A Technical Review of the two Political Conventions

As so many companies and organizations have been forced to go virtual … so has our political system and leaders. Over the last two weeks, many Americans have watched what “Virtual” meant for each party. Let’s take a look at the technical aspects of each of the two virtual conventions. What can we take from these to maybe use in our own virtual events?

Democratic Convention

The Democrats were the first to play their hand in this virtual format. Let’s start with some elements that I thought were worth mentioning:

Biden Interviews with People

I liked the concept of these… Everyone sitting in there own place but with a set with TV’s it created a “round table” discussion in a virtual sense. I know many professionals that dislike the vertical video format but I thought this was perfect for this use. They also did the “traditional” Zoom call video look but preferred this creative idea.

Host Set:

This host set was used as a buffer between segments, interviews, and presenters. I liked the use of this as well to keep the flow of the program going.

Unique Locations:

With pre-taping many elements, they were able to take advantage of putting their speakers and presenters in unique locations while traditionally everyone would present on the same stage with the same background. One the other hand when they did go to a set the background was probably my number one pet peeve when someone creates their own virtual background… You are blocking the image….

The Second Camera:

So many people now use this technique of a second camera for an interview. I would say that I felt they didn’t use it properly and forced the use of it.

Republican Convention:

A week later the Republicans presented their version of “virtual” and I would say it wasn’t virtual just not in an arena. But let’s look at some of their interesting takeaways.

One Consistent Location for Their Main Presenters

It was a great location. They have three cameras and one was a jib to create a unique look and feel. The production quality was exceptional. 

Location Shooting:

There was one location that particularly caught my eye… it was Mike Pence at the birth home of Abraham Lincoln. 

I always find it interesting when crews soften the background so much that it looks like a chromakey … was he actually there?

If I were to pick a more technically executed production, I would say the Republicans definitely were a cleaner show. The Democrats had many amateur issues like the abrupt transitions from tape pieces to the studio … they never faded the music… just cut off. I also heard many of the live speakers being counted down to their time to speak…. 3 …2 … there were even a couple times the presenter started … then started again because of that confusion. I am probably one of a handful of people that might have noticed some of these things but thought it would be interesting to share my opinions on the “virtual” events.