Phil de Vellis = John Mark Karr?
by Patrick Ruffini :: March 22nd, 2007 3:04 pmDid Phil de Vellis just cop to a “crime” he didn’t commit, or had only a minor part in committing, to advance his career (it’s working) or cover for the real perps?
Buckeye State Blog, a lefty Ohio outfit, is doubtful that de Vellis is the auteur of “Vote Different.” They have clashed in the past so there clearly is no love lost between the two:
Also, where was De Vellis’ “Big Sister” ad of the Brown campaign. Where’s that one piece that hinted at Phil’s creativity? Where is something - anything - that shows a high level of technical skill with video editing/manipulation. If you’re still looking, stop. I couldn’t find anything either. In fact, there’s nothing, I repeat NOTHING, from Phil’s work on that campaign (or any other work he’s done elsewhere that I’ve tracked down) that even leaves one to hope that he is capable of the pure genius that is “Big Sister”. I remain skeptical.
David All pays close attention and doesn’t buy it either:
I took a closer examination of the video today, and there’s one scene which really jumps out at me which leads me to believe that there could, in fact, be more to the story.
Watch the video again and look for this scene. Look how perfectly edited the series of videos are in the video. Now look at the admittedly amateur video which the Lamont folks made using this same idea. No one noticed those scenes.
This is precision editing. Not some kid, in his apartment, on a Sunday, with some editing equipment.
He’s referring to an early scene in the spot, where the drones are marching to Hillary video placed perfectly in a series of TV screens above. That shows a remarkable attention to detail in the production.
It also conflicts with ParkRidge47’s email to Micah Sifry, which clumsily claimed that the ad was a response to the David Geffen spat. Which happened on February 21st. And if so, that’s revealing, because it suggests “Vote Different” was in the works for two weeks or more. Chances are there’s more to de Vellis’ claim that it was done on his apartment on a Sunday afternoon.
I’m not a video editor. I don’t own a Mac or Final Cut Pro. But I’ve worked with video editors. And my strong sense is, like David’s, that there is no way this ad was thrown together in six hours. Maybe the cheap responses were, or the Lamont-Lieberman version was, but not this.
UPDATE: Bryan Preston sleuths it out, and his word is as conclusive as you’ll probably get on this. Conclusion: It could have been done in a day, if the editor knew exactly what he was doing and what the end product should look like.
Tagged: barack obama 
blue state digital philip de vellis video
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I commented on David’s site, and will make the same point here. You’ve met our dear friend Justin, right? You know the guy… he was in The Times…
Do you honestly think he couldn’t produce this same video in a day? Especially now that he has several more years of experience under his belt? The only thing preventing him from doing the same stuff is the fact that his wife would kill him if he spent an entire Sunday doing it.
I liken this to highly customized cars. Yes, there are probably more guys who pay mechanics to do work for them, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t guys who can do the work out of their garage. After all, the guy you pay to do this work has to be able to do it.
Justin isn’t a trained video producer. He is an enthusiast who happens to be very talented. I don’t see that this guy needs to be any different.
I’m still skeptical. The act of cutting out the old video and subbing in the new one alone would take hours of painstaking frame by frame work to make sure they are behind the drones’ heads. And that’s before the text effects, the “O” on her shirt that moves nearly flawlessly, and the detailed finishing on the Hillary in the TV sets.
There is no indication that de Vellis was nearly as skilled a video editor as Justin before this.
But if you’re saying this software is that powerful, I’m grabbing my car keys and going to the Apple store in Clarendon right now.
There is a smattering of controversy over the Hillary Obama Apple ad. Some see sinister forces at work, could be; or it could be the work of a very talented artist/technician. Today’s technology in the right hands can be quite amazing. I have made some discoveries about the video that I have not seen mentioned elsewhere.
As previously noted, the succession of small monitors with Hillary on them is well done and speaks of a creative type who is experienced with video compositing and filters. Note how they are off set due to the camera angle. Even more astonishing are three other factors,…
1. The runner has an Obama logo on her shirt, replacing the original mac icon, that moves very realistically as her breasts sway with her gate, it’s also there when she swings the hammer.
2. She is also carrying on her waist an Apple i-Pod, a Nintendo Game Boy or an i-Phone. (See my blog for the screen capture.)
3. The scrolling text at the end of the ad moves over images that previously had different text on them.
Maybe the artist was able to use filters to drop out the black text and filled in the gaps somehow, or maybe, (note sinister forces are at work here), just maybe they had access to the original unedited video from Apple, can we say good Jobs, Steve.
Phil,
Did editing and grafx work for me starting about 7 years ago. He was extremely skilled at it then and would put together amiazing pieces in hours, so you are wrong to think he couldn’t doe this in a few hours in his apartment. he used to do music related grafx for major record labels in hours and this was years ago, i’m sure hes come a long ways.
adam rothlein
speedwayfilms
[…] UPDATE 4:53 PM: Riehl World View is speculating/fleshing out a link between Philip de Vellis and David Geffen. And make sure you read Patrick’s post along with the comments on his post. […]
[…] Addendum III: (David L) How legitimate is Phil de Vellis’ confession? Patrick Ruffini is both a republican and internet expert. That is Ruffini has both technical knowledge and no partisan axe to grind. Ruffini doubts that de Vellis could editted the video: Did Phil de Vellis just cop to a “crime” he didn’t commit, or had only a minor part in committing, to advance his career (it’s working) or cover for the real perps? […]
[…] Remember the Hillary Big Brother ad? It was an ad for the Obama camp, and it’s been a nutroots winner so far. I thought it was clever, and the Obama supporters made sure it got around. With millions of YouTube views, it’s become one of the biggest internet ads of all time. Someone stood up and said they made the ad, and Patrick Ruffini is skeptical: He’s referring to an early scene in the spot, where the drones are marching to Hillary video placed perfectly in a series of TV screens above. That shows a remarkable attention to detail in the production. […]