I Approve This Message: Directors Notes Jesse Medalia Strauss Capstone: Spring 2014 Full Movie: https://vimeo.com/92695449 1 Minute Excerpt: https://vimeo.com/92749178 Every political season the country faces a bombardment of political ads, invading their television. If you live in a swing state, or in a competitive congressional district, if your representative is locked in the primary of their life or if there is an open Senate seat waiting to be filled, then you have probably seen a political ad. You have probably seen several political ads. You have probably seen the same political ad several times. You probably hate political ads. The film I Approve this Message bridges the gap between the public that is subjected to these ads and the ad makers themselves. The documentary goes through the logic behind political ads, the persuasive techniques used and how the ad makers break the people’s resistance towards watching them and being affected by them. Political ads have become engrained in American society. A few lucky ones, such as President Johnson’s 1964 “Daisy” ad or President Reagan’s “Morning in America” ad, have even evolved into American historical icons. Almost every American comes into contact with a political ad at some point in an election cycle. It is a shared experience in this democracy. That is why this film is made. Generally people can recall and even relate to a political ad. People are also defensive towards political ads. Viewers are uncomfortable with a medium that is specifically designed to persuade and manipulate. Therefore there is a general interest, among Americans, in a movie that dissects how political ads persuade people and how they are constructed from preproduction all the way through postproduction. The goal of I Approve This Message is to leave the viewer with a greater appreciation for political ads as a form of storytelling and tool of public debate and civil discourse. At the same time, I Approve This Message is an education tool so that the American people can recognize exactly if and how a political ad is being used to manipulate them. Ideally the film will be distributed and made available to the general public at the height of the 2014 midterm elections political season, a time when political ads will be widespread and fresh in the people’s minds. This will be a time when interest in the film and the relevance of its subject will be at its peak. I Approve This Message attempts to show four things. The first is the public’s distrust and cynicism in regards to political ads. The second is the persuasive techniques ad makers use to subvert that cynicism and resistance to them. The third is how political ads are made all the way through preproduction, production, and postproduction. Finally the documentary shows that political ads are inherently a form of storytelling and that certain ads have become iconic staples of American history and life. In order to achieve the goals of I Approve This Message it made sense to conduct field research with those involved in making or studying political advertisements. This was done through extensive on-­‐camera interviews that serve as the foundation of the film. Much academic writing has been done on the topic of political ads and some of the information these studies hold are included in the movie. However movies, even documentaries, are a visual storytelling medium and thus require images and characters. It is for that reason that this capstone relies heavier on field research than academic writing. Those interviewed are leaders in the political ad-­‐making world and they covered a wide range of topics. These topics include public cynicism, their own persuasive techniques, research for ad making, filming the ad, editing the ad, and their favorite classic political ads. The film features an equal number of Republicans and Democrats who are in the business as well as a professor for an academic perspective. Mark Putnam’s interview is heavily featured in the film. Putnam of Putnam Partners wrote and produced President Obama’s 2008 30-­‐minute prime time political ad. He was a lead political ad maker for the Obama campaign in both 2008 and 2012. He also creates ads for Heidi Heitkamp, John Hickenlooper, and Alison Lundergan Grimes. The two ads that Putnam talks extensively about in the film are “My Job” and “Father’s Son.” “My Job” was done for the 2012 Obama reelection campaign and was the ad created around Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks. “Father’s Son” was made for Massachusetts State Representative Carl Sciortino during his bid for Congress. Terrance Green was the lead advertising producer for President Obama’s reelection campaign when he was a senior producer at the PR firm GMMB. Now he has founded his own production company known as Truxton Creative that provides socially conscious mission driven video content for clients. The two ads Green discusses in depth in I Approve this Message are “Go” and “Stretch.” Both are from the 2012 Obama reelection campaign. Paul Wilson is the Chairman and CEO of Wilson Grand Communications. Wilson Grand is a leading Republican strategic planning, advertising and production firm. They have done several ads for Karl Rove’s group Crossroads GPS and ads for Paul Ryan’s congressional campaigns. The ads he discusses in I Approve this Message are the Michigan Zoo ad and “High and Tight” for Bill Graves’ campaign for Governor of Kansas. The Michigan Zoo ad was sponsored by the Michigan Republican party as part of an effort to take over the state legislature that was under Democratic control for 10 years. Sheldon Smith is a Republican political ad voiceover actor. He discusses his role as a conveyer of the message of a political ad and how his voice adds to the persuasiveness and effectiveness of the ad. Smith also touches on how the making of political ads has changed from complex and expensive shoots to most of the work being done remotely and on computers. Perhaps Smith’s most famous ad is the Willie Horton ad, run against Michael Dukakis, by an outside group, during the 1988 presidential campaign. Pilar McKay is a professor in the School of Communication at American University. Professor McKay teaches Communication and Society, Public Communication Research and Research for Strategic Communication. Before teaching at American, McKay worked in advertising in a multitude of sectors and industries. She is also a trained research methodologist and has a Ph.D. in Education and Information Sciences. In the film, Professor McKay discusses advertising as a form of storytelling, the emotional component to advertising and the research that goes into ad making. The opening segment of I Approve This Messages features interviews with people at the mall in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The participants were asked their opinions of political advertisements and whether or not they feel that they have been persuaded by them. As expected, those interviewed at the mall mostly hated political advertisements, which plays into the premise of the film. These interviews were conducted to add a visual component to the academic writing that supports the claim that the American people are cynical about politics, partly because of their exposure to political advertisements. Following the opening sequence with the mall interviews is the segment on persuasiveness. This section is where the ad makers talk in general terms of how they achieve the ultimate goals of the political ad, which is to convince a viewer to watch, to persuade, or reinforce the viewer politically, and ultimately to win the election. This section is in direct response to those interviewed in the mall, especially ones who say they avoid watching political ads and could never be persuaded by one. The persuasiveness section specifically focuses on techniques the ad makers use to convince people to keep watching such as humor, metaphors and storytelling. The next three segments of I Approve This Message tell the story of how political ads are made by going more in depth in each stage of the process, starting with preproduction. Preproduction is everything that is done before the advertisement is ultimately made. In politics, this process is mainly research, polling, message and line testing, and focus groups. Campaigns must conduct in depth research on their own candidate, the opposition candidate, and their target audience, those likely to vote or be persuadable, within their electorate. This is all done in an effort to tell their own story, define themselves, define the opponent, and provide ad content that is relevant and will resonate with potential voters. This research ultimately turns into the scripts for the actual ads that will be employed by the campaign. The next stage of this process is Production, the actual process of filming and constructing the advertisement. The Production segment of the film is where the three ad makers discuss in depth two political ads they have created. They provide anecdotes of the constructing process and touch on the messaging and persuasive techniques they employed specifically in those advertisements. The final stage is the postproduction stage, the editing, color correction, graphics and music compositions for the advertisements. This stage is becoming more and more prominent in political advertising, as much of the field is moving towards creating content using what you can find and build on a computer as opposed to actual filming. The ad makers in this section discuss what sort of color tints for graphics and images that can invoke certain emotions and preconceived notions. For example, red text is great for talking about debt because of the expression “in the red.” They also touch on why they chose certain music tracks to go along with an ad and how certain color tones lends itself to being positive or negative. The concluding segment of I Approve This Message provides the ad makers an opportunity to discuss an ad that has either inspired them or personally impacted the way they think about and construct advertisements. It is a chance to look back at some of the most iconic and effective ads of the last few decades and how the basic principles of political advertising have changed or stayed the same. Not surprisingly, a majority of those interviewed cited President Lyndon Johnson’s iconic 1964 “Daisy” ad, so the film ends on a note about that advertisement and how a political ad has the potential not only to win an election, but also define and capture an era of American history. There is much academic literature and research that adds to and exemplifies many of the views and claims expressed by those interviewed in I Approve This Message. This literature covers topics that range from how priming and framing theory is employed in political ads, whether emotional or rational arguments are more effective in ads, the types of emotions political ads evoke, how political ads alter perceptions of government and politicians, and the ultimate effectiveness of political ads as a campaign tool. As stated by the subjects in the movie, one of the greatest challenges political ad makers face is breaking through the cynicism and skepticism the public holds towards political advertisements. Exposure to negative political advertisements increases pessimism towards government.1 A gallop poll conducted in 2006 stated that 69% of Americans either do not trust much of what is in a political ad or noting in a political ad.2 Mistrust of government is also on the rise. According to a New York Times/CBS poll, 89% of Americans “distrust the government to do the right thing.”3 With this type of political landscape, it is increasing more difficult for ad makers to create content that works. On top of the cynicism, political ad makers have to compete with all other media that is bombarding the electorate. The mediums where people receive information and view entertainment, grows more numerous with each election cycle. In I Approve This Message, Mark Putnam touches on how ads need to be viewed multiple times in order for the message to be retained by the voter. Putnam states that campaigns need to buy more time now than they used to. A typical campaign will buy enough television ad time so that ideally every person in their target audience will have seen their ad ten times.4 That is what it takes to get a message to stick in the current media environment. Ad makers need to use every tool at their disposal to get their target audience to watch and retain the message in a political ad. Paul Wilson discusses how he employs humor, metaphors, and how he draws upon what people already know and their life 1 Schenck-­‐Hamlin, W. "The Influence of Negative Advertising Frames on Political Cynicism and Politician Accountability." Human Communication Research26.1 (2000): 53-­‐74. Online. (Page 68) 2 http://www.gallup.com/poll/25093/americans-­‐skeptical-­‐about-­‐what-­‐they-­‐see-­‐political-­‐ads.aspx 3 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/us/politics/poll-­‐finds-­‐anxiety-­‐on-­‐the-­‐economy-­‐fuels-­‐volatility-­‐in-­‐
the-­‐2012-­‐race.html?_r=0 4 http://go.bloomberg.com/political-­‐capital/2012-­‐09-­‐13/the-­‐ad-­‐wars-­‐political-­‐returns-­‐on-­‐investments/ experiences to convince them to watch. When the message of an ad is consistent with someone’s life experience the message is more potent.5 Terrance Green mentions, in I Approve This Message, how when constructing a negative ad he wants to avoid extremely scary music. Ads that are explicitly negative may generate a backlash, so Green does what he can to take some of the negative “edge off” while still sending a negative message. Most people interviewed at the mall do not believe they have been persuaded by a political ad but often the persuasion is more implicit instead of explicit. A well-­‐crafted ad will persuade voters without the viewer being conscious of the fact they are being persuaded. Political ads that want to spread controversial messages and draw upon people’s prejudices will rely on implicit messaging to do so.6 Professor McKay focuses on advertisements as a form of storytelling and how, through narrative, the ad makers can construct an emotional argument. Advertisements that employ emotional cues through images and music are often more effective.7 Advertisements tend to invoke four different types of emotions: pride, enthusiasm, anger and fear.8 Playing to a viewer’s emotion is a crucial method in convincing a potential voter to watch for the entire ad. Another way I Approve This Message visualizes the points made in the film is showing segments, visuals and audio, of political ads from a multitude of eras and campaigns. These ads have not been paid for or licensed. This is a documentary with an 5 Shen, F. "Chronic Accessibility and Individual Cognitions: Examining the Effects of Message Frames in Political Advertisements." Journal of Communication 54.1 (2004): 123-­‐37. Online. (Page 123) 6 Valentino, Nicholas A., Vincent L. Hutchings, and Ismail K. White. "Cues That Matter: How Political Ads Prime Racial Attitudes During Campaigns." American Political Science Review 96.01 (2002): n. pag. Print. (Page 76) 7 Brader, Ted. "Striking a Responsive Chord: How Political Ads Motivate and Persuade Voters by Appealing to Emotions." American Journal of Political Science 49.2 (2005): 388-­‐405. Online. (Page 389) 8 Ridout, Travis N., and Kathleen Searles. "It's My Campaign I'll Cry If I Want To: How and When Campaigns Use Emotional Appeals." Political Psychology 32.3 (2011): 439-­‐58. Web. (Page 44) educational and journalistic purpose; therefore the use of these political ads is fair use. Other documentaries have employed similar uses of unlicensed material. The ad makers interviewed in the movie have express their permission to use their ads in the film. Everyone interviewed in the movie has signed a release form or expressed verbal consent to be in the documentary. All non ad-­‐related music, b roll and visuals are either owned/created by Jesse Medalia Strauss, the film’s creator, are also fair use, or are royalty free and/or in the public domain. Credits: Producer/Director/Editor Jesse Medalia Strauss Main Interviews (In Order of Appearance) Sheldon Smith Mark Putnam Paul Wilson Pilar McKay Terrance Green Mall Interviews (In Order of Appearance) Antoinette McCarter Javier Flores Ashley Wright Laura Lopez Jessie Jim Nicolas Nima Moainie Leslie Prisco Favorite Ad Interviews (In Order of Appearance) Chance Browning Graham Sallinger Kelsie Taggart Kaitlyn Ryan Kirstin Ashely Patrícia Panyi Corey Teter Production Assistants Phil Cardarella Zach Cohen Rachel Coyle Will Cusey Jake Furey-­‐Rosan Actors David Bird Rachel Coyle Mellissa Englander Daniel Hubbell Marjorie Kline Graham Sallinger Annelies Van Vonno Music Niusha Naweb From Freeplay Music: Chief Constituent – Greg Hosharian Vibe Up – David Flavin Advisor Leonard Steinhorn Ads From The Following Campaigns (In Order of Appearance) Johnson for President 1964 Reagan for President 1984 Santorum for President 2012 Ike for President 1952 Nixon for President 1972 Romney for President 2012 Perry for President 2012 Obama for President 2012 O’Donnell for Senate 2010 Fiorina for Senate 2010 Bush for President 1988 Cain for President 2012 Obama for President 2008 Bush for President 2004 Kerry for President 2004 McCain for President 2008 Clinton for President 2008 Paul for President 2012 Michigan Zoo Ad Sciortino for Congress 2013 Graves for Governor 1994 Mondale for President 1984 Helms for Senate 1990 Ernst for Senate 2014 Lundergan Grimes for Sec. State 2011 Kennedy for President 1960 Hickenlooper for Governor 2010 Peterson for Ag Commissioner 2010 Nixon for President 1968 Huckabee for President 2008 Manchin for Senate 2010 Gravel for President 2008 Opt Out 2013 Tisei for Congress 2012 Other Found Footage C-­‐Span Library of Congress Quinnipiac U.S. Census Bureau The Young Turks Openclipart Wikipedia Commons Terminator 2 Trailer Funny or Die Special Thanks American University Dotty Lynch Candice Nelson Leonard Steinhorn Tyson’s Corner Mall Everyone involved in the American University Political Communication Program