Tag Archives: video

Stefan Gladbach’s “A PMM Christmas”

And the Oscar goes to…

Well, probably not. But I enjoyed contributing to Stefan Gladbach’s Christmas video “A PMM Christmas” as the only biometric product marketing expert in the cast.

And if you heard me mutter in the last few weeks that attribution is a myth, now you know why.

As you can see, Gladbach assembled an all-star cast. Credits at the end of the video, and also in the text of Stefan’s LinkedIn post.

Well, one additional credit: Susan Bredehoft was the camerawoman for my contributions. For lighting and background removal purposes, my scenes were taped outside in our back yard. Since my glasses lenses automatically adjust to sunlight, I can, um, attribute my Roy Orbison look to that.

And I did not follow instructions to wear an ugly Christmas sweater for the end credits…because I haven’t got one. (Ugly sweater, yes. Ugly Christmas sweater, no.) I should have stolen one from Talya.

And for those keeping score (only me, to be honest), I appear at 2:15, 4:40, 5:40, and 8:05.

And now I’m wondering if Roy Orbison ever covered a Smiths song. But again, that’s just me.

Merry Christmas.

Step Into Christmas: Deepfake?

Deepfakes are not a 21st century invention. Take this video of “Step Into Christmas.”

But here are the musician credits.

Elton: Piano and vocals

Davey Johnstone: Guitars and backing vocals

Dee Murray: Bass guitar and backing vocals

Nigel Olsson: Drums and backing vocals

Ray Cooper: Percussion

Kiki Dee: Backing vocals (uncredited)

Jo Partridge: Backing vocals (uncredited)

Roger Pope: Tambourine (uncredited)

David Hentschel: ARP 2500 synthesizer (uncredited)

The video doesn’t match this list. According to the video, Elton played more than the guitar, and Bernie Taupin performed on the track.

So while we didn’t use the term “deepfake” in 1973, this promotional video meets at least some of the criteria of a deepfake.

And before you protest that everybody knew that Elton John didn’t play guitar…undoubtedly some people saw this video and believed that Elton was a guitarist. After all, they saw it with their own eyes.

Sounds like fraud to me!

Remember this when you watch things.