2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

‘Expect the Expected’ begins with a young Emirati boy pulling into an Emarat petrol station in 1981, the year Emarat was established. Throughout the 60-second spot, we watch as the boy grows up, has a family of his own, and finally makes his Father proud by becoming a pilot. We see the milestones of his life and the emotions shared between a family played out against the backdrop of a petrol forecourt, supporting the message that Emarat supports your journey through life. Replica vintage cars, petrol pumps and uniforms are used to evoke feelings of familiarity and nostalgia around visiting an Emarat station. The entire film is shot through the windscreen of a car, providing the audience with a unique view of the scenes that are unfolding on the screen and acting as a reinterpretation of the phrase ‘viewing life through a lens’.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Expect the Expected was shot at multiple locations across Emarat’s Retail and Commercial services in the UAE to showcase the heritage of the brand and spark feelings of nostalgia amongst local Emirati residents. The film begins at the first Emarat petrol station in Clock Tower, Deira and ends at one of Emarat’s newest stores in Greyteesha, symbolising the passing of time and evolution of our main character. Production teams consulted Emarat’s archive library of photography and film footage to ensure set design accurately represented the heritage of the UAE over the past four decades. As a result, the film features many nostalgic cues that will resonate with the local audience who have grown up in the UAE, including real petrol pumps from the 1980s, pump attendant uniforms and a replica of the branded tissue boxes that were given out to customers in 1980s to further evoke familiarity and warmth.

Tell the jury anything relevant about the cinematography.

To emphasise the evolution of the lead character and show how Emarat supports journeys through life, we employed a unique cinematography style shooting through the windscreen of a car to allow the audience to ‘view life through a lens’. To achieve this vision, the director used a consistent frame throughout the scenes, allowing us to seamlessly progress through the story without shifting our field of view. The camera was mounted on a jib arm attached to a dolly and we use this movement in and out of the scenes to represent the motion of a petrol pump going in and out and the constant energy within the forecourt of cars coming and going. The use of close ups and cutaways are utilised to complete the story between each scene, allowing the director to brings us back to the same constant view through the windscreen and punctuate our defining milestone moments.