Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

    Our thriller opening 'Beach Comber' is a gritty thriller which explores the issue of stalking, including locations on the North Norfolk Coast and in a cramped garage in an urban location. We decided to call it ‘Beach Comber’ as that is the name for people who ‘Comb’ beaches looking for things – so links to the antagonist in our narrative Ian Moone following the victim in our narrative Sam on the exterior beach setting. 

Location

   Our exterior location in our production was Weybourne beach in North Norfolk. We decided to use this location as the primeval setting -the coastal isolation and distance from the civilised world being an aspect of the thriller genre- helps to reinforce the predatory feel of our antagonist Ian Moone, who is seen following our victim Sam. Beaches are also often associated with happy childhood memories with the family, so the fact that we decided to film our thriller opening here helps to create a juxtaposition between the memories our audience would associate with such a setting; and the dark, steely mise en scene and sense of alienation in our production. The location also helps to add gritty realism to our production due to the natural setting as well as stressing the isolation of the characters; inspired by Terry Winsor’s 'Essex Boys' in which the character Jason dumps the man who snitched on him at the Essex Marshes. 

Terry Winsor's 'Essex Boys' (2000)

Our Production 'Beach Comber'

     Similarly, in Richard Ayoade's 'Submarine', the main characters Oliver Tate and Jordana Bevan can be seen walking on an isolated beach setting in the UK; reinforcing the isolation of the characters themselves in the narrative.

     In October 1990 a unidentified dead body washed up on Weybourne beach, found by local fishermen. The fact that there was a body found at our exterior location  helps to add depth, dimension and meaning to our use of this location. It does this by adding a fairly eerie and foreboding feel as it strengthens the idea that something bad could happen to the victim Sam in our narrative whilst being followed at this location, as well as adding deeper meaning for those who recall this event/occurrence.

    We decided to use a shed in an urban location as our interior location as to create binary opposition between the natural setting of Weybourne beach - our exterior location, which helps to add aesthetic appeal; as well as the opposition reflecting that which is seen between the characters in our narrative. Similarly to the Weybourne beach location, the use of the shed also helps to add a sense of gritty realism to our production as sheds are a common thing that many people have; so could seem menacing as it helps to suggest that this attack could have happened to anyone - and highlights that you never really know what other people are doing 'behind closed doors'. 

The shed location in our production 'Beach Comber'

    The interior of the shed is a confined space, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere; making this location effective in unnerving and creating tension within the audience. This is because many people have a fear of being enclosed in small spaces and the idea of having a lack of oxygen - therefore possibly suffocating to death; and therefore this location plays on this fear. The claustrophobic, man-made location has an artificiality which strengthens the binary opposition to the open, natural location of Weybourne beach. This contrast in location could be reflective of the contrast of characters in our narrative - the supposedly innocent, ambiguous victim Sam; and the callous, mysterious antagonist Ian Moone. 

    As seen in the image above, the door of the shed has a smiley face painted on the inside. We decided to use this ironically as despite the fact that the image would suggest positivity, in our narrative the victim -Sam- is about to get attacked in this very place. We also used it as the symbol connotes positivity, yet manages to look quite dark and sinister; creating a juxtaposition of these two ideas. This imagery is similar to that used in the scene of  Kubrick's 'The Shining' where Danny is writing 'Redrum' on the inside of a door. 

Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' (1980)

Props 

The pebble used in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

      In our exterior location of Weybourne beach, we used a pebble to reinforce the beach location, as well as to show the vulnerability of our victim Sam. This is because it shows that her attention is focused on the object in her hand, rather than what is going on around her. 

The lock and key used in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

    In our shed location, we had our victim Sam unlocking the shed with a key which signifies her 'sense of security' being breeched by the intrusion of our antagonist Ian Moone. It also suggest that Sam has something to hide, so portrays her as a fairly ambiguous character as it makes the audience question her supposed 'innocent victim' status she had been given at the beginning of our thriller opening.

The objects featured in the interior of the shed location in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

    We wanted to use the objects in the shed to show how cluttered it was, symbolising the unstable mindset of our antagonist Ian Moone that follows our victim Sam into the shed - a psychotic individual being a generic thriller character type. Objects such as the ladder were used ironically to play on the superstition of walking under a ladder being bad luck. The superstition arose from a Christian belief in the Holy Trinity- that God is made up of three parts, the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, the number three was somewhat sacred, and the triangle was by association also sacred with its three sides. A ladder leaning up against a building was seen as a triangle, so to walk through this triangle (by walking under the ladder) was seen as breaking the Trinity. The bible talks about the one unforgivable sin being blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, so someone who breaks the Trinity is seen to be in league with the Devil; and once again, being labelled such in the old days of Christianity was a quick way to invite the hangman and witch trials. We used this to create a foreboding atmosphere, hopefully raising tension within the audience. 

The torch used in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

    We used the torch in order to accentuate the dark, claustrophobic setting; as well as to create chiaroscuro lighting within the scene - the use of which being a generic thriller convention. The use of the torch shows that Sam is looking for something in particular, which -after the occurrences in our narrative at the exterior beach location-  seems quite suspicious. This once again reinforces the ambiguity of our victim Sam by making the audience question her supposed 'victim' status. 

The saw used in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

    We used the Saw to create a sense of ambiguity about our victim character Sam as in our narrative as we have her focusing on it in the shed for a while, similarly making the audience question Sam's supposed 'innocence' and 'victim status'. This also helps to reinforce the sinister feel of the location, as well as foreshadowing the events that are about to take place in that location. The saw is a prop that is often used in slasher films such as 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre', the use of it in our thriller opening adding a sense of menace whilst also anticipating the later occurrence violence. In the film 'Dread', an axe is used in a similar way with the victim character, temporarily subverting the victim/antagonist roles. 

Anthony DiBlasi's 'Dread' (2009)

The hammer used in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

   We used a hammer in our thriller opening as a weapon to reinforce the fact that Ian Moone is the antagonist in our narrative, as well as to make him seem more intimidating and overpowering - suggesting to the audience that out victim Sam is about to meet her end at his hands. This use of the hammer is very similar to that seen in 'Room For Romeo Brass' where Morell is threatening another male character. 

   

Lighting

    For the majority of our shots -especially in the exterior location of Weybourne beach- we decided to use ambient lighting to add a sense of realism to the production, as well as to make the dark costume of the antagonist Ian Moone stand out to the audience more. Whereas in the shots from our interior location - the shed that we filmed in- we used chiaroscuro lighting -much like that seen in 'The Third Man' and 'Nosferatu the Vampyre'- from a compact torch that our victim Sam has in our narrative. We used this to highlight the crucial moment of our victim Sam - along with the audience- seeing the antagonist's face for the first time, along with accentuating the shot as a pinnacle moment within our narrative. The fact that the lighting we used is similar to that seen in 'The Third Man' and 'Nosferatu' helps to link our antagonist Ian Moone to the idea of a phantom - as Nosferatu is a vampire and Harry lime from 'The Third Man' portrays vampiric/phantom-like features. 

The antagonist Ian Moone in our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

Harry Lime from Carol Reed's 'The Third Man' (1949)

Nosferatu from F.W Murnau's 'Nosferatu the Vampyre' (1922)

Camera

    As to accentuate the isolation of our victim Sam and the Weybourne beach location, we used an aerial shot which not only successfully did this, but also extracted the audience from within the action and provided a change in camera movement; keeping the audience interested.

Sound

     In our thriller opening 'Beach Comber' we use a lot of diegetic sound to help reinforce the beach location as well as keeping a realistic atmosphere. We also did this as to create pathetic fallacy - the sound of the crashing waves and racing wind reflective of the 'incoming' of Ian Moone, as well as being reflective of our production's cutting and gritty atmosphere.

    In regards to non-diegetic sound, we decided to use a drone that constantly evolves and builds up in the background of our production, creating an eerie and unnerving atmosphere.  We also decided to add a different sound for when we see our antagonist's face for the first time, creating a similar feeling of tension in the audience; as well as clearly indicating to the audience that this character is our antagonist, and highlighting that this is a pinnacle moment within our narrative.

Narrative

     Our production 'Beach Comber' follows a linear narrative, which helps to make the story easy for the audience to follow. We decided to do this as not only does it make it easier for the audience to understand our narrative and what is going on, it also is effective in building the tension within the audience as it builds up anticipation. It does this by, essentially, putting the audience in our victim Sam's place - the audience not having any more knowledge of events then the character does, hopefully leading to the audience investing themselves in the story and following it until the end.

Thriller openings

    Our production 'Beach Comber' very clearly follows the conventions of a thriller film opening. One convention of a thriller opening that our production has is the title of the production clearly displayed - in our case between action shots. Another convention that we follow is the use of credits, giving the audience information of the roles people took on for the production of our media text. Finally, another convention of thriller openings that is clearly seen in our production is the use of a cliffhanger, this disequilibrium used to intrigue the audience and encourage them to watch the rest of the film to see what happens.