‘Beachcomber’ is a short film drama that poetically explores a man’s struggling conflict between the love for his family, and his destructive gambling addiction. I produced this short film in 2016 during my second year at University, which got nominated at the Winchester Short Film Festival.
LOGLINE
An older man takes a metaphorical journey on a beach with his metal detector, looking for old, happy memories he has shared with his family. However, the emergence of his gambling addiction has driven his family away, and now he has no way back.
SYNOPSIS
One morning a middle-aged man is aimlessly searching with his metal detector on an empty beach; unaware of what he might find. When his metal detector beeps rapidly, he kneels down to dig the sand with his trowel. The man pulls up a baby’s rattle as we hear the onset of a baby crying, and people congratulating the birth of a baby boy. The man then finds a teddy bear on the beach and turns around nostalgically to see a pier in the distance. He pictures a past memory of him and his family on a day out at the pier, winning the toy on a stall. Overwhelmed, the man sits down and swigs a hip flask, followed by him drinking alone in a pub. We see him reading a horse-racing newspaper, followed by him digging up old, scrunched betting slips on the beach (back dropped by the sound of a horse-racing ground). The man veraciously digs up more betting slips along the beach in his upset state, the bright lights of fruit machine buttons flashing in his mind, as well as other harrowing memories. Suddenly, the man steps on a broken wine glass and stares at it with tears in his eyes. The man in silence, remembers an argument with his angry wife who has smashed up their house; and ends up leaving with his son. The man runs back alongside the beach trying to dig up his past, happier memories. He digs with his bare hands in desperation but he has already lost everything.
MY ROLES
- Story Creation & Scriptwriting
- Crowdfunding & Budgeting
- Project Managing
- Casting (Including Child Casting)
- Location Scouting & Permissions
- Special Effects Creation (Titles & Video Effects)
- Marketing (Artwork & Social Media)
- Film Festival Submissions
