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New 'What is Bitcoin?' Video
There are multiple issues with the current 'What is Bitcoin?' video:
- Too short and vague with explanations
- Claims fees are low which is not necessarily true
- Hints that anyone can be a miner by running an application, and doesn't mention specialised hardware
- The blockchain, the most important data structure in Bitcoin isn't even mentioned or explained
- Not enough importance is placed on Bitcoin's key selling point: not being controlled by anyone
Overall the video just feels... empty. Anyone who watches it won't even get close to a true understanding of what Bitcoin is. It just presents Bitcoin as something slightly better than PayPal. I think it's better if we get a new more up to date video made. This will be a completely new video, made from scratch. I think it's possible to explain Bitcoin sufficiently to an average person without simplifying too much. Especially in a video format, where you can use things like drawings and animations to make a point.
Anyway I've written up a script for a new video, feel free to point out ways it could be improved. Or just add/remove portions as necessary. I'm aiming for a running time of around 5-7 minutes. I really wanted to point out some history, to highlight how Bitcoin solved a huge problem. I also wanted to specifically dispel the idea that miners control Bitcoin, which a lot of new users can be tricked into believing. The idea is after watching the video, the average person will at least have some solid foundation to build on when learning about Bitcoin.
The script can be found here: https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/pull/2536.
What do you guys think? If we do decide to proceed with getting this new video made, I think we'd need to go through the following steps:
- [ ] Come to a consensus on a script
- [ ] Slice script into 'scenes', and figure out what animated content or drawings would best explain the idea
- [ ] Hire an artist to create a storybook based on these scenes, with some rough sketches
- [ ] Draft up some requirements: like the colour scheme we want, narrator's voice & accent, art style, tone and background sounds, etc
- [ ] Find an excellent video production company or talented individual with a good reputation and quality work and pay them to produce the video
- [ ] Present the video to the Bitcoin community, gather feedback, and then make the relevant changes
Claims fees are low which is not necessarily true
It's true right now, and for the foreseeable future, at least as a norm. Good enough.
Hints that anyone can be a miner by running an application, and doesn't mention specialised hardware
Maybe the new one should explicitly say that only a privately owned Chinese company can reverse transactions...?
The blockchain, the most important data structure in Bitcoin isn't even mentioned or explained
Technical details. Users don't need to understand it.
Not enough importance is placed on Bitcoin's key selling point: not being controlled by anyone
To that end, it would be good if it explained the difference between full nodes and insecure wallets.
 Draft up some requirements: like the colour scheme we want, narrator's voice & accent, art style, tone and background sounds, etc
Would it make sense to have multi-lingual variants?
It's true right now, and for the foreseeable future, at least as a norm. Good enough.
Ideally we want our content as future-proof as possible. If someone watches that, sees low fees promised, and then a few months later experiences some horribly high fee, it reflects badly on Bitcoin.
Maybe the new one should explicitly say that only a privately owned Chinese company can reverse transactions...?
LOL Luke! You literally aren't even joking are you? Even though you're right, I don't think it's something we should be promoting, it's only a temporary issue, since that company won't be around soon. It's inevitable PoW gets changed sometime in the next couple of years and they get removed.
Technical details. Users don't need to understand it.
It's just a brief simple explanation of how Bitcoin's blockchain actually works, it's not going to be super technical, just an overview, enough so that when they hear the word blockchain, they at least have some foundation of knowledge.
To that end, it would be good if it explained the difference between full nodes and insecure wallets.
Very good point. I'll see how I can fit that in without adding too much to the length of the video.
Would it make sense to have multi-lingual variants?
Yeah, we should do this. We'd just need to get the script translated and find narrators across languages. We'd also need to work to edit the video to adjust speed, since languages can vary in how compactly they can communicate information.
I suggest that you close this issue and reopen it as a PR to the site (e.g. as a blog post). You don't have to have any intention of ever merging it, but if it's a PR, people can comment on particular lines and GitHub will automatically hide comments applying to old lines when you push changes.
Thanks, I've created the pull request here: https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/pull/2536.
I'll leave this discussion up to discuss the general concept of the video (maybe some have other approaches or ideas, or even disagree with getting a new video made), and let the script be dissected in the PR.
