From a CNN Junkie - Details for an Eye

Over the last couple of days, with CNN playing day and night in our house, I find I am paying more attention to certain details than I have done since I last studied TV production and wielded a camera (hence the title). I may not be Martin Scorcese or Tony Gilroy, but I know camera angles and movement change the look and feel of what is viewed, as any film studies student could tell you. Besides, experts like Daniel Goleman have proved that reading these microexpressions can make a world of difference to people's perceptions about everything around them.

Watching George Bush's address to the nation last evening, it struck me that in the eight years that I have seen or heard him, he has never looked so lost and defeated before, not even after 9/11. Without fidgeting or slurring and without his characteristic swagger, he looked as though you could take off the presidential banner and the American flag and pass this off for a hostage video. 

This change in his demeanour seems to me to speak far louder than his heavy words of warning. The language could not have been plainer, the numbers couldn't be more concrete and painful, but his expressions should say it all to the American people. 

Meanwhile, John McCain seems to have decided to flail out in desperation by suspending his campaign, and has left a flummoxed Obama to try and rally things around. After missing more than 400 calls to vote since the campaign began, a decision like this can only be met with more skepticism than anything else. McCain also suggested postponing the first presidential debate, which was scheduled for this Friday.

Was it my imagination, or did McCain actually look slightly relieved when he made these announcements?

CNN's political analysts, particularly those who side with Obama think that this is McCain's way of making sure the $700 billion bill is stapled to Obama, just as much as it is to him. I am inclined to agree with this analysis, and McCain's manner appears to suggest this as well.

Meanwhile, CNN has decided to expose its inner workings to its viewers, by showing a couple of minutes of behind-the-scenes boardroom discussions around current events and the producers', writers' and strategists' take on the unfolding drama on Wall Street and the presidential election. 

This little minute-long diversion was mildly interesting yesterday, but I'm not sure I want to watch that sort of thing on a daily basis. Plus, I didn't notice yesterday, but when they did this piece today, it looked like the cameraman thought he'd fuse Deep Impact, 24 and The Bourne Ultimatum and try to make a completely inane discussion seem exciting by keeping the camera unsteady, and by panning and zooming abruptly at people's faces as they talked.  Really, they might have been racing against some sort of deadline, but this just made it look like the cameraman was in a great hurry to pee.

Finally, Bill Clinton appeared on Larry King Live, looking older and more exhausted than ever, and droning on about generational shifts and the need to redefine citizenship or whatever. I'd been hoping that he and Hillary would have licked their wounds by now and come out in favour of Obama much more strongly, but to hear Bill talk, you would think he still goes to bed at night fuming resentfully that because of this young African-American upstart, he will have to live with a whiny wife until the end of his days.

I think I should snooze for a bit. Better yet, change the channel......