The Deception Script:

Scene one:

(Big Tony walks through the Landau Forte Communications Centre doors and up to reception)

Office Women: Hello Sir, how can I help you?

Big Tony: I’m here to see Mr McCann.

Office Women: Any Particular reason?

Big Tony: Business.

Office Women: Ok Sir, just take the lift to top floor where one of his assistants will take you to his room.

(Big Tony enters the lift and then a dissolve shows passage of time. He knocks on Mr McCann’s door)

Donny: Tony, nice to see you. So, did you take care of… matters, the other day?

Big Tony: Of course I did, when have I ever let you down?

Donny: Glad to hear it. I just suppose, well, I suppose I didn’t expect you to go through with it...

Big Tony: Why?

Donny: Come on Tony, let’s face it. Your reputations not what it used to be. (shrugs shoulders)

Big Tony: (pause) You trying to be funny? (aggressive)

Donny: Look I’m a busy man, business to attend to. You know how it is.

Big Tony: (raises voice) You’re standin’ on thin ice Don, and you know what I do to people who mess me about.

Donny: (laughs) Look, I haven’t got a problem with you, but If you have a problem with me then you know where the door is.

Big Tony: You’ll regret this Don.  (Big Tony walks out and slams the door shut)

Donny: (laughter as Tony walks out)

Scene Two:

Location: Tamworth outside ‘Home Bargains’ by alleyway. Donny walks into phone box and makes call to Big Tony.

Donny: (sarcastically) Tony, long time no speak. Look mate, after our little spat the other day I think it’s about time you realised that I call the shots around here. 

(Tony replies on phone but we do not see him)

Big Tony: Listen Donny, when you gonna realise that times are changing. Im the big boy around here now, and I want my money.

Donny: Don’t be so pathetic, we all know you’re a coward deep down. And you want your money? Come get it, cus I aint giving you a penny.

Big Tony: Donny, Donny, Donny. Be careful what you wish for. After all, I’m never too far behind.

(Donny slams phone down and walks out of the telephone box. Donny walks up the alley about to smoke a cigarette, but then he sees some of Tony’s henchmen with their arms folded blocking the route. Donny turns around to see Tony glaring angrily in his face.)

Tony: BOO.

Donny: Tony, how convenient, I was only just speaking to you on the phone. (laughs nervously)

Tony: (laughs sarcastically then pulls a very intimidating face instantly. A metal bar slides down his arm and comes out by his wrist). So, Money?

Donny: Look ‘ere Tone, I was only joking with you, bit of harmless banter you know? Surely we can come to some sort of… arrangement?

Tony:  If there’s one thing I don’t like its people who can’t keep their promises. And you’re one of them. You know when I said 'when have I ever let you down', well, now. Phil, Vinnie, you know what to do.

(Metal bars slide down Phil and Vinnie’s arms and they walk menacingly towards Donny).

Storyboard for 'The Deception'

Film Title Ideas and final plot

Plot Ideas

Film Plot Ideas:

As a result of our survey, we decided that the Genre we wanted to exploit was Thriller. We then came up with 4 ideas for our plot, and after analysing our ideas with the positives and negatives we came up with one solid idea.

Idea One:  The film would be set in a countryside mansion in a secluded area. The antagonist would be female to break the stereotype of male antagonists. The woman stalks the mansion leaving traces of her tracks behind. The protagonist finally finds the woman, who turns out to be mentally unstable.

Idea Two: The film would be set in Hopwas Woods, where the trees overhang to keep a dark secret. There is a legend that whoever walks in to the forest, comes out a different person, and it’s a change for the worst.

Idea Three: This film is set at a Theme Park, where a group of tourists from abroad have come to enjoy the thrilling experience the rides bring. But, someone isn’t too keen, and the tourists are in for a rollercoaster ride that is worse than any theme park ride and one that ends in devastating fashion.

Idea Four: In an alleyway in the heart of Tamworth, someone’s authority is about to be stamped. A cocky individual has met his match in a gang leader, who is sick and tired of being bossed around, so its about time he did something about it.

Task 4: Characterisation

We have decided to make some avatars on what our characters in our production may look like. We wanted to focus on appearance and characteristics of the characters.

Below is the protagonist that we made that;
Name: Donny
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Occupation: Business/Inside man
Characteristics: Cocky, Manipulitive, Arrogant.
Appearance/ Costume: Suit and tie. Tall, similar to Tony.

The antagonist that we designed is below;

Name: Big Tony

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Occupation: Gang leader/Hitman

Characteristics: Agressive, easily aggitated.

Appearacne: Tall and chunky. Suit and tie and in other scenes jeans and trench coat.

Role Allocation

For our media production "The Deception", we have decided on what roles we allocate to what people. Some of these decisions were easy, for example what better person to have as our 'Landau Forte Communications Centre Receptionist' than the School receptionist. As it is her job, it comes naturally to her to deal with people everyday, so it is a no-brainer for us. Some decisions we have made are much harder though, as we needed to decide who to have for our to antagonists. We want two similar built characters to go head to head for a battle of dominance, so we decided on Alex Cottis and Charlie Sloan.

Role Allocation:
Antagonist One (Donny) - Charlie Sloan
Antagonist Two (Big Tony) - Alex Cottis
Receptionist - School Receptionist
Henchman - Joe Lombardi and Dan Getliff
Two Businesswomen - Ellie Baxter and Charlotte Gledhill

UK Film Statistics Research

We needed to find out some key statistics for horror, thriller and romantic comedies before making our production. The UK film box office helps as it allows people to pin point key parts of information. Below is a table of data regarding thriller, horror and romance films in 2011.



UK Film Statistics

 

From this table you can tell that over all horror make the most films making 31 which was 5.6% of all releases. For the horror genre the top preforming title was Paranormal Activity 2 .The second most made genre out of the three was thriller making 20 films which was 3.6%. Last was romance making 19 films which was 3.4%. Out of all genres there was 557 releases.

The highest gross at the box office in millions was the romance genre making 58.4. Second was the horror genre making 54.1. Last by a long way opposed to the other two genres was thriller, this made 19.3. There was 1,023.6 million made over all genres.

For each genre each films has a top performing title. The top performing title for thriller was Shutter Island. For the horror genre the top preforming title was Paranormal Activity 2. Finally the top performing title for the romance genre was The Twightlight Saga: Eclipse.

Survey Results

Thriller Questionnaire

 In the lead up to the producing and filming of our media studies film, we have created a questionaire which will be ansered by anonomous people to help feed our group ideas of what we could use in our short film. The questionaires were then done and tallied, to give different opinions and ideas to include in the opening of the thriller film.

1. 70% suggested a serial killer as the best antagonist.

2. 80% suggested that most thrillers are given a 15 certificate.

3. 80% said the editing should be quick and seamless.

4. 90% suggested that incidental music should be used in the opening rater than ambient.

5. 80% said the opening of a thriller should be fast paced.

6. 80% said they prefered a murder mystery theme over a gang crime theme.

7. 50% suggested that a thriller should be set in a city.

8. 50% was suggested for both the choice of a male or female protagonist.

9. 70% said that a thriller should be set in a present day time period.

10. 90% said that they like a twist in a thriller film.



Antagonist bar chart



With all of the votes tallied, we have a clear vision of how we will create our opening of a thriller film. We are still in debates of what type of antagonist we are going to have, between a gang leader and a serial killer. We will probably come to a final decision, before begin the storyboard.



Age Certificate Bar Chart



With most people suggesting that a typical thriller has a 15 age certificate, we may include some key characteristics which give a thriller a 15 age certificate such as; violence, guns, greusome images etc. With relation to the question about editing, we should make the transitions of scenes quick to build up tension within the scenes. The will also create high excitement within the audience.

On question 4, we learnt that most people would prefer to hear incidental music rather than ambient sounds. This works well for what have intended to do in our film, as we are going to start with  chase scene, so incental music works better than ambient sounds as it can create tension within the scene.

 

Graph to show what sounds people prefer to hear in a Thriller.

Graph to show what Theme a Thriller should be

Most people we surveyed said that our opening should be fast paced. This tells us that we shoud immediately start the film we an event which makes the excited, but also puts them on edge. Most people said they prefered a murder mystery theme over gang crime. Again we are still in debates with this topic, as this question is linked to the first question of the antagonist we are going to have. Again we will come to a final decision before storyboard.



Location Pie Chart

 

A lot of people also said they wanted to see the thriller set in a city or urban environment, which is ideal to what we have pictured our project to be. However, one result said it should be set in a rural area. This may be a good location aswell as crime is unexpected in the countryside.

The survey gave equal results on the gender we should have for the protagonist, so we are still discussing the gender of the protagonist, but it is likely that we will choose a male character over a female character.

The time period people wanted was a present day, which is what we originally planned for our film, so we will  stick with that as our time period. The majority of people said that we should include a twist. We may do this however, a twist is better usually at the end so it may not be included.

Graph to show what time period a thriller should be

Understanding your target audience

The British Board of Film Classification is responsible for issuing age certificates for different films. It is a requirement that films classify what age rating is suitable for viewing, under the 'Video Recording Act 2010'.

There are differences you have to consider when looking at each age certificate. For the age rating 'U', any age is allowed to watch the film, there is no unsuitable scenes for ages over 4. 'PG' Contains some scenes not suitable for under 8's, which is why there needs to be an 18 year old with them. For category 12A, the film is inappropriate for very young people. This category contains moderate sex, violence or drug references. 12A films are usually changed to 12 for video and DVD use because extra material has been added. For age certificate 15, no one under the age of 15 is allowed to watch the film becausee it contains hard drugs, adult themes, violence and strong language. For age 18, only adults are valid to watch the film. Films under this category do not have a limitation to the explicit language.

For our film 'The Deception' we had to decide what age rating would be suitable and why.

 We decided our film would be a 12A because there are references to violence through body language and the conflict between Big Tony and Donny. There is no swearing in the film and no references to sex.