Tyler Cole

 

Van Buren Attack Ad Explanation

            As this was an attack ad on Martin Van Buren I thought I would pick a theme and stick to it, focusing directly on one or two grievances with Van Buren instead of trying to pick out everything wrong he did during his presidency. As president, Van Buren had the misfortune of inheriting the greatest economic crisis of any president before him and through his association with this era of economic turmoil he earned the nickname “Martin Van Ruin”. This became the main focus of my ad as I found it both simple in its message and yet powerful enough to convince the American public that Van Buren was bad for the country.

The music is Mozart’s Requiem. I wanted a piece that opened slowly and then dramatically turned dark and tumultuous like the panic of 1837. The ad opens with a painting of Van Buren looking young with an added title noting the name of the figure in the painting “Martin Van Buren”. The painting was not meant for much more than a title screen but behind Van Buren, you can see foreboding clouds forming outside which works as a form of foreshadowing. The next series of pictures serves to remind the audience that Martin Van Buren was led directly into the Presidency by Andrew Jackson in the most clear cut example of a president naming a successor to date. The ad changes to a political cartoon of Andrew Jackson carrying Van Buren on his back toward a door that reads “The Capitol”. Continuing with this theme the next image is another cartoon where Martin Van Buren is playing a card game against Harrison. Jackson stands behind Harrison and is signaling to Van Buren what cards Harrison has. This again is an illusion to the fact that without Jackson, Van Buren would not have become president as easily. As the happy opening to Requiem continues a drawing of Van Buren as president fills the screen and it scrolls up the face of Van Buren to a soaring eagle above him.

Now the ad begins to take a turn and the screens goes black for several seconds to symbolize the passage of time during Van Buren’s presidency. A strong crescendo now comes in Requiem as the song becomes extremely ominous and the “Martin Van Ruin” theme begins to take shape. I used two quotes from newspaper articles I found that mention the ruin he and his policies have brought on the country. Adding an artistic flourish to each quote by blurring out all the words except for ruin and zooming in on it I looked to keep the aggressive nature of the ad. At the finale of the ad, I used some video editing to remind the audience of the “Martin Van Ruin” nickname by selecting out letters from his full name and spelling “ruin” underneath it and then fading into just “Martin Van Ruin”.

Sources:

Portrait 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MVan_Buren-portrait.jpg

Cartoon 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_rejected_Minister.jpg

Cartoon 2

http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/11926

Portrait 2

http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/12249

Newspaper 1

Headline: [No Headline]; Article Type: Election Returns

Paper: Enquirer, published as Richmond Enquirer; Date: 05-05-1837; Volume: XXXIII; Issue: 119; Page: [2]; Location: Richmond, Virginia

Portrait 3

http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/12251

Newspaper 2

Headline: The following Able and Candid Remarks Are from the Late Leading Administration Journal in the City of New York; Article Type: News/Opinion

Paper: Waldo Patriot; Date: 06-01-1838; Volume: I; Issue: 23; Page: [2]; Location: Belfast, Maine

 

Portrait 4

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Van_Buren,_U.S._Secretary_of_State.jpg