techPresident - Tancredo's missed opportunity - Comments

Re: video

David All — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:10:57 -0400

Good point Turk - background is key - but so is message.

Check out this video we did last year of Senate candidate Mike Bouchard accepting the endorsement and issuing a challenge to the Rightroots coalition...

Simple, authentic, unscripted, and we broke it up a bit by adding some "tracker cam" shots (this was at the height of "macaca" breaking out). Not all candidates are as good unscripted as Bouchard (he's likely the best I've ever seen), but you get the point.

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David All
The David All Group
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Low-tech video

Michael Turk — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:31:53 -0400

Hopefully my criticism of Tancredo's videos wasn't taken as a knock against doing them at all. My wife always tells me I need to do a better job of communicating the positive, rather than focusing on the negative. In this case, she's right.

Tancredo's efforts with regard to video are to be commended. The fact that he's talking openly and honestly about his beliefs sets him apart among most of the politicians who are far too scripted.

My only point with his video is there can be a very distinct difference between low-tech webcam and washed out webcam. A simple test shoot would have revealed the lighting problems and the white on white on white coloring issues. Do the shoot in front of some drapes or a bookcase or something to break up the solid white background. Better still, do the shoot in the kitchen, or outside or somewhere with interesting scenery. A little set dressing goes a long way.

Edwards' video with the 9th ward is a perfect example. It came across to me as staged (how many of those kids would actually keep working in the background as opposed to waving at the camera unless they were told not to?), but it was good staging.

Couldn't agree more

Marisa — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 02:13:17 -0400

I couldn't agree more. And so easy to correct. It's especially interesting to see that the videos posted by the candidates that are just them talking about the issues into a Web cam even, no fancy technical gizmos, are many times the more popular videos. He seems to have plenty of those. Videos of news replays, pre-taped interviews, or others vouching for the candidate, seem to not be as viewed as the low-tech versions of the real-life thing. We truly do seem to have a fascination with reality TV...

Tancredo's missed opportunity

David All — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:19:50 -0400

Michael Turk dug in deep earlier looking at Tom Tancredo's new website - TeamTancredo.com. And I was simply going to comment, but this has turned in to a rather lengthy post on how a candidate like Tanc is missing opportunities by having a shoddy web operation.

So for the future candidates, campaign operatives, and spokesbloggers in the room, I'll dig in...