INDUSTRY:
University Second Year
CLIENT:
N/A
YEAR:
14 December 2023, 23:53:30
EXPERIENCE:
Unreal Engine / Filmmaking
Down The Rabbit Hole
About
This short film explores the psychological impact of social media, particularly its role in shaping self-image and mental well-being. The story follows a young man struggling with body dysmorphia and self-perception issues. Each time he looks in the mirror, dissatisfaction takes over, pushing him to seek escape in social media. However, instead of relief, he is bombarded by unrealistic beauty and fitness standards, leading him deeper into a spiral of self-doubt and obsessive scrolling. This film visually represents "falling down the rabbit hole", showing how easy it is to become trapped in an inescapable cycle of digital consumption. Ultimately, the protagonist finds clarity and takes control by deleting social media, symbolizing his escape from its negative grasp.
Challange
One of the biggest challenges was translating the abstract concept of digital entrapment into a compelling visual narrative. We needed to ensure that the film captured the overwhelming, hypnotic nature of social media scrolling while remaining engaging and immersive. Technical challenges also played a major role, particularly with greenscreen usage and lighting conditions. Due to inadequate lighting, the chroma key effect in post-production did not cleanly remove the background, leading to the need for alternative methods. To address this, I used the roto brush tool in After Effects to manually separate the subject from the background. Another challenge was seamlessly integrating real-life footage with Unreal Engine sequences to create a convincing digital maze, symbolizing the protagonist’s psychological entrapment.
Result
The final film successfully portrays the mental and emotional toll of social media addiction through a mix of cinematic storytelling, visual metaphors, and immersive sound design. The use of Unreal Engine allowed us to create a surreal digital space representing the endless loop of scrolling, while rotoscoping and glitch effects enhanced the transition between reality and the virtual world. Through careful editing, compositing, and sound layering, the project conveys a powerful message about the dangers of social media overconsumption and how it shapes self-perception. The film concludes with the protagonist breaking free from the cycle, offering a hopeful resolution that there is a way out of the digital trap.
