Who is the real Bill Ayers?

interesting interview

Bill Ayers is reasoned, concise and sincere. I wonder to how many people (democrat and republican) actually thought Bill Ayers was attempting to murder politicians. Good job, Mulcahey

Bill ayers is the man! No wonder obama is best friends with him!

Nice find!!! Thanks!

Thanks for the post. This is great. I am a big fan of the weather underground and I think they have been slandered lately.

"take the war to the war makers."

Hell yes Bill! Speak the truth!!!!

awesome interview. i wish i could find more stories on bernardine dohrn, another member of the weather underground. she actually publicly declared war on the us government on behalf of that group. i think she's a college professor in chicago as well now??? anyway, i really admire alot about her, and although i can't really say that i support some of the actions they took, i defnitely admire their ideals and their intentions...

If Bill Ayers is the terrorist that $ean Hannity and $arah Palin makes him out to be then why is he not sitting in prison? Because we cannot do what South Africa did to Nelson Mandela, and jail without just cause. There was NO just cause to try Bill Ayers who is now a Professor at the University of Illinois and as the video stated as well was Citizen of the Year in 1997.

Just because you label somebody or paint them with your ugly brush doe NOT detract from what they do today!

We should ask John McCain about HIS relationship with G Gordon Liddy who was tried and CONVICTED of acts and his involvement in WATERGATE along with other illegal functions. Yet today he is a hero? Yea, and so is Oliver North, yet another IMPLICATED in chickanery involving Iran-Contra. Heroes? McCain and Hannity have relations with both so calling the kettle black does not work here!

GOOD JOB!

You see, the McCain camp underestimates us. My guess is that they expected us all to just go along with whatever it was they said about Ayers and Obama. Surely, they never expected anyone to do some research and post the findings for the masses to see. They have us confused with another group. Hats off to the producer of this one.

This guy is really able to articulate his beliefs. Well done!

He did what he felt was right and others joined him. Well done Bill.

You guys really don't want to know the truth. Seriously. I dug it up. Put it online for you guys. Did you listen? Did you even look?

he's not as bad as the republicans make him out to be (small surprise!) His targets were statements against war not to take lives like a true terrorist would do. This shows in the fact that he phoned in warnings before acting.

Great piece.

The other commenters scare me about this country. Bill is clearly a radical and clearly wrong about what he has done and what he still has to say today. Didn't any of you guys listen to what he says? If people like Bill Ayers and his minions and those like the other commenters here who love and agree with him so much, dislike the U.S., why don't you move?

I'm not going to say what Ayers thinks is wrong, there may be tons of people who think they want to do the same things but they know its wrong. You have to be reasonable, you have to appear as if you have some scruples to be taken seriously. If you act outrageous, you lose all credibility. Bill Ayers has no credibility. Seriously! He doesn't. You are judged by the actions you take and carry out. Why would bombing police stations help his cause? What is his reasoning? Did police stations fight over in Vietnam? No. They are here at home doing their work. Looks like he doesn't like any authority. Why do so many people respect a man like him? Why do all the Democrats say things like "that was a long time ago", "he's different now", "he didn't mean what he said"? Why justify his actions? If I murdered someone in your family and its been 40 years, would you be my friend? Would it anger you if I became a famous politician, or was teaching students at a university with a high paying job while your family member is no longer able to speak? Why is being a bomber and killer of 7 people any different?

Don't just hop on a bandwagon which you think is full of young people that all think the same popular thing. It's NOT cool to associate yourself with terrorists or bombers. THINK for youselves! THINK things through. THINK about the proper way to carry out your differences. NOT through bombings or hate but through language and other actions. In today's world if you really want to be taken seriously, then get involved in politics or something and try to make a serious difference and change. Don't degrade your own way of thinking and become an extremist.

This is an interesting look at Ayers. Intercutting the interview with stock footage provides context and puts a visual to the issues that helped shape this man and the Weather Underground. The use of powerful imagery and the droning soundtrack give an immediacy to Ayers' words. Our times and our government is not so different as when the Weather Underground operated.

When McCain/Palin started taking talking points from the likes of Sean Hannity I knew the GOP was getting desperate. We need more videos like this to show Americans the importance of doing your own research and deciphering the facts from the spin.

Re: editing

I like the jump from the debate clip to Ayers quoting himself. There is one section of him talking that goes uninterrupted for almost too long, but the subject matter is compelling enough to make up for what it lacks visually.

Technically the segment runs on a roadbed of jump cuts. OK to keep up the energy level in a tight-paced documentary, but some transitions are needed when the pace changes.
The centered titles are a distraction. The Ken Burns effect in the freeze frames is jumpy and many are too short to justify the movement. It has an edgy feel, but the hard edge might prove distracting.

Regarding the editing in this piece, I feel that the first and most simple thing that could be done to improve it is to give the audio from the interview more care. There are many moments where the mic is bumped and often that could be taken out or at least minimized. Very simply to do too.

Also on audio, I think there are moments when the music could be mixed lower. Certainly it is a stylistic choice, and in many ways the soundtrack works nicely by adding urgency to his words, but on another level it can be distracting as it is over the entire piece. I would hate someone to dismiss this interview as being given the mtv treatment, or manipulating the viewer because of the music.

The narrative of the interview has been clearly presented and condensed. The opening clip from recent news comes without any context, so as is, the viewer hears Ayers name mentioned on national news to Obama and Clinton. This could be opening could be strengthened. It just doesn't really tell me much. The edit I have the biggest problem with is three and a half minutes in, the cross fade to black during his interview. This edit could easily be hidden with more B-roll. I think the balance between interview and B-roll works pretty well. Vietnam newsreel puts his perspective in context, but can be tricky as it is very powerful. Powerful footage is a great thing, but people are more aware than ever as to when they and their emotions are being manipulated. I think there were some nice choices overall in this footage. Very powerful moments tempered with more mundane footage.

Lastly, as far as visual tweaks that could be done to enhance the overall piece, I think that the levels could be adjusted on his interview footage. The highlights are pretty hot, while most of his face is in shadow. It would be nice to see a little more definition there. The typed font could be a little larger or maybe bold would fix it. May be a little hard to read for some. When it streams the typing can become blurred and as the text serves as context and narrative voice it is certainly important to use for such a short piece.

Now that you can justify MURDER>>> in the name of bill ayer's ... i am going to cling to my guns and bible...how naive... is that.....most people don't know horse crap.. they are like the kid who was put in a roomful of horse crap and said there must be a pony here some where.....OBAMA/NATION IS A WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING>>MAKE NO MISTAKE...Eloquence is not common sense....He will get your cents....

The piece is very interesting overall providing a more detailed look at William Ayers that goes beyond the quick soundbites presented in the daily media.

Some editing changes would technically strengthen the piece.

To open the piece, there should be some kind of text to explain the context of the piece rather than just jumping into George Stephanopolous. The interview subject should be color corrected as he is in dark shadow and could be corrected to have more even levels. I feel the typewriter effect on the text is a bit distracting and a different method of presenting it would be better. Also, the text should have a drop shadow to make it stand out more.

The audio should be cleaned up to take out the mic bumping, changes in pan and uneven levels. The music is effective, but may have not needed to be under the entire piece. At 1:55, the typewriter movement on the wanted poster is distracting. The pullout on the subject at 2:06 should be covered up with B-Roll as well as the edit made at 3:32. There is a sloppy cut at 3:51 between the image and foreground text that could be cleaned up.

The piece itself is interesting with cuts to vintage Vietnam footage which helps the pacing. it could simply be strengthened with some basic color correction and more attention to consistency in audio and cuts in certain spots.

Re:Editing

The piece has a fantastic subject and is incredibly timely. The fundamentals of the video are sound however, I think some small changes could increase its impact. This is what I would do if I was handed the piece in it's present state.

I would resize the opening clip & text and resize and re-frame Mr. Ayers. The video is not sized well for internet playback. Mr. Ayers has too much headroom. Web delivery gives us some room to fiddle without any quality loss. I would take advantage of this.

I would also brighten up the video as web compression often darkens it. Specifically, Mr. Ayers face and eyes could be brought out.

Take out mic bumps and knock the flute and final soundtrack down where it competes with Mr. Ayers. I would also take out some of his 'uhs' to give his voice more authority.

I would vary the title effect as it becomes repetitive.

These are all technical notes. I think the piece is great overall. Good Work.

Jesse

They put two bombs in a house where a man, wife and two kids lived. They killed a policeman. Dohrn , when she read about Manson's people killing Sharon Tate etc . She said "cool they stabbed a knife in her pregnant belly. Kill all the rich pigs." One of the girls in Ayres group blew herself up building a bomb. I figure why Ayres never went to jail or got blown up is that he sat in his rich Daddy's house away from it all. Whatever way you want to protest a war or anything else, killing innocent people is not the way to do it. These people did if for the thrill of it. You want to protest the war, then go live in the country where the war is. Help those people who live there.Who is he to decide who should be killed.

The editing is fairly typical; A topic is introduced, in this case, using a (historically) recent debate- in a fairly dramatic manner, as the first clip is quite small, and the piece opens up (quite literally) with the image of our Weatherman subject. The rest of the piece follows a sort of 'call-and-response' formula, where information is given, and a divulgence soon follows, either by Bill, or the text.

Throughout the piece, B-Roll is occasionally introduced to accompany the speaker, and likely to hide any unsightly edits made during the interview.

The music changes moods a few times and by doing so, offers emphasis upon what Bill says, similar to the use of B-Roll; The two in fact work together to build the piece more.

In the end, the music melts from compelling and somewhat hostile, to a gentle, playful, and a rather 'matter-of-fact' tune. This change near then end seems to communicate, along with the text and spoken words, the irony of the common perception of this man.

This piece, in whole, seems to take the viewer through a series of transitions and steps, from modern day, to the past, and back into modern day; In effect, reasserting truth via the recollection of history, bringing the viewer back to the present with a more accurate perception than once had.

Editing/Color/Sound etc:

The trigger happy Technical Director from the News channel creates a rather distracting intro. At this point in time Hillary is obsolete to this debate so you could edit her out and possibly get away with splicing in other longer Obama reaction shots from throughout that nights debate.

I felt that completing the overused and decontextualized "We should have done more..." sentence by Bill Ayers was powerful though the sound levels are uneven between the debate moderator and Mr Ayers.

Beyond being overexposed, the interview footage has mixed light sources (sunlight and tungsten) that could be merged via secondary color correction and spline based masks in a program such as Apple Color. If that is the raw footage, there is too little detail from overexposure top-screen-right to successfully tone down highlights through primary or secondary color correction. I would suggest reframing the shot by shifting the footage to the right and enlarging the footage to crop out some of the headroom and the distracting over exposure.

Though I like the pacing, the editing seems segmented with very few split edit L and J cuts. The B-roll provides excellent context and is powerful but the Bill Ayers interview audio could be layered over the b-roll footage to congruently smooth the editing and emphasize his points. Additionally the audio could be cleaned up, mic bumps, static noise...

There are a plethora of options to make the text easier to read depending on conceptual intent. In this case, I like the centering of text over the images because it creates a visual tension. If one were to balance the addition of a partially transparent solid matte through only the middle third of the frame, behind the text, and in front of the image while tastefully adding drop shadow and font outline the text would be easier to read while maintaining that same visual tension. I would also vary the orientation and placement of the text to keep the audiences attention a little more.

I think the editing near the ending gets sloppy. It would have more impact if it ended at 3m40s with Ayers speaking the last sentence while putting the footage after 3m40s where the fade to black happens at 3m22s. After all,"The Movement" he mentions is perhaps the link to his current and past actions.

Cool! This piece looks relevant, well written, and like a fun project that I would love to work on.

Well done. This piece has considerable potential in its ability to neutralize the recent "otherizing" of Obama without trying to tie him to a false narrative around Bill Ayers. I can think of no more effective way than to make Bill the messenger.

That being said, the impact of the piece becomes limited by its runtime. While part of a larger theoretical question as to the appropriate "media" quantum for internet video digest, you could do well to split the piece into a series of shorter spots, more like an advertising campaign.

Clearly considerable effort has gone into sourcing some excellent broll for the piece. Unfortunately, this piece desperately lacks sound design to realize the emotive potential of this well-sourced creative asset.

Removing stutters and minimizing looks away from the interviewer (are there CIA operatives ready to knock down the door?) would also help achieve a more distilled product with the strongest engagement with the audience. Like the sound quality in Ayer's audio for the first couple of minutes, these looks away detract from the focus on what is being said.

Overall, a great piece that leaves people wanting to know more about Bill Ayers. Such curiosity favors truth, leaving very little opportunity for the lies to become the message.

Keep up the excellent work.