Posted on 12/20/2007 8:59:16 AM PST by Travis McGee
"THE TODAY SHOW"
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Let's talk about this Christmas ad, because it comes after you have taken some hits from the critics, first for calling yourself a Christian leader, then for questioning whether Mormons believe Christ and the devil were brothers, something you did apologize for.
Now in this ad you are say people should be celebrating the birth of Christ while the shape of a cross appears to take shape behind you. And that has led some to say that this is another overt religious appeal to voters. What do you say about this ad and about those criticisms?
MIKE HUCKABEE: That floating cross is a bookshelf, Meredith. We were all amused -- the production crew I think probably more than anyone, who put the spot together.
VIEIRA: So you didn't see that image when you put the spot together, that it might be confused?
HUCKABEE: Absolutely not.
These are movie camera "tracking dollies."
There are two reasons to use tracking dollies when directing a film. The most basic use is when following a moving subject and keeping them in the same plane. The classic use is to follow a walking actor in profile.
The other use of the tracking dolly is to move the background in a controlled way, while keeping the foreground subject in one place by simultaneiously tracking and panning the camera.
That is how the Huckabee team contrived and executed the shot, in order to move the glowing white (spotlighted) shelf/cross from the left side of the shot to behind Huckabee's head, in exactly the 30 seconds of the ad.
The use of the tracking dolly is the smoking gun, the proof that the moving cross effect was deliberate, and that Huckabee is lying about it being an unnoticed coincidence.
They didn't just come out and "find" that a tracking dolly had magically appeared on the set, and decide, "Aw shucks, why don't we stick the camera on this here funny contraption, and slide it from left to right while aiming at Mike's head, just for the heck of it."
Every aspect of this political advertisement was deliberate, down to the placement of the three ornaments on the glowing white spotlighted empty shelf.
The proof that the moving cross effect was deliberate, is the use of the tracking dolly to move the cross in the background in a perfectly controlled way.
I think the point is that if he’s lying about this ad, his Christianity is not the main feature of his character. I haven’t seen the ad myself, so I don’t know. Having made several movies myself, I can say that sometimes, subtleties are intended - sometimes, people read unwarranted significance into things.
Beliefs are what guide you, not what makes you think you are better than others.
Or do you hold certain candidates, an ex-preacher for example, to a higher standard?
Oops. I posted before I finished. I meant to add that the problem is that he’s denying it. He should have just said either “yes, we wanted to have a cross in our Christmas message” or “no, we didn’t notice it until the ad ran, but there it is and I like it.”
He broke the law:
UN-15a.Article.43
No citizen shall display the cross of Christ.
Do you see what I see?
that is not the issue.
Like all things it is the LIE not the facts.
1. Huckabee is pushing the “more christain than you” campaign. (did you know he was a preacher on 9/11)
2. Huckabee did not simply put a cross in the background, he use an allusion to a cross.
3. He then DENIED that it was deliberate when in fact it is OBVIOUS it is a deliberate action in the lighting, the movement, and the fact image control people micromanage these items for all campaigns.
It is a sleazy act by a sleazy politician.
A joke. Got it.
It looked like a bookcase to me. Who cares?
Maybe they’re denying it because they thought it was a bookcase too? The camera only panned past the bookcase because they wanted to bring the tree into the frame slowly... OK. Big deal?
I don’t even like Huck all that much... but sheesh. Much ado about nothing.
I don’t think that proves anything beyond taking the long way around to point out the obvious - that the camera is moving. But we already knew that. This kind of thing is done all the time, and is very popular in contemporary production. It is an aesthetic choice, and yes, a deliberate one. Making issue out of it totally misses the mark though. Why cares if the “cross” is floating or stationary, anyways?
The point of it is that the bookshelf was chosen, framed, and lighted in a particular way to resemble a cross, “floating” or not. The camera movement was designed simply to bring more attention to it, just to make sure them dumb rubes in Iowa didn’t miss it.
My problem is having people like Meridith Viera in positions of influence.
I saw the ad, it looks likes shelves.
Confused about what VIEIRA? That Christ was born on Christmas morn? So what?
Travis,
Perhaps Huckabee didn't know about it during the film production, and after being presented with the posited truth, didn't wish to acknowledge it. To you as well, so what?
There are a lot of bigger reasons than this not to support him. Let this one go.
Thanks for reminding me to link the video. Looking at a still photo capture doesn't reveal the perfect manipulation of the cross effect by the use of the moving camera tracking dolly.
he did not simply hang a cross or even have a manger scene.
He used subterfuge to create a cross with tricks of angle and light.
Huckabee is doing the more christian than thou and his anti mormon spin stuff.
This was no mere christmas “howdy”.
My more fundamental problem with Huck is he didn't seem to govern as a conservative in Arkansas.
So, we've got fiscal and foreign policy conservatives who are social liberals, a social conservative who is a fiscal liberal and a guy who claims to have been converted to social conservatism. Somewhere in that mess I need to find a candidate. :-))
I don't care about his use of the cross in a political ad.
I worry greatly about his LYING about using the cross.
If a former preacher will lie about the cross, what won't he lie about?
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