This :15 student spec spot offers a perverse sense of on-the-job priorities. But the twisted agenda doesn’t originate at the desk of a slacker employee. Instead it starts up top—with the boss.
The head honcho walks through office corridors, arching his neck to look at the goings on. He notices an employee seated at a computer workstation. On the computer monitor, we see a purchase order, which the worker is filling out. However, the boss seems upset at the sight of the document.
"Johnson," bellows out the employer.
Immediately the worker realizes that he’s in the wrong. With the click of a computer mouse, he calls up on screen a soft-porn Web site, which displays different pictures of scantily clad women. The boss nods approvingly and walks off.
A voiceover simply observes, "A perfect world."
Supered on screen is the Playboy.com logo.
"Office Space," a.k.a. "Porn Surfer," is one of three spec commercials in a campaign conceived and directed by Nicolas Hill, who at the time was a student at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif. After graduating, he posted the spots and recently signed with his first production house roost, Hollywood-based Level 7 Productions.
The other promo ads in the campaign are conceptually along the same line as the "Porn Surfer" scenario, with employees having to surreptitiously do their actual work. For example in a :30 entitled "Couple," we find a man and a woman in an office. They’re reviewing some accounting figures. But when the boss happens by, they suddenly contort themselves into a passionate embrace sprawled across a desk.
Hill’s support team on the campaign included producer Robert Hanson and DP Ruben Steinberg. The spots were edited by Matti Slachzter via Red Car, Santa Monica. Colorist was Laura Jans of Company 3, Santa Monica. Audio mixing was done by Jack Aurora via Margarita Mix de Santa Monica.
