Teenage Rape Video: Director of Operations Writes

As the Auteurs of the delightful if rather mendacious Hoodie Rape Lone Female in Car Park 101 - like one of those delightful urban myths involving lone female, plausible stranger, rope and gaffer tape in the boot - not Sonassi mind, have arranged for this authorised Trafford Centre video to be removed from YouTube - leaving only a couple of hundred copies in circulation - it seems only fair to let them speak:

Chris,
Regarding the video - it has been removed from youtube - it would appear as though youtube takes some time to action this across its proxies and cache server but I can assure you that it is no longer on our account.
Yes the video was put up on our youtube account, but purely for ease for content management.
As representative of The Trafford Centre asked this morning for it to be removed and out of good faith it has been.
As I stated on your comments page, we are not affiliated with Peel Holding in any way, we simply asked for permission to shoot on the Trafford Centre premises, again out of good faith.
Also as stated, we do not class the video as a piece of work made by our company. Yes, I work for the company as well, so as a result I put the video on our hosting (there is capacity and it was more cost effective.), but it was produced as an item from The Free Manchester partnership, in collaboration between myself and a number of other parties.
I also understand the relevant "plot holes" in the video, however the video is not meant to be taken too seriously, and I apologise if you saw it that way. It was aimed at the youth of the Facebook generation, and the majority of feedback I have off them has been positive and that they find it funny.
The video in no way meant to imply the Trafford Centre was unsafe, in fact I have always found the place to be a lot safer than most other places in Manchester! Neither was it suggested in the video that the girl was going to be "raped" - this thought never crossed anyone's mind during production, we were thinking more of having her bag stolen.
Regarding the website, I am unsure what you class as "poor HTML" - the site validates against W3C strict standards, and the code is simple, clean and concise. Sure the layout is "simple" with no pictures, but that is the approach we deliberately went for.
I apologise if you found the video "offensive" in anyway but like I said it wasn't meant to be too serious. Also, might i add that in the end, the women doesn't actually get attacked. Sure that is not shown, but that's artistic direction of the director for you!
I might also add we are not teenagers - and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even I see the benefits public transport improvements would bring to the city, but I don't think charging at the M60 is the right call. If it were simply the inner ring road to have the charge I might even consider voting Yes. For people living in Urmston, we are rather cut off - we pretty much have to cross the M60 boundary to get anywhere!
Also, evening if the congestion charge comes in - it will still be be cheaper for me to drive in with a passenger, and park, than to get two return tickets on the train. We would also get there quicker, and in greater comfort.
I hope this clarifies things a little
Kindest Regards,
Dave Carlson
----
Director of Operations
Sonassi Media Services
Email: dave@sonassi.com
Web: www.sonassi.com
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
Sonassi Media Services is a trading name of Sonassi Media LLP.

Dave, writing as Sonassi, commented that it was just a bit of fun, comedy, sarcasm etc and explained how the "dad" was in Urmston - even though that would not be a chargeable pick up.

Sonassi people APPROVED the concept/treatment/script.

Sonassi people GOT PERMISSION for the shoot, using their membership of GMMG as their calling card and bona fides.

Sonassi people MADE the damned thing.

Sonassi people DEFENDED and EXPLAINED the thing.

Sonassi people MADE THE CRUMMY WEBSITE which may be W3C compliant (or not) but does not even display in the rather common Firefox browser on Macs.

Apart from that they, Sonassi, had nothing to do with any of it.

Believe you me Dave I know about Urmston, Partington and Cadishead. Last time I was working there was Saturday evening, before I went to the frankly very deserted and desolate car parks of the Trafford Centre.

There were quite literally lads in black hoodies and jeans wrestling in the gutter (Manchester Road, t'other side of Ship Canal) for something to do of an evening.

It is a great touch asking people to consider the environment before printing the email. Excellent.

Some further questions:

Did the Trafford Centre or anyone else from GMMG see the treatment or script ahead of granting approval for indoor car park, outdoor car parks and driving shots on their estate?
Did the Trafford Centre or anyone else from GMMG receive a message from Sonassi or Dave or anyone involved saying the video was up?
Did the Trafford Centre, anyone else from GMMG, or their PR and clippings agency get an alert notifying them of this related content?
Who chose "Dad's" comedy curtains?
When did anyone involved in GMMG outside Sonassi first know about this Rape themed and factually outrageously wrong video?
Why did it take a poor blogger's story to get it spotted and removed by anyone in authority?
And why did it take 24 hours to happen?
Who on earth are the "Free Manchester Partnership"?
Were the actors and crew paid relating to this work?
If so by whom?
Are any members of the production team and cast or the wider Free Manchester Partnership, whatever that is, members or activists in far right organisations?
Are genuine people with concerns about the proposed scheme being continuously and deliberately misled about that scheme?
Are people with the true facts and bona fide concerns being let down by a bunch of wingnut idiots running a campaign of lies and ha ha ha comedy rape videos?