Kids Sing To Der Fuhrer Obama – An Update

Because so many others have covered the kids singing that Obama is going to change the world thing, I decided not to cover it…  but I do have an update.

First, here is the vid

The video is set up to look like a spontaneous grass roots movement event at a “neighbors” house, but it is pure AstroTurf…  pure.

If you are not familiar with the term AstroTurf, when used in a political setting it means fake grassroots.  Something that is set up and professionally managed to look like it is a grassroots or spontaneous movement…  but, once again, it is really artificial and professional.

When watching the video, the first thing I noticed was the quality of the picture and the steady swoop in to the little girl.  Seemed like pretty damn good camera work to me…  too damn good to be some neighborhood bullshit.

And then I noticed the microphones…  those are professional quality studio mics…  and expensive as hell.  These are not home studio mics.  PROFESSIONAL.

So, I decided to do some digging,  and guess what I found…  AstroTurf.

Here is the statement from the website:

Sing for Change was a confluence of hard work, good will, and shared vision. Inspired by ideas raised at a grassroots Obama fundraiser, a music teacher, Kathy Sawada, and the children composed and rehearsed the songs in less than two weeks. Several musicians heard of the effort and volunteered to accompany the children. Parents and older siblings designed and provided the T-Shirts and the banner. There’s a first for everything, but rarely do so many firsts come together at once: for the children and their parents, this is their first performance, first video, first banner, and first involvement with grassroots work on a presidential campaign.

Ok, so there is the grassroots claim…  yeah.  ok.

Oh, then there comes this:

Production wizards got wind of the project and offered their help in recording it. The likes of Jeff Zucker, Holly Schiffer, Peter Rosenfeld, Darin Moran, Jean Martin, Andy Blumenthal, and Nick Phoenix rearranged schedules to participate. Holly Schiffer was able to get three High Definition cameras (Panasonic HVX250′s), and an AVID editing facility. When Jeff Zucker went to pick up the camera package, Ted Schilowitz happened to be there and offered a RED camera set up on a Steadi Cam.

You’re friggin kidding me, right?  Jeff Zucker “got wind” of a little neighborhood music teacher’s little neighborhood grassroots project?

In case you don’t know…  I will explain who these people are.

*  Jeff Zucker is FRIGGIN President and Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal!!!!!!!!!!!

*  Peter Rosenfeld is a camera operator/steadicam specialist with over 15 years in the biz and specializes in documentary film making.

*  Darin Moran was the camera operator on films like The New World, Disturbia, Lemony Snickets, Rendition, and The Kingdom…  serious friggin movies!

*  Nick Phoenix ”has either scored or licensed music for the ad campaigns of over 1000 major motion pictures. “Wall-E”, “Speed Racer”, “Indiana Jones 4″ “The Hulk”, “Prince Caspian”, The Happening”, “Hellboy 2″, “Spiderman 3″, “Golden Compass”, “The Assassination of Jesse James”, “Pirates of the Caribbean 3″, “Babel”, “Hitman”, “I Am Legend”, “300″, “No Country For Old Men”, “Harry Potter 5″, “The Brave One”, “Blood Diamond”, and “Night at the Museum” are a few recent examples.”  Holy Crap…  That’s like every single movie released in the last two years?

*  Ted Schilowitz is an award winning Director and Producer who has created projects for Discovery Channel, E! Entertainment, Nickelodeon, Fox, NBC, PBS, etc.

And do you have any idea how expensive those cameras are?  Holy God.

You gotta be kidding, right?  Grassroots?

Answer me this…  how grassroots is a video made by people that could very well work together to make the next $100 million Tom Cruise action flick?

This is such crap.  Astroturf at it’s finest.

Way to go Dave and Barry