Horizon advertising gone wrong, or gone horribly right? Options

[ShadowDragon8685]

A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE[sic]





For those who can't view YouTube - or whom are at work and shouldn't view YouTube - here's what this video, entitled "A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE" (allcaps theirs, not mine) is. I strongly urge you to watch the video instead of reading my description, if possible.

[ Spoiler ]

"Somewhere in a little town in Belgium"
"On a square where nothing really happens"
"We placed a button"
(Close up of a big red button on a pedestal)
(Close up of hanging sign that reads "PUSH TO ADD DRAMA" in public service lettering on a sign in the shape of an arrow pointing to the button)
(Wide angle shot of the square, showing the pedestal in the middle of the cobblestone square and sign pointing to it)
"And waited for someone to push it"

Short angle shot of the pedestal from ground level from another angle begins to move, showing man on bicycle cycle by the button, staring at it, whilst onlookers look and gawk at the button. He cycles away, while we get to see other crowd shots. Then, the man cycles back, pulls to a stop next to the pedestal, and presses it.


Sirens cut the air as a yellow and red ambulance with a blue medical symbol on the side pulls into the square, quickly, screeching to a halt. Two large paramedics in jackets jump out, open the back, as two other paramedics emerge from inside a building, with a man on a low wheeled stretcher. They stumble, dumping the man on the stretcher out (cue horrified shot from elderly, snow-haired grandmother with thin wire-rimmed glasses,) as the medics pull the man roughly back onto the stretcher, and load him into the ambulance's back.

The ambulance begins to pull away without properly securing the stretcher - or indeed, closing the rear doors, causing the man on the stretcher to slide out the back and go rolling. A man in a RED HOODIE rides up on a bicycle, gawking at the man who fell out of the ambulance as the ambulance screeches to a stop, and SPILLs when the driver opens his door to get out, knocking the man's bicycle over and dropping him on the ground.

RED HOODIE runs towards AMBULANCE DRIVER, screaming, shoving him in the back, begins throwing punches and trying to knee the much larger man, who kicks him down with one boot in the gut and rips off his high-visibility jacket, proving that he is barechested underneath and VERY well built.

The DRIVER pulls RED HOODIE from the ground bodily, shoving him up in the air and against the ambulance while a woman in RED LINGERIE and a RACING HELMET drives past on a motorbike, while the DRIVER unloads a can of whoop-ass on RED HOODIE, smashing him against the AMBULANCE and delivering a ROUNDHOUSE KICK to his body.

(Cut to reaction shot of a woman on a cell phone, no doubt phoning emergency services and/or the internet.)

A BLACK MERCEDES SUV screeches into the courtyard, pulling a handbrake turn, while a POLICE VAN pulls up, and a BLACK PANEL VAN pulls up from the other direction. ARMED MEN with machine pistols jump out of the SUV and PANEL VAN while POLICE jump out of their van, and proceed to have a gun battle with one another, firing whilst taking cover behind their vehicles. A man in a WHITE SHIRT who jumped out of the SUV is shot repeatedly, while the AMBULANCE RIDER and an ARMED MAN pull the PATIENT into the SUV.

All three vehicles SCREECH OFF while a team of six FOOTBALLERS (American, in red jerseys and black helmets,) rush out of a nearby building, lifting the downed man and charging back into a building, and the woman in RED LINGERIE rides back past the BUTTON.

A banner dramatically unfolds above the building the FOOTBALLERS rushed the DOWNED MAN into, reading "YOUR DAILY DOSE OF DRAMA. TNT. WE KNOW DRAMA."

All in all about a minute of action, but what a ride! It makes me think of Run possibilities; maybe Horizon hires some Runners to pull off something like this, perhaps a little more 'hardcore', like firing red gel rounds that shatter on impact instead of blanks that trigger squibs. Or maybe some rival company, having advance notice of the marketing scheme, hires them to waylay and replace the crew of the black van, following the script but using real bullets and mowing the other actors down before peeling away. Maybe these two facets converge, putting the runners in the role of the police officers, and they come suddenly under fire (for realsies) and have to extricate themselves from a nasty situation and/or decide to take down the other team.

[VykosDarkSoul]

that......is........AWESOME!

[Adarael]

That is... so awesome. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Eratosthenes]

Indeed!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Neraph]

That's what you get for only getting a DocWagon Basic plan...

[D2F]

Awesome! Great find!

[hobgoblin]

Seems they cut together multiple presses of said button.

I see a bike rider, a kid and a lady all at some point having pressed the button.

Btw, this seems to be in the spirit of classical candid camera style practical jokes. My favorite of such may well be the old Norwegian one where a wodden crate gets delivered to some office floor, barely fitting thru the door. The receptionist makes a fuss about the crate being delivered to the wrong address, and takes the delivery guys into a side office to talk to a manager. While they are there, the crate is dismantled and replaced with a identical one, except for being slightly bigger. So when the gang returns, having the address issue cleared up and ready to take the crate back, they can't get it past the door. Hilarity then ensues as they try all manner of ways to get it out.

[Tias]

I can't in good conscience advocate doing this kind of thing in a crowded urban environment. That said, it's innovative and very interesting! I'd press that damn button in a heartbeat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Eratosthenes]

I can't in good conscience advocate doing this kind of thing in a crowded urban environment. That said, it's innovative and very interesting! I'd press that damn button in a heartbeat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Can you imagine the shootout going down in, say, a rural Texan town?

Some of the bystanders might just join in!

[ShadowDragon8685]

I can't in good conscience advocate doing this kind of thing in a crowded urban environment. That said, it's innovative and very interesting! I'd press that damn button in a heartbeat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I'd go to town on the button. And you're right, that would likely go wrong in much of the world.

The kind of wrong that would be perfect in Shadowrun.

Can you imagine the shootout going down in, say, a rural Texan town?

Some of the bystanders might just join in!

It's all fun and games until someone thinks that this is It, the Big One, a real shoot-out, his chance to get himself a medal... Or just, you know, a crisis wherein his actions may make the difference between innocent people walking home and getting kidnapped. (Depending on just what motivations you ascribe to him.)


Of course, it would've been funny if someone ha jumped in before the gun-fight, to join in the beat-down.