Documenting Politics in Real Time

taliawhyte Global Wire Associates Arun Chaudhary, Barack Obama, Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, David Axelrod, First Cameraman, Hubert Humphrey, John F Kennedy, new media, online video, politics, Primary, video journalism, videography

President Obama will go down in history for many reasons.  He is not only the first African-American president, but he is also the first commander –in-chief to get into the Oval Office with the help of Internet campaigning.   New York filmmaker Arun Chaudhary got involved in the Obama for America campaign in early 2007 and instantly made a mark for himself by making ground-breaking videos for the campaign’s YouTube channel.  Following Obama’s 2008 victory, Chaudhary also went down in history as the first official White House videographer.

Chaudhary chronicles his many journeys on the campaign trail and in the Oval Office in his new book First Cameraman: Documenting the Obama Presidency in Real Time.  I receive many copies of books to review on a regular basis, especially Obama-related books in the last year.  I was convinced to read this book because of Chaudhary’s unique view into the making of this historic presidency through his camera lens.  He wasn’t just a fly on the wall; he was, as he said, “a gorilla in the corner.”

“Video is the most important barometer of truth we have in politics,” Chaudhary said in the book.

As a videographer myself, I am also interested in learning filmmaking tips from others.  I not only got some tips, but also got a crash course in presidential filmmaking history.  While the Obama campaign set the new standard for online videos and new media, visual communication has actually played a role in politics since the medium came to prominence during World War II.  Hollywood and Madison Avenue have usually worked hand-in-hand with politicians to create campaigns that reached the masses and influenced voters.

Chaudhary points to Primary, an influential documentary about the 1960 Wisconsin primary battle between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey.  The film was a breakthrough for its use of mobile cameras and lighter sound equipment, which helped to created an intimacy with the candidates and their followers.

Primary was produced by Robert Drew, who also directed Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, which follows President Kennedy and Alabama Governor George Wallace as they navigated racial integration at the University of Alabama in 1963.  The film aired four months after the incident on ABC and received mixed reviews, due not only to the divisive racial issues brought up, but also many critics didn’t like that cameras were allowed into the White House.  Today the film is seen as a milestone in cinéma vérité.  When the film was entered into the National Film Registry last year for preservation, the Registry said that Crisis “has proven to be a uniquely revealing complement to written histories of the period, providing viewers the rare opportunity to witness historical events from an insider’s perspective.”

Crisis, Primary and other political films influenced Chaudhary’s work.  However, back in 2007 Obama’s campaign was still learning how to use the Internet to their advantage, with only Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential run to use as a benchmark.  Chaudhary recalls using his many five and a half hour drives between Chicago and Des Moines to think about how to make better videos about Obama.  And he spent even more hours recording Obama greeting supporters on the road while eating many turkey sandwiches along the way.

“We knew we’d be generating a lot of content and that the most crucial task would be sorting and posting ,” said Obama advisor David Axelrod in the book.  “We thought that video could be the life of the campaign online, an authentic mirror of the whole campaign.”

Authenticity is a running theme in the book.  Chaudhary says that while the Internet did play a big role in Obama’s victory, just like John F. Kennedy, Obama won the American people over on his charisma and authenticity.

“Senator Obama did not become President Obama because of some mysterious dark Internet powers that only his youthful supporters understood how to tap into,” Chaudhary said.  “He won because he was the right candidate with the right message at the right time.  The boundless, open-all-night Internet simply gave his team the space and freedom to present him and his message to as many people as possible, in more ways than usual.”

After the election, Chaudhary was in charge of shooting, editing and posting the Weekly Address on video, and later on started up the web series West Wing Week, which shows highlights from the president’s work that week. Again this wasn’t an easy job, as his job never existed before.  Prior to Obama’s election, White House videography was usually handled by the military.  A lot of people within the administration didn’t really understand what Chaudhary’s job was either.  However, over the course of two years his work became a valuable documentation of this administration, as seen by example in the video below.

One of the complaints of Obama during both the 2008 and 2012 campaigns was his many “unpresidential” appearances on shows like The View and The Daily Show.  Chaudhary reiterated that like the Internet, “a campaign’s target audience  should be people who didn’t follow politics closely but might have a particular vested interest in a specific issue, whether it be the cost of Medicare prescriptions or the legality of carrying a concealed weapon into Wal-Mart.  Those were the people we needed to engage.”

After logging in many long hours following the president around the world, Chaudhary gave up his position last year to do nonprofit video advocacy and spend more time with his family.  He reflects on his job and legacy he left behind.

“I wanted to show a side of Barack Obama that the American people might not otherwise see; to use the power of video and the freedom of my access to capture more of the American presidency than had ever yet been recorded, which was a state policy goal of this administration, and one that I could actually help with.”

“I also like to think that the Office of the President has grown a little with me, that I’ve helped to equip it with the infrastructure necessary to keep up with the clamor of the day while at the same time preserving history right as it’s happening.  No less important, I’ve been able to advocate for the rules of traditional filmmaking in one of the epicenters of the ‘new ways’ of doing things.”