.
15. Score and soundtrack
In motion pictures soundtrack can do a
great deal to the ambience of a scene.
In our thriller opening we wanted a
sound that could create suspense and
thrill but at the same time not be too
dominating in the scenes. We found the
track we used via SoundCloud. Our
inspiration when it came to score was
taken from thrillers such as Taken and
Batman Begins.
16. Lighting and movement
When it came to lighting in the film,
we were inspired by the Scandinavian
crime series The Bridge and their
ability to create a cold but at the
same time relatively bright scenery.
For the outside shots we filmed outside
in the midday light, and for the scenes
inside the house we used the light
spots in the roof in addition to the
lights that were in the corners.
18. Title of the film
Our title is Deceit, a noun which
describes the following:
1. The act or practice of deceiving;
deception.
2. A stratagem; a trick.
3. The quality of being deceitful;
falseness.
19. The title refers to the action which is
made by Victor, he tricks Anna and
takes advantage of her ignorance and
naivety.
