ISIS has been employing “industry standards” for video. That doesn’t necessarily mean standard for Hollywood, it might mean what you see in commercial video or advertisement, but it is what we have become accustomed to seeing, what the eye has become accustomed to for anyone who watches a good bit of professionally shot and uploaded media. Neither of us can speak to what is, standard outside of Europe and North America, but it seems worth noting that ISIS is systematically working to use visual standards that will give their videos an underlying professional look to someone whose eye is accustomed to a European or North American industry standard. After researching a little bit, I found that:
“This is done through a variety of techniques: for example, through the way they deal with the colors in their videos, by adjusting the range of colors you see. They minimize the color palette that comes across on video so that, for instance, there are fewer variances, fewer “shades of red,” presented in their videos than there were in the physical world seen through the viewfinder when they were filming. The result is that the reds they do show you are more vibrant, brighter, higher contrast, and they come across looking sharper and clearer.”
It’s no question that ISIS has been using high-grade cinema standards for their propaganda videos. But why is this? My thinking is that they want to look like they have the not only the financial abilities, but also the guts to carry out plans like they say they will. This is something we have not seen before. In fact, we could barely even make out videos of Bin Laden, back when he was still kicking. ISIS is using the appeals of quality video to help promote ISIS as well as to assert their so called “power” to show they mean business and that they have the money and time to make these planned, detailed promotion pieces. I hate to say it, but I do think this method has worked for them in some extent. But I do not believe that it will affect us kicking their ass and whipping every last one of them off the face of this planet. We are dealing with a style and ploy we have not dealt with before, and I think we can learn and gather needed intelligence about ISIS by looking deeper into why they spend so much time on their video production.
To see what I am talking about and how crazy this is becoming, check out this link:
I mean come on! They're using Steadicams for production! What?
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