CCR Brainstorming

Today, I'll be doing some brainstorming and discussion of CCR questions 2 and 4. 

2) How do your products engage with the audience?

Firstly, this question requires a clear definition of the target audience to answer completely. I would say the primary target audience for my piece is dark comedy enthusiasts, primarily male, and aged from 18-35 years old. Fans of shows like Barry would naturally gravitate towards my piece, because of its similar emphasis on both thriller and comedic aspects. They also gravitate towards more cynical humor-esque stories that feature an antagonist that is intelligent and bold. And finally they tend to gravitate towards a very clear style through soundtrack and cinematography. I feel my piece embodies the stylistic aspect through my original composition which I featured, as well as the repeated use of handheld and dutch angle shots to reinforce a visual style. There is certainly a presence of both auditory and physical humor as seen in Bob's confrontation with Lewis in which he convinces him not to go into the bathroom, and the jump cut sequence when Bob drags the teacher out of the stall.

 However, one manner in which One Body Problem may fall flat in convincing the target audience is through the intelligent protagonist, as the whole reveal comes about by a cliche Freudian slip in which the wife says Bob's name without ever having been told his name, revealing she has been plotting on him all this time. The cliche nature of this whole twist may be too overdone to completely retain the engagement of the audience that I gained through other aspects of my production.

4) How do your products represent social groups and issues?

First, my story basically centers around a member of the blue-collar class, and therefore naturally must develop some sort of commentary about members of this group. It reinforces the notion of these workers being widely and historically overlooked and undervalued, as that's pretty much the entire reason why he was chosen as the teacher's wife's victim. However, it challenges this traditional representation through the incorporation of this brief, yet important detail. 

Bobert's son set as his wallpaper provides logical and relatable motivation for the extreme lengths he goes to hide the teacher's body and reinforces his humanity. Through reminding others that he too has motivations and purpose beyond simply cleaning the school floors, One Body Problem clearly challenges this preconceived notion.

A further issue I am able to commentate on in One Body Problem is workplace hierarchy. Once again, Bob was chosen because no one would "believe" him and I reinforce that through Lewis's condescending dialogue with Bob. Lewis's higher overall ranking on this hierarchy reveals it to be a problem as it makes it signficantly easier, and even probable to scapegoat Bob successfully and essentially ruin his life.

Overall, the most prominent representations and issues I provide commentary on are workplace hierarchy and undervaluing of custodial staff and bluecollar workers as a whole, and through placing this comentary under the guise of purely being comedic, I am able to subtly alter common preconceived notions of these issues.