With the presidential election still over a year away, most of the candidates haven’t started their TV campaigns yet, but all are using online videos and citizens are watching. A Pew Internet & American Life Project study found that 30 percent of Internet users are getting information about candidates from their online video clips.
Consumers are also getting candidate information from online news videos, with 30 percent watching, according to a survey conducted by Synovate for ClipBlast!
“These findings affirm the rise of the video web in public life,” said Gary Baker, CEO of ClipBlast! “Online video is engaging new audiences and drawing new and otherwise disaffected or disinterested viewers.”
A Burst Media study found that 25 percent of adult Internet users found the Internet to be the best media for learning about candidate positions on election issues, compared with 21.3 percent for TV and lower numbers for newspapers, radio and magazines.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More