One Body Problem is a short film that follows a custodian, Bobert, as he navigates quite an eventful night.
Going into the development of One Body Problem, I had certainly been inspired by my recent viewings. Namely, Good Time served as a key inspiration. The visual grittiness and grain of Good Time is what visually immerses you into the gravity and reality of the film. In Premiere Pro, I was able to add a grain effect to my footage, hoping to create a similar effect on my audience adding to the overall realism of Bob's desperate attempts to free himself from the life-changing situation.
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| A shot of Bobert from One Body Problem |
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| A shot of Connie from Good Time |
Fascinated by this discovery, I decided the dialogue sequence with fellow janitor Lewis as Bob persuades him not to use the bathroom would benefit from some due to the climactic nature of the scene. This ended up turning out really well, with Lewis referring to Bob by the wrong name and Bob eventually guilting Lewis into listening through his references to their level of respect in the workplace - "people respect you...no one listens to me."
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| The original scene - the final scene lasted over a minute! |
Likewise, Lie Detector's use of intentional comedic delivery in lines like "welcome to the firm" inspired the comedic delivery of our lines like "I think he's gone" when the teacher's wife comes by, combining to create an aspect of comedy which balances against the more thrilling elements.
These thrilling elements were derived from my following of conventions, such as the jumpscare when the teacher's wife starts pounding on the school door, and challenging of others. One thriller convention in which it can be argued that I challenged is the intelligent protagonist vs the equally matched antagonist, as the whole plot twist of the wife's master plan comes about by a rather cliche Freudian slip, in which she calls Bob by his first name, despite them never meeting face to face, revealing her as a rather unmasterful villain.
This challenging of certain conventions jeopardizes the degree in which I was able to engage my target audience. The primary target audience for my piece is thriller-comedy enthusiasts, primarily male, and aged from 18-35 years old, who tend to gravitate towards a very clear style through soundtrack and cinematography. One way in which I clearly illustrate a visual style is through the repeated use of canted angles, handheld shots, and close ups to maintain tension throughout the piece.
I also created an auditory style through my own creation of the gloomy composition heard at the start and end of OBP. I even created a video of me playing along to the composition of the song live on social media, further engaging the parts of my audience drawn to clear stylistic choices.
Further research into the Instagram pages of successful short films provided me with the framework to engage both the thriller-drawn and comedy-drawn aspects of my target audience. Perhaps most notably, my observation of @crashsiteshortfilms generation of 2 teasers, one comedic, and one more intense inspired me to do just the same, ensuring I am marketing my piece to these separate elements of my audience. A universal trend across the social media pages I researched here was behind the scenes shots, and thinking it to be the best way to bring the audience along the journey from start to finish, I elected to make 2 behind the scenes dumps alongside blooper reels. I furthered this emphasis on both targeting both audiences through blooper reels and a promotional video to further highlight comedic aspects, and critic responses highlighting the intense atmosphere as "Alejandro Navarro burns up the screen".
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| A frame from the promotional video |
While I communicate it through all components of my project, the social media component is where my created brand is made most evident. Attempting to keep the same trend of appealing to comedy and tension, two key elements of our branding are the use of caution tape and toilet paper overlays.
The caution tape and toilet paper overlays are essential components of our branding, and I essentially placed them throughout the social media wherever I saw fit. They help tie each and every post to the caution sign, a key symbol within our production, as well as Bob's janitorial occupation, serving as a constant reminder of his status, a key theme within our production. The caution tape is also evident within the postcard. The front of the postcard features the most pivotal frame of the entire production, generates mystery, and features an important symbol to the larger story at hand. The back of the postcard features our film's logo, the body outline, which I also featured on as many Instagram posts as possible.
One thing I would change about our brand in hindsight is the overall consistency. While we attempted to remain as consistent as possible, certain posts just did not fit in the brand I was attempting to establish, such as the 2 posts below for example.
While these posts are funny and may still engage the audience through interactive prompts like the poll, they are missing the overlays and color to fit within my overall brand. More cohesive color and visuals throughout my whole page in combination with this balance of comedy and tension would definitely take the overall brand I created to the next level.
The brand I created allows me to reinforce key themes within my production, providing commentary that extends far beyond a school. As OBP follows Bob, a working class man, it reinforces the notion that these workers are widely overlooked. Almost immediately, I was able to illustrate Bob's invisibility through a teacher's complete ignoring of him.
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| Straight up ignored |
Because of how Bob is targeted as the scapegoat for the wife's plan to kill her husband and frame Bob (in her words "who would people believe, the innocent...wife, or Bob the janitor?") due to his lack of significance and credibility, OBP reflects extrapolated implications of societal attitudes towards essential blue collar worker.
However, the narrative challenges these societal attitudes through this brief, yet important shot.
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 reenforces his humanity. Through humanizing Bob for the audience, the narrative challenges tendencies to overlook blue collar workers. In hindsight however, a clearer demonstration of this image would have made this element a lot easier to understand, such as a printed photograph to ensure this them could be easily picked up on.
A further issue I am able to commentate on in One Body Problem is workplace hierarchy.Bob was chosen because no one would "believe" him and I reinforce that through janitor Lewis's condescending dialogue with Bob, and how he wants to use Bob's bathroom as opposed to one he is assigned to clean. The implications of this one employee being treated with more regard than another are obviously extrapolated, but still carry the message of dissent towards workplace inequalities.
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The key symbol of one body problem, the yellow body outline, serves to capture the crux of the implications of One Body Problem. The figure is lying motionless on the ground, surrounded by pitch black with nowhere to go. Beyond literally depicting a body, this serves as a visual depiction of all the emotions Robert must have felt when confronted with the realization that no one truly respected him, enough to the point where he could literally be framed for murder and people would side against him.
'The yellow hue ties into the caution wet floor sign, featured in the final shot, symbolizing the fact that the consequences of the unfair treatment and neglect Bob experienced has finally caught up to him for the worst, and he has been faced with it and was forced to make matters into his own hands.
Overall, this project was loads of hard work but also loads of fun. I certainly had no idea going into this whole project I would make anything remotely close to what I have finished, but I'm glad I did. I learned a lot about my skills, my vision, and my work ethic and am glad to have finished something I can be proud of.
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