Critical Reflection

    As the co-director of One Body Problem, my main goal was to focus on issues of social class and a lack of power. The movie follows the life of my character, Bobert. He is a custodian going through a night that changes his life forever. The story highlights the sad fact that working-class people are often ignored by society, and we used visual choices to show this clearly. To show how powerless Bobert feels, most scenes of him cleaning or standing in the bathroom are shot from up high. This high-angle camera work makes him look small and weak. On the other hand, we shot from a low angle when looking at characters who have power over him, like his co-worker Lewis and the teacher’s wife. This made them look much larger and more intimidating. The set design and clothing were also used to show this big gap in social class. Bobert wears a scratchy, cheap tracksuit that is too small for him and shows his socks. This looks very different from the fancy, expensive 1980s vintage coat that the teacher’s wife wears. Finally, the way we positioned the actors made sure Bobert was always pushed against a wall or cornered. He is forced to back away during conversations. Because of this, Bobert is unfairly blamed for things. His working-class job strips away his believability. The movie shows how society treats important blue-collar workers through his awkward talking, Lewis's rudeness, and the teacher ignoring him entirely.

    I was in charge of running our social media and branding. I needed to make sure we reached our main audience: men aged 18 to 35 who like thriller-comedy movies. To create a strong and steady brand, we made sure the visual style of our promotional posts matched the actual look and story of the movie. For example, we used a grainy typewriter font for the title cards in the short film. We then used that exact same lettering for every graphic we made on Canva for our Instagram page. This style worked perfectly to highlight the thriller mood. The yellow "wet floor" sign is also very important to the story because Bobert forgets to put it up, which causes the teacher to slip and fall… We turned this sign into a main theme for our brand. We used images of caution tape and toilet paper to connect the janitor theme of the film with our online posts. Our brand also had to balance the movie's funny moments with its tense moments. To do this, our Instagram feed looked dark and serious like a thriller, but we filled it with silly, skit-style videos. A great example is a promo photo where Bobert crouches to use a tiny urinal while Lewis stands tall at a normal one. It is a funny picture, but it also shows the workplace power struggle seen in the film. The only thing I would fix is using more consistent colors, since a few fun polls missed our specific color scheme.

    Our project connects with viewers by controlling the story's tension and building an emotional connection. To grab our target audience right away, the film starts with a huge shock: finding a dead body in the first sixty seconds. After that, we flip the audience's expectations for the pacing. We made a careful choice to avoid the typical fast, shaky-camera editing that thriller movies usually rely on. Instead, we control the tension through the story itself, creating a deep emotional connection that really affects the audience. This emotional connection is made even stronger by Ryan’s original background music. The music is purposely slow and gloomy. It acts as an auditory symbol for the tiring and draining feeling of always being ignored. The audience is able to hear exactly what Bobert feels, which helps them relate to him a lot more. Outside the movie theater, I used this same strategy for our digital marketing. I planned our online posts by studying the successful Instagram pages of other short films, like @crashsiteshortfilms. I created two different trailer videos—one was funny, and the other was highly intense. This helped us market to fans of both comedy and thrillers. Finally, to build a fun community and bring fans on our journey, we posted behind-the-scenes photos and funny bloopers. Ryan also posted a critic’s quote that said, "Alejandro Navarro burns up the screen" to build excitement, while the funny outtakes highlighted the comedy.

    Deep research guided our production and helped us decide how to use or break the usual rules of the genre. To find the perfect balance in tone, we studied media from both sides. The comedy short film MOP was a huge inspiration for finding humor in a janitor's daily work. Meanwhile, the movie Good Time inspired the dark and gritty thriller elements. We used the visual style of a standard thriller, but we broke the common story rule of having a genius, perfectly smart villain. The teacher’s wife creates a complex plan to frame Bobert for the crime. However, we flip the "clever villain" idea on its head when she makes a huge mistake: she calls Bobert by his first name before they have actually met. This accidental slip ruins her entire plan and proves she is not a master villain after all. To step away from strict filmmaking rules even more, we kept things natural by relying on on-the-spot acting choices. Many of the jokes, camera angles, and tiny details were thought up right then and there. This included the choice to use a "heart-eye skull" emoji for the wife’s caller ID. It was a fast decision that perfectly captured the film’s dark humor. Improvising was also used to build up the peak moments in certain scenes, like the rude conversation Bobert has with Lewis. To show the workplace ranking, I purposely acted shy and nervous. This highlighted the power difference between my character and Lewis, who was seen as the "cooler" worker. The yellow "wet floor" sign is the very last shot of the movie. Its bright yellow color represents that the results of the unfair treatment and neglect Bobert faced have finally caught up with him, forcing him to take control of his own life.