Christian Video速 Magazine
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April 2011 VOL. 4, NO. 4
5 Article
Soul Surfer - Perspective, Power, and Purpose by MARTIN BAGGS
8 Greg’s Toolkit
Color Blindness
by GREGORY FISH
10 Article
NAB Show Review by RYAN GEESMAN
12 Article
Welcome to the Revolution by ROBERT KRAMER
Cover Story 3
North Ridge Church Uses a Viral Video to Raise Funds for Their Church! by STEVE HEWITT
Christian Video® Magazine
April 2011
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from the desk of the editor
by STEVE HEWITT
The Power of a Video to Impact the World for Christ!
Recently, someone shared a link to a video titled “Resurrection Sunday Dance, Budapest Hungary”. It moved me. The video shows 1,300 young people, all of them members of Faith Church, in Budapest, Hungary. They are doing a “flash mob” dance to a song that is sharing the message of the resurrection of Jesus. The video was taken April 4, 2010, on Easter, in a square I have seen many times before in my lifetime. Before, I had seen parades and demonstrations of the power of communism that took place in this exact spot. Did I mention that it moved me, to see over a thousand young people dancing to a song celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, in the same square! The video prompted me to search for more information about the church, and it was exciting to learn that Faith Church has a worship center that seats 12,000, and they have 100,000’s watch their services each week. They have helped to start over 200 other churches and multiple schools across the nation! With their video, and with the help of sites like YouTube, GodTube and others, they have started a movement to invite the world to join them in celebrating the resurrection of Christ each year, by holding their own flash mob dances around the world. They provide videos with step-by-step instructions to teach people the song and the dance steps. At the time I am writing this editorial, it is a bit early to know the results of all of those that might have participated this Easter, but some videos are already showing up within just a day after Easter. I did watch one that was just posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ghANZsdKLwQ) of some young people from Saddleback church that joined in the celebration this year! And, I have found videos of practice runs from Serbia and Honduras, and, I am sure, more videos recording the participation by Christians around the world will be posted in the days to come. A movement like this, encompassing the world, is quickly being spread via the Internet and through video. The opportunity to impact the world is now available to us all, and the implications are fantastic. Check out video of the original dance celebration from last year, started by Faith Church in Budapest Hungary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dSIL358NM). If the Spirit of God is active in your life, I know you will be moved to see such joy and excitement by thousands of Christian brothers and sisters, celebrating Easter with us all. Together We Serve Him,
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 Phone: (816) 331-5252 Fax: 800-456-1868 Copyright 2010 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.
Steve Hewitt steve@ccmag.com
Christian Video® Magazine
April 2011
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Cover Story by STEVE HEWITT
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North Ridge Church Uses a Viral Video to Raise Funds for Their Church!
always like it when churches make the news for doing exciting new things. I particularly love it when it happens to involve clever use of a video! The other day I watched a Fox News report about a church in New Hampshire that is using a viral video to help raise funds for a new building program. This church isn’t a mega church, but rather it meets weekly in a local school. However, their use of video was not only witty, but successful! I contacted them for more information, and hope you will check out what they have done, as well as enjoy my interview with Brad Stillwell, the Media Director for North Ridge Church! Q: What is Build North Ridge Church? A: Build North Ridge is a viral media campaign for North Ridge Church in New Hampshire. Lots of churches have building campaigns. This is the same thing, only instead of asking members of the church and local community to donate hundreds or thousands of dollars; we are asking Christians from around the nation, and around the world to just give $1. Q: How did Build North Ridge Church start? A: I was trying to figure out a way for us to get out of the school gymnasium that we have been meeting in every Sunday for the last 5 years, but with the cost of land so expensive in New England it was hard to see a way out. Then I came up with this crazy idea…and yes, we call it a crazy idea. What if we created a viral video email, and sent it around to people we knew asking them to give $1 to help us build a church. I immediately called our pastor and told him to buy the domain
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BuildNorthRidgeChurch.com and I would fill him in… he didn’t hesitate for a minute…that’s what I love about this church. Q: So you created a website and sent out an email, what happened next? A: Faith…and a lot of praying. I remember I was so excited that Sunday that we stood in front of the entire church and told them about the idea and that they would receive an email that day with a link to a video on the BuildNorthRidgeChurch.com website with instructions to forward it on. Everyone in the church was totally behind the idea. Then we sent out the email that day and waited. Within the first hour, my iPhone started pinging every time someone would make a donation on Paypal. I remember at about 3:00am, I finally had to mute my phone because it sounded like a slot machine. The video just took off, and people started responding in such an amazing way. April 2011
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Cover Story
by STEVE HEWITT
Q: How is the campaign going now? A: It still amazes and encourages me each day when I update the website with the latest numbers and names of all the people who have made a donation. On top of the donations coming in online, we get dozens of letters each week, with people encouraging us, praying for us…we even had one gentleman from Oklahoma give us a $1 million dollar bill, with scripture on it. So far we have had over 3,000 different people watch the video or forward it on and received almost $18,000 in donations….in just over 90 days. I would call that amazing, dare I say a miracle. Q: Have you received any media attention from the Build North Ridge Church video? A: The media has been great. We were featured on the front page of both the local Derry newspaper, and the larger Manchester, NH newspaper. But, aside from being contacted by Christian Video Magazine, the most exciting part was the feature Fox News out of New York did on the campaign. We got to meet the Fox News religion correspondent who came to one of our Sunday services; she even did a special piano solo during the service, which was incredible. What is really great about where the media has gone with this is that they really did a great job of capturing the heart of the story. They didn’t spin it as just another church asking for money. It was about a small group of people, who have huge faith in God, and are seeing amazing things happen in the most un-churched region of America…one dollar at a time. Q: When do you think you will reach your goal? A: Our goal is to reach 1 million people with the video, but we are leaving the timing in God’s hands. Sure, we would love to be in our own building this time next year, but we will just keep praying and waiting for the miracle that we know God has in store for North Ridge Church. We like to think big.
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Q: How can people help Build North Ridge Church? A: It’s really easy. All they need to do is go to BuildNorthRidgeChurch.com and they will see the video right on our homepage that explains what to do. Then you can make a donation online right through Paypal, or send it by mail if they prefer. Once they have made their donation, they can signup for our email list, and we will send them an email that they can forward on to their friends inviting them to be apart of this historic campaign. We will even give them a free music download right from the BuildNorthRidgeChurch.com website that will inspire them and let them know how much we appreciate their help. Q: Is there anything else you want to tell our readers? A: Every church loves to do mission work, but a lot of times, it seems so hard to make a difference. Here is a chance to do a mission, right here in your own backyard, in an area of the country that desperately needs more churches like North Ridge Church. And the fact that you can be a part of a mission, for only $1, makes it so easy to get involved. I hope that we got such an outpouring from around the world, that we can plant other churches the same way. “For nothing is impossible with God”. For more information: Build North Ridge Church viral campaign www.BuildNorthRidgeChurch.com Brad Stillwell – Media Director Mike Mills – Senior Pastor www.NorthRidgeChurchNH.com
April 2011
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
Soul Surfer Perspective, Power, and Purpose
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arely does Hollywood present a film of faith with notable actors. Usually that is left for independent movie makers or churches, with films like The Grace Card. But it is not often that Hollywood has a story as compelling as that of Bethany Hamilton, the teenaged surfer who lost an arm to a shark attack and returned to surf again. The inspiring story from 2003 is true, but Soul Surfer lets us experience the tragedy and its aftermath with the Hamilton family. The film opened nationwide on April 8 and offers An early scene shows Bethany surfing, coming excellent entertainment for families. For surfing-lovers back to the beach, quickly donning a sun-dress, and this is a special treat, as it forms the backdrop and is then entering a beach-side open-air church gazebo. captured beautifully. The locations are gorgeous, and With music led by youth group leader Sara Hill (Carare almost an advertisement for vacationing on the rie Underwood), her family is worshipping God. This HawaiianIslands. And the hang-loose attitude is crystal- scene underscores the faith-based nature of the film, but ized in the Hamilton family. Bethany, her parents and is perhaps the only one that is ham-fisted. After this, two brothers are shown in and around the surf confaith is shown in a natural and believable way. stantly, and they A little later, Sara’s are having fun. youth group message focuses Remember, before showing clips from Though the acting on perspective. “So, if you’re movies, be sure you have a license to do may not be Oscardealing with something material, the sheer that’s hard to handle or just so. Check out Church Video License to exuberance of the plain doesn’t make sense; do be sure you are legal. www.cvli.com filming captures whatever it takes to get some the spirit of the perspective. Talk to your waves. Even Carrie Underwood mostly performs passparents, come see me, or pray about it. From a different ably in her movie debut. point of view, you’ll often discover that things aren’t Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) was born to surf. With quite as confusing as they seem.” Moreover, she introparents Tom (Dennis Quaid) and Cheri (Helen Hunt), duces one of the two verses that underscore the movie’s both avid surfers, and a home right on the Kauai beach, message, Jer. 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for she took to the waters like a mermaid. And she was you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not so good that she and her best-friend Alana (Lorraine to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ “ Nicholson) were home-schooled to allow them time and Bethany’s skill earns her a prestigious endorsement flexibility to surf. and she is on the path to professional surfing when trag-
Christian Video® Magazine
April 2011
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
edy strikes. Out with her friend, a 14-foot tiger shark comes out of nowhere to attack. Thanks to quick thinking by her friends and her own tremendous courage she somehow survives, losing her arm but not her life. A poignant scene in the hospital recovery room has Tom reading his Bible while waiting for her to awake. When she does, she asks, “When can I surf?” Her dad replies, “Soon.” Bethany: “How do you know?” Tom: “Because you can do all things . . .” and she completes the verse from Phil. 4:13, “through him who gives me strength.” Here is the second thematic verse. Bethany’s faith is her anchor. She holds onto Jesus Christ, the one who gives her strength. He gives strength and power to those who follow him by faith. Jesus is the all-powerful God who is full of grace (Jn. 1:14). Yet, Soul Surfer is not unrealistic and portrays Bethany honestly. Later, when she has trouble with her loss and difficulty in doing ordinary things like tying her bikini or slicing a tomato, she cries out “Why?” She questions this verse, since she cannot do all things through Christ any longer. She has limitations now. This is a normal reaction and makes her believable. What she later comes to understand is that this verse does not say we will be able to do everything through Christ. We cannot fly or swim underwater for hours, even if we try with faith in Christ. There are real limits
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on what we can do, especially when we are physically disabled, like Bethany. But Christ will give us the strength we need to do all the things he wants us to do. There is grace and power sufficient for us to accomplish his plans and purposes. Bethany returns to Sara, trying to understand why
April 2011
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
God allowed the shark attack to happen. How can the verse from Jeremiah make sense? Sara cannot answer. She tells Bethany she simply has to believe that God intends it for good. This is the truth of Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Purpose reappears. It is not until Bethany sees the effects of the devastation of the 2004 tsunami in Asia that she regains perspective and purpose. “Quitting” competitive surfing, she accompanies Sara and the youth group on a mission with World Vision to help those suffering in Thailand. While there, she comes face-to-face with people who have lost more than her. Here is suffering up close and personal. It humbles her. And when she helps a little boy overcome his fear of the waves, she understands that surfing is not her life; God is. In coming to this fresh perspective, she realizes that God has made her to surf for his glory. God’s purpose for her life was to be a witness for him. The loss of her arm opened the eyes of the world to look at a teenaged American girl living in Hawaii. Though she could not compete like before; her determination and will to try gave hope to others less fortunate than herself. Though not wanting it, she becomes a hero for them. And she did the right thing: she pointed their eyes to see the Lord Jesus, who gave her strength. She may have questioned her identity but she found it hidden in Christ. Emerging from her period of doubt she found her faith even more firm and secure.
Christian Video® Magazine
Toward the end, Bethany competes again at the highest level against both her friend and her nemesis. With some thrilling camerawork, the climax shows Bethany catch a terrific wave and ride it for all she is worth. Her joy is apparent, her mojo is back. She has found her purpose, regained her perspective, and is surfing in his power. She has discovered the plans he has for her. We may not be as “fortunate” as Bethany to come into a clear understanding of God’s plans for us, but we don’t have to lose an arm to realize that we can serve God. We can refocus our perspective to see God’s work around us, and to reorient our lives to join him in his kingdom work. When we do this, we can find the peace that comes from walking in his path, discovering the purposes and plans he has for us. Even if it is simply serving our next-door neighbors or the homeless shelter in our city, when we minister in his strength using our God-given gifts we will find ourselves riding the wave, just like Bethany. Will we choose to be a soul surfer? Martin works in the high tech industry and 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
April 2011
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Greg’s Toolkit by GREGORY FISH
Color Blindness
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am color blind. I’m not talking about the racial color blindness, though that is the case as well. I do believe that our Creator God made one human race with lots of variety in the pigmentation of our skin. That’s really for another article and another magazine. Back to my point, I do suffer from Daltonism or color blindness. I found out in first grade after messing up a math worksheet. We were to color the balloons certain colors according to the sum in the math problem inside each balloon. The teacher’s aid yelled at me and called me sarcastic and I went home crying. I knew all of the right answers but kept saying, “They didn’t have the papers.” meaning the crayons didn’t have labels for me to read what color they were. So my dad quickly got out the ol’ encyclopedia and quizzed me on the color wheel. Then he went to the color blindness entry and confirmed his suspicion when I couldn’t see the hidden image in the test. It runs in my mom’s family, and women are the carriers, so I am officially color blind. What’s this have to do with this magazine? Well, since you and I dabble in graphic arts and video and other creative outlets, we know how important color is. It is vital that colors be right. What is right? Depends on whether or not you’re colorblind. Maybe what’s right for you is not right for me, or maybe I’m not going to know anyway! What I’ve had to learn to do is either ask my wife (a good general rule for even non-colorblind men, perhaps) or color by numbers. Paint or color by numbers is very doable with RGB numbers or even easier with Hexadecimal numbers. Just do a google search of hexadecimal numbers and you’ll get a 6 digit code for whatever color you need. Whether it’s a primary yellow or a forest green or even a magenta (I have no idea what that is). What’s even better is a tool in some programs to match any color on the screen. In Adobe software this is known as the eyedropper tool. You can click on any color and the info on that color gets locked in. You can copy the hex numbers
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and go to town. Also displayed will be the RGB numbers- three sets of numbers. “I used the eyedropper tool in The Bible in Rhyme’s mother’s day video from Proverbs 31- http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/minimovies/23804/Proverbs-31- to match the text color to the mother’s shirt color in each scene.” This comes into play, for instance if you want to add text over a video. Use the eyedropper to get colors for your text out of the image or take a screenshot into this site- http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/ and it will give you a palette to work with taking it from out of the picture along with dull and vibrant versions and hexadecimal numbers! There are some things, though, in which numbers won’t really help you. What if you shot with the wrong white balance setting? What if you want to correct color? What if you want to accomplish a certain look or feel to your footage. This article certainly won’t answer all of those questions, but it raises the issue. It is for
April 2011
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Greg’s Toolkit
by GREGORY FISH
you to go out and find the wealth of info out there on finding out how to achieve these goals. For me, I usually have to rely on my wife’s eyes to help me out. She will sometimes get tired of me calling her back in to look at the screen. She helped me just recently on a little Mother’s Day countdown that I did- http://www.worshiphousemedia. com/countdowns/23520/Crazy-Things-Moms-Say. To have and maintain consistency I used the same project I had for “Crazy Things Dads Say” but obviously used different sayings and had a different ending and music. The only other thing that needed to be different was the color scheme. The “dads” video was sort of manly earth tones and this one need to be more girly and pink even. I was able to take my motion background and manipulate the hues until I had a result that worked well. For this, of course I needed to borrow my wife’s eyes to come and help me out. I scrubbed through until she said, “Stop...no, go back...there it is.” I also asked for her help on a recent poptent.net spot that I created for Stauffers Animal Crackers. In the creative brief they emphasized that the color palette match the packaging of the product. They wanted an “organic” piece that didn’t feel like an ad using no logos or tag lines. I was pleased that another producer commented on the poptent upload and picked up on the fact that our clothing went well with the brand’s logo. Anyway, I color corrected it using a levels adjustment which I wrote about last month in “Gotta Level With You”. I rendered out a version I thought was pretty good, but then when she came home I requested her expertise and use of her non-colorblind eyes again. We went through and made minor adjustments a couple of times. We checked for overexposure and congruence from scene to scene. Some of the shots that were too yellow were corrected by “color balance” adding some blue mid tones and at times highlights. You can see the whole ad with split screen (half the straight out of camera flat image and half the color corrected display): http://vimeo. com/22127915. I know there are many studies in color and color palettes and I will be studying some of this. I believe
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there are plenty of sites out there to help understand the psychology behind colors and which ones go well together. Suffice to say that colors do matter. Interestingly enough, in a “lighting” lecture at Lights Film School the instructor said it’s good to dabble with Black and White before attempting color, so that with your lighting you create and can recognize good contrasts in your shadows, mid tones, and highlights. That’s a challenge; but let’s takes it to heart. Lighting is one area that I really need to work on. The good thing about shooting with a flat setup in HDSLR is the ability to boost those levels and make the colors pop in post. However, it would be best to get all that looking good when shot. As my instructor said, “You can’t fix tonal range in post. You either have tonal range or you’re flat. You can darken your blacks and pop your highlights if they are there in camera, but you can’t invent them in post.” Get it right the first time! Those are good thoughts to consider. Even though I’m color blind I can see colors. I appreciate colors. Colors can also evoke different emotions if we understand and use them correctly. Watch films and see how there’s a certain tint to different types of films or even scenes. Colors are truly a gift from a creative God. Let’s try to use amazing colors that He has given us and create images that are most interesting. 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.
April 2011
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Article
By RYAN GEESMAN
NAB Show Review
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very April, the National Association of Broadcasters holds their convention in Las Vegas. While Las Vegas may not seem like the most judicious choice of locations to send church staff for a convention, I found the NAB show to be one of the most beneficial of those I have attended. Every major manufacturer of video gear and software comes to the show to tout their latest products with a few notable exceptions, namely Apple. But this year even Apple showed up in Las Vegas at the Final Cut Users Group Supermeet to announce the long-overdue upgrade to Final Cut Pro. Since it is a fantastic research opportunity, many churches send their production staff to NAB. This year, I was able to rub shoulders with people from LifeChurch.tv, North Point Community Church, and Willow Creek Community Church. Sure, I could have called these churches and talked to a few people on the phone, but there is no substitute for a face-to-face discussion about the challenges inherent in church production, as well as what has and has not worked for each of us in our houses of worship. Those discussions alone made the trip worthwhile for me. There were so many churches attending the NAB show that a section of the floor was devoted to manufacturers of equipment and software specifically targeting the church market. Beyond those things that relate directly to church production, there was a huge value in being able to walk from a display of all of Sony’s gear to one with Panasonic’s to one with Canon’s. This is window-shopping on steroids. You can see the equipment. You can touch the equipment. You can see the results of the equipment. You can often talk to the engineer who designed the equipment. You can describe
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your unique situation, problem, or environment and get immediate feedback on whether the equipment is a good fit or not. Okay, enough of me trying to sell you on going to the show (did I mention they hand out free, exhibitsonly passes like candy at a parade?). If you have been to the show before, you know it is impossible to see everything while you are there, and so it would be impossible for me to cover everything. In lieu of trying to recreate the entire experience, I would like to tell you some of the things that excited me this year in production, post-production, and delivery. We started shooting all of our videos with DSLRs, specifically the Canon 7D, a little more than a year ago. To say that it improved our production value would be a significant understatement. But there are some major drawbacks to shooting with DSLRs, and we have been waiting for production of an actual video camera with the same benefits as the DSLRs. They are finally beginning to arrive. Over the past few months, Panasonic released the AF100, and Sony released the F3. At the show, Sony also unveiled the FS100, a smaller
April 2011
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Article
by RYAN GEESMAN
and less-expensive model as compared to the F3. I was able to handle these cameras and see some side-by-side comparisons of footage shot on each. My observations were that the Sony cameras had an edge on the Panasonic in terms of image quality. The differences between the two Sony models come down to specific functionality. For us, the FS100 would be a perfect fit. That is, if it ever fits in the budget. Kessler Crane was sharing space in Zacuto’s booth and showing off its selection of cranes, sliders, and pantilt heads. As an owner of a 12’ Kessler Crane, I can tell you this is affordable, solid gear made by a solid guy, Eric Kessler. If you have a problem with something, Eric will make sure it is resolved. I was most intrigued by a system he was demonstrating for the first time. He was using one of his Cine-sliders, outfitted with his elektraDRIVE motors and a Kessler REVOLUTION Pan-Tilt head. Using an attached computer, he was able to enter key frames for the position of each motor and an amount of time the entire sequence should take. He then hit start, and the entire rig performed the recorded move smoothly and automatically. Of course, this is not the first piece of equipment to have this functionality, but it is, in my opinion, the first of this quality at an affordable price. As I mentioned earlier, Apple was not at the show, but they were in town to announce the latest version of Final Cut Pro. Early reports on the changes and upgrades seem to be mixed, but I am excited. Increased memory usage, 64-bit processing, and multi-core support should mean much faster response and rendering. Background rendering and import should mean fewer coffee breaks, and timeline support for H.264 footage should also mean a quicker start to editing until I can get that Sony FS100. Adobe also announced a new version of their production software suite. Since I am a Final Cut Pro user, the only program I was really interested in was After Effects. The most exciting development there is a new footage stabilizer. In the past, footage stabilization in After Effects was based on tracker points. The new stabilizer analyzes all of the footage and then applies
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stabilization based on parameters that can be manipulated by the user. This is very similar to the Smooth Cam filter in Final Cut Pro, but there are some added features that make this an interesting competitor. There is an option for removing the rolling shutter artifact that plagues those of us using cameras with CMOS sensors. There is also an option to forego the normal zooming that goes into footage stabilization and allow After Effects to fill in the edges of the footage with data gathered from past and future frames. I am sure this will not be perfect, but it should be a blast for experimentation. The only disappointing part is that even though this is a point upgrade (CS5 to CS5.5), it is not a free upgrade. Finally, the main reason that my church sent me: live delivery of broadcast-quality video over IP. We currently have two multisite campuses with two more on the way in the next two years. While these campuses are currently receiving the message recorded the night before, we feel there will be a time when we will need the capability to transmit live. There are dozens of flavors of this technology and dozens of manufacturers of hardware and software to do it. Our unique list of challenges narrows the field: two separate but synced streams of video, 8 channels of audio, severely limited bandwidth availability, and more than one destination. We were not able to settle on a solution at the show, but we were able to learn more about the technology and see live demonstrations of different codecs and bitrates. This will help us as we continue to research solutions from Hai Vision, Streambox, Zixi, Kulabyte, and Evertz. These are the advancements in technology that I will be exploring this year. Maybe next year I will see you there. Oh, and bring someone else with you for accountability. It is Sin City, after all.
April 2011
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Article
By ROBERT KRAMER
Welcome to the Revolution
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f you don’t believe that there is a communication revolution going on, you should. We are in the midst of one of the largest shifts in communication in history. There is a new landscape and the sooner we learn how to adapt our Christian principles to it the better. Here are just a few of the mind blowing statistics from the 2 biggest players: Facebook (www.facebook.com/press/info. php?statistics) o Facebook has more than 500 million active users. That’s more users than there are people in the United States. o An average user has 130 friends.
o People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. o More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared each month. YouTube (http://www.website-monitoring.com/ blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-historystatistics/) o 24 hours of video is uploaded every minute. o Over 2 billion views a day.
o More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all three major US networks have created in the past 60 years. If you’re not convinced yet; then let’s add some more statistics. 42% of Americans say the Internet is the most essential media to their lives. By next year, close to 90% of all consumer Internet traffic will be video. By 2017, 40% of the workforce will be younger
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workers who grew up with the Internet. But why does this matter? Why is this a revolution worth paying attention to? REVOLUTIONS There have been a few communications revolutions throughout human history. Each of them have irrevocably altered the way we, as a community, interact with each other and our world. In the beginning was the word – that is the word of mouth. Communication consisted of oral to aural. People spoke to relay history, tradition, and entertainment and people listened to each other. Soon, writing came upon the scene and people were trained to record, in writing, the things that others spoke. This was the first revolution because people could now see what was being said and the written page stayed consistent. It didn’t alter itself from person to person as oral communication has a tendency to do. Writing was also impersonal; it did not interact with its audience. It separated the communicator from the audience. It was the introduction of one-way communication. This method of communication was primarily limited to the elite. The commoner could not afford the time to learn reading and writing and hence got excluded from the benefit of the revolution. But in 1440
April 2011
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Article
by ROBERT A KRAMER
everything changed; the printing press. This revolution was one of replication, the ability for distribution of a message in great quantity with little effort; mass production. This revolution brought reading to the commoner because it was no longer necessary to restrict it to those who could afford the time to learn. A message could be distributed broadly and cheaply. This, however, was still one-way communication. For years, this continued to be the new paradigm of communication… until the next major shift came centuries later with the advent of the telegraph. Twoway communication could now take place across wires at great distances through a series of electronic beeps. Soon, the telephone allowed for oral communication at great distances, but did not allow for mass distribution of the message. That came with radio and television. Radio and television provided a platform for powerful one-way communication that could be widely distributed. And it was cheap. A message that engaged both the eyes and ears and stayed consistent could be broadcast through the air for the masses to receive. This was the latest and greatest revolution, until the Internet. The Internet allowed for global distribution, at virtually no cost, of any message. The most powerful messages that we have been able to create are audio/video messages. Why? Some studies claim that over 90% of communication effectiveness in non-verbal. Video can tap much of that non-verbal. But the real revolution is that this messaging is two-way communication. The masses, who had to remain passive receivers up to this point, could now be participants and even producers. But maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself at this point. Let’s define some terms first. I’m going to really simplify here. THE NEW LANDSCAPE Receivers – People who consume media without engaging it. Collectors – People who join groups or causes but never really participate in the conversation. They may even maintain profiles on social media sites, but don’t
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actively engage with them. Builders – People who take an idea or conversation and build on it, expanding it and adding to it. Producers – People who create new content. They contribute new thoughts or ideas to the conversation. So, let’s step back for a moment. Why is this a revolution? Up to this point, Producers created content and the rest of society received it. This was great for marketing and sales people, but not so great for the consumers. This is the paradigm that the church has seemingly adapted to. The Church produces and the rest of society receives or consumes the message. But that’s all changing. The masses who were the receivers now have a voice. Many have become Collectors, endorsing certain people, ideas, and causes through their collections. April 2011
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Article
by ROBERT A KRAMER
Others have become Builders taking the message and transforming it. They may have added music to a sermon or video clips to illustrate what was being said then reposted it for others to build upon. You can begin to see why this is a revolution. If a pastor in Ohio posts a sermon on YouTube, a kid in New Dehli can watch it. That kid can then write some music and set the sermon to it, re-posting it and getting a few hundred views on YouTube. A DJ in England can stumble on it and re-mix it to a club beat and play it at a night club for hundreds of dancers. A dancer can be inspired and create a music video to go along with the club version of the sermon and put it on Facebook for all of his friends. His 100 friends will “like” it and re-post it on their pages to their 100 friends, and they re-post it, and then they re-post it, causing it to reach hundreds of thousands of viewers. As momentum builds, the traditional media pick up on it and soon they’re playing it on the Today Show and Matt Lauer is calling the pastor in Ohio for an interview. You get the idea. This is the Groundswell. This is Crowd Accelerated Innovation. This is the revolution. Once something is produced, it is no longer controllable. It is out there. Some innovative companies are tapping the groundswell and calling it crowd sourcing. They are utilizing the penchant that people have to want to contribute to the conversation in order to promote products, innovate, and collaborate often for free. To some this may be scary, but it shouldn’t be. CHRIST-LIKE COMMUNICATION This is an opportunity like no other. The method of communication has, in some ways, reverted back to the time of Christ. It is interactive. Jesus was always interactive when he taught. He always engaged his audience and let them participate in the conversation. That’s how he taught. So, let’s take some lessons from Him in how we should
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engage with this new technology. Jesus was always open and truthful. When engaging the communication revolution, we will need to be completely transparent and truthful. There are no more secrets. Time will reveal all truth and typically the more widespread the message the quicker the truth will be revealed. Jesus was not afraid to confront falsehoods. When your content has been co-opted it is important to enter the conversation and confront the falsehood. This requires active monitoring of the content that you have created and that others have created with it. It means that you can’t just put something out there and ignore it anymore. You must stay active with your content. Look how Jesus interacted with the Pharisees. Jesus taught by telling stories. The most effective communication technique is a story. We remember more. They engage us in ways that simple message delivery cannot. Stories are powerful. Jesus was not afraid of large audiences. He taught to thousands at a time. He wanted His message spread throughout the Earth. In fact, He commanded it. There are many, many churches and parachurch organizations utilizing traditional and new media. Each one is using it in different ways. This is a vast and constantly shifting landscape. There is no more control of the message. We need to embrace openness and transparency then let go and see how the groundswell reacts. We now have opportunity to engage with the world like never before. The whole world. What are you waiting for? Robert A. Kramer is a Screenwriter and Contributing Editor for Christian Video Magazine. He also works in corporate video communications for a large health care organization. To contact him email: robert.a.kramer@gmail.com
April 2011
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