Christian Video速 Magazine
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Jan / Feb 2013 VOL. 6, NO. 1
8 Movie Review
Lincoln - conviction, compromise, and freedom by MARTIN BAGGS
11 Book Excerpt
Marketing or Lying?
by GARY MOLANDER
13 Screenwriting
Writing Christian Short Film by JOSH PIES
15 Trends
Cover Story 4
by RYAN GEESAMAN
by EVAN CHRISTENSEN
Trends to Watch (or Watch Out For)
Easter.
17 Tips
Editorial 3
by BRENT PIERCE
by GREGORY FISH
3 Tips for Video Technical Directing
20 Visual Worship
Why is the Visual Aspect of our Worship Services Important? by STEPHEN PROCTOR
22 How To’s
Basic Lighting
Happy Easter!
Greg’s Toolkit 6 Favorite Easter Videos by GREGORY FISH
Calling All Creatives! 27 by GREGORY FISH
by KEN ERICKSON
24 The Making of...
The Making of Strawinsky (part 1) by DAVID HUTTER
Christian Video® Magazine
Jan/Feb 2013
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from the desk of the editor
by GREGORY FISH
Happy Easter! This is the Easter issue. We have a couple of articles that deal with this very important time in the life of your church. Easter comes early this year. I hope that you are already planning your services. I also would hope that you’ll find some of the info and ideas in this issue helpful to you as you prepare for these great events. You’ll also find several articles that deal with everyday items. In fact, you will notice in this issue that we’ve got more articles for you to read! We hope that this will be pleasant and welcome surprise for you. On that note, we have another surprise that we can’t tell you about quite yet. But it’s a good one. We’ll be making an exciting announcement very soon. So keep watching your inbox. We want to thank you for reading and we wish you a very Happy Easter! Stay blessed,
Gregory Fish Editor-in-Chief greg@christianvideomag.com
Christian Video® Magazine
Christian Video Magazine is published bimonthly by Christian Video Magazine, Inc. Editor-in-Chief Gregory Fish greg@christianvideomag.com Contributing Editors George Temple Stewart H. Redwine Mark Carroll Jay M. Delp Martin Baggs Robert Kramer Ryan Geesaman Ken Erickson Copy Editor Emily Fish
Corporate Home Office Mailing Address: PO Box 319 Belton, MO 64012 Phone: (417) 316-2552 Fax: 800-456-1868 Copyright 2013 by Christian Video Magazine, Inc. All Rights Reserved Written materials submitted to Christian Video Magazine become the property of Christian Video Magazine, Inc., upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Christian Video Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication is the sole property of Christian Video Magazine. Copy or distribution of articles or content can be done so on an individual basis. Multiple copies or distribution may not be done without the express permission of Christian Video Magazine. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Christian Video Magazine, or Christian Video Magazine, Inc.
Jan/Feb 2013
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Cover Story by EVAN CHRISTENSEN
Easter.
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aster. Easter. If you’re like me—and I’m assuming you are because you’re reading an article in a publication about “church media”— it’s the first of two occasions annually when we really put in some creative overtime. It’s a time to step out of the weekly routine and try something new, to challenge ourselves, and sometimes do things “bigger.” This is at times turns out very cool and very anxiety-inducing. The anxiety, for me, stems from my fear of doing something trite, or derivative, or redundant. Ultimately, the potential for creating space—physically, temporally, emotionally, spiritually—makes the creative work in these contexts especially exciting, unique, and meaningful. Two years ago, my primary contribution for Easter was a short film segment reminiscent of the “Wise Up” scene in Magnolia by P. T. Anderson. We set our vignettes to the song “How He Loves,” which we re-arranged and recorded. We cast some actors, found some locations, and figured out how to simultaneously playback music to in-ears for our talent and record their vocal performance on location. It was a challenging project, ultimately fairly well received, and probably a tad derivative, (meaning “unoriginal”) but at least it was derivative of something not typically seen in evangelical megachurches, to my knowledge. Last year I assumed I’d be making another film of some sort, and I also wanted to push myself to create something more original and possibly more involved; to “step up my game.” It was decided that we would have a Maundy
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Thursday gathering, an interactive Stations of the Cross experience on Good Friday, and Easter gatherings on Saturday and Sunday. From the start, the text of Psalm 88 was in my head for Good Friday, but because of the stations of the cross being the event for that day, we decided to end our Maundy Thursday gatherings with a responsive reading of that text, and then have everyone exit the darkened house in silence (like a traditional Tenebrae service). I became fixated on Psalm 88 because it is one of very few psalms that does not resolve itself, but ends with words of despair, “darkness is my only friend.” As for exiting in silence, I remembered the weightiness, uniqueness, and mystery of the Tenebrae service my dad had led as a pastor when I was a little kid. I had never forgotten that experience and thought it might fit well with our plans. For Easter, we decided on Acts 10:34-43 as our text, and “This is the Day” as the theme for the week, referring to the passage in Psalm 118: “This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it,” not only in regard to Christ’s resurrection, but also his suffering and death. As I said, there’s a certain unspoken pressure in larger churches to do things “bigger.” BigJan/Feb 2013
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Cover Story
by EVAN CHRISTENSEN
ger sets. More lights. Bigger music. Bigger and better for Easter. I believe there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, unless “bigger” becomes an idol that needs smashing. Ultimately, we want to use our venue, the church’s meeting place, as a sacred space to craft a significant, engrossing worship experience for a gathered community of people. So we decided to use a couple of modern tools to pull off a fairly simple and more traditional experience, one that we felt was intimate, involved, dark, hopeful and celebratory—all in the course of a week. Our Maundy Thursday gathering centered on the Seder (Passover) meal. Each person received a box with the individual components of the meal, and participated communally throughout the evening, led by our lead pastor, Dale. We had a low-key, acoustic musical set from the center of the house, and the evening culminated in the reading of Psalm 88. I had stumbled across the voice talent we would later use while videotaping a theology class at another church weeks before Easter. This guy, named Troy, a minister with a background in rap music (and frankly, a lot more “urban” than the typical attendee at our church was accustomed to hearing) volunteered to read a Psalm in class. He had a gritty, raw, impassioned delivery that stuck in my memory and, thankfully, resurfaced when trying to come up with a suitable voice. I didn’t know the guy but asked him and he graciously agreed to come to our campus and record at our studio. Troy laid down an amazing read in little more than one take, and because he sounded so good and things had gone so quickly, we had him read the Acts 10 text as well. I did some minor edits to the voiceover recording, and created a simple text scroll on black in Adobe After Effects to match the audio. On Maundy Thursday, as the video rolled, the house lights were dimmed and a huge black drape was hoisted to the roof, obscuring the entire stage. Everyone exited in silence at the end of the video. For Easter, we opened the gathering with a dark house and the curtain still raised, and a video rolled—again, text-only, but this time a two-
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color blue- and -white design. A female voiceover read a prologue summing up the events of the past week, and then continued on to the Acts 10 passage read by Troy. As opposed to the Maundy Thursday reading, the response for this reading was “He is risen.” Again, I animated a scroll using After Effects, using the new color scheme and a bolder font, and punctuating certain phrases with a vivid red color. But this time the video was time-code synced to the orchestra and lighting via Virtual VTR software (on my end), which enabled the video with musical underscore (nicely arranged by musical genius, Mason) to flow seamlessly into the chorus of the song, “Christ is Risen” by Matt Maher, performed live on stage by orchestra and choir. At the transition moment from video to live stage performance, a remote trigger released the entire black drape and it dropped to the floor as a sweeping light cue illuminated the stage and audience. When it all came together, it gave me chills the four times we performed it, even though I was sitting in the video control room huddled over a bank of monitors. At the end of the day, we wanted to use all these tools to craft a coherent narrative experience: that told a story, allowed for introspection and reflection, and drew people into a deep emotional response. I was proud that the way we presented our ideas was largely original, and that without putting on some really big and complex show, we were able to draw people into a deep and rewarding journey. It also reminded me how awesome a shared experience in a live venue can be. The challenges were mainly technical, and minor, reminding me that my own (self-) doubts are essentially unrealistic and plainly false. It reminded me that, even though my first impulse is typically to aim for the stars and create a “great film,” after all I’m part of a larger movement and that my individual goals are subservient to the goals we have for our worship arts department and the entire church community. Now it’s 2013, and it’s time to repeat the process.
Jan/Feb 2013
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Greg’s Toolkit
by GREGORY FISH
Favorite Easter Videos
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here’s so much great content available in the Easter media section and new videos being added every year. It’s hard to settle on a few to share. These are not so much top videos as much as videos, in random order, that I personally think you should check out. http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/23698/Follow
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/12953/He-Is-Risen
The first would be “Follow”. In the same vein as “A Social Network Christmas”, Igniter Media does it again! This time utilizing a Twitter interface, we have here a clever and modern retelling of the gospel that is powerful. Without asking anything, it makes you question your own loyalty to Christ. Would you follow? It is a little longer than most minimovies, but worth the extra time constraint!
Shift Worship continues the trend toward animated art-work with “He Is Risen”. No text is needs as the images speak for themselves. The song was one that I had never heard before, but enjoyed greatly.
http://www.danstevers.com/store/the_fifth_ cup/ Similar to Igniter, how do you pick just one Dan Stevers video to showcase? As I was getting ready to publish, Dan’s newest video came out, “The Fifth Cup.” He said he spent more time on this video than any of his others. It’s a brilliant concept based on the cup of God’s wrath. The images are stunning and the message is great. You’ve got to check it out! http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/23090/A-Very-Special-Sunday Steelhouse goes a different route with this light-hearted and endearing children’s narration of Easter events, along with colorful stick figure-like animated drawings. As the reviewers of this mini-movie point out, both children and adults love this video.
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http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/23392/Easter-Prophecy Hyper Pixels Media offers up “Easter Prophecy” as a way to visually see Isaiah 53 through the lens of Jesus. The voice-over is superbly done and the simple presentation allows you to listen intently to the beautiful score and scripture being read. http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/28923/Alive-The-Story “Alive: The Story” combines scenes from Big Book Media’s film with the Grammy nominated single by Natalie Grant. The runtime is five minutes, but it could take the place of a song in your worship set. http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/26977/I-Once-Was-Lost-AmazingGrace-Ii CentralFillms brings back the song Amazing
Jan/Feb 2013
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Greg’s Toolkit
by GREGORY FISH Grace in “I Once Was Lost (Amazing Grace II).” Inspired by a Salvation Army ad, with music by an award-winning guitarist, various different people personalize the song we all know and give it a deeper meaning. http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/34/The-Last-Painting I had to include another Igniter video, because it’s one that I’ve actually used in a Good Friday service. “The Last Painting” is visually stunning and the music is captivating. With simple text pushing forward the message until it and the painting itself culminates in the final message: “It is Finished.” http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/23491/He-Rose If you need a worship starter on Easter, Centerline’s “He Rose” is an energetic but smart choice. It’s profound message is addressed to all people, including those that may be visiting your church just because it’s Easter Sunday. Its honest approach will hopefully get people thinking and excited to worship the Risen King.
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/19231/What-Was-On-His-Mind I thought I’d round things off with a video of my own making (shameless plug). It asks the question, “What was Jesus thinking? What was on His mind while He endured the cross? As pictures of people of all walks of life move across the screen they all answer the question by spelling the word “YOU.” Then it ends on two verses from Hebrews and a word of thanks to God for what He did. It works for either Good Friday or Easter. And like many of the videos I’ve highlighted here, it’s also available in Spanish. Those would be just some of my picks for you to consider for your services. No matter what you end up doing, I hope and pray that what you do helps to lead people close to God! That’s what it’s all about.
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/18063/Alive Another short worship starter option would be thr-ve’s “Alive!” The music is rockin’ and the big-texted method of communicating is straight-forward and effective. http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/29828/Good-Friday The Skit Guys are at their dramatic best in this Good Friday video titled just that, “Good Friday”. This is actually 4 short videos featuring a dramatic retelling of Jesus’ last day from six individuals who were close to Him before his death. The runtime for all of it is 9 minutes, but you could build your service around it, even separating the vignettes with singing or reading or praying, etc.
Christian Video® Magazine
Jan/Feb 2013
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Movie Review
by MARTIN BAGGS
Lincoln
conviction, compromise, and freedom
A
mark of a good film is that despite its length, it keeps our attention and we lose track of time. Lincoln is long, at 150 minutes, but it feels shorter; however, it has too many characters and this causes some confusion as we try to understand who is who. Because of the star-studded cast we can keep track of those we know, but most viewers will be hard pressed to keep straight all the various politicians here. The film opens with a kinetic and brutal battle ed to a second term. The year is 1865, the scene. Union and Confederate soldiers fight Civil War has been waging for four years, hand to hand, bayonet-to-bayonet in the and the country is tired of the fighting. Most muddy field until most lay dead or dying, uni- want peace, but the South wants that at forms stained with blood and muck until they the price of continued slavery. Lincoln wants are all but indistinguishable. You can almost both: an end to the war and to slavery. feel the inexorable march to death for these soldiers. Contrasted with this, Spielberg shows Spielberg retained the rights to Doris Goodthe still and silent aftermath of battle in the win’s book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius only other bloody scene toward the end of of Abraham Lincoln,” and uses this to showthe film. Lincoln rides his horse slowly through case the passion, character and commitment a battlefield after the fighting is over. Carnage of the men in the oval office. Teaming up with everywhere, bodDaniel Day-Lewis for ies strewn about, the first time, he has Remember, before showing clips from the consequences his Lincoln down pat. of war stare starkDay-Lewis, an Osmovies, be sure you have a license to do ly up at him. Not car-winner for There so. Check out Church Video License to surprising, since Will be Blood, inthe Civil War was habits the role until be sure you are legal. www.cvli.com the bloodiest and we forget this is an deadliest in the hisactor and believe tory of American that this is the real person, amazingly showwars. Over the course of 4 years, an estiing up on screen. This stands as perhaps the mated 625,000 soldiers were killed, more best acting in 2012, and Day-Lewis needs US dead than in all other wars combined! to make room in his trophy cabinet for another golden statuette, that will likely be his Lincoln gives us not so much a historical biin the February Oscars. Alongside him, Sally ography of the 16th President, but a snapshot Field is tremendous as his wife, Mary Todd Linof his life in the months after he was electcoln. She shows the grieving neediness of the
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Jan/Feb 2013
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Movie Review
by MARTIN BAGGS
woman, but also the political savvy that the first woman needs in order to back her husband. Together, they give us a glimpse into the tumultuous relationship the Lincolns had. Despite the bloody opening scene, Spielberg has not made an action movie. Lincoln, in contrast, is a rather quiet and contemplative movie about the political machinations that led to the passing of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the amendment that abolished slavery for good.
the Democrats vigorously opposed, there seems little hope for the 13th Amendment. The Democrats want the war to end, but if that happens the South will rejoin the United States and veto any attempt to abolish slavery. Lincoln understands the winds of the moment and realizes he must strike while the war is waging, even if it is waning. The movie gives us this political battle.
Spielberg uses the opening scene to provide context. He shows a warweary Lincoln sitting, after the battle, listening and talking to Union soldiers, both black and white. They recite his Gettysburg address, perhaps the most famous of Lincoln’s speeches. This iconic rhetoric, with a mere 270 words, begins: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” And as one black soldier walks away, he utters part of the conclusion: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom”. This sets the tone – Lincoln will have freedom from slavery before he has peace from battle. Moreover, when Lincoln shares a dream with his wife that he is floating alone in a ship, she discerns that he is thinking about the battle, not for peace, but for this freedom. It is a political battle. With the Republicans ready to support him but
Christian Video® Magazine
Jan/Feb 2013
9
Movie Review
by MARTIN BAGGS
With the help of his Secretary of State, William Seward (David Strathairn), Lincoln undertakes a mission to gain the votes necessary to buy victory in Congress, the Senate already having passed the amendment. He tells his cabinet, “I am the president of the United States of America clothed in immense power. You will get me those votes!” But to do so, he charges Seward with using three henchmen to buy the votes of weak, lame duck Democrats. What might today be considered lobbyists, these are none other than bribe offerers. This brings up the first ethical question: what price conviction? Lincoln is convinced that slavery must be abolished. Each man stands equal before God, who shows no favoritism (Gal. 2:6), and this must become true under American law also. But he is prepared to use tactics that are shady and reek of dishonesty. Was he right in taking such action? Clearly the end result was good and we live in a country that now upholds this amendment and allows all to be viewed in equality. This highlights the grayness that encompasses politics. There is no black and white. On the same front, Lincoln faced a tough issue at home. His eldest son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) returns home from law school to announce his desire to join the army. If Lincoln continues his path forward on the amendment, the war will continue and the possibility of his son’s death increases. The price of his conviction is possibly the death of his son (does that sound familiar to Christians?). Two of the most compelling scenes show Lincoln in the White House. In one, he sees his youngest son asleep on the floor before a dying fire. He gets down alongside him and gently kisses him. In the other, he is in the Oval Office and he gets onto his knees to use a poker to keep the fire going. He is a president who has not forgotten his background and who is not afraid of doing what is needed. Yet, he takes time with his family and wants the best for them, as he wants freedom for the slaves. Stealing scenes, if that is possible, from Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones plays Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. A Republican who has fought his whole life for the equality of blacks in all areas, Stevens is in a position where he must choose between his convictions and his goals or dreams. He wants the amendment to pass, but he is asked to compromise. And it is unclear, even at the very last moment, what he will do. Here is the second question: what price compromise? Politics is by definition the art of compromise to work through gridlock, even today. But can
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we sacrifice our convictions to achieve greater good? This is indeed a tough question and Jones communicates the gravity of the decision Stevens faces. Yet sometimes this is needed. Some would say most politicians lack convictions and character, but that is not always true. In this case, Stevens had to turn his back on what had espoused for three decades if he wanted to achieve permanent gain. And, as the film shows, he had a vested interest. He had skin in the game, so to speak. The real question here, though, is: what price freedom? As we all know by now, the 13th Amendment was passed and came into law before the Civil War ended and before Lincoln was assassinated. But it cost Lincoln familial peace, and it probably cost him his life. He was prepared to sacrifice it all to achieve this goal. The Great Emancipator freed slaves across the Union and we will never go back to the hideous ownership of other human beings. What a parallel with the price of true freedom! Human beings are born into sin (Rom. 5:12), and are bound into slavery to sin (Jn. 8:34, Rom. 6:16). We may not realize it, but invisible shackles bind us nevertheless. Then our Great Emancipator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ provided his own 13th amendment. This did not require political maneuverings and compromise. Rather, it simply required sacrifice (Acts 5:30). Jesus died on the cross, crucified on two rough wooden beams, so that we might be freed. He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness (Col. 1:13). As Paul states, “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). What price our freedom? Throughout the film, we see Lincoln walking somewhat stooped, shoulders down like he is carrying the weight of the world upon his back. The war and the battle for the 13th Amendment carried a huge cost on this great American. Think about the actual weight of the world that Jesus Christ carried in his battle with Satan and his victory over our slavery. We owe each a huge debt of gratitude. But only Jesus stands waiting for us to claim his victory and his freedom. Have you done that yet? Have you experienced this freedom from slavery? If not, the time is ripe! Copyright ©2012, Martin Baggs Martin works as a manager in the high tech industry. He leads a monthly film review group at Mosaic Church in Portland, Oregon. He writes film responses from a biblical perspective on his blog: www.mosaicmovieconnectgroup.blogspot.com Contact: martinbaggs@gmail.com
Jan/Feb 2013
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Book Excerpt
by GARY MOLANDER
Marketing or Lying?
L
ast semester, my oldest daughter worked on a presentation for her College English Class about truth in advertising. She’d seen the television commercial with Paris Hilton eating the Carl’s Jr. burger, and was trying to reconcile the implied promise being made, with the purchase of a burger. She asked me simply, “Dad. When is it marketing, and when is it lying?” Great question. Great question for churches. When is it marketing, and when is it lying? I think churches could learn to create a rhythm of communal life where three questions are consistently asked about any piece of internal or external publicity, displayed anywhere on behalf of the church. THE ADJECTIVE QUESTION The first question to ask has to do with adjectives. The primary (and most courageous) question to ask has to do with grammar.
Are we really using accurate adjectives to describe the object of our design? If a church program isn’t amazing, then don’t call it that. Or transformational. Or inspiring. Or successful. If it’s not really a place that most people call “home”, then don’t use the slogan “a place to call home”. There’s nothing wrong with using any of these words or phrases, but churches need to make sure they’re accurately describing what’s really happening, not what they only hope is happening. Words matter. THE FUTURE VS. REALITY QUESTION The next question has to do with future goals and current realities. The Future vs. Reality Question is extremely important, especially when the copy writer is also a visionary leader.
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Are we advertising a future goal as if it were a current reality? By far the most popular phrase that falls into this category is “lifechanging”. Does every worship service have the potential to be life-changing? Yes. But in the normal life of a church, is every worship service really “life-changing”? Probably not. These services have the potential to change someone’s life over the long haul, but that’s a future hope, and shouldn’t be advertised as a current norm that happens to everyone, all the time. Another popular phrase is “reaching the world for Christ”. Churches need to be honest about this and ask if they’re currently reaching the world for Christ, or is it something they’re striving toward? THE COMPARISON QUESTION Finally, church leaders and artists need to ask the comparison question all day, every day.
Are we building up our own church by tearing down others? There’s a classic example of this type of marketing. “Tired of church as usual?” I actually used that in a direct mailer ten years ago, and I still see it used all the time in my community. I also see it on North American church websites. When I used that phrase, I was really saying that we had a rockin’ band with a
Jan/Feb 2013
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Book Excerpt
by GARY MOLANDER crankin’ sound system, and that we valued relationships over programs. Oh - and that we preached topically. I should have just stated those things, instead of comparing my church with other churches. As a personal aside – I was the most arrogant and prideful pastor you’d ever hope to meet, and our marketing campaigns proved it. I was guilty of building up by tearing down every week, for years. My wife told me to stop doing it, but I didn’t listen. WHY DOES ALL THIS MATTER SO MUCH? This stuff matters because God doesn’t need exaggerated marketing or false publicity. It matters because God is not a liar. And it matters because of the door-hanger Bill holds in his hand. Bill and Kelly have been arguing more than normal. They’ve mentioned the possibility of counseling, but neither wants to make that call. Their two young boys are beginning to act out. Tommy is starting to withdraw and become more isolated. Brandon has been reprimanded twice in the last week by his second grade teacher. Kelly knows the missed call from the teacher was made to set up a parent conference.
the most honest wording your church could put on that door hanger? Not in the future, but right now. How can your church not bait-and-switch Bill and his family, sending them even farther into skepticism? Describe your church as it really is. Can you write the copy in such a way that gives hope, without making empty promises? Because Bill’s family is real, and they live everywhere. Marriage gets tough. But you’re not alone. That’s what I’d write for my church. Yours will look different. I pray our churches have the courage to be honest about the words we put in front of the blessed people who don’t have any idea who we are. Or who He is.
(This is an excerpt from Pursuing Christ. Creating Art. by Gary Molander, reprinted with the author’s permission.)
And Bill holds the door-hanger advertisement for your church in his hand. What’s
Christian Video® Magazine
Jan/Feb 2013
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Screenwriting by JOSH PIES
Writing for Christian Short Film
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ake a look at the popular Christian video download sites like SermonSpice and Worship House Media and you’ll see a few common styles of video landing in the top 10. Many are what we filmmakers consider “live action short format narrative”. Others fall into the animated version of the same. Yet others are graphics, text, and music that deliver a powerful message sans human or animated character. The creation of these videos shares a similar workflow. Idea – Script – Pre-production – Production – Post – Distribution. This is in stark contrast to documentary or man on the street interview styles which flops the Pre-Production and Scripting (we’ll visit that workflow in a future article). Let’s assume you’ve had your idea and are ready to write. To lay clear groundwork for your cast, crew, editors, and grocery store butcher – well, maybe not the butcher – but to lay the right groundwork we must write for our internal audience. If you’re new to writing for film/video you may be inclined to write a “skit” script. This is that script where you open a word processing program and do the following – type “name” “colon” “dialogue” “return”, and so on. It’s a style that has worked for many a small skit to supplement the Sunday sermon, children’s church meeting, and home group lesson. The key difference between a “skit” and a short film, aside from the fact that there’s a camera involved in one, is scope. Video projects demand something more and it starts with a dedicated scriptwriting program.
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TIP #1: Start with a free program - CELTX (Celtx.com). CELTX gives you a few options for script writing and the top two options (spatially) are your best. The first option is FILM and the other is A/V (Audio Visual). If you’ve ever read a feature film script, that’s the style of the FILM option. When writing a narrative – meaning that you are telling a story with either people acting on camera OR animated characters doing the same – use FILM writing format. In this format, each scene gets a heading that identifies location. A scene heading will indicate location by listing whether it’s the indoor or outdoor area of location, a clear and simple title, and time of day. Examples include: Int Ext Int Ext
– – – –
Church Sanctuary – Day Church Parking Lot – Night Convenient Store Soda Aisle – Day Golgotha, Crucifixion site – Night
Dialogue begins with a character title. All dialogue is automatically centered on the page by Celtx, which helps speed up the reading process. Dialogue modifiers, such as an accent or who the dialogue is directed to, can be found in parenthetical notations below the character name. Physical action and camera information is written sentence form between points of dialogue.
Jan/Feb 2013
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Screenwriting
by JOSH PIES
A simple and classic scene might read as the following: Ext – Golgotha, Crucifixion Site – Night Eerie clouds roll in over the mountain as thunder claps. Crowds of angry people look on. Ear piercing jeers from the onlookers continuously roll. Wide: Three male figures hang limp on crosses mounted at the top of the mountain. Medium: JESUS, bloodied and in anguish, rolls his head left and right. He struggles to peer toward Heaven. JESUS (to God above, agonized/ ernest) Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do. Bright flash of light. Thunder Clap. The crowd falls instantly silent with fear. End
Tip #2: A quick way to learn the style is to buy a few feature film scripts from films you already know. My first was Good Will Hunting since it was easy to find on cable TV. I read the script and watched the movie to see how it all fell together. (You can find used script books on Amazon for a penny plus shipping on a fairly regular basis.) The reasons to use a Film style script are plentiful. It’s very easy for actors to read, notate in margins, and memorize from. Your crew can easily read it and mark it up for their own needs on set. Even if your cast and crew is a whopping three people, you will be more organized and have clearer expectations when using this style. Another important aspect of writing in this style is that your editor can move towards rough cut very quickly based on its easy to read, very linear format. When you’re chief, cook and bottle washer – writing, shooting and editing your own project – there’s still no reason to be disorganized. This type of scripting WILL help. (The video “I Fought For You” by The
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SoundTank was written as a Film Script.) There are other instances of video production that do not fit well with the FILM style of script. Graphics intensive projects, video montages, and music videos do not translate well through the FILM style of scripting. The proper response is to use A/V style. A/V scripts take some conventions of the FILM style and adapt to give audio and video elements both vertical and horizontal spatial relations. Well, wasn’t that clear as mud? Let’s decrypt that statement: The top of page one is time 0:00 and the bottom is, well, later. The RIGHT side of the page is AUDIO. The LEFT side of the page is VIDEO – the sides of the pages are divided by a vertical black line. AUDIO that aligns with VIDEO will be on the same horizontal plane. Why this is important boils down to the simple fact that in Graphics Videos, Montages, and Music Videos --- TIMING IS EVERYTHING. Aside from the fact that this script will help you gather your video and audio elements, a very important task in itself, it will express your specific intentions to your editor. In many ways, the writer of this type of video is the co-director by default as it is a quite specific style of writing. (Look up the video “SCARS” by The SoundTank. This video was scripted A/V.) You have a choice when you enter into a project. You can go in unscripted or perhaps with a napkin bullet list of hopeful thoughts (I’ve actually done this, not that I recommend it)... or, you can write clearly and in a format that set your production up for success. Joshua C. Pies is a Producer/Writer for The SoundTank (TheSoundTank.com) and Executive Producer at C47 Film Associates. His video productions have collected numerous Silver & Bronze Telly’s, CINE Golden Eagles & Special Jury Award, as well as festival wins. Josh penned the best-selling “I Fought For You” for The SoundTank, available at Worshiphousemedia.com and SermonSpice.com. Contact Josh through JoshPies.com.
Jan/Feb 2013
14
Trends
by RYAN GEESAMAN
Trends to Watch
I
(Or Watch Out For)
asked a few of my friends involved in different ministries to give me their thoughts surrounding the question, “What trends do you see in the church today?” Richard Foster, Assistant Media Director at Christian Life Assembly in Camp Hill, PA and Peter Bond, Service Programming Director/ Youth Pastor at LifeHouse in Van Wert, OH contributed to this discussion. Peter Bond gave us a great place to start in his response. He said, “I would say the hardest trend for churches to overcome is the constant attention we pay to the people who are already there.” This is an ever-present threat for every ministry. Our tendency is always to pull towards doing the things that make us happy and comfortable, but should our focus be on those who are already in our doors or those who have yet to walk in? Peter continued, “Because we are so grateful for our attendance size, and the talents, gifts, and financial blessings that people inside the church bring to the table, we tend to cater to their needs instead of leveraging their gifts to reach that which is lost.” We will always need to work towards balancing “feeding the flock” and “seeking the lost sheep.” This balancing act is true for our churches as a whole, but it is also applicable specifically in the area of media. Our media, our artwork, should be accessible to anyone who walks in the doors of our churches. If the content contains insider language, humor, and concepts, the new person will feel like even more of an outsider. The problem is that making people feel like outsiders does not make them want to become insiders. It makes them want to leave. The goal is not to be “contemporary” but “relevant” – meeting people where they are to
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draw them closer to a relationship with Christ. Richard Foster said one area in which we need to be relevant is in social media. “Social media are crucial to the survival of the church in this day and age. Most people now look to the web for information on a church, and your social media presence is just as important as your website.” Just having a Facebook page, however, is not enough. Serious thought needs to be put into what will be posted and how often. Who will be in charge and monitor responses? I have seen a church that would post random videos that had nothing to do with their ministry, and I found myself confused. Perhaps they had given it thought and those random videos were part of their social media strategy. But as an outsider, I did not understand. The social media realm is a place to engage culture, share relevant thoughts and media, and provide opportunities for invitation. A few months ago at LCBC we created a “Gangnam Style” parody. You and I can debate up and down whether or not it was an appropriate thing to parody, but we chose to intersect culture in that way. It debuted in our weekend gatherings and then we made it available on social media. Within a couple days, it became our most-viewed video on the web. It was shared hundreds of
Jan/Feb 2013
15
Trends
by RYAN GEESAMAN out there doing online church really well, so make sure there is a good reason for you to join them before you do.
times, and we heard multiple stories of people visiting our church for the first time after seeing it. Be intentional and see results. While we are on the topic of the web, streaming is becoming more and more prevalent in a church’s overall online presence. Richard addressed it this way, “As streaming of services is becoming easier and less expensive, it is important to remember that this should be done with quality. Just because you can does not always mean you should.” Quality does not refer just to technology but also to content and presentation. While image quality and stream reliability are concerns, streaming for the right reason is of the utmost importance. At LCBC, we have had an IMAG (Image Magnification) video system for almost 10 years. In other words, with the right streaming equipment, we would have had the capability of streaming our gatherings online for the past 10 years. At the present time, however, we only post an edited version of the message portion of our gatherings around mid-week. This baffles many people. Allow me to explain. We could never answer the question, “Why?” Why does our gathering have to be on the web live? Without a good reason to do it, there was no need to add the additional equipment and personnel to make it happen well. Because if we are going to do it, we are going to do it right. That being said, we are currently discussing it again. If we come up with a good answer to the question this time, we will be in a better position to do it well because we will have addressed all of the factors that stopped us in the past. There are plenty of online churches
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Along with social media presence and streaming comes another huge topic whether we like to think about it or not: copyright. Richard explained, “As more and more churches are moving things to the web, they are forgetting that they must comply and follow copyright regulations. If they did not write it, paint it, record it or make it themselves, there is probably someone that they need to pay.” Richard makes it sound so simple, and yet copyright is a complex mess of laws, licenses, exemptions, and rules. But his basic premise is correct. If you do not own it, you cannot use it unless you have obtained permission or acquired a license or it falls under the religious exemption or fair use. Some of those provisions make it completely legal to use within your worship gathering, but that legality fails to stretch into the realm of online streaming or posting. For instance, your CCLI license allows you to play that song and display the lyrics in your worship space, but it does not allow you to broadcast the song or the lyrics on the web. And while something like the WorshipCast license will give you the rights to stream the song, displaying the lyrics is still off limits online. These complexities make it imperative that churches understand what they are doing before diving in. Richard and I have found Christian Copyright Solutions to be a great resource when trying to decipher copyright. In each of these trends, the main issue is stewardship. Are you making the best use of the resources with which God has blessed you and your ministry? Richard said, “Remember that as your services become more complex, involving more technical equipment and people, there will be an added cost to maintaining this standard.” And perhaps that added cost is justified, if the outcome is, as Peter puts it, helping “engage in the effort of reaching those who are outside our walls.”
Jan/Feb 2013
16
Tips
by BRENT PIERCE
3 tips for Video Technical Directing (in a live church production)
W
hen working in a live church production, there are many roles required to make the service happen. One of the most important roles in the video department is that of the technical director. The technical director is the person calling the shots and putting up the camera feeds on the big screen. They’re kind of a big deal, so it is very important that the director is trained and always on-point with the flow of the service. The purpose of a live video production is to convey the worship atmosphere to anyone watching. The viewer needs to feel like they are part of the live congregation and get a similar worship experience. So, how do you, the director, accomplish that? Before we dive deeper into directing, we need to get a few things out of the way, and this is very important. Your camera operators need to be trained and comfortable behind the controls. I understand. Your camera ops might be mainly volunteers, but they still need to know how to operate and do their job well enough to be able to use their creativity during a service. They need to be able to compose and frame a shot without being told exactly how to do so. They also need to be able to “keep up” with the director’s lingo during the service. This will all make your job, as the director, much easier. That being said, there are 3 simple tips that I tell new directors to always keep in mind. 1. Always be thinking ahead. This is one of the most important and obvious things that a director needs to know. As the director, it is your job to know what
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is happening before it happens. If there is a solo coming up, you need to have a camera ready on the soloist BEFORE they start the solo. If someone is about to speak from stage-left, get a camera on them BEFORE they start speaking. You need to always be one step ahead and think about where your cameras need to be to capture the moment. Although your camera ops need to have the same mindset and be ready for the next move, it is ultimately your responsibility not to fall behind the action. Runthroughs and rehearsals are crucial for directors. When watching rehearsals, you get to see where everything is happening and how to best capture the moment. When I direct, I have a service order in front of me for the entire service. That way, nothing sneaks up on me. Usually, you will have access to the worship set before the service-date. This will give you a chance to listen to the songs and give you a good idea of how they will be played. Knowing where the verses and choruses are will help the flow of your directing and help you think ahead.
Jan/Feb 2013
17
Tips
by BRENT PIERCE
Always having a “fallback” shot will definitely help with this as well.
Wide shots usually make good “fallback” shots. Drum shots also make great “fallback” shots because the drummer is almost always doing something interesting.
2. Be specific. What does this mean? Here is an example: you’re directing and you see a guitar solo coming up after the chorus, and you know you need a guitar shot. Most new directors make the mistake of just saying, “Somebody get the guitar.” Then, every camera gets the same guitar shot. Now, all of your cameras are redundant and unusable. Be specific on which camera you are talking to. If you are trying to tell camera 2 to slow down their zoom, don’t just say, “Slow down.” Say something like, “Camera 2, slow down your zoom.” Adding a few intentionally specific words eliminates confusion for your camera operators.
Always having a “fallback” shot will save you whenever the action stops or something unexpected happens. Remember to always assess where each of your cameras are and make sure you have a “fallback” shot for any situation.
If you see that cameras 1 and 2 have identical shots, be specific on which camera needs to change their shot. Don’t say, “Cameras 1 and 2, you have the same shot,” because both camera ops are likely to change their shot. In-
A “fallback” shot is basically a shot that you can fall back to in any situation. If you have all of your cameras pointed at vocalists, what happens when the vocalists stop for an instrumental break? Or what if the band decides to throw in a last minute bass solo, and you don’t have a clear shot of the bassist yet. In situations like that, it’s a great idea to go to your “fallback” shot.
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Jan/Feb 2013
18
Tips
by BRENT PIERCE stead, say “Camera 1, change your shot.” Remember, you have a bird’s eye view of the entire situation and every camera angle, your camera ops don’t. Let them know exactly what you are wanting when directing. 3. Don’t micro-manage your camera operators. This one is tricky. As a director, it is your job to direct the camera ops and give them guidance and instruction. But, at the same time, don’t micro-direct them. Let them do their job. You don’t need to waste your time telling them how to get every single shot. Yes, there will be times where you want exactly a certain type of shot, and that is fine to tell them that, but don’t do it every time. You need to give the camera operators creative freedom to make cool stuff happen. You’d be surprised at the awesome stuff that comes from camera operators when you just let them do their job and use their creativity. How would you feel if your boss was always looking over your shoulder telling you how to do your job? Bosses are there for guidance; they’re not there to do your job for you. It’s the same with directing camera operators. Newer camera operators might need a bit more guidance then seasoned camera operators, so if you know you have a new volunteer on a camera, be patient and direct them for shots, but still let them figure things out on their own. Bonus tip: Don’t be afraid to cut. When I first started directing, I would only use the fader on the switcher, especially during worship sets. I would never cut between shots, because I was afraid to. It is much simpler to mix between shots because it doesn’t take much timing or
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thought, and it’s just easier. But, I soon found out that, if you want to get good at directing, and properly convey the emotion and energy from the live worship environment, you have to occasionally cut. You need to find a good pacing of the songs to cut to. For new directors, it’s usually easiest to simply cut on the beat of every measure or two, but, eventually, it’s good to cut both on and off the beat. During a high-energy song, if you are only doing slow dissolves between shots, you are absolutely killing the energy that is happening on the stage. There are times to dissolve, and dissolves are very powerful when used correctly. But, using dissolves for EVERY transition is not using them correctly. Cutting is especially appropriate for dialogue scenes. If you are transitioning from a wide shot to a tight shot of someone simply talking or praying, a dissolve usually looks weird. Whenever I am transitioning between cameras with people who are talking, I always cut. You will only get better. Knowing these tips will not make you the perfect director, but they will help you along your way. You will only get better with experience. Every director develops his or her own unique style of directing over time. Remember to be patient, and let the flow of the service happen. Brent is a 23-year-old video producer at Shoreline Church and resides in Austin, TX with his wife. He does freelance cinematography and editing. He also runs the filmmaking website Cineblur.com. You can check out Brent’s portfolio at BrentPierce.tv
Jan/Feb 2013
19
Visual Worship
by STEPHEN PROCTOR
Why is the visual aspect of our worship services important?
T
o put it simply, God is a visual God. He is very creative. I feel like God is speaking to us more visually than He is audibly. That doesn’t trump the written word of God, but I think we need to start looking at the word of God in a more multi-layered way, than simply text on a page. One of the things I’m studying and reading about right now is visual theology and why have we divorced image from word, image from text-- why have we separated truth from beauty? Beauty has become a luxury. Beauty and art has simply become a background and aesthetics. So when I look at our worship services, I think there’s a great opportunity to not only lead musical worship, but to lead visual worship. And that’s what I do. I consider myself a visual worship leader. We have the opportunity to tell the story of God and to create an atmosphere for the story to be told. I believe visual art has the power and potential to be a vehicle for transformation and to be a revelation from God. I think that through visual creativity and creation we can release our congregation to worship God in visually creative ways-- even through their imagination in helping them to see things a certain way. Maybe they just need to see the word of God through a certain lens, through beauty. Technology can be a great aid in helping us get there. I know this is probably a lot to chew on, but it’s a great conversation to have. It’s not only about technology. Technology is important. It’s the paintbrush we are using to paint with today just like artists painted on
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chapels and cathedrals centuries ago. Now we have projectors and media and ProPresenter and things of that nature. If I could point you to a few resources now-- these are things I’m learning from and reading. The first is by Makoto Fujimura. It’s called Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture. This one will rock your world. Another one is Pursuing Christ. Creating Art. by Gary Molander. Probably my favorite book of all time on worship is The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader by Mark Pierson. The last book is Chasing Francis by Ian M. Cron. I would encourage you all to pick up these books. I think these will help stir up a lot that is in you, and will provide a language for visual art and visual theology as you lead visual worship in your church. Here are a couple of paragraphs from Chasing Francis. The setting here is a pastor has just experienced his first Catholic mass and walked through a beautiful ornate cathedral. He’s having a conversation with a monk and processing his thoughts out loud. “And the pastor said, ‘It was like I was walking into another world.’ The monk replies, ‘Precisely! Medievals built huge ornate churches so that people walking into them would feel like they’ve left one world and entered another reality, the
Jan/Feb 2013
20
Visual Worship
by STEPHEN PROCTOR kingdom of God. Think about what happened to your senses when you came in those doors. Stained glass windows, frescos and paintings, dimmed lights, flickering candles, the smell of incense, vaults and arches pulling your spirit upward, angels soaring on the ceilings. God snuck up on you through the architecture.’ Peter said. ‘You mean the building spoke to me?’ I asked. Peter nodded. ‘Augustine said the human mind was particularly delighted when the truth was presented to it indirectly like in symbols in sacred space. Unfortunately most churches today are designed without any sense of the iconic because moderns like straightforward, unambiguous communication. We want worship centers where hominess is more important than holiness.’ I had forgotten that Peter was a doctoral candidate in Liturgics. He spoke so convincingly that it was hard for me not to feel some measure of embarrassment. When we designed Putnam Hill we focused on the utilitarian more than anything else. I remember telling our architect that I wanted all the technological goodies you’d find in a world class performing arts center. Looking back I realized that what I had asked for was ‘Lights, Camera, Action’ rather than ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost’.” I will leave you with that. I believe that’s where most of us are today. We have a lot of technological goodies at our disposal. We have a lot of resources, but what story are you telling? Are you doing this to draw attention to man and to yourselves? To scream “Lights, Camera, Action” or are you wanting to tell the story of God and immerse the worshipper in the story of God just like we’re doing with music? (This is a transcription of a video message on Stephen Proctor’s blog: worshipvj.com. Used with permission.)
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Jan/Feb 2013
21
How To’s
by KEN ERICKSON
Basic Lighting
o
ne of the most significant aspects of the quality of video work is how it is lit. Video, film, or still photographs rarely “accidentally” look good, so, before starting a project, one of the things that should be at the forefront of the planning is how the final product will look. While video editing software can fix many lighting issues, the quality of the final product always benefits from getting it right in the camera. About Light All light has a color temperature, expressed in Kelvin (K). In the latter half of the 19th century scientists noticed that the color of a heated filament changed with temperature: low temperatures being reddish, and higher temperatures being bluish to white. Ironically, what we consider “warm light” is actually a lower temperature than “cool light.” Sunrise and sunset are warm, around 2500 to 3000K, while midday light is between 5500K and 6500K. Artificial light also has a color temperature, and each type of light has a characteristic temperature. This knowledge gives us two important practices when lighting for a video shoot: 1) always white balance cameras before shooting; and, 2) don’t mix light sources. White balance If you don’t white balance the camera your video may turn out with an unusual hue. I had to do a lot of tweaking to a video that came back from a summer missionary that was extremely cyan. You can save a lot of time and hassle by taking a few minutes to white balance at the beginning. Check the instruction manual on how to white balance your camera. If it has automatic white balance, then turn the camera on after lighting your scene, making sure it’s pointing at the scene you’re going to be shooting. If the lighting changes somehow, you can turn the camera off and back on again, and it will readjust the white balance. Setting the white balance is even
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more important if you’re using more than one camera. Trying to match the color from multiple cameras takes time and can be difficult, but in the end you’ll be glad you worked it out. Types of light There are many choices when it comes to choosing what lights to use for your project. Fluorescent lights, like in an office, aren’t a very good source. Many fluorescent lights come off with a greenish hue on camera, which isn’t very flattering. They aren’t very controllable (you can’t aim them where you want them), and they tend to phase on video. If you speed up your footage you can see the light changing over time. The new corkscrew looking lights, CFLs, are also fluorescent. If these are the lights you have, it’s best to test them out ahead of time. That being said, there are fluorescent panels designed for video and photography available. Incandescent lights are like the old type of light bulbs and flood lights. They come in a variety of color temperatures. Some advantages are that they are relatively inexpensive, as are their fixtures and dimming options, and all this is available at the local hardware store. The disadvantages are that they produce quite a bit of heat while not producing much light output. They also consume a lot of energy. Halogens are like the work lights found at hardware stores. These put out a good amount of light, of a good color tem-
Jan/Feb 2013
22
How To’s
by KEN ERICKSON perature, but also generate a lot of heat while using a lot of energy. I use these because they give me a lot of light, are easy to position, and are relatively inexpensive.
is called a back light, or hair light, and is above and behind the subject. The use of a back light gives the subject a bright edge and helps separate it from the background.
LED panels are becoming more popular for use in video lighting. I have found that the cheap three-color DJ types tend to flicker on video. LEDs specifically for video are available, but are quite expensive. Manufactures are now producing fixtures that also include selectable color temperature. While the fixtures themselves are expensive, they use very little power and generate almost no heat. Every year they are coming out with new products that cost less and have more light output.
When using ambient daylight I like to hang sheer material or a couple layers of clear plastic drop cloth over a window to diffuse the light (so it isn’t so harsh and shadows aren’t as sharp). A reflector on the opposite side acts as a fill. You can purchase reflectors pretty reasonably, or use a large white poster board or a white sheet. If the shoot is outside reflectors are a good idea, as is diffusion, but both can be challenging outside. The time of day will greatly affect how your project looks. The sun at no23on isn’t at a good angle and is cool, or blue. Morning and evening (golden or magic hour) are great times to shoot, but you’ll have to pay attention to changing color temperature and intensity so all the scenes match (especially if you’re shooting out of sequence).
Ambient daylight is one of my favorites. And it’s free. One of the challenges of using daylight is that the color temperature changes with time, as was mentioned earlier. This needs to be kept in mind when doing long shoots or shooting different segments at different times during the day. Using different types of light in a scene often comes off looking strange, and the camera may not deal with it well. You can compensate by purchasing sheets of color correction filter. They are available from a few different manufacturers and are produced for every conceivable situation. Again, I find it easier to avoid mixing lighting types.
Another thing to consider when choosing what lights to use is how you plan to set them. Three Point Lighting System The classic lighting scheme consists of three lights (Figure 1). The key light is the main light source. It is typically the brightest on the subject. The fill light fills in the shadows created by the key light. The third light
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Play around with light Experiment with different looks. Use just a key light. Move it from in front of the subject to the side to see how that changes the look. See the effect of using just a key and back light. Shoot some footage using sheer material or diffusers over the lights, then without it to see the difference. Think about what situations would benefit from these techniques. Also, when you watch TV and movies, pay attention to how they light scenes. Imagine how you could achieve the same look. You can achieve excellence in they way your videos are lit, even if there is little money available. Being intentional about how a scene or subject is lit will pay off in the end. It takes some extra time and work, and sometimes money, but you’ll be happier with the outcome.
Jan/Feb 2013
23
The Making Of... by DAVID HUTTER
The making of Strawinsky and the mysterious house (part 1) A magical adventure inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia, Walt Disney animated musicals and the parables of Jesus Christ
D
uring my childhood I was always attracted to movies and filmmaking which resulted in my siblings, friends and guinea pigs having to star in a great variety of homemade videos that were shot using my Dad’s handheld video camera! Our technology though was really limited as many computers at that time were still using 16 colours. At the time, I couldn’t really imagine what sort of videos it would be possible to create from your bedroom just 15 years later! No qualifications, experience or budget – let’s do it! Many years ago – in 2007 to be precise – I decided that it would be really cool to create a 3D animated movie. At that time I was finishing my Business and Marketing degree at Canterbury Christ Church University in England. As you might probably guess – having a degree in Business is not necessarily the best foundation that really prepares you for making cartoons. So whilst I really enjoyed my studies and learned a lot of useful stuff, I had zero training or qualifications in media or animation, had no budget, software or equipment and still had fairly limited computer knowledge overall. I had never done any animation before, had pretty much no experience with Photoshop and just three years prior – at the beginning of my degree
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– couldn’t even use simple desktop publishing software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. What I didn’t lack however was lots of enthusiasm, passion, excitement, stubborn determination, a sometimes irrational “can do” spirit and complete and utter naivety about the complexity and effort that goes into the development and production of an animated movie. The power of animation I was inspired by a series of animated movies by Scott Cawthon, an animator from the US, which I accidentally came across during my time at university. Whilst I’ve always been interested in movies and filmmaking, I wasn’t really into animations. I always believed it was impossible to create anything substantial without having millions of pounds to invest and an army of animators to command. I also assumed that this was a genre that only appealed to children and therefore was entirely unsuitable for communicating a more adult message. When watching his Pilgrim’s Progress anima-
Jan/Feb 2013
24
The Making Of...
by DAVID HUTTER
tion, however, I was totally shocked how the animation connected with me emotionally and even moved me to tears. I was amazed how Scott could create hour long animated movies that far exceeded the quality of early VeggieTales animations all by himself – in his spare time – whilst holding a full time job. As I was a Christian, passionate about my faith but often unable to communicate it appropriately, this seemed to me a very powerful tool to share the hope and truths that I had discovered and experienced over the years, in an engaging and meaningful way. First steps So I ventured out, got hold of an education-only license for a state-of-the-art animation software package that I was told was also used for feature films such as Harry Potter and slowly started to work my way through hundreds of tutorials, exercises and manuals. My progress was very slow. I didn’t have a fast computer, was finishing my degree, had to write lots of job applications and eventually started to work 50 hour weeks shared across two part-time jobs as I was trying to make ends meet in order to get established in the world of business. Hope Animation In addition I really wanted to help promote Scott Cawthon’s animations as they had given me such a huge amount of hope and inspiration. I contacted lots of Christian publishers and distributors to see if they would like to include Scott’s animations in their catalogues. To my disappointment however I received rejection letter after rejection letter. These often only came in after I had sent out lots of follow-up emails chasing my contacts for any kind of response.
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Consequently I decided to distribute the animations myself and started up a little website called Hope Animation. As if learning how to make an animated movie was not enough I started to teach myself web design and programming skills. This also proved to be very useful for my day job and I was able to give Scott’s DVDs away for free. Anyone interested in his animations could send me a message via the site stating which DVDs they would like and where to post them to. People could give donations if they wanted to, but were not obliged to do so. This worked really well for the first 2-3 years and 100s of parcels were sent to England, the US, Germany and even as far as Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. We received some fantastic and very encouraging feedback from people all across the world – some of which you can still read on our website. Maintaining a balance to stay on mission This first experience and feedback gave me a lot of boost and encouragement to go ahead and keep learning how to make animations. It was difficult to find spare time as my jobs were demanding and life was busy. Very soon, I realised that in order to remain spiritually healthy I had to ensure that I kept a careful balance between my work, marriage, animation, friends and family, church, our social life and time for learning and reflection. I felt it was really important to maintain a very high level of positive intake through sermons, books and prayer because I knew that I could only give as much as I had received. Otherwise, I would quickly burn out with a hectic schedule, increasing demands, growing frustrations and a lack of spiritual nourishment and refreshment.
Jan/Feb 2013
25
The Making Of...
by DAVID HUTTER
I set myself a clear order of priorities that started with my relationship with God, then my marriage, next my work and finally – at the bottom of the pile – my animation project. As you probably would expect the progress of my animation was therefore still very slow and not much was happening yet.
For the first two years, I wrote myself a basic mission statement: Foundation: The Bible and prayer are of utmost importance for everything I do. All my decisions and attitude should be based on this foundation. 1. Skills: To become as professional in my work as possible 2. Networks: To develop friends and partnerships with like-minded artists and supporters 3. Finance: Trust God to help me finance the project through my work and donations from supports and website visitors. Aim: To honour and praise God, teach and encourage people
terious house”. The story is based on a six episode fantasy series that was released as a Christian audio drama in the 1980s in Germany. Whilst I used to listen to it as a child, it was already out of print for several years when I contacted the German publisher to get official permission for creating an animation based on one of the episodes. By that point it was already very clear to me that creating a cartoon is quite difficult all by itself. So I was very glad that I didn’t also have to come up with my own story but could rely on a tale that I really enjoyed as a child myself! (This concludes part 1 of 2. See how Strawinsky came together through much hard work and dedication in our next issue!) To find out more about Strawinsky or Christian animation please visit strawinsky.net or hopeanimation.com.
Whenever I found time to work on my animation project, I made the most of any opportunity for further training and study as I believed it would be necessary to become as professional in my work as possible to make a positive impact. I’ve completed a video training course with Vivid Broadcast that taught me lots about camera work, lighting and composition. I continued to read software manuals and tutorials, watched online training videos and kept practising the various skills I had learnt. The birth of Strawinsky Some additional work and overtime enabled me to purchase my first high-speed animation computer. With a limited budget I was able to get a custom-built eight-core render machine that proved to be a good starting point for creating fairly detailed, high-resolution images. One of the things I didn’t consider though was how much cooling power it all required. So whilst it was lightning-fast for its time, it was very noisy and sounded a lot like a helicopter! In February 2009 I finally started work on Strawinsky, the main character of my first animated movie “Strawinsky and the mys-
Christian Video® Magazine
Jan/Feb 2013
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Calling all Creatives!
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alling all Church Creatives! Chances are that if you are reading this magazine, you are one or you know one or two. We’re looking for great stories about Christian Media to share with our community. We are excited about the new content coming to the magazine and believe that there are many stories worth sharing right here among our readers. Have you thought about contributing a story or writing about a skill you’ve gained?
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ife’s too short. This is your chance! Get in touch with us at the numbers below or send an email to greg@christianvideomag.com. We’re also looking for great advertisers if you have something you’d like to promote.
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et’s work together to make a positive impact in Christian Media!
Christian Video® Magazine
Jan/Feb 2013
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