Firm that produced anti-flotilla video works for Israeli government

The Israeli production company Zed Films that made the anti-flotilla propaganda video “Sex with the Psychologist” lists the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Government Press Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other official Israeli bodies as its clients. Does this indicate that this and other recent propaganda videos are the work of the Israeli government?

Last month, The Electronic Intifada and other publications exposed as a hoax an anti-flotilla video purporting to be made by a disaffected gay rights activist in the United States. The man in the video was in fact an Israeli actor named Omer Gershon. The so-called marc3pax video had been distributed soon after it appeared by a staffer in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Government Press Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the producers of this video have remained unidentified.

Zed Films client list

The majority of Zed Films’ clients appear to be Israeli government and local and international Zionist organizations. On a section of its web site, Zed Films lists the following clients using their Hebrew names and logos:

Microsoft Israel
Teva
Ormat
PrimeSense
Mobileye
Prime Minister’s Office
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Government Press Office
Ministry of Environmental Protection
Western Galilee Hospital
Holon Institute of Technology
Government Company for Protection of the Dead Sea Ltd.
Homeland Command
Work Safety Institution
United Jewish Appeal
Israeli Ministry of Tourism
Office of National Infrastructure
Israel Police
Ministry of Immigration Absorption
Waddell Media
Cineflix
Radical Media
Lion Television
Jewish National Fund
eyeSight
Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites in Israel
Mekorot
The Israeli Navy
Women’s International Zionist Organization
The Peres Center for Peace
The St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group
ONE Family Fund
SLE

Is Zed Films behind the marc3pax hoax?

Given that the marc3pax video was distributed by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Press Office and given its anti-flotilla message, it is reasonable to ask whether it was also made by Zed Films. It is also reasonable to ask whether Zed Films is making these videos at the behest of its Israeli government clients. The Electronic Intifada has sent an inquiry to Zed Films, although it would have arrived after the close of business in Tel Aviv. We will report on any response we receive.

An interesting detail which experts in video production may wish to comment on is that the two videos have an identical aspect ratio of 1.94:1. The videos are letterboxed to fit YouTube’s standard 16:9 ratio. We welcome comments from video production experts about whether this could be just a coincidence.

Comments

16x9

Permalink Andy replied on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 20:04

The 16x9 trim may just be coincidence. It is one of a handful of export presets that are built into final cut.

I would pay more attention to their style (use of archival footage, total length, and how and when they cut) as well as their saturation levels it may reveal patterns.

Andy

one more thing I noticed...

Permalink andy replied on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 20:20

whomever posted these videos (albeit both have different styles) there is one thing that stands out. Both have titles with sexually charged keywords. This is telling about the viral marketing strategy used in both cases. To bump up searches they added sexually charged words in the title to drive up more accidental traffic. "in bed with" and "sex with" are viral marketing ploys and not the typical MO typical conservative or "activist" propagandists. They are the calling cards for viral marketers. This could be more telling then the 16x9 aspect ratio.

If both generated from the government then both were clearly outsourced jobs, placed in private hands that know the nuances of the viral marketplace.

Best,
Andy

both videos use sexuality as

Permalink abdelsalam akkad replied on Fri, 07/08/2011 - 08:40

both videos use sexuality as their discourse for discrediting the opponent and that might become a weird coincidence given the 4 days difference in upload time, this can be a coordinated campaign the first video - with a final text message and the dramatized plot needs to be credited to an organization or body, on the other hand the second video- with no end slogan and home video feel had to be uploaded separately/individually as a viral video.
finally after replaying the video again and again i can say clearly that the gay/activist (with a single video upload on his channel) character is reading