[UPDATE: Just discovered that Mr. Greg Dewar posted about this very issue yesterday.]
Well of course the 17 photos used for this standard one-minute commercial on YouTube were PhotoShopped – I mean they’re all black-and-white, so most likely they were converted from color using Adobe’s awesome B&W converter, or something similar. Fine, lots of contrast there, so they look good. But what about the sign that says “Constitutional Convention!” that appears at around :27?
Was it there in real life, or was it added in after the fact, added in to reflect the focus of the TV spot - California’s nascent movement for a new constitutional convention. Or, as mattymatt asks:
“What’s with the Photoshopped sign at 0:25?”
Click to expand:
Look at Gallagher over there on the right, dude wearing the natty cap. He has two signs? What’s holding up his “Constitutional Convention!” sign? Would you hold two signs like that? Is the higher sign glued to his fingers or something? Why is Our Mayor in focus, along with the sign, but nothing else? Does Gallagher’s left thumb go through the lower sign?
Here’s a close-up view. Like, why is the lower right corner of the higher sign in sharp focus when the lower sign appears to be out of focus?
Now, if the person making this video spot diduse Photoshop and maybe made up a sign to fit the commercial, then s/he would have most likely have used the Horizontal Type Tool. Now isn’t it funny that some of the more recent versions of PhotoShop (like CS2 and CS3) use Myriad (out of scores of options), as the default font and Myriad is the very same font as in the sign?
Rather interesting, non? (And by the way, Dan, that Plastic Planes bit you had a couple years back about the “unsafe” composite Boeing 787 Dreamliner? You’re totally wrong on that one.) Anyway, my PS defaults to Myriad Pro, so this is what you get when you start typing away and then center the result:
I don’t know, maybe it’s a real sign that just happened to be created with Photoshop – that would go a long way to explaining part of the mystery.
In conclusion, that sign look’s a little funny to me, and it looks a little funny to people (who, unlike me, actually know how to use PhotoShop) on the YouTube.
But, as always, You Make The Call.
