Emirates constitute 20% of Dubai’s population. 80% are expats whose lives revolve around nothing but work.
Though they have homes, work is where they live. Trapped in 2x2 plexiglass cubicles, chained to desks, their existence is no different than that of an animal, and their zest for life withers into a default existence.
The film follows a Mandrill, a metaphor for a regular guy living in Dubai, in his life over a period of time seen at work, home, out with friends, out on dates, bowling, doing things people do but with the exception that he is burnt out and deflated. Shot in a particular style so that his surroundings act as a cage, we follow his story as he fakes a smile all along, even singing occasionally when all he really wants to do is cry and get out. Until finally, Tajawal comes to his rescue through travel.
Cultural / Context information for the jury
The idea came from a very pertinent question - why do we travel in the first place? This led to us to deep dive and understand the mindset that pushes us all to travel, especially in a competitive work environment like Dubai where work life balance is difficult to achieve. We zeroed in on a set of people that everybody can easily identify with - the workaholics who have trouble leaving their job behind, stuck in their modern day cages - their cubicles, and wanting to ‘break out’. To dramatise this point, we chose an interesting visual representation of the modern day office slave - a Mandrill, an animal with the perfect blend of familiarity, wilderness and humour.
Tell the jury about type(s) of animation used and summarise any relevant challenges or techniques.
We created the metaphor of a Mandrill and animated as per the visuals that we shot separately. The reason we chose a Mandrill was because it had the right mix of familiarity, wilderness and humour.