CLEVELAND — This week, Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson released a video statement in which he addressed the ongoing investigation involving the recent arrest of his of his grandson. I have some thoughts on that.
Jackson refers to it as an "interview," although you never actually hear the interviewer speak and only Jackson appears on camera. Many have complained about the content of Mayor Jackson's message, considering it to be little more than City Hall propaganda delivered from an insulated environment.
I don't know if that's true. Frankly, it's a little above my pay grade and it's not what I'm here to address tonight. I found myself far too distracted by the dreadful production quality of this video to even begin considering what he was actually saying.
First, let's talk about the framing. Why is the top of the mayor's head cut off? How hard would it have been to get out entire mayor into this shot?
Several easy fixes come to mind: You could zoom out a little, you could back up the camera a bit, or you could ask the mayor to scoot back just a skosh. Any of those would've worked, but you couldn't be bothered.
And that's what has led us to this: If you add a shadowy finger to the top of this shot (as we have done here), it looks like a camera phone picture my mother might take after two glasses of Chardonnay.
These weird, Jeopardy-style slates are also distracting and unnecessary.
This shot is most-definitely crooked.
And I found this dangling, exposed microphone wire particularly bothersome.
I know it's just a minor thing, but that's kind of the point. Is it really too much to ask that someone, anyone in City Hall make sure our mayor's microphone wire is tucked in before he makes important proclamations?
As far as the setting, it looks like he hosts a late-night, public access TV show where people call in and ask him for fantasy football advice.
It's 2019, folks. People are shooting and editing entire, decent-looking feature-length films using just their iPhones. There's just no excuse for the mayor of a major American city to be putting out videos in worse production quality than the one you took of your daughter's dance recital from the back of a school auditorium.
Remember, this doesn't just reflect poorly upon the mayor. It was published on the official City of Cleveland YouTube page! This represents all of us. In fact, our tax dollars paid for the production of this video, which I think we can all agree stings a little.
Look, I'm not asking for the moon here Frank Jackson administration. None of us expect matrix-level production quality from you guys. All we're asking is that you put a little more effort into the videos in which you deny involvement and/or knowledge of everything. It's the least you can do.