1Christian Video® Magazine

2March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

March 2010VOL. 3, NO. 3

6 Greg’s ToolkitA Year’s Worth

by GREGORY FISH

8 ArticleThe Hurt Locker What Do We Live For?

by MARTIN BAGGS

16 Article Making Ministry Happen: with Web Videos, Prayer Requests

Go Globalby JASON OTIS

19 ArticleCollaboration: The Agony and Ecstasy of Working with Others

by STEWART REDWINE

22 ArticleDangerous Calling

by ROBERT KRAMER

Editorial 3

Cover Story 4Conquering the 5 “Deal-Breakers“ of OPVsby JAY DELP

Producer Interview 11Hollywood Worldviews an Interview with Brian GodawaInterview with Brian Godawa by Robert Kramer

March 2010 3Christian Video® Magazine

Christian Video Magazine is published monthly by Christian Video Magazine, Inc.

Editor-in-ChiefSteve Hewitt – steve@ccmag.com

ProductionDaystar Digital DesignMike Hewitt

Contributing EditorsGeorge TempleGregory FishStewart H. RedwineMark CarrollJay M. DelpMartin Baggs

Copy Editor Gina Hewitt

Corporate Home OfficeMailing Address:PO Box 319Belton, MO 64012

Phone: (816) 331-5252Fax: 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 Maga-zine, Inc., upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Christian Video Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materi-als submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publica-tion 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 em-ployees of Christian Video Magazine, or Christian Video Magazine, Inc.

Last year, Thomas Nelson asked me to write a book for them. It is part of a se-ries of books on the use of technology for ministries and churches. Chapter 7 of the book is on “Creating and Using Video for Ministry”. As I mentioned in the Acknowledgment of the book, I appreciate the help I received from several people, and in this case, Gregory Fish was a major help in the creation of this chapter.

However, having gone through the process of writing the book and seeing it go through all of the steps necessary for it to be published and find its way to bookstore shelves, I discovered it is a long process. I can see why, in this age of information distribution, video gets the job done fast, as well as providing a visually appealing way to spread your message. My book was written and published on the “fast track”, so that the information I provided, on using technology, would not be out of date by the time it was made available. Yet, it took almost a year!

Now that informal video is becoming more and more acceptable, and sites like YouTube continue to contribute informational and educational videos (as well as all of the fun videos), I see video becoming more and more popular! So, keep your lenses clean and stay in focus, and keep producing videos as a

vital media in spreading God’s message to the masses!

Together We Serve Him,

Steve Hewitt

from the desk of the editorby STEVE HEWITT

My New Book - Windows PCs in the Ministry

4March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

Conquering the 5 “Deal-Breakers”

Cover StoryBy JAY DELP

of OPVs (Other People’s Video)

DEAL-BREAKER #1: LENGTH By now, 97.4% of us using media in ministry (and about the same percentage of those producing me-dia/video resources) have figured out that less it more, shorter is better, longer is lousier when it comes to the length of our Sunday morning service video clips. Un-fortunately, some excellent 4 min and 47 second minis-try videos are simply too long for your specific purpose and/or time frame. The first question I ask my pastor when he contacts me for help finding/creating a video for an upcoming service is simply, “What would be the ideal length for the video?” The problem of program length disappears when you make your own videos.

You’ve all been there all too often (last weekend?!). Once again you find yourself browsing dozens of excellent Christian media/video resource web sites featuring hundreds of videos by creative and obviously gifted producers looking for the perfect video to introduce or otherwise enhance Sunday’s message/lesson or our pastor’s message. Click. Play. Preview……..Stop. Nope, can’t use that video. Click. Play. Preview……STOP! Can’t use that one. Click. Play. Preview……STOP!! CAN’T USE THAT ONE EITHER!! (repeat 19-37 times, depending on your patience or persistence). Have you ever stopped to think about the reason(s) so many of those otherwise very high quality and creative Christian video/media clips simply will not work for your specific purpose, message or application? More importantly are you aware of the fact that all of the following “deal-breakers” you encounter when clicking and considering OPVs (Other Peoples Videos) is over-come, conquered and obliterated when your shoot and edit your own ministry vid-eos? ALL of them! All of the time! Until the end of time!

DEAL-BREAKER #2: DEMOGRAPHIC “Wow, what a great video! And at 87 seconds it’s the perfect length. Sure wish I could use it but, absolutely no can do. The folks in the video don’t look at all like the folks in our pews!!” Too old. Too young. Too vanilla (white!). Too “non-white” (what-ever THAT means!). Too urban. Too rural. Too ANY-THING is a deal-breaker when it comes to connecting the people in your audience with the people in your production. The demographic deal-breaker of every video production (containing people!) goes away when you produce your own media. After all, “your people” will ALWAYS identify closest with “your people”.

March 2010 5Christian Video® Magazine

By JAY DELPCover Story

DEAL-BREAKER #3: TOPIC/THEME Sure, there are no shortage of Christian videos on the “big themes” (Christmas, Easter, Love, Cruci-fixion of Christ, Marriage/Relationships, Communion, etc.) but what happens when Pastor John calls you looking for a 3 min. video which talks about the lavish, over-the-top, extravagant love of Christ on the cross…(no problem there)….from the mouths of kindergar-ten kids?! Good luck finding a ministry video on that topic/perspective (which also happens to be the right length and overcomes each of the other deal-breakers on this list)! Well, that is exactly what happened to me. No problem. The camcorder went with me to church and captured the comments of 10 squirming 5 year olds as they answered questions like, “Who loves you a whole bunch”. How do you know they love you a whole bunch?” How do you know Jesus loves you a whole bunch?” The title of the video? “When Love Comes in Bunches”. Insanely compelling, engag-ing, effective, and memorable. I almost felt like I was somehow “cheating”. Go and do thou likewise.

DEAL-BREAKER #4: MUSIC Want to split a church? Just mess with their MUSIC!! Fortunately the future unity of your congre-gation is probably not riding on what type of music is featured in next Sunday’s video illustration but how many times has this important aspect of nearly every video been the “deal-breaker” in your search among the sea of OPV’s? You found an otherwise excellent video on the right topic, the right length with the “right” de-mographic but, BAM, its youth Sunday and the video’s sound track sounds way too, shall we say…Yani-like! Or it’s Senior Citizen Sunday (who has that?!) and Kut-less simply won’t, well….cut it. The deal-breaker of the “wrong” music vanishes (poof!) when YOU choose/create your video’s soundtrack.

DOUBLE DEAL-BREAKER #5: THEOLOGY If you think “music in church” is a hot button, try having a “sensitive” theological word or phrase (as decreed by your particular denomination!) mentioned in your sermon introduction video! Know that the vast

percentage of the sermon to follow will go unheard by the vast majority of “the faithful”. (If only that Chris-tian speaker/teacher/comedian/drama/musician hadn’t used the word “predestined”!). Once again, the deal-breaker of theology evaporates when you make your very own ministry videos. (Isn’t the power of editing awesome?!). Now you are aware of at least some of the spe-cific reasons you choose one ministry video resource over dozens of others-one or more of the above 5 ele-ments did not match your specific purpose(s) for the use of that video. More importantly you are now aware that every single one of the above OPV “deal-breakers” is overcome, conquered and obliterated when you shoot, shape and show your own media/videos. Yes, it takes more time, sometimes MUCH more. (Raise your hand if you know that video editing is black hole into which your entire life can be sucked into? I see those hands). Yes, it takes more effort and work. No, there is not always enough time to produce the video you know you want to produce. Yes, we should continue using the grand and growing library of OPVs and be grateful for such a wonderful resource from an amazing group of outstand-ing Christian artists, videographers, editors, animators, musicians, audio editors, motion graphic experts and storytellers. But, know this…after you watch “your people” watch OPVs then watch those same people watch (ex-perience?!) the videos you & your ministry make you will only use OPVs when there simply is not enough time, talent or technology to produce your own…which, by the way, is not nearly as often as you may think. If all the world’s a stage, somebody’s got to film it. Be the one.

Jay Delp www.jaydelp.com email jaydelp@comcast.net

6March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by GREGORY FISH

A Year’s Worth

Greg’s Toolkit

Many web sites offer free monthly media. I just stumbled again onto a site that offers various for free files each month. But this time they were offering over a year’s worth of free files. That meant that all the months I had let pass without having gone to their site were not wasted. Instead of finding one or two free clips I found over 50! The site is http://www.phoenixclips.com. I had to look up the user name and password in my saved email files and I’m glad I did, because once I was logged in I saw the long list of months in front of me. I opened them up one at a time and found one free stock video clip, one animation, one photo, and a music or sound clip. All of these were royalty free assorted topics and themes. It did not take too long to download. One of the clips was exactly what I needed for an up-coming project. Needless to say, it’s a good site to check out and bookmark. Over a year’s worth of freebie media is up for grabs if you go there right now. I’m not sure how long they’ll offer this. Normally the last month’s freebies are taken off, but fortunately that was not the case when I went to the site. It is pretty rare to see a year’s worth of free videos being offered at once.

As a side note, I’m always on the prowl for tools that might be needed in my video grab bag and found another free offer from the site: “Levels Reader” software. This is for making sure that your volume is not too loud and for clipping. Some pro-grams have this built in, but this would be good to have if your program doesn’t have this function available. With the freebies they offer, their hopes are that you might also purchase another product while visiting the site. I want to shift my focus now and ask the question, “What would a year’s worth of your own videos look like?” If you’re anything like me, you don’t really know what videos you’ll produce this coming year. Sure I have a list of ideas I haven’t found time to pursue yet, and I’ll get to them eventually. Then there are also those moments of inspiration where a video practically makes itself. There are times when the church needs a certain video to match the sermon subject, so I’ll create that when it is called for. That is my approach.

I remember when I started posting videos on www.sermonspice.com. I only had one video then- “Footprints in the Sand”- http://sermonspice.com/product/3494/footprints-in-the-sand. I was given the producer number 285. Now I believe there are at least 2000 producers associated with www.sermon-spice.com. What started out as one Christian short, became in just a few years 18 pages of content- http://www.sermonspice.com/products/producer/285/fishxpressions. I have 180 products on the site now. Granted some of them are repeats in another format (countdown or Spanish and some PowerPoint presentations). Even so, that is a large portfolio, especially when I do this on a very part-time basis. I wish I had more time to dedicate to this ministry. I have many ideas for future projects; I only lack the time. I realize that is an excuse. Since I am here to encourage you to create, I should not discourage myself with ex-cuses. So, I ask, “How much new content will I have in a year’s time? How much will you create?” Whether it’s one video or

March 2010 7Christian Video® Magazine

by GREGORY FISHGreg’s Toolkit

ten or one hundred, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we be creative with the talents God has given us. Be sure to be selective in your ideas. I used to just make whatever crazy thing popped into my mind. Not so, anymore. Pray about what videos God is leading you to make. Don’t just create videos to create. Do so out of a need. Produce something that will benefit God’s kingdom and his people. Easter is right around the corner. What a great opportu-nity it is to stir the hearts and minds of God’s church through the very powerful medium of video and animation. It was several months ago that I had an idea for an Easter video called “What was on His mind?” (You can work ahead when you get ideas for holiday videos.) I made this video last year and it won first place in this magazine’s video contest in the Innovative category. I don’t share this to brag. My sincere hope is that many people would be moved by its message, living in a constant state of gratefulness for what Christ did for us almost 2000 years ago. You can see this video on my profile: http://www.sermonspice.com/producers/profile/285. If you go there, please take some time to check out “Dayyenu”, an original song set to video in-spired by the closing ceremony in a Christian Seder Feast.

I don’t know how many videos I’ll get done this year. Whatever the number may be, it will be a year’s worth. I guess that number will be however many God leads me to make. My purpose here, though, is simple. If you are apprehensive about getting into this field I wish to motivate you to jump in and do your best. You’re reading this magazine, so I know you have the desire. Maybe you’ve procrastinated on a project. It could be truly inspired, but for whatever reason you’ve put it off. It’s time to get the ball rolling. Maybe you already have created a lot of content this year. Keep it up. Do it for God, though, and not for yourself!

Gregory is a preacher in South Texas with a passion for combining the time-less message of God’s grace with the technology of our day. On the side he produces videos for “FishXpressions” at http://sermonspice.com/producers/

profile/285. Without formal training, he has set out to learn how to create better and higher quality films. Apart from this column, he also maintains a produc-tion blog with tips, helpful links, and other musings at www.fishxpressions.

wordpress.com.

8March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by MARTIN BAGGSArticle

The Hurt Locker What Do We Live For?

Thirty-nine. That is how many days Bravo Company has remaining on its rotation in Baghdad before shipping back to the States. With 90% of its tour be-hind them, the men are counting the days like children waiting for Santa Claus. But when their bomb tech sergeant dies while trying to disarm a bomb, the bomb dis-posal team faces a problem: a new and very different sergeant. This opening sets the stage for the violent but engaging The Hurt Locker.

Nine. That is the number of Oscar nominations this independent film garnered, the same number as Avatar (directed by James Cameron of Titanic fame). But while Avatar has grossed more money than any other film in history, The Hurt Locker (directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Cameron’s ex-wife) earned less than $13 million and cost only $11 million. Yet, despite its size, The Hurt Locker won 6 Oscars, twice as many as Avatar, and picked up the big one: Best Picture. Of the 24 Awards given out on Oscar night, these two war movies picked up nine combined. Speaking of wars, they never seem to cease. Every decade there is a new war. Jesus said there will be “wars and rumors of wars” before the end (Matt. 24:6) when he ushers in the millennial kingdom and 1000 years of peace. Until then, wars continue. Hollywood’s love-hate relationship with war seems to bring a key movie to the forefront each decade, one that is lauded by Oscar and often breaks new ground. In the 70s with the end of the Vietnam War came The Deer Hunter (Best Picture and Director, 1978), showing the dreadful effects of psychological torture on prisoners of war. The 1980s gave us Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986 Best Picture and Director),

where American soldiers were not always benevolent. By the time the 90s rolled around, the focus returned to WW2, with the 50th anniversary of D-Day and VE-Day. Stephen Spielberg directed Saving Private Ryan (1998 Best Director) and offered us a totally realistic and in-your-face look at war, and the Normandy invasions in particular. The war film for the 00s (and even this decade) belongs to Kathryn Bigelow, with this movie about the Iraq war; or rather, the ongoing insurgency now that actual battle is over. This “war” is characterized by IEDs (improvised explo-sive devices) and urban guerrilla combat. The Hurt Locker vividly displays the chaos of war alongside the adrenaline rush that accompanies it. The story revolves around the three soldiers in this elite unit: Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). James is the actual bomb diffuser, while the other two are his support, guns to watch the civilians for signs of latent terrorism or violence. The stark contrast between James and his predecessor Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce, Memento) is immediately apparent. Where Thompson relied as much as possible on

March 2010 9Christian Video® Magazine

by MARTIN BAGGSArticle

mechanical robots to work the IEDs, reasonably only donning the bomb suit when he has to, James is in the suit in a flash and has no time for robots. His world is one of hands-on, in-the-moment thrills. For this EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Unit, that does not make for great team-building. There are two things that make this film so powerful. First is its screenplay, which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. A film is built on a script and a poor one limits the final product. Mark Boal, the screenwriter, was embedded with a bomb squad in Iraq and experienced the tensions and violence that an EOD unit faces daily. He was able to pen an intensely personal portrayal of these soldiers who have the most dangerous job in the world. The second is the photogra-phy by Barry Ackroyd. As he did with the suspenseful United 93, he filmed this with a documentary feel. The rubble and trash in the streets give the city a grim look. With numerous cameras surrounding the actors, there is a raw immediacy in the film. The action is visceral and bloody. Nothing pretty or glamorous. This is not a John Wayne war movie. It is not even a Tom Hanks film with beautiful French landscapes. Here, anyone can die at any moment, and moments of combat juxtapose with hours of boredom. Onlook-ers might be spectators or snipers, or even potential assassins who can detonate a bomb with a cell phone call. In one scene, after disarming a car bomb and breaking all the rules of teamwork, James is confronted by an officer, who asks him, “What’s the best way to go about disarming one

of these things?” James thinks and then replies, “The way you don’t die, sir.” Over 800 bombs disarmed and he is still alive. The officer nails his character, “You’re a wild man. You know that?” James is a renegade, a reckless cowboy. He has no fear, he seems indifferent to death. He is perfectly willing to face his mortality but does not care that he is putting his teammates at risk, too.

10March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by MARTIN BAGGSArticle

Bigelow makes it clear from the outset what the theme of the film is. Before the movie begins, a quote from journalist Chris Hedges appears on screen: “The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug” (from the book, “War is a Force that Gives us Meaning”). War is a drug and some soldiers are addicts. Certainly James is a war-junkie, a danger addict. He needs his daily fix. Without it life is banal, boring. Sanborn confronts James: “But you realize every time you suit up, every time we go out, it’s life or death. You roll the dice, and you deal with it. You recognize that, don’t you?” Although not psychotic, in one sense James is similar to Christopher Walken’s character in The Deer Hunter, who was so traumatized by his POW torture that he plays Russian roulette. Life and death as a game. Will James win the next contest or will that be the bomb that finally kills him? He is as unstable as the lethal bombs he plays with. And he is as endless a serial risk-taker as the war itself. The three soldiers of the EOD Unit provide a study in contrasts. Through these three Bigelow shows us the different ways that men seek to find identity in navigating the course between conformity and duty at one end of the spectrum and individuality and rebellion at the other. Sanborn is a by-the-book soldier who is clinging to the hope of survival, the conformist. Eldridge is young and insecure. He is trying to figure life out. But he is convinced he will die in the streets of Baghdad. He is wavering in the middle, lost. He has no anchor-point, no faith to hold him down. James is the ren-egade, break-all-the-rules non-com, at the rebellion end. In James, Bigelow gives us the non-conventional protagonist, a hero we do not identify with, but one we seek to understand. Toward the end James lets us see beneath his bravado. There is one thing he loves, one thing he lives for: the thrill of facing death. It is ironic that James, who has a small son, is willing to wager his life for a daily fix of thrills while Sanborn, who has no family, wants safety and survival. Sanborn moves from not being ready for fatherhood, to seeing its necessity. He is living for the day he can go home and start a family. The Hurt Locker, as intense a film as it is, leaves us reflecting on the question, what do we live for? What is the one thing we love more than anything else? Is it our family, like Sanborn? Is it pleasure or thrill-seeking, or our own form of

drug, like James? Do we even know? Are we immature and confused, like Eldridge? For those of us who follow Jesus, we look to him as our model. He lived for one thing: “my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn. 4:34). The will of God was paramount to Jesus. He was in war, one much like that shown in this film: an insurgent guerrilla war. That spiritual war continues today, with metaphorical IEDs in our paths and unseen enemies along the roadside. Our mission is to advance the kingdom of God while avoiding or defusing these hidden bombs. Jesus also answered for us the question of the one thing we should love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). God is central to all that we are. But Jesus added, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). When we love others in this way we will not put them deliberately in harm’s way, just to make ourselves feel good, as James did. Rather, we will seek what is right and best for them, even if it means setting aside our own thrill-ride to provide for their security. Eighty-two. This is the number of years the Oscars have been honoring films. In all this time Kathryn Bigelow is only the fourth female to be nominated as Best Director. This month she became the first woman to win this coveted award. Up to now she was best known for her 1991 surfing cult classic, Point Break. The Hurt Locker will now be the film we remember Kathryn Bigelow for in years to come. Copyright ©2010, 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: http://www.mosaicmoviecon-nectgroup.blogspot.com

Contact: martinbaggs@gmail.com

March 201011Christian Video® Magazine

Producer Interview

Hollywood Worldviews an Interview with Brian Godawa

Interview with Brian Godawa by Robert Kramer

Brian Godawa is the screenwriter for the award-winning feature film, To End All Wars, starring Kiefer Sutherland. It was awarded The Best Picture of the Heartland Film Festival, the Commander in Chief Medal of Service, Honor and Pride by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and showcased the 2003 Cannes Film Festival Cinema for Peace. Mr. Godawa’s scripts have won multiple awards in such screenplay competitions as Carl Sau-tter, The Nicholl Fellowship, Austin Heart of Film, Fade-In, Worldfest, Writer’s Network, Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project, Columbus Discovery Awards and Reader’s Digest Screenplay Competition. Most recently, Mr. Godawa wrote and directed the documentaries Lines That Divide: The Great Stem Cell Debate, and Wall of Separation for PBS, which was nominated for a Silver Gavel award from the American Bar Association for educating the public on the Constitution. He also adapted The Visitation by best-selling author Frank Peretti for Ralph Winter (X-Men, Wolverine ), and was previously hired to rewrite the ABC/Touchstone mini-series, Ghost Soldiers, based on the best-selling book by Hampton Sides. He gives lectures at high schools and colleges on screenwriting, as well as the art of watching and writing movies. He has had his articles on movies and philosophy published in magazines around the world, most recently winning First Place from the EPA for his article on the philosophy of The Matrix. We got to talk to Brian about a recent update to his best selling book, Hollywood Worldviews.

CVM: Why did you write Hollywood Worldviews?

Brian: It was because I had seen, in my experience, a lot of reactions from Christians in churches tending to fall into one of two camps. Either sort of a cultural

retreat because they would recognize certain things in movies that were bad, like too much sex and vio-lence, and they would withdraw from it altogether. While on the other hand, being in Los Ange-les, I’ve met a lot of Christians who are more savvy with the culture, more aware of the culture, who believe it’s more important to be involved in the world rather than be withdrawn from it. But many times they would actually end up consuming so much culture that they would look no different from it. They would not watch with discernment. Sort of like, “It’s just entertainment. Don’t take it too seriously.” or “Yeah, there’s some bad stuff, but it doesn’t effect me.” And so they would tend to consume it without being aware of the values or Worldview that’s being communicated through it.

CVM: How is the newly released version different than the original?

Brian: Well, the movies got out of date and people want to have more recent examples of movies that they’ve watched. I also wanted to add some material to the book such as a chapter on Jesus in the movies. I thought it was relevant because we talk about Chris-tianity in the movies, faith, spirituality and I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how Jesus is covered in the movies and cover some material on The Passion. Also, through my own personal and spiritual journey, I’ve grown in a way that I see the issue of worldviews in movies somewhat differently. Not con-trarily, but there are certainly some new things that I see in the issues. I cover a lot of these issues in my new book Word Pictures. Let me focus on one of the primary elements that I expanded a little bit in the book.

12March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

Interview with Brian Godawa by Robert KramerProducer Interview

There’s a tendency for those who like my book, to reduce movie watching to a sort of name the worldview game. So, they watch it to try to figure out the worldview as if that’s now the goal of dis-cerning Christians. You know, once we know world-views and we can spot them then in each movie then we’ve done our cultural duty. And while I believe that worldview does play an important part of art, I think that it can miss the boat on the fuller picture of the value of storytelling and art. What I mean by that is, and C.S. Lewis wrote about it in his book An Experiment in Criticism, where he indicates that art is not there for us to pick apart and analyze. You have to first experience it. You have to inhabit the story in order to understand what the artist is trying to communicate. And only then can you take a look at it more objectively and analyze it. Somewhere near that idea is what I’m think-

ing of. For example, you might have a movie that is a mixture of good and bad. Take Juno for instance. Juno is a movie about a young girl/teen that gets preg-nant. And it’s about her journey figuring out what to do. In the movie, she chooses to have the baby and put it up for adoption. And now there’s a good side and a negative side to this movie. The upside would be that in a pro-death culture where abortion is the assumed default for teen pregnancy, to have a movie where the teen keeps it is a very pro-life message. The down side is that throughout the movie, sexual-ity in teens is very much devalued and dehumanized and taken so casually that it’s not even thought of. And so what you have here is a mixture of good and bad. And that’s what a lot of movies are. So, if you watch it and you spot the worldview then you might be distancing yourself from the movie in a way that you’re missing out on some of the truth that

March 201013Christian Video® Magazine

Interview with Brian Godawa by Robert KramerProducer Interview

could be very powerful. So, I can watch Juno and em-brace it in such a way that I can enter the story and enjoy its pro-life elements, but of course afterwards I’d have to analyze it and say here’s where I disagree with it. What I’m saying is, understanding worldviews in movies should not be reduced to just an exercise of pointing out the worldviews in critique and analy-sis. Because I think that the power of story is that it can touch you and move you emotionally if you are able to enter into the story. And so there’s more of that element in the new version of “Hollywood Worldviews.”

CVM: That leads in to a question about what consid-erations should a Christian who is or wants to be a content creator take into account before starting a project?

Brian: I think at the top of the list is that we live in a fallen world and therefore nothing is perfect. Every-thing that you work on that is not your own, in other words, anything that you work on in any manner of a team; you may be accountable to other people whom you may not agree with. So you simply can-not have perfection, at least perfection as in accor-dance with your view in terms of content, etcetera. So once you recognize that, then you do not tend toward the more fundamentalist approach to culture; where the concept of Holiness is distorted to such that you will not have contact with anything that you disagree with on any level. If you actually lived that way, you probably couldn’t even go to your own church because pastors don’t always preach perfectly and totally consistently with how you think the Bible teaches the truth. So, entering into making movies in Hollywood you have to recognize first and foremost that you’re not going to have perfection. You’re not going to have everything the way you want. So you have to determine for yourself your standards and limits on the kind of things you feel you can work on. This is not the same for every person. Biblically that’s where you get the notion of eating meat sacrificed to idols

where it may be a sin for one person but not for another based on their conscience. And you need to be sensitive to your conscience but, you need to also recognize with humility that you are not the center of doctrinal truth in the universe. Therefore, there’s a little bit of humility with your disagreement and a willingness to work on stuff that you may not fully agree with. So consequently, what that might mean is, it might come down to degrees. I have passed on projects that I felt the overall theme was nega-tive, detrimental, or false or hurtful to humanity. I have willingly worked on things – take for instance a movie about marriage that just shows something positive about marriage. And to me that’s a great value to reinforce in today’s world. And yet that movie might have views of relationships that I don’t fully agree with or language or different issues. Like, some people have problems with violence and some people don’t. I wouldn’t want to work on a movie that I think exploits violence for the sake of enter-tainment. However, I would work on a very violent movie if I thought that it was redemptive. Like Brave-heart, where there’s a lot of swords and death but it’s very redemptive in terms of its overall message. But I wouldn’t want to work on a movie that might be exploitative like Kill Bill where I might think it’s go-ing too far. Like I say, it’s each project that you work on is determined by the context of the stuff that’s in it. So each person to a certain degree does have to figure out for themselves, as an adult, the standards that they’re going to work with. And then figure out how to apply them to different situations and different contexts.

CVM: Are you seeing any industry trends that have you concerned or that make you happy?

Brian: One concern I have is that because of the suc-cess of the movie Fireproof now there are studios looking for more Fireproof movies. In one sense, Christians see this as a great opportunity because

14March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

Interview with Brian Godawa by Robert KramerProducer Interview

now studios are going to put money into making good movies that Christians want. But I think it sets precedence that makes them look for and build upon a lack of… their standards for Christian movies are a lot lower and more propagandistic whereas the studios are now looking to exploit Christian movies. They’re not looking for the kind of quality that I think needs to be there. They’re just looking for ways to make some cheesy, cheap Christian movies because we can make more money off of them. And that’s an example that I think can be negative. One positive thing is… I speak around the country and I see a lot of young Christian people who have a passion for making movies and telling good stories. And they want to do it with excellence. And they want to communicate their Christian worldview, but they don’t want to make cheesy, Christian movies for just the Christian market. And some of them want to go to Hollywood and be an influence in Hollywood with their faith. And that’s been very encouraging because I’ve seen it a lot around the country. And I think it’s picking up an appropriate Biblical per-spective which is seeing Hollywood as a Sodom and Gomorrah, as a mission field of an un-reached people group. They want to come here and communicate Christ through their lives and other people’s lives and create content that can affect the world. I see an increase in that and I’m very much encouraged.

CVM: How would you encourage them in their pur-suit of that?

Brian: I would say a couple things. One is Chris-tian students, don’t just study film. Get a full broad education in the humanities; in history and science, politics… in all these areas get a broad education because you need depth from which to create. And if you just study film then you will be good with tech-nique but you’re not going to have deep content and that’s just as bad as having good content with bad craftsmanship. Secondly, move out to LA as soon as pos-

sible, because that’s where the action is. Or New York if you prefer, but New York is a different kind of a world. But LA is pretty much the dominant world. It’s being where the action is. Where you’re going to get work and learn the business. And with that you need to find a church community to be accountable to and be a part of. They will strengthen you, help keep you on track, and build in you a prioritization of God in your life. So that again, when you create, you’ll be creating from an orthodox Christian space as well as a strong understanding of God if you’re living it out in the midst of the church community. If you’re all by yourself as a lone ranger where you’re not commit-ted to a church and it’s just sort of there for Sundays or as an extra part of your life then you’re not going to create from a rich theological understanding of God.

CVM: Are you working on anything right now?

Brian: Right now they’re shooting a movie of one of my scripts that I worked on called Alleged. It’s the story of the Scopes Monkey Trial back in 1925 where what most people know about that story is that it’s a very symbolic historical moment, a turning point in American history. And most of what people know about it is false. It comes from the movie Inherit the Wind, which was a propagandist play and most of it was really not true. But rather than doing a Christian version of Inherit the Wind, we wanted to use that story as a backdrop of a personal story, of a person becoming a journalist. So we did it like Titanic. So it’s a love story and a young guy who wants to become a journalist and he’s learning the ropes as he cov-ers the trial. And he is apprenticed. And that’s the fictional element, everything else is non fictional. He is apprenticed to H.L. Mencken who was the journal-ist who covered the trial and whose writings became the dominant interpretation of the trial. So, we’re examining to so much the trial as how the media interpreted the trial. We’re shooting that right now, so it will be released hopefully next year. And I just released a

March 201015Christian Video® Magazine

Interview with Brian Godawa by Robert KramerProducer Interview

documentary called Lines that Divide, about stem cell research. And right now we’re trying to get traction around the country to show it. It’s a documentary that nobody’s really done yet about examining the issues connected to that debate; the moral, scientific, etc. And we’re looking for broadcast and distribution, but in the meantime it’s available on the internet at www.linesthatdivide.com. I’m also going around speaking at talk shows and around the country for the bioethics organization that funded it. So that’s been a real meaningful project for me. And a very powerful discovery, I didn’t know that much about the subject prior to doing the documen-tary and it really taught me a lot about the issues. I’m also trying to get a horror movie funded that I’ve written. It’s about a serial killer who is a bril-liant philosopher and he captures university profes-sors and debates with them. He begins the debates and the topic is his moral right to kill them. He says, if what you say is true about the universe. Give me one valid reason why I shouldn’t kill you and I’ll let you go. It’s sort of a horror movie with a serial killer about the existence of God. And all that stuff is on my website www.godawa.com and I talk a little bit about the projects I’m working on and you can find more information there.

CVM: That’s interesting. Can you give me your thoughts about Christian horror movies?

Brian: When you say Christian movies, you’re talking about a genre of film that’s very specific. I don’t real-ly do that. I’m making a horror film and as it happens, some horror films deal with the existence of God. The Exorcism of Emily Rose was a great film. It wasn’t a Christian horror movie, it was a horror movie and that’s really what I write. If you want to make a Christian horror movie then there has to be certain things in there that meet the Christian genre, like there has to be a conversion to Christ, there has to be some kind of a prayer, that kind of a thing has to be in there that I don’t really focus on. But, as a Christian making horror movies, I

actually believe that horror is one of the most power-ful moral genres and especially in this post modern culture. In a culture this relativistic, one man’s free-dom fighter is another man’s terrorist that refuses to make moral distinction therefore, a horror movie hits you in the gut with the belief that there is real evil. And one man’s serial killer is not another man’s freedom fighter. You walk out of a horror movie with that sense. I think that’s one aspect. I have an article coming out in Christian Research Journal this month and it’s called an apolo-getic of horror. And it talks about all the different ways that horror is a very moral medium. And its precedents are in the Bible actually. God himself uses horror as a genre to communicate several important things throughout the Bible. The biggest is example of this is, of course, the book of Revelation, which is literally a horror fantasy epic, along the likes of Lord of the Rings. You’ve got mutated monsters eating people. You’ve got all the traditional things that now we know of as in horror movies. And it’s used to communicate the spiritual seriousness of what God is trying to communicate. Those are just a couple of examples. Now, that doesn’t mean that therefore, all horror movies are acceptable any more than it means that all epic movies are good based on the fact that Braveheart is an epic with a great Christian message. Well, no. The movie Troy is an epic that is anti-chris-tian. So, to defend the horror genre is not to defend all horror movies. We should understand that clearly. But, that’s one of the ways, you know, look at the prophets and God uses a lot of horror in the proph-ecies. Because I think horror is one of the ways to communicate the seriousness of life and of the issues that you’re trying to address.

CVM: Thank you for talking with us. We look forward to seeing your projects and thanks for the insights.

Brian: Anytime.

16March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by JASON OTISArticle

Making Ministry Happen:

If you’ve been in church life for awhile, you might be familiar with something known as a “prayer chain.” In an earlier form, a Sunday school class would pro-vide a list of names and phone numbers to class members, so that when a concern came up, the first person on the list would call the second person on the list who would call the third person on the list – and so on – until everyone had been enlist-ed to lift the need in prayer.

With Web Videos, Prayer Requests Go Global

That concept hasn’t changed. Christians still want to share their prayer needs with oth-ers and give updates about answers to prayer. The use of Internet-based video technology, however, has opened up a way for those needs to go global within minutes, while also giving a more personal context to the requests. “You get so much texture by watching the video,” said Bill Nix, president and CEO of Axle-tree Media, Inc., the developers of E-zekiel.tv. “If you go to E-zekiel.tv and you look at the prayer requests that are there, you will understand what I mean by that. You learn, you understand, you feel the need that is being put there so much more than just seeing text on a page.” Internet video technology has played a large role in how the story of Katherine Wolf was told to a global audience – and continues to capture hearts and prayers nearly two years after she suffered a massive brain stem stroke. Katherine is the daughter-in-law of Dr. Jay Wolf Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church in Mont-

gomery, Alabama. As Wolf tells the story, in April 2008, Katherine and his son, Jay Wolf III, were living in Malibu, California, where Jay III was in his last month in law school at Pepperdine Univer-sity. Prior to taking a final exam, Jay III stopped at home on a lunch break to find his 27-year-old wife vomiting and experiencing an excruciating head-ache. “She didn’t realize that in the back of her head a little pipe had burst, and she was bleeding to death,” Wolf said. “My son discovered her just in time to get her to the hospital. They were able to give her a brain shunt just before she ‘died’, and they plunged her into a 15-hour operation.” Following a surgery during which Katherine received 80 units of blood, she was given only a one percent chance to live. “In the middle of this horrible experience, the Internet came alive and people starting praying from all over the world,” Wolf said. “We fully expected Katherine to die. But the mercy of God prevailed. She lived.” Later that week, Wolf’s teenage daughters

March 201017Christian Video® Magazine

by JASON OTISArticle

made a video asking people to pray for Katherine, and they posted it on the Internet. “In no time, it had been viewed by over 20,000 people,” Wolf said. The family made more videos. “We took one of the cameras with us to California, and we made a video right there in the courtyard of the UCLA Medical Center updat-ing people that Katherine was against all odds making some progress and inviting the body of Christ to pray,” Wolf said. “Literally tens of thousands of people viewed these videos, and much more importantly they began to pray.” The physical repercus-sions of Katherine’s brain stem stroke have been tremendous, but she has battled back in a slow and uphill recovery. She had to learn to swallow, to eat, to walk. Even now, none of these areas are easy for her. Her voice sounds different, her face is partially paralyzed, and her use of her right hand is limited. Even so, she and Jay III traveled from California the week of Christmas, and they addressed an Alabama congre-gation that had lifted them in prayer for 20 months. “It’s still shocking that people care, frankly,” Jay Wolf III said. “We have short attention spans. Life is busy. For people to still be with us on this journey is almost more than we can bear. Because it is unbelievable. It gives us such encouragement on the walk we are experiencing right now.”

“I think that one of the main things we are learning through this very, very difficult time is that what’s true in the light is also true in the dark,” Katherine Wolf told the congregation. “Even when you almost die, I really think God can feel just as near to you as He does when things are good, maybe even more.”

18March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by JASON OTISArticle

Connecting to Others Studies of American life today have sug-gested that social isolation is a growing trend, with Internet and mobile phones contributing to the problem. The theory is that because the interper-sonal connections aren’t grounded in traditional social settings, they tend to be weaker. However, a recent survey from the Pew Internet & American Life project challenged part of that perception – that an increasing number of Americans don’t have anyone with whom they can discuss important mat-ters. The results the “Social Isolation and New Technology” survey show that few Americans are actually socially isolated (only six percent have no one with whom they can share personal matters). Instead, the Pew research found that technological tools were actually creating larger and more di-verse networks. Among the findings:

Internet users are 55% more likely to dis-·cuss important matters with someone out-side the family; the figure is 45% for Amer-icans overall.

Internet users who upload photos to share ·online are 61% more likely to have discus-sion partners that cross political lines.

Bloggers have a 95% higher likelihood of ·having a cross-race discussion confidant, while people who frequently use the Inter-net at home are 53% more likely to have a confidant of a different race.

Technology has certainly connected the Wolf family to networks they may have never known. When Jay Wolf introduced his son and daughter-in-law to a congregation that knew them well, he said, “I had a lady that I’d never met come up to me the other day. She hugged my neck until it hurt, and she said, ‘Do you mind if I call Kather-

ine our miracle? Because I’m an owner. I’ve been praying for her. I’ve been reading her story and following it.’”Ease of Use As Wolf’s family discovered, if you know someone in serious need of prayer, you can start telling the story online in only moments, while software and video-sharing sites guide you along the way. Here’s all it takes:

Record a short message with a digital ·video camera. Web videos typically have a 10-minute limit; 2 -3 minutes is more com-mon.

Transfer the video to your computer. Cam-·corders often come with software and a USB cable that makes this simple.

Follow the instructions that lead you ·through saving the video to your computer.

Sign into a free video-sharing site and fol-·low the instructions to upload your video.

Coming Next Month “Getting the word out”about events and activities has always been a fundamental of church life. But now churches are encouraging attendance and providing information in ways that convey high-quality excitement with low-cost video tech-nology.

Jason Otis is vice president of marketing and busi-ness development for Axletree Media, the company behind E-zekiel.com, a content management system for churches and ministries, and E-zekiel.tv, a free video-sharing site. Comments? Send them to Jason.otis@axletreemedia.com.

March 201019Christian Video® Magazine

by STEWART REDWINEArticle

Collaboration:

Three weeks before the video shoot for the 2010 Believe Tour (http://www.ciy.com/believe) there were a host of production problems to be solved, creative de-cisions to be made, and time was working against us. Were we going to have clear weather for our helicopter shot of Eric Timm (http://www.nooneunderground.com) painting on the roof of a warehouse? How in the world were we going to get a 60-foot canvas to the top of a 6-story building, shoot, and get it back down again with-in our four-hour time limit? And what was our back up plan in case Eric’s morning of the shoot flight was delayed?

The Agony and Ecstasy of Working with Others

Fortunately, all these variables slid into place so seamlessly you would have thought we had the whole shoot pre-produced to the second. Even the downtown airport re-routing local air traf-fic over our location didn’t keep us from getting everything we needed within our allotted four-hour window. The video came together because we worked together; we collaborated. When collabo-ration works it is one of the most energizing and rewarding experiences in life. Nine times out of ten collaboration falls because of one simple and sinister word, pride. You must choose to collaborate and I can’t think of any better way to say it than this, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philip-pians 2:3-4) Every time you start work on a new video you need to ask yourself, what is the desired outcome of the project? Think about that question for a few seconds in light of whatever project you are currently working on. Is your desired outcome

that everyone who views your video recognize what a great filmmaker you are? Or is it that no matter what else happens, you won’t use another looping music bed? Or will you only be satisfied if the images you capture are in the purest form? Or will you only use slow motion if you capture in 60p, because you are a purest and there is no way you will ever allow 24p footage to be slowed down in Final Cut? These are all understandable desired outcomes but what if the only concern you had was how well the video you were creating fit into the larger whole? Very few of the video producers I know are creating work that will exist in a vacuum. More likely than not, the video you are currently working on is part of a larger publicity campaign, sermon series, or promotional piece. Even if you are gener-ating original work for sale on SermonSpice.com, it will be purchased based on how well it fits into a pastor’s existing sermon. A clear definition of your desired outcome will help you in collaborating with others. John Schimke, my producing partner for 36 Parables (http://www.36parables.com), says it

20March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by STEWART REDWINEArticle

this way, “Serve the story”. If you are having trouble figuring out what your desired outcome is for a given video ask yourself, “What is the story you are tell-ing?” But maybe you don’t know the desired out-come for a video because you just found out about it 5 minutes ago and it has to be done tomorrow. Let’s face it; many of you are in a tough spot. When you are the video producer, everyone in the organization looks to you as a wizard of some sort, the go to per-son who can save the day time and time again with mystical creative talents. The problem is, you’re not the one preaching on Sunday mornings, directing the event your video will premiere at, or creating the larger promotional context for your work. So when the pastor calls you Friday afternoon with a new creative direction for the Sunday morning video, you have got to come up with something magical in a matter of minutes. Or maybe you work at a ministry where at any moment several different departments may have video needs they need solved ASAP. And this is where choosing humility becomes rather difficult. Pride can well up very easily in your heart when you feel like you have to solve everyone else’s problems but don’t have any part in the greater creative decisions being made concerning the con-text and presentation of the video. When the 11th hour creative decision comes your way pride may tempt you to tell whoever is making the demands why their idea won’t work simply because you feel put upon. However, your success as a creative team member does not come from defeating those who inconvenience or disagree with you. You are most effective when you are focused on being the very best you can be, which leaves very little room for monitoring others’ performance.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Every-one should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20

When you are quick to listen you equip yourself to best serve those who need your video production expertise. Make sure you ask questions about the context and presentation of the video.

Find out what elements it will be preceded and • followed by

Hear creative ideas without raising technical • issues too soon

Listen for the desired outcome and insure ev-• erything in your control serves that end

If you do these things and remain grounded in humility and listening to others, I guarantee your collaboration will begin to click, as the poet W.B. Yeats puts it, like a well-made box. Of course, nothing will every change the fact that when you are working with others, opin-ions will abound. Put another way, the clearest way to accelerate collaboration is Stephen Covey’s 5th Habit from his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “seek first to understand, then to be understood”. Sounds like the quote from the Book of James doesn’t it? Collaboration is not the result of polari-ties defeating one another, but the power that is unleashed when they combine. Such is the story of electricity. This concept was introduced to me by Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads (http://www.wizardacademy.org/scripts/default.asp). You re-ally should check out his non-traditional business school and Monday Morning Memo (http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/) if you want to learn more about making something out of nothing. Messiah Sees More is the title of the video I was telling you about at the beginning of this article. We had a lot stacked against us that day, questionable weather, a sudden shift in air traffic interfering with our helicopter, and only 4 hours to get it all done. It was by no means because we had an easy day of shooting that the video turned out well; it was because we collaborated so well. We

March 201021Christian Video® Magazine

were able to communicate several times via video-conference before we shot. “On the morning of the shoot we took 2 hours to review our plan, time we could have spent shooting, and confirmed we all understood the desired outcome for the video.”

Collaboration with others, when grounded in humility and listening, can overcome the most difficult shooting situations and will always pro-duce your best work. Watch Messiah Sees More by clicking here: http://stewarthredwine.com/2010/03/21/messiah-sees-more/ In order to fully appreciate the Messiah Sees More you will want to see it in context at the 2010 Believe Messiah Tour (http://www.ciy.com/believe/tour-dates/), and there are still five tour dates to go.

by STEWART REDWINEArticle

Stewart H. Redwine is a Video Producer for Christ in Youth as well as Producer and Director of Photography for onetimeblind’s hit mini-movies and Youth Specialties 36 Parables DVD series.

He enjoys writing, tending his garden, and slalom skiing in the gorgeous Ozark Mountain Country of Southwest Missouri where he lives with his wife and two children. You can read more of what he has to say about faith, culture, and the arts at StewartHRedwine.com.

22March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

By Robert KramerArticle

Dangerous Calling

The film Dangerous Calling is a new release from the distribution arm of Cloud Ten Pictures. Brothers Josh and Jeremiah Daws created this movie, their first feature length film, and have left audiences wanting more. According to the insert, the movie is a “suspense thriller set in the world of small town church politics,” and reactions have been varied because of this subject matter. We recently got a chance to talk to the Daws brothers about their film.

CVM: So why this movie?

JOSH: We had been making short films for years and years. We had always wanted to do a feature some day. We were doing contract video work for large organization and they decided to go in house, which left us with an entire year open. We initially started writing and we want-ed to write a thriller but somewhere in the writ-ing process we got this idea that we should set it in a church. We’re pastor’s kids so we grew up in that world.

CVM: Was your intent to make a “Christian thriller”?

JEREMIAH: Really not at all. We wanted to make a thriller that was set in a unique location. And because it was set in a church and involved church politics, we had to set up this world. The narrative also allowed us to comment on church politics in general and maybe encourage some people to re-evaluate their part in those politics. That’s really where it went. We don’t look at it

as a “Christian” film. It’s kind of like Apollo 13. You don’t have to be a NASA scientist to understand what’s happening. Just like in our film, you don’t have to be a Christian to get the conflicts that are happening.

CVM: Have you been surprised by any reac-tions to the film?

JOSH: Yeah, with what can be considered by some to be a Christian film, we weren’t quite sure what reaction we’d get. But we’ve been really pleasantly surprised. We tried to make it more mainstream, to a get the biggest audience we could. We also tried to make it more about the suspense and limit the violence. We kept a lot of that out of it, so as people watch it they won’t have to fast forward through any parts.

CVM: For other independent filmmakers out there, what was some of the gear you used?

JEREMIAH: We shot on the Panasonic HVX 200 with a prime lens adapter and a package

March 201023Christian Video® Magazine

By Robert KramerArticle

of lenses. We hired a grip truck with some 4K lights. We didn’t have a ton of lights but we did have the equipment with the truck. As far as audio, we hired a sound guy who brought his own gear.

CVM: How big was your crew?

JEREMIAH: At its biggest, it was about 30 people. But we’d usually have around 20 on set each day.CVM: So how does it work with the both of you as Director?

JOSH: We’re a team. Jeremiah is much better at working with actors and pulling performanc-es from them. I’m much better at setting up the shots, blocking and stuff like that.

JEREMIAH: That doesn’t mean that Josh doesn’t talk to the actors and I don’t set up shots, because we do. But we were just created to compliment each other in these areas. So that’s what we do and it’s a great partnership.

CVM: So, in particular, there was one scene that made me jump. And that was the snake scene.

JEREMIAH: Well, I am terribly afraid of snakes. It is a recurring nightmare I have of having a snake in my bed, so I wanted to chan-nel that fear. And for that scene I think it was very effective. We always research methods and techniques so that we can deliver the scene the best that we can.

CVM: Did you have challenges working with the snake?

JEREMIAH: Yeah, actually. Getting a rattle snake to strike is a lot harder than you might think. It took a couple of hours of the trainer sitting there and tapping it with his prod and we got a few good strikes. And then there was one snake that just wouldn’t strike at all. So, it had to be put away and they got out another snake.

JOSH: The trainer brought a variety of snakes for us to choose from and we had to make sure that there was never any actor in the room when we were getting the shots of the snake.

CVM: What were your greatest challenges in each stage of production?

JEREMIAH: In pre-production, as the story and script got bigger and bigger we were wor-ried about getting all of the funding we needed. We wanted to shoot it the best that we could. And the money came through for us last minute. And we also had an actor drop out last minute.

JOSH: We had to re-cast a major role two weeks before shooting.

JEREMIAH: During production, we had to shoot an extra week.

JOSH: We had never shot action scenes like this and it took longer than we thought. And at one point we lost a day’s worth of footage. But it really worked out because it allowed us to re-shoot it in a way that worked out better for the over all film.

JEREMIAH: And by the time we were editing it had actually become fun again.

24March 2010Christian Video® Magazine

By Robert KramerArticle

CVM: So what’s next for the Daws Brothers?

JEREMIAH: That’s a good question.

JOSH: We’re writing. What we’re currently writing is on a bigger budget than what we’ve done. So, we’re hoping that that works out and we get the opportunity to do something with it. But we know with this bigger budget thriller that’s something we can’t do on our own.

JEREMIAH: And we’re also working on writing an action comedy that we hope we can do on our own. And depending on the success of Dangerous Calling we’re open to making another low budget thriller. We’re not opposed to that.CVM: Thank you guys for tak-ing the time to talk about your film.

JEREMIAH and JOSH: Thanks.

Dangerous Calling was picked up by Cloud Ten after following and contacting the Daws broth-ers on twitter and seeing the audience reac-tion to their film at a festival. They met, had a conversation and the rest is now available for you to purchase at your local retailer. If you’re interested in supporting independent filmmak-

ers who are trying to do something a little bit different, check out Dangerous Calling, you won’t be disappointed.