Christian Video速 Magazine
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July / Aug 2012 VOL. 5, NO. 4
7 Article
The Hunger Games - mindless entertainment and its effects by MARTIN BAGGS
11 Greg’s Toolkit
Practice Makes Better by GREGORY FISH
13 Article
Eight Tips for Better Videos by RYAN GEESAMAN
15 Article
Starting From Scratch by KEN ERICKSON
Christian Video® Magazine
Cover Story 4 THE INCREASE
by GREGORY FISH
Editorial 3 A Resource
by GREGORY FISH
July/Aug 2012
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from the desk of the editor
by GREGORY FISH
A Resource Christian Video Magazine is a resource. It’s one of many great resources available to the video world. It’s unique in that it is geared toward the Christian Video world. We hope that it inspires, encourages, challenges, and even educates others. No matter where you are in your filmmaking journey, we want CVMag to have something of value for you. For example, one reader wrote me asking for an article specifically for beginners. So this month, we have an article called “Starting from Scratch”, the first from a series by my friend, Ken Erickson. More advanced users will benefit from other articles that are being written. We will also be featuring some talented new contributors in the coming issues. We’re excited about having something for everybody. On the subject of resources, I’d like to know a few of your favorite video resources that you turn to regularly? Send me a note at fish.gregory@ gmail.com. As always, any ideas you have you can send those my way as well. If there’s an article you’d like to see, something you’d like to learn, we may be able to find somebody who can provide some insight through their expertise. In the meantime, enjoy our current issue! Stay blessed!
Gregory Fish Editor-in-Chief fish.gregory@gmail.com Follow cv_mag on Twitter @cv_mag
Christian Video® Magazine
Christian Video Magazine is published bimonthly by Christian Video Magazine, Inc. Editor-in-Chief Gregory Fish – fish.gregory@gmail.com Contributing Editors George Temple Stewart H. Redwine Mark Carroll Jay M. Delp Martin Baggs Robert Kramer Ryan Geesaman Copy Editor Emily Fish
Corporate Home Office Mailing Address: PO Box 319 Belton, MO 64012 Phone: (417) 316-2552 Fax: 800-456-1868 Copyright 2012 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.
July/Aug 2012
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Cover Story by Gregory Fish
THE INCREASE
Videos of the Faith of Pro Athletes
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ith the passing of the 2012 Olympics and sports on the mind, our cover story features a website that partners with pro athletes who are interested in sharing their faith stories with us. We hope that by introducing you to this resource, you will be blessed by its content, and be able to utilize some clips in your own ministry context. This endeavor is underwritten by Pro Athletes Outreach (http://www.pao.org). Former Stanford and NFL quarterback, Steve Stenstrom, President of PAO shared with us some of the history and vision of this organization: Pro Athletes Outreach was started in 1971 by a group of players and their wives representing various NFL locker rooms, who recognized the need for community with one another. They envisioned that community centered around the Word of God and great teaching on the issues and topics most relevant to an NFL player or couple. They saw professional athletes sinking under the weight of the darker realities of fame and wealth that they had no way to prepare for. They were and still are experiencing addictions of every kind— failed marriages, broken families, and unhealthy relationships. They were and are falling prey to felonious impulses and others seeking to take advantage of their fame and wealth for dishonorable ends. These athletes were thrust into role-model status by the hype of the media and the Christian Video® Magazine
expectations of the public, but nobody had mobilized to equip them to deal with that. The founders knew that faith was the thing they needed. From faith, turnarounds would grow and train wrecks would be avoided altogether. So they began reaching out to pro athletes. PAO has continued this ministry through annual conferences for NFL and MLB players (a NASCAR ministry was spun off some years ago) and has extended conference offerings to high school coaches of all sports as well, acknowledging the uniquely influential position they occupy in today’s culture. TheIncrease is a way for pro athletes to share the impact Jesus Christ has made on their lives from a platform with unlimited potential reach. Steve hopes that the video clips will be used by coaches, pastors, and missionaries, shared among friends, and anyone looking for impactful stories of the transformation available through faith in Jesus Christ. There’s a secondary implication: the world thinks these guys have
July/Aug 2012
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Cover Story
By GREGORY FISH
it all worked out. After all, they’re living their dream. Many of them are earning millions of dollars. The world is their oyster. Seeing them recognize that fame and wealth and doing what they love doesn’t bring complete fulfillment challenges conventional wisdom. Seeing them acknowledge their need for Jesus, has the power to perhaps reach people who might otherwise reject faith for the usual reasons (it’s a crutch, it’s only for the weak, etc.). The name of this project comes from John 3:30, and the idea that for Christ to increase, the will of the individual must decrease. So PAO encourages the athletes to share their stories of personal decrease and the increase of Christ in their lives. The variety of fascinating and thought-provoking stories is impressive. Kabeer Jamila-Gbaja reveals how he often dismissed Christianity because of Christians’ inability to defend their faith with any authority. Then one person made an irksome comment that started his investigation of the Bible. The Bible itself then revealed its truth and authority to him, prompting his conversion from Islam. Josh McCown and Brett Carroll each talk about challenges and adversity they experienced well after coming to faith and how God sustained them through those difficult or uncertain days. What all these stories have in common is that they point to the increase of Jesus Christ; that’s what we want people to see when they watch these athletes. Another impressive aspect of all of this is that these videos are free to anyone. PAO’s hope is that they’ll be used in any context where they can help illustrate the universal need for Jesus Christ in people’s lives. From the humblest of circumstances to situations most of us naturally envy, there’s not a person who doesn’t need Him. For that reason, they have a desire to allow the greatest number of people to hear these stories without having to be concerned about the
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resources needed to get them. Ken Hughes is in charge of marketing and branding for PAO. He tells us that there are currently six videos available, with another two or three raw interviews in the can waiting for editing and production. This is an open-ended project. They will continue interviewing willing athletes and putting up stories of their decrease and Christ’s increase as long as they keep coming forward. They would love to see a massive video archive one day that overwhelms the visitor with the number of videos featuring athletes, both famous and not-so-famous, to the point that the number of videos itself becomes a compelling argument for faith in Christ before that visitor has even viewed any of the videos. TheIncrease came to be as a result of Steve contacting Gary Molander of Floodgate Creative after developing a vision of taking the stories of athletes to the world. Gary says, “I didn’t sleep all night, up thinking about possibilities and dreams. I called Steve the next morning and asked, ‘Are you really serious about this? Because if you’re not, I need to stop dreaming.’” They were serious and the project took off from there. Gary revealed to us some behind the scenes type of info highlighting the process of development that they implemented. “Coming up with the name was a challenge. We originally wanted something like ESPN’s ‘Outside the Lines’ or ‘Beyond the Game’, or something like that. The Creative Team at Floodgate hit a wall, so I created a contest, and launched it on my blog. We reached out to the creative communities that we’re already a part of. We had some great names submitted. On a Saturday, a friend of mine named Travis Paulding sent a direct message through Twitter. He said, ‘What about The Increase?’
July/Aug 2012
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Cover Story
by GREGORY FISH
I asked him about it, and he told me that, at that very moment, he was working on his words for his grandfather’s funeral, and that John 3:30 typified the life of his beloved grandfather. There was something inside of me that knew, in that moment, that this needed to become the name for these videos. Travis won either $1,000,000 or $100 for his winning contribution, but I can’t remember which.” After crowdsourcing the name, it was time to focus on the first set of videos. Gary describes his process as they conduct these interviews in this way, “When we conduct these interviews, we’re using a basic four-part Story Arch (Introductions, Conflict, Dark Night of the Soul, and Movement toward Redemption). Jeff Parker, of Igniter Media, has been instrumental in helping us develop the questions that are asked under each section of the Story Arch, and has proven to be a trusted ally in the success of these interviews. In the interview space, we work through each question, and have been completing the interviews in 60-90 minutes. The question that seems to bring the best answers is always the final question we pose: ‘Through all of this, who have you discovered God to be?’ When you see tears, it’s because of that question.”
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This is a truly great resource with amazing potential to touch lives in a special way. We hope you will visit http://www.theincrease.org and take full advantage of the current clips, bookmark the site and share it with others.
July/Aug 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
The Hunger Games-
mindless entertainment and its effects
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n 2008 Suzanne Collins published “The Hunger Games,” the first book in a trilogy. Though aimed at teens, the same audience that consumed the Harry Potter and Twilight series, Collins’ books have been well received by young and old alike. After one of my kids began reading the books, I picked up the first and found it to be a real page-turner! Not only is it an awesome adventure, but it presents a number of important themes thoughtfully. Collins describes them as “issues like severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the effects of war among others.” Now, almost four years later, the first of the To keep the citizens in their place and to discourbooks hit the big screen and it scored a home age rebellion, each year two tributes, one boy and run as far as box office tickets are concerned. one girl, are randomly selected from each district to compete in the annual hunger games. Not a It took in $155M on its first weekend to become the third highest film ever, behind only mere tournament, this is a violent fight to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and death in a carefully crafted and controlled arena The Dark Knight. where only one child (These have all now will emerge as victor. Remember, before showing clips from been surpassed by To that person go the movies, be sure you have a license to do The Avengers.) But spoils of war, glory and it was worth the honor, and to his or her so. Check out Church Video License to take, being exceldistrict goes extra food, be sure you are legal. www.cvli.com lent entertainment. a precious commodity Most people to the starving citizens. know the basic plot. The film is set in a dystopian Unlike the book, there is precious little backfuture, where war and violence has left the United story to introduce the film. Much is left unsaid, States broken, reformed into Panem with 12 disbut then most viewers will already know this. The film quickly gets to the reaping, where the children tricts surrounding the capitol. Citizens of these districts live hard lives while President Snow (Donald wait anxiously to see if they will be selected. Effie Sutherland) rules with an iron fist from the capitol. Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), overdressed and overChristian Video® Magazine
July/Aug 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
done, emcees the event, fruitlessly trying to instill enthusiasm from those who would be led away to likely death (odds of 23-1 against!). When 13-year old Prim Everdeen is selected, her 16 year-old sister Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) steps in to volunteer to take her place, an act unheard of before. Joining her from District 12 is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), a baker’s boy who has a secret crush on Katniss.
He is District 12’s only surviving victor, an alcoholic wretch of a man. And in the capitol is Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), the oily host of the event, selling the show like a used-car salesman to the viewers.
The first intersection with biblical Christianity is the theme of sacrifice. Although Katniss is a fighter and survivor, adept with archery, she is stepping up for almost certain death. She typifies a Christfigure, willing to sacrifice herself to save her sister. Of course, Jesus humbled himself and came to earth (Phil. 2:6-8) for the express purpose of going to the cross in our place. Our punishment and death (Rom. 3:25) became his. God “loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10). The second part of the first act moves the story to the capitol, as Katniss and Peeta journey there to be prepared. Accompanying them are Effie and Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). If Effie is to mentor them in etiquette, Haymitch is supposed to mentor them in survival. Christian Video® Magazine
July/Aug 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
One of the strengths of the film is in the casting. Harrelson is perfectly cast as a boozy scoundrel, who emerges from his drunken haze as things take off. So too is Tucci, a veteran actor. He is over the top, exactly as Flickerman would be. Hutcherson is solid as Peeta. But the story revolves around Katniss and the film’s fate is sealed by the actress playing her. Fortunately, Jennifer Lawrence is up to the measure of the task and carries the movie. She is outstanding once again, conveying action as well as emotion. She was nominated two years ago for her role as an Appalachian survivor in Winter’s Bone, and that could have been an audition for this role. One of the complaints against the film is that it underplays some characters and leaves out plenty of detail from the book. That has to happen in any film adaptation, but it is a minor complaint. Perhaps the largest character downplayed is Gale (Lian Hemsworth), Katniss’s hunting friend and early love interest. He has almost no part here. His best line comes as he says goodbye to her at the station: “You’re stronger than they are. You are. They just want a good show, that’s all they want.” And it’s true. The citizens of the capitol just want something to watch. The Hunger Games offers commentary on today’s preoccupation with reality TV. Americans idolize these shows and their contestants. From American Idol to Biggest Loser, we tune in to see who is kicked off this week, all the while ignoring the serious events that are going on in the world. Such entertainment is an anesthetic, a distraction from our troubles. Indeed, Panem might be taken from the Latin phrase “panem et cirenses” meaning “bread and circuses”, which is a reference to the Roman formula for keeping the population in its place: give them food and fun. Such strategy sufficed to satisfy Cesar’s citizens. We must wake up and throw off the numbing yoke of mindless TV.
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Moreover, Collins herself commented, in a quoted interview by Douglas Eby, that audiences for “both the Roman games and reality TV are almost characters in themselves. They can respond with great enthusiasm or play a role in your elimination”. Even though they do here, it is clear that the entertainment has become almost a new reality for them. Like the “text now” to protect your favorite Idol singer, the viewers of the hunger games could support their favorites with parachuted supplies. Such reality is unreality. Just before the film moves out of the capitol, we see Peeta and Katniss spending their last night on the roof of the building, watching the lights below. Peeta comments, “I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don’t own me. If I’m gonna die, I wanna still be me.” He has understood the theatrical nature of the event. He is a player, and the President and creators of the games want him to give a show, to take upon himself a role. They can select him, they can send him to certain death, but they do not own him. He retains his dignity even in impending death. The second act of the film brings us to the action, where the 24 tributes must do battle in a contrived spectacle much like the Roman gladiatorial games. And here the pacing is perfect, retaining the tension while still allowing moments of reflection, such as between Katniss and the young girl, Rue. Such pacing is not surprising given that Collins helped with the screenplay. Another theme of the film is its anti-violence message. The tributes are all children, and for the most part are innocents. They are all victims, creations of cruel adults for sheer entertainment. Collins, in an interview for Parade Magazine, commented on this as the inspiration for her story: “I was channel surfing between reality TV programming and actual war coverage when Katniss’s story came to me. July/Aug 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
One night I’m sitting there flipping around and on one channel there’s a group of young people competing for, I don’t know, money maybe? And on the next, there’s a group of young people fighting an actual war. And I was tired, and the lines began to blur in this very unsettling way, and I thought of this story.” When children are forced into slavery or war, such as Ishmael Beah was in “A Long Way Gone”, they suffer loss of innocence. Such loss is beyond sad, it is tragic. Childhood should be a time of play and progress, of development and delight. When it is cut short and they are forced to grow up prematurely it comes with a cost. Witness Katniss here. Another social commentary is highlighted by Jennifer Lawrence, who said in an interview: “This is what our society could be like if it became desensitized to trauma and to each other’s pain.” The viewers in the capitol do not see the children as people; they see them as characters in a play. They don’t care that one by one they are dying. Their pain is ignored. Even the tributes are desensitized since they must kill or be killed, as in war. But when we lose empathy and compassion, we lose a little of our humanity. God is called the “Father of compassion” (2 Cor. 1:3), and Jesus commands us to “be kind and compassionate to one another” (Eph. 4:32). Apart from this we become like the rabble who cried “Crucify him” (Matt. 27:22). Indeed, when we are fully desensitized, we become the very soldier who nailed Jesus to the cross, and then we turn and look for more victims to satiate our bloodlust. There is a great scene toward the end of the film that does not appear in the book. President Snow is genteelly pruning roses in his garden while talking to the Games Master. He tells him that the people need fear and hope, but not too much hope. A little hope goes a long way; too much and they will get ideas. With these two concepts, the carrot and the Christian Video® Magazine
stick, he can control and manipulate the masses, keeping them subservient and somewhat loyal. These two concepts play out biblically. Like Katniss, we all face tribulations and suffering. But the apostle Paul tells us “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). Hope is an end goal, but hope does not disappoint (Rom. 5:5) because we have the love of God in us and a future waiting with him (Phil. 3:20). Such hope is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But fear is crucial, too. The fear of the Lord is both the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7) and wisdom (Prov. 9:10). Such fear refers to reverence and awe. It points to the attitude of the true follower of Jesus, who worships God who has created all things. Such fear enables us to see ourselves for who we are: creatures in need of forgiveness. Yet it also enables us to retain our uniqueness, as Peeta desired, not being forced into a role or image of another’s making. President Snow and Effie Trinket may offer the platitude, “may the odds be ever in your favor” to the tributes hoping for victory. But if we embrace the fear of the Lord, then the odds will be ever in our favor of realizing our hope of true victory! 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
July/Aug 2012
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Greg’s Toolkit by GREGORY FISH
Practice Makes Better
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refuse to say that practice makes perfect because it’s just not true. No one is perfect. No one but our Lord could ever be perfect. Gary Molander says in Pursuing Christ, Creating Art, “Perfect is a myth.” (p. 83). Though this truth stings a little, it is actually reassuring. Even the best among us fall short of perfection. I’ll never be a perfect filmmaker, but neither will anyone else. However, that’s not to say that we should not strive for excellence. We surely will not attain perfection, but we can land on excellence. How do we do that? Well, honestly, I’m still working on that! But practice has helped. Practice may not make for perfect, but practice does make one better. I just attended the Echo Conference for the second time. It was really wonderful. One of the keynote speakers was Todd Henry. Knowing that he would be speaking, I listened to his book, The Accidental Creative. One thing that he wrote and talked about was “Unnecessary Creating.” This is building time into your life or schedule to make something for the joy of it rather than only utilizing creative energy for pay. This practice allows for experimentation, skill development and growth in a low-risk environment and can often yield tremendous benefits. This is hard to take in when you’re paid to create on demand, but the consequence for doing only that could be losing your passion. Taking it a step further, Stuart Brown, M.D., in his book, Play, writes, “Play is simply practice for skills needed in the future…Play activity is actually helping sculpt the brain…We make Christian Video® Magazine
cognitive connections that find their way into our everyday lives.” (p. 33-34). Creating only what you’ll get paid for is kind of like a preacher reading the Bible only for sermon prep. As creatives, we need to keep our edge sharp. Much of that sharpening will come from playing around with a new idea, unnecessary creating, or practice. A speaker from last year and next year’s Echo Conference is Jon Acuff. He writes in his book, Quitter, “You need to dip your foot in the water…you need to explore and test the waters.” (p. 122). Practice makes better. When I was on staff at a church, one of the things I enjoyed doing was making highlight videos after certain church events. This served as valuable shooting and editing practice for me. Now that I’m not in that role, what am I going to shoot and edit for fun? I now know that it’s not only valuable, but it’s vital to create things out of passion that I will not be paid for. So what “just because” sort of project can I take on? We recently went on a family vacation which included a couple stops at some Disney parks. July/Aug 2012
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Greg’s Toolkit
by GREGORY FISH
Of course, I took my cameras with me, including my fun and handy GoPro. So many people take hours of home movies and they never watch them, because they are unedited and boring for the most part. They sit and collect dust or hard drive space (these days). I’m a big proponent of editing these family videos. They’re fun to share with relatives and make great keepsakes. Better than any souvenir, if you have the ability to do this, a creative recap video is an awesome way to preserve those memories (and smiling faces). A 2-3 minute action-packed snapshot of the day is much more interesting than hours of unedited video. I practiced my craft with this trip, shooting to edit and capturing the best parts. You can see these 3 short videos on my blog in one place if you’d like to: http://fishxpressions.wordpress. com/2012/08/03/vacation-footage-edits/. What I am trying to communicate is that it’s more than OK to give yourself these little side projects. Give yourself permission to play, to practice, and you will see growth. In the Vacation Stop 3 video, I messed around with film burns for the first time. I’d never done that before. It was a learning experience and I’m excited about implementing them in the future on a “paid” project.
“play” for the love of the game. They say it’s a must to keep the passion alive, attempt and learn new tricks, and maintain your creative flow. I agree with this sentiment. The sports world, for example, is full of people who lost their joy in their field when they began to take it too seriously and stopped doing it out of love. Most recently, a story out of this year’s Olympics comes to mind. Swimmer, Anthony Ervin, was only 19 when he won gold in the 50-meter freestyle in 2000 in Sydney. He found himself frustrated after achieving success. He wasn’t having fun anymore. He actually auctioned off his gold medal for $17,000 to help with South Asia Tsunami relief efforts. He went back to school, played in a rock band. He was searching for himself. It was when he started to teach children to swim that we re-found his passion for the sport. After a 12 year hiatus from the sport, he got back to the Olympics in London, as a now 31 year old.
We can learn from these stories and remember that the daily grind is not the sum of life. If you want to do something extraordinary, it will take a whole lot of practice and discipline. But you’ve got to enjoy the process. You’ve got to play and play passionately or you and your creations will suffer and become stagnant, and you It doesn’t have to be a Disney vacation you cap- may even lose your joy altogether. That would ture and edit. It could be a trip to the park or to be a sad day indeed. I need to produce vacation the zoo or a birthday party. Whatever it is, shoot highlights so when a more “important” project and edit not because you’re paid to, not because comes along, I still look forward to sitting down it’s productive for business, but simply because and editing. My Joplin tornado documentary, you have this passion and you want to improve Steadfast, for example, will be better because your skills. When we get so busy or caught up of practice when the stakes were low. We in the in what we must produce, we think we are too Christian Video world need you to bring your drained to produce for creativity’s sake. That’s best to the table. That may mean you need to our problem. It’s wrong thinking. The experts carve out some time to take on an extra project lie on the side of “unnecessary creating” and that interests you just because it does. Christian Video® Magazine
July/Aug 2012
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Article
By RYAN GEESAMAN
Eight Tips for Better Videos
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s the video production director of a church, I see a lot of videos from a lot of different sources. Some are better than others. Often it’s hard to nail down exactly what makes a particular video better than another, but it’s easier to see what makes one worse. Here are eight tips to make your productions better immediately. 1. Have a plan I have to believe that a lack of planning stems from our YouTube generation. If viral videos have taught us anything, it’s that quality and a plan are unnecessary to create a video that millions of people will love. One thing we forget to take into consideration, however, is the millions of videos on YouTube that absolutely no one cares to watch. Many videos that went viral were happy accidents, and the successful ones that weren’t accidents had a plan. Sit down and script out your idea, the dialog, the shooting style, the location, the talent, and the editing style before you start. There is no need to leave success up to a happy accident. 2. Get help When you sit down to make that plan, make sure you have some help – someone off of whom you can bounce ideas. It is absolutely amazing how much an idea can improve when three or four people develop it together. Recently, we needed to produce a music video for an original song/spoken word piece composed by one of our worship leaders. I had a rough idea for the video, but when we pulled together a half dozen worship leaders and video producers, the
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idea morphed into a very cohesive, detailed plan. The result was one of the most creative and polished videos we’ve produced this year. 3. Stop using the camera microphone Listening to audio from a camera microphone instantly ruins the viewing experience for me. The microphone on a camera is practically useless. It’s okay if the goal is to capture unintelligible, reasonable-volume ambient sound. If the audience is supposed to understand what is being said or the source is very loud, forget it. An external microphone is almost always better and usually required for good audio recording. I prefer using a boom pole with a shotgun microphone for outdoors or a hypercardioid microphone for indoors. A lapel microphone is another good choice, although I don’t like fighting with fabric noise and talent accidentally hitting it. If you have no recourse but to use the camera microphone, move the camera as close as possible to subject and shoot in the quietest location you can. 4. Use headphones Another serious audio issue is not monitoring what’s being recorded. One of our ministries recently July/Aug 2012
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Article
by RYAN GEESAMAN
recorded a video on their own and then came to me with their file saying the audio was noisy. I asked them if it sounded that way when they recorded it and found out they hadn’t been monitoring the audio. It’s so much easier to solve an audio problem before it’s been recorded than after. There is only so much that can be fixed in post. Luckily in this case, the noise was only on one channel, so they were able to use the clean channel. Had that not been the case, they would have needed to reshoot the whole thing. 5. Check audio levels Related to the last two is the issue of overmodulation or clipping. Camera microphones are notorious for clipping in loud environments, especially if set using auto gain control. And of course, there’s no way to know audio is clipping without monitoring with headphones, aside from audio meters. Audio meters, however, should never be trusted. If, for example, you are using a wireless microphone, there are three places the audio can be clipping: the transmitter, the receiver, or the camera. The audio meters on the camera might look perfect, but the transmitter could be overmodulating the signal from the microphone. Always check every link in the chain for proper levels, and – it bears repeating – always use headphones. 6. Stop shooting handheld Okay, I admit that shooting handheld is a viable option. The problem is cameras continue to get smaller and smaller. The smaller the camera, the worse handheld shooting looks. We shoot video with Canon DSLR cameras. Every once in a while, I decide to try to shoot handheld with the camera. Every time I get to the edit suite, and the shot is unusable. Shooting handheld with a small camera simply produces too much unintended motion. In order to get usable handheld shots from our DSLRs, we use a shoulder rig that makes the camera larger and easier to control. If you don’t have a shoulder rig, use a monopod. If you don’t have a monopod, use a tripod.
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7. Control the light Cameras have come a long way in terms of shooting in low light, but they haven’t made much headway in terms of contrast range. That means that the darkest part of your image cannot be too much darker than the brightest part of your image. Otherwise, one end of the range suffers: either there’s no detail in the shadows or the highlights are blown out. I’m not suggesting that every video requires a grip truck and a lighting package, but controlling contrast is essential to recording a good image. Choosing a location with nice, soft, even lighting is a good start. Reflectors or even white poster board can help to fill in unwanted shadows. 8. Edit a story As much of the story is told in the edit as in the script. This is especially true of interviews. No matter how long the piece, it should contain the five parts of narrative structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. A good edit can save an otherwise dull interview. Sometimes one or more parts of the narrative structure will be supplied externally as part of a worship service. For example, the pastor may provide the exposition, or background, in his message, and then the video provides the rest. But no matter what, tell a good story. Most of these tips will cost you little to nothing and instantly increase the production value of your videos. Go do good work.
July/Aug 2012
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Article
by KEN ERICKSON
Starting From Scratch
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our pastor just gave you an assignment. Bill is in town for three days and his testimony is perfect for the message in two weeks. You’ve wanted to get into video, but haven’t had a project for motivation. Here’s your opportunity. Where do you start? There are four components that will make or break your video. Sound in most of what we do is paramount. The spoken word contains the message that we are trying to convey to the people so a good clean audio capture is on the top of our list. The other three, composition (what is in the video frame), focus, and lighting will either help your project or be a distraction. EQUIPMENT We will need devices to capture video and sound, as well as a computer with editing software. Fortunately Windows MovieMaker for PC or iMovie for Mac are free, and a great place to start your video adventure. As far as capturing video, we have a wide variety of options, from using a cell phone to a DSLR (digital still camera) to spending thousands (or tens of thousands) on a pro grade video camera. When considering what camera to use, whether one that you purchase or borrow, we have to think about how to get the video from the camera to the computer. Cameras that use SD or CF cards are the easiest and most convenient. Mini DV tapes will require the computer to have a firewire (IEEE 1394) card to transfer from the camera to the computer--an extra step that may not be practical. The ability to monitor both the video and audio through headphones is impor-
Christian Video® Magazine
tant. There’s nothing worse than getting to the editing stage and finding out your footage is unusable. For our project, let’s consider that we scrounged up a DSLR camera that takes HD video, has an audio jack, and a USB cable to get the video files from the camera to our computer. We borrowed a decent wired mic from the church stage and bought the necessary connectors to convert it to the plug that fits our camera. Since the audio is so important, as a backup we’re going to record the audio on my iPhone using the headphone/mic that came with the phone and position it on Bill out of view of the camera. I’ve tried it and it works well in a pinch. For a location, we’ll keep it simple. Indoors minimizes unwanted sound. We’ll move a chair or couch near a window for lighting, with the wall behind at least several feet away to minimize the distraction of the background. We’ll place the microphone as close as we can, yet still be out of the camera’s view. If shooting on tile or hardwood, I have found a throw rug between the talent and the mic really improves the audio. Of course, it would be a good idea to practice all this before Bill shows up. A tripod would be a good thing to have, but these days having a handheld style (if done right) is acceptable. The best results will come from planning it out
July/Aug 2012
15
Article
by KEN ERICKSON
ahead, knowing what you want it to look like, and practicing to make sure you get the results you want. RECORDING DAY On the day of recording, we want to show up plenty early to set up the equipment and check that everything is working correctly. Make sure all the batteries are fully charged and we have enough memory cards or tape. Test the cameras and any audio recording devices. Take a little footage and run it back to make sure everything is working right. Look for correct white balance (if the video looks too blue, green, red, or yellow, check the camera’s manual for how to set the white balance). If we’re going to use the ambient light from the window, we will want to turn out all other light sources. Make sure the focus and exposure are set appropriately. An assistant is very helpful, if for nothing else, at least they can fill in for the “talent” at this critical point in the project. All this done ahead of time minimizes the time that Bill will have to sit there while all the adjustments are made. Our feeling rushed to get to recording may result in us not getting one of the settings adjusted well. Again, it would be a tragedy if we got to the computer and the project was unusable.
As far as transitions, leave the fancy stuff to the Middle School Ministry. Cuts, fades, and fade through black have minimal distraction and focus the attention on the story rather than the production. Put appropriate music in the background. For projects at church, I pan the voice to the left and the music to the right so the sound guy can make necessary adjustments in the room. It never seems to have the same balance in church as it does on my computer. Watch interviews on TV: Golf, NASCAR, politics, reality TV. They all have interviews and use similar techniques. In your mind dissect how they put it together. Pay attention to the setting. What’s in the background? Where are the light sources? What direction are they facing? Where are they on the screen? How do they use wide shots, close-ups, and “Broll?” What transitions do they use? Being a student of these things (and commercials) will help you develop your own style, and make videos that will have great impact on your target audience.
When Bill shows up, we’ll give him some instructions on what we want from him, where and how we want him to sit (or stand), and where we want him to look when he’s speaking. This is another place an assistant comes in handy, in case you want him looking off camera to the left or right slightly, he will have a real person to tell his story to. We pray, then hit record on the cameras. We won’t stop the recording until he walks off the “set” (except for running up against recording file size limits on the camera. We’ll want to anticipate those and have him stop at natural breaks, stop and restart.) EDITING We’ve got our video and sound cleanly captured and transferred to the computer. (Don’t erase the cards or tapes until after the project has been presented, just in case.) At this point, my target is 2½ minutes. If it runs over three, I notice that I start to lose people in the audience. We sometimes have to cut some very good stuff to make the project focused in one direction and an appropriate length. Save the stuff you throw out. You can use it later, or ask Bill if you can put his story on YouTube or Vimeo. Put the longer versions there.
Christian Video® Magazine
July/Aug 2012
16