Funny, idiosynchronic, I’ve always liked the word “kern”, and especially “kerning”.  Mainly because it reminds me of other words I like, such as Cairn and Kenning (a norse idiomatic/literary phrase construction; yes, in fact I do happen to be a total nerd).

It’s always sounded more “Swedish Chef” to me than “Klingon”.

I will also confess that I like the way the names Goethe and Konigsberg sound.

On topic, this is another of those things where I just don’t get why you would do it this way rather than just taping the both of them in the same kitchen set, actually playing off each other.

It has clearly been shot separately, but I don’t see why that matters. The only potentially dishonest thing is putting a coffee mug in her hand, but I really don’t see this as being worth a blog post…

meh? the whole thing just looked weird - whats up with that tight shot of her holding the coffee cup?

HUH???????

I’ll also say that the only part of ‘her footage’ that actually looks like it was shot in front of a green screen is her last couple of shots, where she’s at one end of the kitchen island and he’s at the other—the perspective looks weird, as if she’s floatiing against the laws of physics in the middle of the table.  Also, she’s lit differently from the rest of the shot.  I’m not sure that this means she really was shot on a different location and greenscreened in, or if it’s just an example of really horrible lighting and camera work. 

Oh, and BTW, whether they’re really together at the same location or not, it’s almost certainly not the actual kitchen of their actual home.  It’s a “Generic WASPY Upscale Kitchen” location, not unlike the “Generic WASPY Upscale Livingroom” location used in the recent Obama ad.

“Kerning” in this context is stupid: footage is not characters in a font.

She’s OBVIOUSLY greenscreened, and if August doubts it, he must be AMAZED at what they’re doing in movies nowadays.

You lose: it’s NOT an interesting blog post at any level.  God this place has sucked like a hoover since you and jesse started writing.  You know, you two don’t HAVE to write every day: how about a little self-editing?

I’ve watched it a few more times and I think you’re right. I think it’s the perspective that convinces me - where is she actually standing in relation to the kitchen island? like Opoponax said. Before I posted this most of the reaction I read focused on lighting, shadows, and other factors that I felt were stretching it.

And thanks.

Eric made his objection like a real asshole, but the objection itself does have some merit.

There is a real clash of styles here, Jesse posting 5 times a day on general topics that you would find on any liberal blog, while Pam and Amanda, who tend to produce longer pieces less frequently, are nearly drowned out.

The unique identity of this place has largely dried up in favor of general liberal snarkiness.

After watching this for like the zillionth time, I’m almost positive that she really is in the shot, and that the blame lies with whoever lit this thing.  Mainly because what jumps out at me is that she is fabulously well-lit, and the actual candidate is standing right in the middle of a Black Hole Of Light Suckage And Shadow.  WTF?

The island is also a huge problem.  Why did they shoot it that way?  And if this was the only solution in terms of camera angles, why did they choose a location with a huge reflectively-surfaced black slab of an island?  Ew.

I would personally chalk it up to a sub-par crew and about 15 noticeable technical gaffes, and not Coleman and wife.

1. it’s a political commerical. who gives a crap how it was made?  At least it isn’t a series of close-ups of grainy, black-and-white photos with scary music in the background.

2. EVERY political commercial- I repeat EVERY political commerical- shows the candidate’s wedding ring.

3.  I have an attention span of about 2 paragraphs and, at most, 2 photos.  So Jesse’s style suits me just fine.

because facts are fun:

“In his first year in office (i.e., 2003) he voted with President Bush’s position on bills 98 percent of the time (according to Congressional Quarterly statistics).”

So, either he’s moved drastically away from Bush in 4 years (less, really), or Congressional Quarterly is full of crap.

It’s so… contrived and cutesy. I don’t care how it was lit, shot, produced. I do care about the script and delivery being completely lame.

What you guys don’t understand is that every post is like a stone hurled at that woman at the end of The Lottery, or alternatively blog posts can either feed starving kittens or be posted for the public to read.  Each post is also like another hour of work for homeless orphans that are forced to read blog posts in the blog post mines.  I just don’t know how you can be so insensitive.

I like the puzzle, too. It’s not just the lighting. The perspective is wrong. If we take the composition at face value, the Colemans’ kitchen is on a rather steep incline with Sen. C. at the top of the slope and Mrs. C. at the bottom. That’s how Republicans like to imagine marriage anyways, so think of it as a sop to the base.

her reflection doesn’t show on the island

This is pretty easy to game on film (or tape, as the case may be).  I mean, how many movies have you seen where the “vampire” character didn’t have a reflection in the mirror?  Do you think they needed CGI to achieve that? 

Not to mention that just about every competently made film you’ve seen manages to avoid showing the reflections of the crew in mirrors, windows, and reflective surfaces.  I doubt you conclude from this that obviously the crew couldn’t have been at the same location, or the movie must not ever have really been made, because how could there have been a crew if there w is a mirror in the room and yet you don’t see the?m?

The point of whether or not she’s there, which hasn’t been covered, is that she and her Party of Family Values hubby Norm are not really married at all.

She lives in California, has a film and acting career, etc. He’s in DC and Minnesota, and is well known (in a not documented but well known way) philanderer. Which I would have less problem with if he didn’t just divorce her and move on. But he needs Teh Spouse.

So this is so ironically funny - watch it again - the coffeecup shot is to connect the two. She’s giving the orders (from 1800 miles away) and he’s following them. But they’re not in the same state. The wedding ring shot? He’s married!

But he’s not.

“whats up with that tight shot of her holding the coffee cup?”

It provides a nice little shot of that rock on her finger.

The oil stat seems legit, although idk if it’s representative.

You know, this seemed like a silly little post, but now I realize these so much going on here.  The coffee cup shot, in addition to showing off the wedding ring and the size of the diamond with the ring artfully twisted, has Norm reflected upside down “proving” they are both in the kitchen at the same time (unlike, say, having them clink cups or hug or some such).  Plus, it shows that a world where a wife can boss her husband around is UPSIDE DOWN AND WRONG!!!!!

The camera starts off low, making her look HUGE and after the coffee shot zooms to the ceiling, putting her in her place down at the bottom and well beneath her husband. 

Yes, she is lighted much better—spot lighting as befits a proper trophy.

Then the outside shot of the candidate taking out the trash!  This is the man to handle Al Qaeda!

Someone thought long and hard about this stupid ad!  The least we can do is overanalyze the shit out of it!

I for one love the snarky little pieces I find here and other sites like SadlyNo!...

It’s a nice chuckle break for a blogger like me between the long and often complex blogs I find at digby, FireDogLake and KOS…

With all the horrifying news, it’s good to have a belly laugh once in awhile.

And it’s really true that the right wing has NO IDEA how to do good snark…their primitive brains lack the funny stem!