Guys,

I need your view on something. Say for example you had broadband or are getting broadband (DSL). After it was installed/repaired the engineer shows you a demo page to prove it all works ok. After a bit of flash animation etc... you have to watch a video.

My question is, what would you want to see ??? It would be 30 seconds long, can't advertise anything (even the DSL service), can't offend anyone, can't use copyright material and must show off how great crappy video over the net is.

I have landed this on my lap, and I aint got a clue. I have all the gear to shoot and make the damm thing, but I just can't get an idea that sticks.

Any clues ???

Cheers

Cris.

Now where the hell is that video of the mk1could be an idea

Can't feature product placement either. Do'h.

All I can think of is lanscapes speeded up etc... but I would like something with a bit more to it.

Cheers

Cris.

errrmmm ahhhhhhhhh grass growing

I'd like to see a sample file transfer, with an applet that shows KB/sec upload & download speed. The insides of the file transferred? Who cares so long as upload & download speeds are as advertised. Why bother with content so long as you prove the service is working. My $0.02.

-Zeke

Maybe show some piece of information or artifact -- something like the Mona Lisa or Stonehenge (probably no product placement issues there) -- and do some nifty effect to compressit or expand it or envelop it and then speed into a phone line. Then you could do some neat animation like, maybe, the time travel stuff from Bill and Ted's, except maybe more cyberpunky, until the information comes shooting out of a home user's phone jack or computer or monitor and then have a subjective shot over the users shoulder looking at the same thing that we saw at the beginning of the short.

And maybe during the travel part you could see other bits of information flying around.

Yeah, but what's the criteria for 'product' placement. For instance, I wouldn't categorise a video of the MkI empeg as product placement. It is not representative of anything that the company sells today which I think is an important distinction.
Basically you're trying to avoid subliminal advertising of any companies products, and also avoid defaming any products. So having a video containing a 5 year non-descript sedan in reasonable condition for it's age is ok, even if it's obvious to most people that it's a Ford Escort. But having a brand spanking new top-of-the-line Escort being shown as a luxurious, sporty and exciting ride in all it's shiny glory (!!) is not ok. Neither would portraying an Escort as a heap of [censored] be acceptable. (Which IMHO, it is...I have a rental escort at the moment with only 11000 miles on the clock, and the engine and suspension both sound fscked. Still beats the Neon I had before though).

At the other end of the scale, you could consider that fence posts are products. As are many crops.

Sounds like you're complicating something needlessly.
Ive setup many home and business dsl lines and ive never needed to demo it, they usually already have plans.

I always tell'em, "If it doesnt work, call me".