So my gal and I are relaxing watching CNN cover the Republican convention. Final night, it’s time to hear Mr. McCain accept his party’s nomination. So I tune in to see what he has to say. And instead of hearing him I can only think of one thing…, this is the worst lighting and video presentation I have ever seen on TV.
I don’t know who was responsible for what I just saw, but there’s a good chance they are someone I’ve worked with before. They would not have gotten this particular gig if they weren’t good at what they do, but in this case someone needs to be fired. But who’s at fault? Is it the DP? Is it the LD? Or is it the Video director. Actually it’s the fact that any of these guys could be at fault OR they had a producer demanding that it look this shitty and these directors just threw their hands up in the air as to not be held accountable for what they were directing. This has to be the case.
By now you’re probably wondering what disgusted me. Well, I turned on the TV a few minutes into McCain’s speech. The first thing I noticed was an illuminated talking head speaking in front of a solid lime green backdrop. He looked like a puppet. My gal (who coincidentally produces events like this for a living) and I looked at each other with simultaneous “what the hell” looks on our faces. We were looking at High School quality producing. We could not, for the life of us think of why any sane organization would try and sell a product in this manner. After a couple minutes the show’s director finally changed to another camera angle. And I saw that McCain was actually standing in front of a projection screen. And all I was noticing was the bottom portion of the projected image playing behind him.
My gal and I started laughing because we knew that somewhere, in some remote TV truck, a director had to be going berserk at this poor choice of video content. Yet the same lime green image was up there for several minutes. Finally they change the image on the screen. Thank God. Our speaker is now standing in front of a mishmash of more green except now it is mixed with some brown texture. Our Republican nominee is now speaking to us while wading in a pool of Pea green vomit mixed with the Hulk’s bowel movement. Nice and classy. The camera pulls out and I see that our speaker is actually standing in front of a corn field. That probably looked good to the attendees in the arena. But to the millions of TV watchers viewing the close up shot, how could they take this man seriously? One doesn’t have to impress the attendees; they are going to vote Republican no matter what. Shouldn’t the producers be trying to sell their product to the millions of TV watchers? Does this party have no common artistic sense?
What I also found amusing was the fact that McCain was talking that moment about a family from New England and their struggles with jobs, mortgage payments and their autistic son. And how McCain is listening to their problems. I’m sorry, but the last time I checked, there are no cornfields in Boston. You want to talk to me about a New England family, show me a fisherman. Or a beautiful autumn day with colored leaves. Save the cornfield till you speak about the family from Iowa.
Without any benefit of a subtle fade to another image, a bright solid light blue backdrop now pops onto the screen. It is overbearing again. Not as bad as lime green but still stupid. I look at my gal and question aloud, “why don’t they just show a waving flag or something patriotic behind this guy instead of yet another talking head look?” Then they pull the jib back and I see that the huge backdrop is actually a flag waving on a pole. But the flag is a small image at the top of the screen and the only other image on the giant screen is a cloudless sky. That’s what’s making the blue background in the talking head shot. By now heads must be rolling and I can hear the voice in the truck going hoarse while wondering when this nightmare will end.
With the rear projection screen so bright, they have had to pump up the lumens on the podium so that McCain doesn’t disappear as a shadow in front of it. This just turns his hair into a blaze of white to remind us of his age. If he has a tan I can’t see it. And who from Arizona does not have a tan? Playing in front of a giant screen is dangerous, but it can look great if the right video content is used and the lighting corrected to the right levels to match the projection.
The ironic part of all this was that I think the nominee gave a pretty good speech. He had some valid points that actually made me consider voting for him instead of a liberal.
But then he starts talking about his running mate. Here the PR department has been trying to sell a good story about a solid woman who has a pregnant teenage daughter and a disabled newborn. My heart went out for her. But then his party chose the Heart song “Barracuda” to go with his running mate. I don’t want a barracuda of a mother running my country. I want a woman with good family values who “doesn’t” go back to work 5 days after giving birth, but takes time to welcome a new member of the family. Then goes back to work.
I’ll get down off my soap box now. I realize that Republicans have little interest in the arts and probably don’t care about what I see on TV. But I don’t align myself to any political party. I choose to vote for whoever answers the questions the closest to how I would like them answered. But when I see someone present themselves to my country with such disregard for artistic taste, how can I vote for them?
