Media production students at West Nottinghamshire College have helped bring an international crime writer’s latest novel to life.
Fifth Victim is the latest book in the Charlie Fox crime thriller series, written by Zoë Sharp. The hard-backed version was released this May.
Zoë challenged students on the Creative Media Production (Film and TV) Diploma to come up with an imaginative trailer for her new book. She provided students with an outline brief of what she wanted at a workshop during industry week in January.
Fifth Victim follows Charlie Fox who is former Special Forces soldier turned bodyguard. The novel opens with Charlie desperately digging on a beach and dreading what she might find and later involves a deadly kidnap plot among the jet-set of Long Island, New York.
The three-minute trailer was produced and edited by the students who had to incorporate the song The Victim Won’t Be Me by singer and songwriter Beth Rudetsky. They got further tips on writing by professional script writer Mathew McGuchan and editing techniques from Iain Swales at Mansfield-based Linney Group.
The scenes of a hospital mortuary and Charlie Fox’s office were filmed in the college’s state-of-the-art television studio, while all outdoor scenes were filmed on location in the Mansfield area. The film was edited by Ryan Beasley, Chris Day, Hollie Millward, Ryan Goff and Alex Pollard.
Zoë, originally from Mapperley Park in Nottingham, said: “Both myself and Beth are absolutely over the moon with the work the students have done.
“I didn't want a conventional book trailer, as the original song, The Victim Won't Be Me, was inspired by Fifth Victim, and then the video was inspired by the song. It incorporates two levels of artistic interpretation. I think it's a wonderful song, and tutor Jon Hall and his students have done a magnificent job putting this together.”
The students’ video can be viewed at http://visioncreate.tv/archives/329 and the paperback of Fifth Victim is due out in July this year.
Zoë wrote her first novel aged fifteen, but success came in 2001 with the publication of the first Charlie Fox book called Killer Instinct. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines and have been shortlisted for the Short Story Dagger by the UK Crime Writers' Association. She also won the Benjamin Franklin Award, which is given to independent publishers by the Independent Book Publishers Association.