[StBernard] Does Bobby Have Any Shame? but please allow hima callfor a ride home???

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Sat Sep 22 22:39:08 EDT 2007


Actually, Jer, I've produced and directed testimonial political spots like
this one and they are rarely scripted. What you do is ask the person to
tell their story. You might have them tell it over several times giving
them guidance with questions. Basically you film a good 20 or 30 minutes
with the person and then go to the editing room to find the best snips.
Commercial producers like for this spot usually do not like the person to
prepare before the taping because you want a "natural" response. So, I'm
hard pressed to believed they told the lady what to say.

My point is it's the director who is supposed to be listening for how
statements come across or the person's body language or expressions when
they're talking. Typically, after shooting about 10 minutes you wind back
and take a look at what's been shot to see if anything needs to "re-asked".
Rarely does a person tell the same story in the same exact words. So,
that's why you have them do it several times.

Next time you watch a testimonial political ad like this one, count how many
times there is a camera edit - where the angle changes. This usually means
up to the previous word the interviewee spoke was liked by the director, but
they then said something which did not come across well. So, they re-ask
the question and if they prefer the last part of the person's answer on the
second go around, then they edit that. But they will move the camera around
after every second take to make it look like the camera angle and edit were
intended.

I once did a commerical for a candidate who could not ever get a single line
right. But since we had him moving around on every take and we repositioned
the cameras frequently, eventually we were able to get enough of given
sentence where he said part of the line correctly, then edited in other
correctly spoken sections later. In the end the commercial and the
candidate looked really good. You'd have never known what an idiot he was
in front of a video camera.

Out of confidence I would never reveal which well known candidates I worked
with were blundering fools in front of a camera, but I will tell you who I
always felt to be the best I ever worked with...and you'll probably be
shocked to hear it - Lynn Dean.

For someone who appears to pride himself on being an off the cuff
"unpolished" person, Mr. Dean was nearly a pro in front of the camera -
never nervous and always appeared comfortable. He knew the camera was there
and knew what to do in front of it. Believe it or not, he took direction
well and I rarely needed more than a few takes to get what I wanted.
Believe me, Mr. Dean knows (or knew) how play up to the camera.

John


-----Original Message-----
Great, John. For anyone who really is considerate of one so dear would never
be without continuous and constant briefings about the health of their loved
ones. I picked up on it and we all know who wrote the script for that
commercial. <G>

Shame on me for allowing her brother to be involved in such (ok, I'll take
the fall for that one since Mr. Boasso's lack of shame is not withstanding
here).

Blame it on me. Yes!!!

BTW, reading the teleprompter is not so hard after she's read it a couple of
times at practice.

This should be a perfect time to reunite with your loved ones you haven't
seen in a while. Tell them you love them while they still breathe and can
understand you. Don't wait until Mr. Boasso uses you in his next, unholy,
commercial as an example <G>

Again John, great "head's up" to the truth.

--jer--





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