at least I think so.
Half of everyone thinks they can be film directors and campaign managers. We can, we believe, generate the terrific ideas that will make a great movie or a political ad (the thinking isn't that different--read Beinhart's American Hero, the book that the damnable film Wag the Dog was made from). Sometimes, some of us are actually right!
Trundle along with me on the flip for my brief but brilliant ad idea that will send the McCain campaign right over the edge into oblivion.
The only thing I know about scriptwriting protocol is what I read in books, so I won't even pretend to get it right. This should give you the general idea, though. Since I don't have a Flickr account and don't want to bog this diary down with graphics, I'm not adding the photos I'm citing, but you know them, anyway.
FADE IN: Huge crowd chants of "Four more years! Four more years!" As volume swells, add echo effects to give distance, eerie quality.
STILL PICTURES, one after another in a montage:
McCain hugging Bush
McCain and Bush grinning over cake while Katrina slams into the Gulf Coast
Dead body floating in New Orleans canal
Bush "Mission Accomplished"
A befuddled McCain, in full military regalia, in Iraq (choose shot wisely)
More Bush/McCain hugs (there are a lot of different shots of this -- sprinkle throughout)
Fill out montage with high gas price shot, FEMA trailers, foreclosure notices, McCain celebrating with lobbyists, whatever. 15-20 seconds max
FADE OUT: Crowd chanting, and
FADE IN OVER: Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful"
SCREEN TEXT: Or we can change....
STILL PICTURES in montage: properly selected Obama pics
TEXT OVER OBAMA LOGO: Change We Can Believe In.
FADE OUT music
Simple, direct, devastating. What do you think? Got your own ideas for an ad? If anyone wants to Flash what I put up, they are more than welcome. (Let me know if you post it somewhere, I'd love to see it.)