megimoo
09-15-2008, 12:55 AM
Charlie Gibson and ABC News Camera Trickery
I'm a Director in Hollywood. I've also created visual effects for movies and commercials for 23 years. I'm not disclosing my name at this point, because frankly I've already suffered enough job loss because I was "outted" as a conservative. But enough about me. I caught a commercial teaser for the Charlie Gibson interview of Sarah Palin and something caught my attention as a Director immediately: The use of the position and choice of lenses to minimalize Governor Palin.
To be objective to see if I was jumping to conclusions, I immediately reviewed Mr. Gibson's interview with Senator Obama. Take a look below at how wide and then how even the heights are between the two. Yes, in real life Senator Obama is taller than Mr. Gibson. The shot was never tighter than the framing on the right.
Obama 2
http://a4.vox.com/6a00fa969a0bb2000300fa969a162c0003-pi
Now take a look at Sarah Palin's interview below. Funny how all the shots are no wider than the one on the left. There's a reason for this. While it's true that Governor Palin is of less stature than Mr. Gibson, the deliberate choice of the camera's height, framing and the use of telephoto lenses all serve to make Mr. Gibson look overpowering and Governor Palin the weak prey. This is common shooting technique we use to make a villain appear more ominous. How intuitive of ABC News to correctly portray themselves.
Palin 2
http://hollywoodtrenches.vox.com/library/photo/6a00fa969a0bb2000300fa969972d60002.html
To illustrate this further, I utilized some storyboarding software I normally use to figure out what shots need to be set up when I shoot a movie. Notice that by merely adjusting the height of the camera and using a telephoto lens we can manipulate the shot to make either subject we want larger or smaller. The characters themselves were not scaled up or moved at all. Obviously ABC, along with Mr. Gibson and his producers chose to make her look as tiny as possible.
http://hollywoodtrenches.vox.com/
I'm a Director in Hollywood. I've also created visual effects for movies and commercials for 23 years. I'm not disclosing my name at this point, because frankly I've already suffered enough job loss because I was "outted" as a conservative. But enough about me. I caught a commercial teaser for the Charlie Gibson interview of Sarah Palin and something caught my attention as a Director immediately: The use of the position and choice of lenses to minimalize Governor Palin.
To be objective to see if I was jumping to conclusions, I immediately reviewed Mr. Gibson's interview with Senator Obama. Take a look below at how wide and then how even the heights are between the two. Yes, in real life Senator Obama is taller than Mr. Gibson. The shot was never tighter than the framing on the right.
Obama 2
http://a4.vox.com/6a00fa969a0bb2000300fa969a162c0003-pi
Now take a look at Sarah Palin's interview below. Funny how all the shots are no wider than the one on the left. There's a reason for this. While it's true that Governor Palin is of less stature than Mr. Gibson, the deliberate choice of the camera's height, framing and the use of telephoto lenses all serve to make Mr. Gibson look overpowering and Governor Palin the weak prey. This is common shooting technique we use to make a villain appear more ominous. How intuitive of ABC News to correctly portray themselves.
Palin 2
http://hollywoodtrenches.vox.com/library/photo/6a00fa969a0bb2000300fa969972d60002.html
To illustrate this further, I utilized some storyboarding software I normally use to figure out what shots need to be set up when I shoot a movie. Notice that by merely adjusting the height of the camera and using a telephoto lens we can manipulate the shot to make either subject we want larger or smaller. The characters themselves were not scaled up or moved at all. Obviously ABC, along with Mr. Gibson and his producers chose to make her look as tiny as possible.
http://hollywoodtrenches.vox.com/