From 2018 to 2021, I worked for an architectural company for their IT department. When COVID hit and we started working from home around March 2020, we had A LOT of Zoom meetings. Working from home really got the creative juices flowing and Zoom meetings got really fun with backgrounds and an actual green screen. A couple of months in, my IT service team manager had an idea: to do how-to videos for basic issues to keep IT tickets down since weren't used to working from home in that capacity. Since my manager found me entertaining on Zoom meetings, I decided to use that to bring on Hot Rod. A 7th-level Technomancer to help people get learnt so he could get turnt.
Using my basic webcam, I filmed bits, OBS to get footage from a virtual machine, and Premiere to edit everything, Hot Rod became a reality.
Follow the journey of Hot Rod:
The first video instructing the users on how to connect to the company VPN while remote. Management wasn't sold on Hot Rod's definition of a VPN.
The second video being a teaser of what's to come while adding a bit to Hot Rod's lore.
The third video explaining what the Self Service Portal icon is for. The company had a DTS team which was design technology system or something. I really can't remember. Just having a little go at them in the video.
The powers that be didn't like the "voluptuous party nurses" bit so Hot Rod was forced to censor himself. Here's the censored VPN video where he is redubbed and the words "voluptuous" and "nurses" are removed.
Hot Rod didn't fit the stuffy corporate setting despite being loved by 98% of the IT team. After one meeting, the IT manager killed the idea of Hot Rod and thought he was too weird and goofy. So I whipped up a goofy in memoriam video for Hot Rod.
They gave Hot Rod one last chance to change and make a more "serious" how-to video. So, Hot Rod did what they asked and got as serious and boring as possible. He still managed to take the piss out of them in the end.
Thus the tale of Hot Rod ends here. A fun journey and side project to mess around in Premiere and get those creative juices flowing.
