Obama released his first weekly video address yesterday on youtube. I like that he put it on youtube and reaches out in more ways to the public than our previous president. But excluding the content of the video the quality was quite poor. It struck me as really unprofessional. There was a really high noise floor. I would have hoped whoever was filming it would take the time to get a good audio recording. I can’t imagine what it would be like to work with that constant hum. Another thing that struck me in the video was the multiple takes. While I know it can be hard to film a 5 minute shot straight, I think they should have used multiple camera angles, or some sort of B roll to make it less noticeable. He also looked just over the camera during it and it was a disconcerting (possibly at a teleprompter). I had higher hopes for a weekly video produced by the president. I would suggest as our commander in chief Obama talk with the army or navy to get in touch with whoever produced their TV commercials.

Obama instead of creating a weekly radio address has decided to provide a similar thing on youtube (i’m guessing he will also do the radio one or create an audio version for the radio address when he becomes president). It’s quite cool and a sign of an administration more in tune with technological advances. The nytimes also discussed Obama’s attachment to his blackberry and the likelyhood that he will have to give it up because of data/email preservation requirements. Obama will also be the first president to have a computer in the Oval Office.