Christian Video速 Magazine
1
February 2011 VOL. 4, NO. 2
7 Special Feature
My Experience Using Motion Videos for Worship Presentations! by GINA LANE HEWITT
10 Special Feature
Copyright in the Church by RYAN GEESAMAN
12 Article
The King’s Speech - Duty, Desire and Devotion by MARTIN BAGGS
15 Greg’s Toolkit Valentine Vids
by GREGORY FISH
Editorial 3 Press Releases 4 Cover Story 5 And the winner is... by STEVE HEWITT
Christian Video® Magazine
February 2011
2
from the desk of the editor
by STEVE HEWITT
Our New Online Community We are in the process of something very exciting. Many of our subscribers here at Christian Video, are also subscribers of Christian Computing Magazine, and already know we are working with Faith Interactive to create and launch our new online community. The new site will replace our websites for the magazines, but provide a lot more! Of course, the magazine will continue to be sent out to you via our monthly email. However, the new online community is where you will go to access back issues and leave comments or ask questions concerning specific articles. But it will also offer many of the features like those found on Facebook and LinkedIn. You will be able to control your profile, make new relationships with other CVMag readers, and join communities centered on specific topics.
Christian Video Magazine is published monthly by Christian Video Magazine, Inc. Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt – steve@ccmag.com Production Daystar Digital Design Mike Hewitt Contributing Editors George Temple Gregory Fish Stewart H. Redwine Mark Carroll Jay M. Delp Martin Baggs Robert Kramer Copy Editor Gina Hewitt
Corporate Home Office Mailing Address: PO Box 319 Belton, MO 64012
We will also have blogs, additional content in the libraries and more.
Phone: (816) 331-5252 Fax: 800-456-1868
The best part? You don’t have to constantly visit the site to take advantage of
Copyright 2010 by Christian Video Magazine, Inc.
all of the information offered. You will be able to subscribe to daily digests, which will be sent to your email address OR to our new mobile versions that will be available in app form for the iPhone, Android phones and Blackberry. You will even be able to access the articles in Christian Video via these mobile apps. Watch next month for an update as we get closer to our release. I believe it is going to be a cool tool to allow all of us to connect and better access information to help us expand our ministries. Together We Serve Him,
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.
Steve Hewitt steve@ccmag.com
Christian Video® Magazine
February 2011
3
Press Releases Proclaim – Church Presentation Software Launches with $25,000 Worship Resource Giveaway Announcement
about file-formats and compatibility, while ensuring the whole team can review selected content before it is presented.
What happens when the pastor has images to input into the church presentation, the worship leader has new songs to add, and another member of the ministry team has a video to play during service - and it all is coming together just before your church service starts? In most cases the resulting sermon is pulled together quickly, with little planning, and does not give way to the best creativity. Often times the slideshow is built by the worship team, which can make it difficult for the pastor, or other ministry leaders to easily get media in the presentation and in the right format with enough time for the worship team to plan well. And even when the technical problems have been solved, it takes too much time to prepare and format text for a screen.
Smart-phone remote control allows any authorized user to view and control the presentation; the pastor, worship team, and AV tech can all follow and control the live presentation as necessary, with no awkward passing of remotes or running cables to secondary displays.
Proclaim is a new kind of church presentation software designed to share the screen while making it super-easy to create a great looking presentation. Proclaim lets the worship leader, the pastor, the secretary, and anyone else you want, participate in building a unified presentation. Multiple people can work from home or the church on the same presentation. It’s cross platform, so it doesn’t matter if one person uses Windows while another uses a Mac. You can upload your own images, video, and text, and pastors can add text, photos, maps, and other media directly to a presentation while preparing a sermon. A built-in media store means anyone can add videos or graphics without worrying
Christian Video® Magazine
And the amazing new Signals enable you to connect and engage an audience carrying smartphones and tablets. Proclaim isn’t just another tool for putting song lyrics on the screen. Proclaim is a powerful new platform that helps you to use digital media in all parts of your worship service. With built-in designs, automatic text styling, and a cloudbased editor, Proclaim gets “technical difficulties” out of the way so you can focus on the message. To celebrate the announcement of Proclaim, The Great Worship Resource Giveaway has launched featuring $25,000 in worship resources and over 100 winners. Visit http://ProclaimOnline.com for details on how to enter. You can also sign up for a free trial of Proclaim on the site. Be certain to tell your worship leader and worship team members about the giveaway!
February 2011
4
Cover Story by STEVE HEWITT
And the winner is....
Our 2010 Christian Video Awards!
T
he votes are in and we can announce the winners of our 2010 Christian Video Awards. Again, we wish to thank everyone that submitted a video and I hope many that checked them out, got some inspiration as well as some ideas on creating their own videos. My favorite categories are the first three, because they are not designed to sell, but rather were created by specific persons or ministries, for their own promotion! For the first category, Church & Ministry Announcements, the first place goes to iChristmas, designed to promote Christmas services for Ridgeline Church in Waddell, AZ. Rich Scheimann submitted the video, and you can view it on YouTube at http://www.youtube. com/user/ExploreRidgeline#p/u/10/c80ew4s69wY. Second place in this category went to the video Redeemer, a video promotion of a study on the book of Ruth at Calvary Chapel, submitted by Mike Patino from Miami, FL. It can be viewed on YouTube at http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umi6_1fwLxo. Third place was Revolution Church Kickball, as a promotion for Revolution Church, sent in by Jeff Piepho from Saline, KS. It can be found on YouTube at http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=HFOCQGcPz9k. In the Church & Ministry Promotion category, first place went to Revolution Youth Group - August 2010, a video designed to introduce people to the youth minis-
Christian VideoÂŽ Magazine
try of the New Community Church, and was submitted by Shawna Kirsch from Las Vegas, NV. It can be found on Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/14510397. Second place was won by the video Prodigal, promoting the Calvary Chapel Kendall’s new series called Prodigal. It was sent in by Mike Patino from Miami, Fl. It can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pMn1zvtaZXA. And, third place went to a video named Join the Crew as a promotion from Valley Praise Church and submitted by Justin Zuniga from Harlingen, TX. You can see the video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o65nagXxjk0. In the Personal Testimony category, the first place winner goes to A Powerful 10 year Anniversary. It was submitted by Mike Patino from Miami FL, and can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VnOSk_LP13k. Second place went to Madison Loves Valley Praise, submitted by Justin Zuniga from Harlingen TX and can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcFrrL8c0EU. And, third place went to the video Pastor Geronimo. This
February 2011
5
Cover Story
by STEVE HEWITT
video was submitted by Caleb Kinchlow from Chesapeake VA, and this video can also be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pu3mISq2ck. In the Humorous category, the first place winner was a video named Jesus Love You roll-in, submitted by Ryan Geesaman from Manheim, PA and can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DuTFGgM0KSI. Second place went to a video named The Condition of your Heart, sent in by Shawna Kirsch from Las Vegas, NV. The video can be found on Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/18928245. And, third place went to a video named VP Underground - The Right Shoe..., submitted by Justin Zuniga from Harlingen TX and the video can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZngRTj48L-Q The next category was Inspirational. The first place winner is a video named Story. This video was submitted by Mike Patino from Miami, FL and can be found on Vimeo at http://www.vimeo.com/15179801. The second place winner was a video named Guard Your Heart. This video was submitted by Shawna Kirsch from Las Vegas, NV and can be found on Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/18927285. And, our third place winner is a video named We Accept. This video was submitted by Beau Bekemeier from Saint Peters, MO. The video can be found on SermonSpice at http://www. sermonspice.com/product/35393/we-accept. Our sixth category is Innovative. The first place winner is a video named Epic, submitted by Mike Patino from Miami, FL. The video is available on
Christian Video® Magazine
YouTube and can be viewed at http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=2JRrDcI6UlI. The second place winner is a video named Red Balloon. It was submitted by Drew Smith from Rochester Hills, MI, and can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=D2Flgdwlqz0. And, our third place winner is a video named Hold On, submitted by Beau Bekemeier of Saint Peters, MO. The video can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kV74VH3gX2A. And, for our final category, Music, the first place winner is a video named Dear Heart. The video was submitted by Shawna Kirsch from Las Vegas, NV. The video can be found on Vimeo at http://vimeo. com/18926099. The second place winner was a video named “The Journey” Music Video. It was submitted by Justin Zuniga from Harlingen, TX and can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IZomj3hc7NA. Third place went to a video named Tim Hawkins “What I Believe”. It was submitted by Tim Hawkins from Argyle, TX and can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=M48p6ywfCXE. Our congratulations to all that submitted videos and our thanks to all those that took the time to work through the list and vote! Now, get to work and create some exciting new videos for this year so you can submit them for our next contest!
February 2011
6
Special Feature
by GINA LANE HEWITT
My Experience Using Motion Videos for Worship Presentations!
I
n October 2010, I was part of a group that started Mosaics Church in Lee’s Summit, MO. Being a very small church, I volunteered to create our multimedia worship presentations, including announcement slides, worship music and videos. We obtained a copy of Media Shout 4.5 (available at www.mediashout.com) to use as our presentation software of choice. Since we are just starting out, we do not have a praise band or any instrumental talent in our present membership. So, in order to accomplish the music portion of our worship service we purchased several of Integrity Worship’s Flexx music videos www.integritymusic.com. We first discovered these music videos (with full motion video, great music, and motion lyrics) available as individual purchases on SermonSpice www.sermonspice.com. The combination of the two products provided us with several music choices for our worship services However, when it came to presenting other materials up on the screen for worship, I was a bit disappointed in just displaying boring slides. We scroll through announcement screens before our worship service starts, display our scripture for responsive readings and our pastor (Steve Hewitt) likes to have us display the outline of the sermon as he presents the message. For several weeks we used screen shots, but we knew there had to be a better way. In watching the training videos on how to make the most of Media Shout, I learned about looping videos! This was the answer we needed to make the rest of our worship service presentations exciting. But, where could I get a wide variety of exciting looping videos? This is where Footage Firm came to my rescue.
Christian Video® Magazine
Footage Firm has a website http://www.footagefirm.com where you can preview thousands of free and/or ready to purchase royalty free stock footage of High Definition Footage, Standard Definition Footage, Sound Effects and Stock Music to use in your productions. I chose to order a Free DVD of 15 HD motion backgrounds. I ordered my product and only had to pay $8.41 for shipping and handling. It arrived within a few days and I was greatly pleased with my selection. This is a tremendous savings, considering I have no technical or artistic capability of producing my own videos, and other companies can charge $100s if not $1,000s of dollars for customized work. In addition, Footage Firm has helped to launch VideoBlocks.com (www.videoblocks.com), which provides over 30,000 different looping videos (and over 1,600 churches are currently using their video clips). With Video Blocks, you simply pay $49 per month (or $29 per month for a year contract) and then you get unlimited download access to the entire library. Steve has talked to
February 2011
7
Special Feature
by GINA LANE HEWITT
Joel Holland with FootageFirm, many times over the last several years, and almost every time he calls, Joel is off somewhere exciting throughout the USA and the world, shooting video. If you spend some time checking out the video clips they provide, I am sure you will find some exciting video you will be able to use to intensify your boring slides! In my few months of providing and preparing our worship service presentations, I have learned several important things to help make my motion video slides beneficial to our worship experience. 1. Make sure that you use easily readable fonts. Don’t go crazy just because you have 150+ fonts available. Use the same font or no more than two different ones on a slide. Use text effects sparingly. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different sizes, colors and fonts to portray what you want in the best possible way. Steve and I have had the opportunity to attend a lot of different worship services across the country, and it is always disappointing to see a church that has great equipment, and a fantastic multimedia presentation, but are using fonts that are actually difficult to read. You need to be able to quickly glance at a slide or video and
Christian Video® Magazine
be able to read the message without having to struggle. Of course, if you create it, YOU know what it says, but after you have it created, run it by a couple of people to see if they can quickly get the message you are seeking to convey.
February 2011
8
Special Feature
by GINA LANE HEWITT
2. Don’t use looping video backgrounds that are too distracting. You might be able to use something a little exciting and quick IF all you are presenting is a simple title screen. But, if you are trying to have someone read more than just a few words on the screen keep it simple and use backgrounds that have subtle motions. For example, I’ve found that a soft blue motion background with white lettering works well for our small congregation during the responsive reading of scripture. 3. We include recorded music with many of our video slides. Keep the song’s tempo in mind as you make your background selections. An upbeat tempo song goes well with vibrant colors and faster background motions. A song in a minor key lends itself well to more muted tones and slower motion. 4. Take time to use your tutorials and practice your presentation several times before you take it to the big screen in your church. Run it by some trusted friends to get their opinion, allowing you the opportunity to see if they received the message you were hoping to deliver. Save your work after every change. Don’t be afraid to contact the product suppliers. Media Shout and Footage Firm have tremendous support and customer service people ready to answer your questions. We had a computer hard drive crash just three months after purchasing it. It had my Media Shout program and all of the Flexx songs on it. I’m thankful that I had an off-site backup of my previous files and could restore them to another computer when our computer was in the shop for four weeks. It was during those four weeks that I took advantage of the tutorials offered by Media Shout. I feel as if I have a personal relationship with Nate, the person who provides the tutorial
Christian Video® Magazine
lessons on Media Shout’s University DVD, after staying up until 2am one night. I was so involved in learning all I could and I had to have that Sunday’s worship service presentation done on a Thursday because of other commitments on the day I usually prepare my presentations. I went through every lesson and practiced each section on a sample file, then when it came time to pull my presentation together I could use my prior learning and take advantage of the tutorial at that time. I have very little training and would not be considered a professional technical person in any form of those words; however, I believe that God can use the least of us to accomplish his work. I am having fun experimenting and will continue to use what presentation products I can to provide a meaningful worship experience for the people of our church. I hope that you, too, will venture out on a limb and try some of the wonderful products provided by the sponsors of Christian Video Magazine. We are only limited by our inability to try. God is honored when we worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24. It is my prayer that you will take advantage of the many products we have at our disposal to honor and worship God. Gina is married to Steve Hewitt and works closely with him in all aspects of their ministry; whether it is working on weekly worship services, making sure monthly publications go out on time or taking care of their family needs she loves doing whatever it takes to take God’s message to a hurting world. You can contact her at gina@ccmag.com She is in the process of working on her Christian Counseling degree and is a co-leader of Mosaics Church Singles in Lee’s Summit, MO.
February 2011
9
Special Feature
by RYAN GEESAMAN
Copyright in the Church
S
hortly after I became the Video Production Director at a church, I attended a conference seminar on copyright. A few things became clear very quickly. First, I realized I knew very little about copyright and how it applied to us as a church. Second, based on what I was learning, it became evident that honoring copyrights would make my job harder. Finally, I had the overwhelming sense that ignoring copyright was legally and morally wrong. At that seminar, something very simple was explained to me. If it does not belong to me and I use it without permission, I am stealing. Stealing. Me. I had not stolen anything since, well, college when I downloaded all those MP3s. But that was back when that sort of thing was legal. Well, maybe not legal, I guess, but not punished. But it is not really that simple. Is it? There is the concept of Fair Use. Fair Use is a part of the U.S. copyright law that allows some use of copyrighted material without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder. That is the good news. So now we can produce our videos in peace and claim Fair Use on anything we do not own. Not so fast. The first thing to understand is that Fair Use is a defense. What this means is that claiming Fair Use will not stop a copyright holder from mailing a nasty-gram in the form of a Cease and Desist letter, or worse, from filing a lawsuit. What it means is that in court, one could claim Fair Use, and the court would hear the argument and decide if the use was, indeed, fair. I do not know about your church, but mine does not have the time, personnel, or money to tie up in a lawsuit. That is not to say that Fair Use does not have its place in the video producer’s arsenal. We need to be
Christian Video® Magazine
sure that we know what it covers. Then we can decide how comfortable we are using it for our organizations. The Copyright Act of 1976 instituted a four-part test for Fair Use: 1. What is the purpose or character of the use? 2. What is the nature of the original work? 3. How much of the original work was used? 4. What effect does the use have on the value of the original? Often in the church, we get stuck on the first part. We assume that since we work in a non-profit environment, we are covered under Fair Use for all that we do. However, even in our non-profit environments, we use media for different purposes. Usually it is to illustrate a point, though sometimes it is to educate, and sometimes it is a critique on culture. At other times it is simply to entertain our audience in an effort to grab and hold their attention. All of these are valid uses for media in the church, but they may not all be “Fair” uses of copyrighted media. Criticism and education are mentioned specifically in the law as Fair Use, but illustration and entertainment are not. Even if we feel a particular use
February 2011
10
Special Feature by RYAN GEESAMAN
passes this test, this is a four-part test. Passing one part does not negate the need to pass the other three. The second part is not only difficult to explain, it is difficult to understand and apply to a situation. It relates to whether a work is factual or fictional, published or unpublished, and private or public. Since we are generally looking at creative works, this can become a difficult judgment to work through. Even if a copyrighted work includes factual information, it is usually presented in a creative way. In general, the more factual, public, and published, the closer it is to passing the test. The third part seems easy at first: the amount of the original work being used. It is the second word in this part of the law that makes this more difficult: substantiality. I remember having conversations with people who thought that as long as they used less than thirty seconds of a song, they were not violating the law. Generally, however, they would be using the most recognizable part of the song. So while they could argue that they were using a small amount of the original work, they could not argue that it was not a substantial part of the original. It is also important to note that the law does not define how much is too much. The final part is determining what effect your use will have on the original work’s value or potential market. Using something in your worship service will likely have less of an impact than posting something online. For instance, if I make a highlight video from a student retreat, use an artist’s original recording for the soundtrack, and show it in a worship gathering, I have made little impact on the value of that recording (I should, however, have requested a Master Use and Sync License from the copyright holder before making the video). If I then post that video online, however, I have given the world access to that song for free. The artist and their record company will be less than excited about that. I know at this point a lot of you are thinking, “Why should this even matter to me? Have any churches ever been sued?” It goes back to those MP3s I was
Christian Video® Magazine
downloading in college. Everyone was doing it, and no one was getting punished. But as Christians, the fear of punishment should not be our motivation to do the right thing. As leaders in the church, which I believe church media producers are, we are called to be “above reproach” (1 Timothy 3:1). We should not be giving anyone a reason to blame us or point a finger at us. And, consequently, all those MP3 sharing sites were shut down and individuals were sued for millions of dollars. So if the “above reproach” thing is not doing it for you, there is that. It really all comes down to this: it is impossible to know for sure if your unauthorized use of copyrighted material is Fair Use until a judge says so. For that reason alone, I recommend obtaining permission, purchasing a license, or using royalty-free stock media whenever possible. In situations when none of those options work, develop a policy for your church. Pull all of the teachers and media producers together and decide what your collective comfort level is with the Fair Use defense. Decide who has the final say on matters of copyright within your organization. Purchase the CCLI, CVLI, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC licenses that will allow you to do legally what you want to do most of the time. In our church, I tend to be conservative and a bit of a copyright stickler. Others are more comfortable with Fair Use. Together we strike a nice balance and rarely step into situations that would require defense. Find your balance. Copyright is not an area where “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.” Disclaimer: Ryan Geesaman is not a lawyer or copyright expert. To receive professional advice on your situation, contact a copyright attorney. Resources: http://www.ccli.com http://www.cvli.com http://www.copyrightsolver.com
February 2011
11
Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
The King’s Speech Duty, Desire and Devotion
A
ccording to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. So, we can resonate with King George VI in this film, as his stutter leaves him dreading giving the King’s speech. For many of us, we can face down enemies but we cannot face an audience. Part of this is psychological, part mechanical. But with practice and prayer we can get through. The King’s Speech is surely one of the best movies of causing him to feel scorned by his father, King George V (Michael Gambon), and ridiculed by his brother, Prince 2010 and has picked up 12 Oscar nominations to prove David (Guy Pearce), who later becomes King Edward this. The title is a double entendre, pointing both to the VIII. This defect drove him inward, contributing to his malady of the king and to the climactic address to the angry temperament and his desire to shun the public British nation at the start of World War 2. eye. Yet his “job” precludes The film begins this; he must do his duty and a decade earlier beRemember, before showing clips from represent the crown at various fore he is king. He movies, be sure you have a license to do social and public events. is still the Duke of so. Check out Church Video License to At wit’s end, Elizabeth York, also known is referred to Lional Logue as Prince Albert be sure you are legal. www.cvli.com (Geoffrey Rush), an Aus(Colin Firth). tralian speech coach, whose Required to give peculiar and controversial methods make him successful a speech over the new technology of wireless radio at the closing of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley with his patients but spurned by fellow professionals. When he meets “Mr. Johnson” he is surprised to find a Stadium, this short speech took forever. The stuttering royal prince waiting in his office. His methods and manPrince stands embarrassed, even humiliated. His wife, ner shock and offend the prince at first, but eventually he Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), sits discomfited comes back. beside him. An initial question by Lionel to “Bertie” (Prince When she takes it upon herself to bring him to Albert) raises pertinent issues. He asks him what he the leading doctors and speech pathologists of the day wants of him. He wants to be cured, obviously, but Bertie – none can help him. His speech impediment persists,
Christian Video® Magazine
February 2011
12
Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
seems doubtful; it cannot be done. He has no faith in the healer. He walks away initially without a cure. This is just like the question Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matt. 20:32) The blind replied, “We want our sight” (Matt. 20:33) and he touched them and healed them (Matt. 20:34). They went away healed based on their faith in Jesus’ power. But in another incident, a father brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus’ disciples who could not exorcize the spirit. When Jesus found out, he said “Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mk. 9:23) But the father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24) This is so typical of humanity. We are like this. Our faith is limited, our eyes remain blind, and our tongues remain mute or stuttering. When it comes to unconventional cures, we, like Bertie, remain unconvinced. Oh, we of little faith. As a period piece, this drama brings all we have come to expect: credible costumes, top-flight British actors, and a fantastic script. The icing on the cake is the acting of Colin Firth. In almost every scene, he conveys the deep inner pain of someone whose problem is evident to all, and who cowers before his male relatives. He won the Golden Globe for this performance and should pick up the Oscar, too. Rush and Carter also do excellent work in their roles, and
Christian Video® Magazine
earned Oscar nominations, but they are totally outshined by Firth. Confusing to some may be the changes in names of the two key princes. David is the heir to the throne, but when his father dies he selects the title King Edward
February 2011
13
Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
VIII. Prince Albert, when he succeeds to the throne, chooses to be called King George VI, because Albert is too Germanic, and England is soon to be at war with Germany, and for continuity with his father. The film explains that King Edward’s love for American divorcee Wallis Simpson caused him to abdicate the throne. We see David’s own pain as he is torn between his duty to his country and his love for a woman. His act of love thrusts Albert onto the throne and into the spotlight where public speeches are an expected and regular duty. Duty is a second theme. Albert’s duty was to serve his people, even if self-interest desired him to stay in the shadows. Lionel’s duty was to serve his patient, and eventually his king. Sworn to secrecy, his duty required that he could not even tell his family about his famous patient. Both main characters placed duty above self-interest. It is like this for us, too. As followers of Jesus, we have a duty to him and his mission. He has commanded us to love each other (Jn. 15:12) and to take the good news of salvation to a lost and dying world (Matt. 28:19). Self-interest might have us remain at home, comfortable in our cocoon, but duty calls us to obedience out of love for our Savior. Of course there would be no story if Lionel failed to help the king. He has a style all his own, including rolling around on the floor, singing a speech, and swearing loudly and profusely. Indeed, the only reason this otherwise family-friendly film gets an R-rating is for a couple of sequences where Albert drops the f-bomb multiple times. Ultimately, this is a poignant film about friendship across social boundaries. In his first encounter with Lionel, Bertie expects him to treat him as royalty and address him as “Your Royal Highness”. Instead, Lionel says he goes by his first name and expects the same from his patient: “I’ll call you Bertie.” The Prince is not accustomed to this. Going further, Lionel tells him, “My castle, my rules.” He does not stand on title or ceremony. Lionel, as an Australian, is something of a second class citizen in the country that was the head of the empire. A failed actor, he is depicted as someone who has
Christian Video® Magazine
few friends. Prince Albert has no friends. His royal title places him above, and separates him from, the common man. These two isolated loners slowly become friends. And it is in that friendship, with trust at its core that the Prince finds the faith to believe in his friend’s methods. This friendship is an analogy, of sorts, of our relationship with Christ. God is our King (Psa. 47:7) and we are his people (Psa. 100:3). Yet he has chosen to come down to meet us in the form of a man, in the person of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:6-7). The royal sovereign wishes to enjoy a friendship with us, where we can refer to him by a familial name, “Abba,” (Rom. 8:15) rather than a formal title. The boundary he crossed was infinitely wider than the one King George VI traversed. Jesus wants to sit with us and spend time together. He is devoted to us and wants us to be devoted to him. Will we let him? In perhaps the best scene of the film, the Archbishop (Derek Jacobi) challenges Lionel’s credentials, and is ready to cast him back to the gutters, where social custom would have him dwell. Lionel replies with a heartfelt speech about his experiences with trauma victims in World War 1 that puts the archbishop in his place and propels the Prince to show the depths of their friendship. In the end, Lionel helped Albert speak better, though he never totally overcomes his lifelong stammer. But he relied on his friend in his time of trial. That friendship enabled the King to deliver his speech, bringing him unexpected applause. Moreover, it brought two men together in a relationship that lasted a lifetime. Surely, this was better than total triumph over his deficiencies. Long live the King! Copyright ©2011, Martin Baggs Martin works as an engineering 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
February 2011
14
Greg’s Toolkit by GREGORY FISH
Valentine Vids
T
his is supposed to be a how-to column. Funny thing is that it is most often a how-not-to one. This would be one of those occasions. It’s sad but true. I often learn the most from making mistakes. Hopefully you can learn, through me, to avoid these mistakes on your own projects. Let’s examine together this video that I made for Valentine’s Day. Here’s the video: http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/ mini-movies/22506/1-Corinthians-13. Overall, I was really pleased with this video and proud of it, but there are several improvements that could be made. Number one on the plus side was getting all the people involved. So often, for me, it’s the same cast—myself and maybe my wife. Here I was able to utilize a small cross section of people. It’s a lot more complicated shooting on an HDSLR like the Canon 7D than on a regular camcorder. I’m still trying to get the work flow down. One of the issues is sound. On Christmas Eve, I ordered a Rode Lavalier mic, but now in late February it still hasn’t come in! It is back-ordered everywhere with an unusually long wait period. I’d venture to say that it’s a popular item. On the opening scene, since it was outside, I used my Neutral Density Fader, so that I could have a shallow depth of field (blurry background) and it not be overexposed being outside in the sun. That was good. I loved how it looked with some color grading that made the colors pop. Anyway, I put my Zoom h1 mic/ recorder behind the picnic basket to hide it. Of course, I put the windscreen on it, put headphones on and listened. I heard the wind, so I told my wife to say our lines when the wind wasn’t blowing and hit record. Our audio was unusable when I got back to the house! So we had to overdub the voices and match our mouths as best we could. My good buddy noticed a slight sync problem there, but we fooled him. He didn’t know that we overdubbed. On the other couples, I also used the Zoom h1, but my mistake was placing it in weird places (i.e. off to the side; out of the shot). That combined with the different room sizes and echoes
Christian Video® Magazine
made for a inconsistent tonal quality if we’re being picky (which we should be). Probably what I should have done was to place it, with its xy mics, directly in front of each couple. But in order to keep it out of the shot I went the easy route. More discernment was required. I know that now, so lesson learned. The Zoom h1 is a beautiful piece of equipment. This video explains it in detail- http://www.video.bhphotovideo.com/?fr_s tory=ec35033648db62167bcf0f3f90b3f7efdf976f48. When you don’t have a dedicated sound person, and you’re a one man team, and in a hurry, these things are bound to happen. Don’t repeat my mistakes. I did another version using just the couple in wedding garb. http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/22505/1Corinthians-13-Wedding. Here the Zoom h1 was down low but directly in front of them. So it had a better tonal quality overall. I did make the mistake of not pushing record on the Zoom for the close ups, so that was plain old camera audio that I had to pass through a noise reducer filter in post. Going back to the original, another mistake I made had to do with the second couple. Again, being in a hurry is a recipe for disaster. We scheduled the shoot for sometime between 6 and 7 during our fellowship dinner at church. I ended up being around 6:45 with a bustle of activity all around the church, leaving a few minutes from having to go teach a Bible study. I wanted a shallow depth of field on the tree in the background, but didn’t take into account that my angle put him far behind her. So it turns out that when I zoomed up to focus, he was in focus and she was not. I should have raised the aperture and not worried about DOF (depth of field) on that shot. To correct it without having time for a re-shoot, I used a sharpening effect. February 2011
15
Greg’s Toolkit
by GREGORY FISH
But it is still noticeable, especially after you’ve read about it! Over Valentine’s Weekend I went to Branson, Missouri to help my in-laws with a marriage retreat they put on through their company, a truly great operation- http://www.motivematters.com. First they needed a video ad for the event. I took a flyer my wife had made and moved it around on the screen in an easy and creative way: http://vimeo.com/19281441. They liked it, but wanted something more normal, with more pictures and such. Gotta make the client happy, especially if you married their daughter! So I came up with this fairly quickly: http:// vimeo.com/19296592. While attending the retreat I was able to video the workshops using my camcorder and Rode Video mic for the ambient sound. But I wanted to get great sound on the speaker. I patched the sound from the PA into the Zoom h1 device and will be able
Christian Video® Magazine
to use the clean, crisp audio directly from the sound system and sync with the video recording. Later on, I shot some testimonials with the Canon 7D. I place the Zoom h1 directly in front of them on a TV tray and was consistent about it. I guess I’ve redeemed myself, correcting my own mistakes. Gregory is a preacher in South Texas with a passion for combining the timeless message of God’s grace with the technology of our day. On the side he produces videos for “FishXpressions” at various Christian video websites. He has set out on a journey to learn how to create better and higher quality films. Apart from this column, he also maintains a production blog with tips, helpful links, and other musings at www.fishxpressions.wordpress.com.
February 2011
16