Is the glass half full or half empty? The latter choice is exemplified in “Black,” the lead entry (above) in this week’s “Best Work” gallery. However the optimistic outlook is embodied in its companion piece, “White,” a :60 for AOL U.K. which shows us the Internet’s potential for good.
We start on the open eye of what turns out to be a little girl. Later we are taken to a library where a man is perusing through the pages of a large book. A voiceover describes the Internet as being “the most powerful educational tool the world has ever known.”
This is followed by some context for that educational significance as the voiceover goes on to relate that the Web is “preserving our history, making sure in the future we never forget the past.” Accompanying this is the poignant scene of a girl visiting a graveyard filled with victims of the Holocaust.
We are then taken to more contemporary history as an ocean wave comes descending on a coastal village. “When disaster struck Asia,” says the voiceover in reference to the horrific tsunami, “the volume of aid donated by ordinary people through Web sites outweighed that of their own governments.” We then see assorted government currencies flash before our eyes.
Next are masses holding peaceful protest demonstrations as the voiceover continues, characterizing the Web as “a place free of state regulation, censorship and control–the only place where freedom of speech truly exists.” Visuals unfold of a man standing alone in the path of an oncoming tank, and then a dove in flight.
The voiceover then continues that “Orwell was wrong,” about his “1984” big-brother prediction. “It is not the state that holds all the power. It is us,” contends the voiceover. We see the eye of a baby peering through a magnifying glass as the narrator concludes, “Some people think the Internet is a bad thing. What do you think?”
An end tag contains the word “/discuss,” accompanied by the AOL logo and a Web site designed to serve as a forum for further discussion (www.aol.co.uk/discuss).
Production, creative and post credits are the same as in the above lead “Best Work” entry.
