** UPDATE: White House Denies **Was President Obama Really Sitting in Front of an Assembly Line in this Video?
by Larry O'ConnorUPDATE: The White House has responded to our inquiry and they deny that this week’s weekly address video was shot in front of a green screen. They also explained that the production line that the president was posed in front of is always shut-down on Fridays, the day President Obama taped his message. It’s impossible to resist the temptation to speculate that this odd production schedule must suggest that the production line is designated for the Chevy Volt.
President Obama delivered his weekly address to the nation from Detroit, Michigan this week after visiting workers at a GM assembly plant. When the video hit at Breitbart.tv, our tip box suddenly became very active with people claiming that the President was actually sitting in front of a green screen and the background image was really a composite image of an assembly line.
In the image below, you can see a black outline around the president’s shoulder, and you can see the background image slightly distorted around the president’s ear.
Several experts in the field of video effects have given us their opinions on the matter. Some examples of their takes:
- It is a complete lie as this is so obviously green screen it ridiculous! I have been doing green screen for a very long time and although the Key on the green screen is very well done it shows the clean edges that a natural environment doesn’t have. Also, they have added an ambient sound of an empty warehouse and buzz of the transformers to make it more believable.
- It’s a green screen, IMO. Notice the lines and cables behind him, they are totally still. Even if a factory is abandoned lines don’t just hang frozen like that. When I took it to full screen HD the most telling part for me were the areas around his head.
- It definitely looks greenscreen to me. there’s a lot of artifacting going on around the edges, which makes me think it was keyed out. also, the spacial relationships look off…just doesn’t seem to fit…however, around his hair, I don’t see any traces of the keyed out background…this is usually a good place to see some artifacting from the keys.. that said, its tough to say definitively, but it does look greenscreen
- I’m an expert with 20 years of experience in digital visual effects. I’ve been the visual effects supervisor on features and TV shows. I was also the editor-in-chief of two magazines, I’ve hosted dozens of instructional videos and I’ve taught hundreds of seminars around the world. The shot is obviously a composite and a ‘weatherman quality’ one. In it’s front of a still photo and President Obama doesn’t blend into the scene at all.
- I just spoke to a friend of my from Skywalker Ranch. He has been doing Visual X for 2o years. He said “100 % Green Screen” and He LOVES Obama. He was also crushed by watching the video.
- My brother – Emmy award winning VFX artist. – at first thought it was green screen but after looking at it thinks it was likely shot
It’s likely that if the video was shot in front of a green screen, it was so the president wouldn’t disrupt the important work being done at the factory. If this is the case, it does bring up several interesting questions about the stage-management of the presidency. President Obama has been routinely placed in front of stirring backgrounds dating back to his candidacy. The Greek columns placed behind him for his nomination acceptance in Denver was a perfect example of his reliance on visual imagery to convey an important, unspoken message to his audience.
It’s true that the president was in Detroit. And it’s probably true that it would have been wrong for him to shut down production for the sake of taping his weekly address. That being said, why go to the great lengths they went to (assuming this was a green screen composite) just to convey the image of the president sitting on a factory floor? What does it say about the White House’s desire to manipulate reality to evoke an emotional response from voters?
Here is the full video. We’re interested in your opinion. We’ve asked the White House about it and as soon as they respond, we’ll let you know.
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131 Comments
Too bad Big Government didn't look into this kind of detail with regards to Obama's photo shopped birth certificate. Then again it doesn't surprise me since BG has been pretty strong about its Anti-Birther stance.
Doesn't take an expert. I was suspicious on the first viewing. Joe Anywhere USA could've done a better chroma-key job on a bootleg copy of Adobe Premiere. FAIL
I'm not enough of a photo shop expert to say whether this was faked or not. But given Obama's propensity to lie about everything it certainly would not be a shock to find out it is a fraud.
"Made in America."
I just wish that we had a President that was.
I would have to say so what! His entire presidential term has been one of fraud!
I wish that ObamaCare, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, etc. were just fraud. But no, he's capable of real damage. And let's not forget the 1.3 trillion dollar deficit each year since he took office.
Honestly who cares? Why does it matter? Green screens are used EVERYWHERE. There are plenty of real issues you can attack the President over. Instead of worrying about where he is sitting, you should worry about what he said in his speech.
Easily a green screen behind him. Other than what was already pointed out by the experts quoted on the article, the scene he is in looks completely and utterly lifeless and eerily very still.
I hate to disagree with everybody, but this video is obviously real. They didn't fix his ears.
I have to say, I don't understand that either. For whatever reason, Obama presented a forged birth certificate to the American people, claiming it was authentic. It is quite obvious to anyone who seriously examines it. Some alternative media, like Big Government, must believe that focusing on it would only cloud over the other serious issues that may actually sway the voters. I predict the real truth will come out when Obama is voted out of office.
Numerous document experts have examined it and ALL agree it was forged. In fact, it's such a bad forgery, it's almost laughable, and makes one wonder if the White House was deliberately setting a trap for certain news organizations to fall into. It's such an amateur rendition, it doesn't even take an expert to see the multiple layers of the document. Anyone with a beginners knowledge of adobe photoshop can see for themselves. I recall Obama chuckling while announcing it was his long form birth certificate.
Everybody here has it wrong.
What we see here is President Obama's charisma rays….he is after all able to project a field that distorts reality.
More information can be found here:
Glamour: One of the key abilities of the high court fey is that of glamour, an ability to cast illusions. Humans can resist glamour by placing a variety of magic ointments over their eyes *Example of Glamour; Making mud look and taste like ham.
I don't really care one way or the other, but it wouldn't surprise me. He's a democrat, and democrats lie.
Ahhh, an admission…….
The biggest FRAUD is the so-called "jobs bill"! It's just another attempt of Obama to expand government and redistribute wealth. And the other fraud is Obama PRETENDING to be "working on creating jobs" when he is really just working on keeping his own. In other words, CAMPAIGNING.
Is every one as sick of this opportunistic fraud as I am?
I'm still looking for petri dish with the hammer and sickle that this numb nut was grown in.
Why is anyone surprised? Everything this guy does is smoke and mirrors!
I'm going with green screen or just a background photo where the video has been inserted. Check out the shirt sleeves.
They probably figured the 0bama facade overshadows all anyway, it doesn't look too professional. Perfect backdrop for 0bama though, an empty factory where the only thing running are lights powered through foreign oil.
I'm no pro, but it would be natural to put lights on him that would reflect differently than the backdrop with the unintended result of giving the appearance of a Greenscreen…. well, you wrote you were interested in my opinion…
Perhaps the green background was a golf course.
Just sayin'.
Is there anything in this mans life that isn't DUBBED in ????
The truth is, is that everything about 0bama has been fabricated and orchestrated since day one to make him out to be more than he ever could of achieved on his own. He's been pampered his whole life.
Obama's long form birth certificate presented on the White House web site is laughably fake. Why the right wing doesn't unite on this issue and bring Obama down — I just don't know.
LOL — I didn't see that one coming, too funny !
I am no expert in video effects.
I'm not even a novice.
But I have a better than average, and well trained eyed, for noticing things.
There is no way that video was shot with Obama on site.
It is a fraud.
The only thing realistic about it, was that there were zero employees in the background. That was apropos.
Please do! Do that! That'll be great. Make that the issue you unite behind. – Me and Every Liberal Everywhere
green screen or not. I don't care. It's a miniscule item compared to his numerous other lies and the dmaage he's done.
Well I am no professional in video production, but here are a few takes on this.
1. There is a paper taped to the hood of the car to the left, it is hanging, I have been in many manufacturing facilities and one thing shared by all but the most run down and turn of the century is air flow. this is a modern place computer controlled and we supposedly have the POS oops POTUS sitting in front of lighting not a bead of sweat and that paper never moved a mm.
2. Notice it is a static camera shot, zooms in and out are done with cuts. This gives time to change the depth of field for the background composite. Notice also sharpness of him as to even the near field items in frame.
Now as to the artifacts that could be an after effect of compression, BUT the very hard outlining NO, that is a total earmark of a composite image.
My summation? What else would we expect from this POS, fake just like him.
Why shouldn't it be a green screen, after his bogus bus tour where the busses were FLOWN from one campaign stop to the next?
Did he ever claim he was sitting in front of a live assembly line? It's obviously a still photo. So obvious in fact, that I doubt he was trying to fool anyone. His address was about American workers so he had a backdrop of an American production line.
There are so many better things to criticize him for than this. Such as the content of his address.
Release of birth certificate . . .
April 27, 2011
Dear Mr. Barry Sotoro Barrack Obama AKA “The President”
What the hell is your name anyway?
So now we know how long it takes to make sure that anyone who could possibly testify that you were born somewhere other than the USA has been “dealt” with. Must be a little nerve racking trying to remember all of those times you may have given a copy of your birth certificate to someone else, or whether or not, someone else did it without telling you. Communists, while devious, do make mistakes. Americans are really good natured, almost to a fault, but you don’t have that problem. As for me I don’t believe you. I never will. Unless you are hooked up to a lie detector machine, and I get to pick the guy or gal running it. In my judgement you are a compulsive liar who at every turn tries to hide their true character.
That’s ok. This is America. You get to lie your way into office lot’s of people do it. Eliot Spitzer lied his way into office then lied to his wife! This also makes Conservatives have full belly laughs when we watch useful leftwing idiots try to defend it on television. That’s one hell of a show! I also particularly enjoy watching Wall Street people give money to you for protection of their racket. At least in the old days if you wanted to run the numbers, you actually had to break a sweat. Griftopia, if that guy had any balls he would have put your picture on the cover! Why the liberals on Wall Street, the very people that Islam considers their primary target, give you money so you can remain in office and continue to fight for one side of the same muslim/arab coin, is beyond me. That’s some fancy footwork. Willie Loman would be proud.
You see Mr. Obama AKA Mr. Sotoro, the American people know that liberalism, progressivism, communism, socialism are bald faced lies that people like you who must conceal their communist or Soviet style upbringing from the general public to win public office. I wonder how future writers, maybe me, will try to explain how a country like mine would even permit a guy like you to run for office with a record an inch thin, having accomplished nothing other than winning elected office by vilifying the competition as either racist or unfit for that office. When the opposite is true; you are the villain and the racist! On November 6, 2012 we are going to vote for any one but you. That’s a certainty. We all know this current activity is just a test run, and by October if your in the 20’s or the 30’s they are going to politically flush you and put up a “Clinton/Bayh” type ticket and pray that no remembers that you were a Democrat.
Have no fear though. I will remind them.
Proudly.
Respectfully,
Joe Doakes
Hahahahahahahahaha
Yeah. That's what it was. THE PROOF YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! *BLARGLE*
Um…… touche?
Really good point, Joe. I'm sure that'll do the trick.
"Did he ever claim he was sitting in front of a live assembly line?"
He said, and I quote from the very first sentence of the video:
I'm here in Detroit, visiting workers at a GM plant in the heart of a resurgent American automobile industry.
Consequently, with the first sentence, in the first eleven seconds, he frames the premise, based upon a lie.
Yeah but the outtakes of him on the ice flow with the polar bear are hilarious!
Yeah, you really don't give a damn if he's a foreign plant, do you? Got your hand out looking for a freebie?
I found a story of some interest, and thought I would share with others here. Fake signatures may mean Obama didn't actually qualify in Indiana Would '08 May ballot have been different? http://www.southbendtribune.com/sbt-fake-signatur...
"The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."
George Washington
My first impression was — what nincompoop, supposedly on his side, put Obama in front of an assembly line going nowhere……?
You will notice how his lawyer wouldn't let him touch it while he was proclaiming it his real BC. Old lawyer's trick. The State of Hawaii declares it his OFFICIAL BC; doesn't mean it's his real one, just the one slipped into his files after this mockery was produced. Also note that Bob Bauer, Anita Dunn's hubby and BO's personal lawyer, resigned right before the new BC was revealed. He was getting out of Dodge in case the fit hit the shan.
One other thought. If he is there sitting while production is going on we have a clear OSHA violation as there is no eywear or earplugs on the President. OSHA needs to do a complete check on this plant!
When you consider that obie and crew cannot event get the telepromptersto work right this comes as no surprise.
Yeah, that's the only possible explanation, I guess. As a godless commie-nazi-muslin-ACORN-liberul, I must be on the take.
Well he was in Detroit, visiting workers at a GM plant, wasn't he?
Why not depict President Fast and Furious in a place that he's not really standing in? After all, the timorous, stuttering miserable failure has yet to actually show up and do the job to which he was elected.
Ooh. You sound like a COLLEGE Republican.
An absolutely idle, silent assembly plant is a terrific metaphor for everything President Fast and Furious has done to destroy the economy, no? SCOAMF couldn't even get a clue even if his buddy $oro$ spent billions buying him one!
I heard the Mooch is capable of making fat cakes and fries taste like lobster.
It's just another way of laundering campaign money through the unions. He isn't bringing in the haul as expected despite reports as he's playing to half houses and Issa's on top of the "green" energy company scams of laundering money through those into the hands of his bundlers. Too much transparency there so here we go with another "jobs" bill.
Not when that video was shot.
Crystle you are right on. I'm sure that if anyone can possibly trace every dollar "lent" to Solyndra, aand other "friends of Obama", they'll find a good chunk in Obama's campaign coffers.
As a Michigan native with friends living near the Lake Orion plant, I found that their day was challenged with the Interstate 75 closed to accomodate the one—but that could be part of the big con….
Because, (and I know it doesn't matter to liars and libs, sorry, redundant) he said he was there.
Truth matters (to most).
I hope this helps to wake people up, for those who aren't awake.
http://www.pennypresslv.com/Obama%27s_Use_of_Hidd...
"Instead of worrying about where he is sitting, you should worry about what he said in his speech. "
There are plenty of separate articles for that already. This is worthy of discussion because it wanders into "Wag the Dog" territory, a film in which images of war were falsified to boost a president's ratings. It is currently illegal for a news reporter to make any news report in front of a greens screen without first notifying the viewing public of this procedure. Nowhere do I see any disclaimer of "simulated images" during the president's speech; thus, he was trying to give a false impression. What's illegal for the people, should also be so for the president.
"I'm here in Detroit, visiting an auto plant."
That's the opening line of the speech.
If a reporter claimed he or she were on the scene of a disaster, but did the report in front of a green screen of the image of the disaster, even if that reporter were in the area of that disaster, this would be considered a federal offense; it's illegal.
But apparently it isn't for the president.
Original Star Trek had better green screen than this!
O_O You are absolutely right.
Unintentional metaphors ftw.
Because the office of the president is real life not Hollywood. If you want make believe you're at the wrong website. Have you considered Media Matters — I hear they have great works of fiction over there.
I'm not an effects guy, but I am/was a professional corporate photographer for 15 years. I don't know about mattes and green screen, but I do know about lighting.
Fake.
Look at the quality of light on Obama: He's evenly lit from camera left at about 1 or 2 EV above the background, with a harsher key light on the right above the camera. Then look at car in the background: There's specular highlights galore coming off the trunk, (and this is the kicker) THERE ARE NO CORRESPONDING HIGHLIGHTS ON OBAMA.
Light just doesn't go away: A reflective surface reflects everything, and the bright lights of the plant should be showing up on Obama. I know this because I have taken thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of corporate photos in warehouses, plants and factories. Getting natural light and your lights to play nice is a cast-iron b*tch. Yes, the White House has some of the best in the business doing their videos, but light is still light. The only way to get lighting like that on a subject in that environment is to "tent" them in dark material then back-fill the environmental lighting with your own. But that tent would then show up as a reflection in the side of that white car.
Fake.
Look at the shadows on Obama's shirt, now look at the car: There are no sharp shadows on either, but the car is evenly lit with the shadows falling in front of and to the left of the car, indicating the car's primary light source is off to camera left quite a ways. If Obama were actually on that factory floor, we would see light coming in over his right shoulder and opening up the back part of the shadow underneath his right arm. We'd see a glow on the edge of his right ear and deeper shadow on the left side of his neck. In other words, we'd see the effects of the environmental light on him.
We don't.
Fake.
Someone must've finally noticed that filming him with stacks of empty pallets behind him was sending the "wrong message."
How idle asembly lines improve on that I don't know, but at this point, it doesn't matter – this guy's a loser through and through.
The camera movement is what has me thinking. In his usual weekly address, the camera always moves around him, showing him from a range of angles. This time, it's the same angle with different zooms.
He should have staged his speech standing in the GM parking lot and sharing a beer with the employees while congratulating the taxpayers for the billions of dollars they wasted bailing out a failed Union workers only manufacturing plant.
Why? Is it a slow news day? Next time you don't have anything worth while to post, and you need filler, do your best to avoid making conservatives look like conspiratorial nuts.
Evil begets evil, and that's all the RATS stand for today…EVIL.
If that is a Detroit auto plant, I would not want to work there at all. No ventilation or air movement at all in the background. There is a job tag hanging from a piece of tape on what looks to be a hood of a car to the left of the Anointed One and even at 720HD, there is no movement at all of it. These factories have significant airflow in them unless they were really polite to shut down the A/C. And if they did shut the A/C off, the smells build up real quick. If there was movement, the pixels would change in characteristic and they don't.
I vote chromakey mashup. Shame, shame, shame.
Is there nothing about this man or his administration that isn't desperately trying to look real and authentic?
Geez.
TOTAL GREEN SCREEN!!. I have shot and produced many TV commercials and videos. The background is called a "Plate", and they did not even use a live one at that. The background is a still photo plate. TOTAL FAIL.
Ever day Obama does something more preposterous than the day before.
Except that he actually was in Detroit, visiting an auto plant. If Jay Leno says "I'm in L.A., doing a show," but he's backstage talking to reporters, is he lying? If this whole thing was staged in DC, then there'd be cause to complain. But as I see it, we're just splitting hairs.
If he's at a real factory, I'm a brain surgeon. Watch the first :30 and look just off his left shoulder a few inches down from his collar, there's a huge gap for a second or two. No noise and no people, the lighting doesn't match, and I'm just a layman. This looks terrible, but is about average for him: nothing is real except his hatred for this country and his willingness to lie.
Did I mention I used to work in factories? That's so fake it belongs in a C-movie, B-movies have better effects.
No hard hat. No ear protection.
This is getting pathetic.
"No man, woman or child should walk this earth in fear of any other. With men like Obama all need be afraid."
Sic Semper Tyrannis !
THEY SHOULD PHOTOSHOP HIM IN FRONT OF THE COMMUNIST RED ARMY OR UGANDA STYLE DESTROYED BURNING VILLAGE WOULD BE MORE BELIEVABLE ???
Everything about the A$$ wipe impostor president is phoney. EVERYTHING! Except the destruction he is leaving in his wake. That is very real. I dream about Ovomit in cuffs and an orange jumpsuit but the other professional liars, thieves and cheats (all politicians) won't let that happen because it could happen to them.
"Joe Anywhere USA could've done a better chroma-key job on a bootleg copy of Adobe Premiere. FAIL"
Yeh, but he couldn't be counted on to keep his mouth shut.
I'm not a video effects person by any means, but there is NO MOVEMENT in the background of anything or anyone. So it is a lie. As others have noted, there are many more damning issues of Obama than this one. The "birth certificate" is one of them.
What's that? Obama being deceptive? That has NEVAH happened before
/sarc
You have to remember what you see is not so . Chicago style ! Just like Owebama never knew Rod Blagoiovich , even if pictures said different . His biggest problem is this is NOT CHICAGO and he cant get away with this BS , too many microscopes wide open to his "game" . Just go O !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey now just off screen he had the UAW popup book opened to the "Solidarity House" page. That counts… sorta.
I don't know anything about "Green Screens"… But I thought our Dictator was standing in front of a background picture, when I first watched the video!!!
Is there anything truthful and honest about Obama? He lies in every speech (and the press dutifully does NOT call him out on it), now he is photoshoping in backgrounds to look like one of the people.
Don't worry Marty, it won't happen at this late date. But if Obama is your hero you have nothing to celebrate on that account, because what he did is a crime, maybe more than one crime. And it will follow him out of office. I suspect he will be held accountable for it sooner or later.
Then if you are none of those things, why support Obama?
We're in big trouble!
Well…..every organization that you mentioned has thrown it's weight behind #OCCUPYMOMSBASEMENTANDGETMEMORECHEETOSDAMNIT.
Explanation?
Heh!!!
Yeah. The ones that are employable upon graduation.
It's the way they evolved.
The stoopid gene is dominant.
He wasn't in Detroit? Then I stand corrected. It was a scam.
Let me explain. Honesty is the bedrock of reporting. Consider the Sherrod affair. Breitbart hasn't completely recovered from the counter attack when he was accused of doing something he didn't do.
Let us consider a couple of aspects. At first blush the charge that Obama wasn't born in the US is "stupid", American mother (yes I understand the serious questions of legality). There is the birth announcement in the paper in a legitimate time line. Some of the accusers are a little "Off" or effectively portrayed as "Off". Drawing the opposition into the birther issue could easily be a sucker – rope a dope tactic.
Get all the Republicans and or TEA party demanding proof of birth in the US. (neither the short form or poorly faked long form are proof) is a potential dangerous mistake.
Think back to the height of the Web Hubble suicide/murder/what ever it was scandal. On a Friday a report was going around that Hubble had either committed suicide or accidentally shot himself in an apartment that was secretly rented by Hillary and his body was moved to Ft Marcy Park to cover up an embarrassing situation. This report was all over the place in DC and made a lot of sense. This was big and Rush Limbaugh was hearing this report from sources he trusted, so finally at the last moment of the show he had to either remain silent and miss informing the public on one of the biggest stories of all time or make it public even though it wasn't 110% confirmed. To this day I believe the whole thing was a setup to make Rush look like a conspiracy loon. This is one reason why The Bigs should stay 100 miles away from the whole Birther issue.
My opinion? either His Oneness wasn't born in the US (ignoring the no legally american parents) or more likely there is one or more seriously illegal issues.
My solution, beat him in the 2012 election (watch out for cheating), The Cain administration has to fully and honestly investigate and rule that BHO served illegally and all legislation signed by him is Null and Void. That means at least 2 new Supreme Court Justices.
That was such a great movie. Glad Mamet's on our side now.
I think The Donald is going to send his ace investigators to Detroit to solve this mystery…the same ones he sent to Hawaii to dig up the "truth. I know I won't be able to sleep until this is verified one way or the other.
You got that right 98Z….. One of the ones who realizes he's actually going to have to work if he wants to be a 1%er and not throw a temper tantrum in a public park about it.
……well for pity's sakes……another faudulent act by the Tickturd-in-CHIEF……….!
What you are saying makes sense. When I point out, as a computer programmer, that computer images are 100% useless for verification because photoshop is too easy, it opens me up to ridicule.
I'm not saying Obama did or didn't photoshop his Birth Certificate, I'm saying that the physical document needs to be presented or no document at all. Releasing a web image just opens up the floor to all the adobe experts saying "I could make it look just like that in an afternoon."
I'm not a birther, I'm a realist. What, realistically, can a computer image prove or disprove when the bits are whatever we want them to be?
How true. Whatever happened to doing good with their craft? Never mind, it's apparent some will do anything for views, clicks or whatever.
You're right, the speech is much worse
I think this is an optical effect of his being the most transparent administration ever
No, he wasn't in Detroit really, now that you mention it. He was at the branch outpost of the car company he nationalized… Call that hairsplitting but I think it comports w/ Detroit qua Detroit (i.e. the formerly huge U.S. city) meaning nothing to him, in comparison to the politically valuable auto union base who are apparently more equal than others.
It would have been even refreshing and playing against type if he'd started with "I'm here today at the little resort town of Lake Orion, which has a wonderful American history of its own, blah blah", however POTUS does not think in such podunk bitter-clinger terms and only ponders the grand chess pieces like "Detroit" or "Wall Street" or "Chicago" without giving a damn about the peons who may live around those places.
In such context Sgt York's comment is quite apropos, because Barack does remind me of an "Action News At 10" reporter blue-screening in a fisherman's hat and slicker stand-up in front of Hurricane Irene or whatever
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