Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 21, 1994 TAG: 9410210044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Landrith's first television ad features a quick, low-budget special effect in which a black-and-white image of Payne transforms into a picture of President Clinton. During the change, a narrator says, "The more you look at L.F. Payne, the more he looks like Bill Clinton," referring to the incumbent Democratic congressman's voting record.
The effect is sort of reminiscent of the metamorphosing android from "Terminator 2" or that razor commercial that shows the features of one man's face changing into that of another man's.
"Morphing" a Democratic incumbent into President Clinton probably is the hottest ad strategy being used by Republican challengers across the nation this year. A few months ago in Kentucky, Republicans gave the Clinton morph treatment to unsuccessful Democratic candidate Joe Prader, who ran for Congress in a special election.
Rep. Dave McCurdy, who is running for the Senate in Oklahoma, likewise has been morphed into Clinton, as have Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama and Rep. Bob Carr of Michigan.
And L.F. Payne is the latest to join the ranks of Mighty Morphin' Congressmen.
"I guess the Republican Party has figured it's something that will be successful because of the president's low popularity," Payne said. "But the implication that my philosophy is the same as the president's just doesn't hold water."
Bob Denton, a Virginia Tech political analyst, specializes in interpreting political television ads. L.F. Payne, he said, is "not by any means a Clinton clone. I just think that's inaccurate. His voting record doesn't support that."
But, the morphing effect is pretty effective against Payne, Denton admitted. "It's a boilerplate ad that Republicans everywhere are using. It can be used in any campaign, especially where anti-Clinton sentiment is high.
"What is so powerful about it is that it symbolically paints Payne as a total sympathizer toward Clinton." And in the 5th District, where Clinton is very unpopular, Denton said, "that juxtaposition causes a strong emotional reaction."
The ad's producer, Mike Rothfeld of Saber Communications in Fredericksburg, said that technically the effect in the Landrith ad is not a morph. True morphs are created by computer manipulation of digitized photographs or film footage. The Payne/Clinton transformation was achieved with a special camera technique that relies on a quick fade-out and fade-in of the photos of Payne and Clinton, which, in turn, are briefly superimposed on the screen.
"We looked at [computer] morphing, but that was too expensive. Still, it's turned out pretty good. Most people think it is [a morph]."
As for the idea behind the image, the producer said, "This is pretty basic. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out support for Bill Clinton is the issue. Combining Bill Clinton with an incumbent congressman is a natural image."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB