Fact Check

Hillary Clinton Used Green Screen to Make a Fake Crowd in Nevada

A conspiracy theory video falsely reported that Hillary Clinton used a green screen to fake a crowd during her speech in Nevada in August 2016.

Published Aug. 31, 2016

 (Flickr)
Image Via Flickr
Claim:
Hillary Clinton used a green screen to add fake audience members during her August 2016 speech in Nevada.

On 25 August 2016, a video started circulating on YouTube along with the claim that Hillary Clinton had used a green screen to create a fake audience during her speech in Nevada:


The "proof," according to the narrator, can be seen on the screens of the cell phones being held up by audience members. The narrator claims that the images seen on audience member cell phones differ from the images seen on the television feed:

clinton green screen

As she's leaving, look at these two smartphones. The one at the top is shooting something else. The one at the bottom, it looks like they have a piece of baldie's head. But here's the top one. It looks like a white wall. There's no american flags. There's no red white or blue signs, There's no mob of people. It looks like an empty set. So the question is, was the floor audience inserted by a green screen? Was the floor audience reall there. Because the floor audience is holding up there phones and their not seeing any of this.

One reason the pictured phone cameras show different images than the television feed is that the television camera is filming from a different angle. While the narrator seems to acknowledge this as he shows different images from different phone cameras, he seems to forget this fact when factoring in the main feed.

The stage Clinton spoke at in Nevada is slightly elevated, meaning that the floor audience members would be filming at a slightly tilted angle. This likely explains the "white wall" shown in the "top" phone pictured above:

clinton wall

The video also claims that Clinton is not visible on many of the phone screens. While it is certainly difficult to discern objects on these phone screens, Clinton is clearly visible as she leaves the podium:

green blob

Of course, unlike the creator of this video, we'd never hinge our argument on a blurry screenshot of a video feed containing a video feed on cell phone screen. Luckily, there's a much easier way to prove that Hillary Clinton did not use a green screen during her Nevada speech.

Here's a photograph of Clinton interacting with one of the "fake" audience members:

clinton audience

Another photograph from behind the podium shows the floor audience:

clinton audience 2

Here's a shot from the reverse angle (note the height of the television cameras and the large white wall in the background):

clinton audience 3

And for good measure, here's a photograph from the side of the stage:

clinton audience 4

The conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton used a green screen during her August 2016 speech in Nevada is based entirely on a few blurry screenshots of audience phone screens. Photographs from the event, however, as well as the logical application of angles, show that Clinton's audience was indeed real.

While it isn't particularly relevant to the argument offered above, it should be noted that the YouTube user who uploaded this video went by the handle "Barry Soetoro," which some conspiracy theorists claim is President Obama's actual name.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.