In a homage to Douglas Adams’ book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the CIOB has created a video guide to introduce the range of online services it offers its members.
In the film viewers are introduced to the institution’s websites, including its flagship site – www.ciob.org, along with Construction Manager’s website, Global Construction Review’s site, BIM+ and the CPD portal, as introduced by the voice of the book.
The video (see below) was created to encourage members to take advantage of the CIOB’s online resources: “We are responding to the increasing demand from members and the industry who want greater engagement and transactions with us online,” explains Saul Townsend, head of communications at the CIOB.
“While our video falls short of answering the ultimate questions about life, the universe and everything, it does show what is on offer online from the CIOB and we hope encourages users to explore our websites. There is plenty to take advantage of for those who want to stay ahead of the competition with the latest news, knowledge and career opportunities,” he continues.
Inspired by his “inner geek”, the the CIOB’s web and social media executive Ciaran Gallagher came up with the concept for the film, which builds on an internal presentation made by Townsend to explain the “CIOB universe”.
Long-time Hitchhiker’s fan Gallagher recalls how the initial idea came to him: “I’ve loved The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy since I first read it as a 14 year old. I read all the books, listened to the radio show and watched the TV show – the less said about the 2005 film the better. The more I thought of Saul’s phrase ‘CIOB Universe’ the more I thought of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
Gallagher aimed to create a script that “sounded like Douglas Adams had fallen on hard times and was now copywriting for membership bodies in the construction industry”. After watching hours of YouTube videos to get familiar with the pacing, phrases and sentence structure of the original material Gallagher created a script that matches the style of the original material.
The key to getting the homage right was finding the voice of the book, which was voiced by Peter Jones in both the original radio series in 1978 and the TV series in 1981. In the CIOB video this role is played by voiceover artist Charles Carroll. “It’s not a Peter Jones impression but it [was] about getting a similar feel to Peter Jones in the original,” says Gallagher.
The project was completed by design agency Demographik, which was given considerable creative freedom to animate of the film.
Gallagher hopes that people get the film: “We know, or rather we hope, some people will get it and love it; but we also know that some people won’t get it at all and think we’re stuck in a technological equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle located somewhere near the 1980s,” he concludes.
