Richard Nixon - "Checkers" Speech

In this clip we see Nixon trying to defend himself against the allegations that were made that he was a bad person. They are at medium shot length, and it was filmed in black and white. The lack of color makes it seem very vintage. Nixon is clearly reading off a speech for he keeps looking down to see what to say next. The fact that he does this makes it very hard to trust what he is saying. For, instead of just speaking he needs to read off a script. The camera stays at the same shot length the entire time, and this seems to be important. Instead of getting close up, they chose to stay far away. At this shot you can see Nixon's body movement, and he does a lot of it. He moves his hands much and often moves his entire body as he is talking. With the camera at medium shot point they can get this entire movement. The camera also does not move, as to focus on what Nixon is saying. If it was to move in close you would focus also on his face, to see what kind of emotion he has.