1Christian Video® Magazine

2August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

August 2010VOL. 3, NO. 8

7 Greg’s ToolkitSalty Editing

by GREGORY FISH

10 ArticleIron Man 2 - Wounded Savior

by MARTIN BAGGS

13 Article Taking Church Media in a New Direction

by ROBERT KRAMER

15 Article A Defense of the Arts for Christians

by ANTHONY HORVATH

17 ArticleBack to the Basics

by STEWART REDWINE

Editorial 3

Cover Story 4Film and Television: Engaging the New Literatureby ROBERT VELARDE

August 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

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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.

Now that 2010 is half over, it is a good time to announce our second an-nual Christian Video Awards! We will provide more information about rules and such in the next several months, but it is a good time to remind you to get ready to submit or vote on this year’s top Christian videos. And, I would love to hear from you if you took part in last year’s contest. What categories do you think we should add or subtract? Did you like the voting structure? Were there too many videos to view and vote on? We have thought that we might have a smaller panel of judges narrow down the submissions so that our readers can pick from a shorter list of submis-sions that pass the initial judges’ review. Drop me an email and let me know what you think!

And, speaking of video contests, our own Robert Kramer (contributing editor in Christian Video Magazine) let us know that he has entered a video in a contest called “Home Made Memories”. Robert’s video can be found at http://homemadememories.taylormorrison.com/voting/#/it-s-time-to-vote and it is very cute (Robert has a very adorable son who “smashed his nose” when he fell off a swing). Go to the site and click on Week 3 to see the video and cast your vote. As a bonus, when you register to vote, the contest sponsor, Taylor Morrison, will be entering you into a drawing to potentially win $18,000. It would be an added benefit if one of our readers won the prize! It would certainly buy some very cool new video and computer equipment!

Remember, keep us informed about videos you are creating and post-ing! Let us know how you are using video in your church or ministry. If it is something we think is especially cool, we might just share it with our 80,000+ readers!

Together We Serve Him

Steve Hewitt

from the desk of the editorby STEVE HEWITT

Video Contests!

4August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

Film and Television:

Cover Storyby ROBERT VELARDE

The average American watches 5 hours of television per day, or 151 hours a month and 1812 hours per year. The latter number, in turn, comes to 75.5 days of television viewing per year (Nielsen Company Report, February 23, 2009). The film industry brings in more than $10 billion dollars a year, and reaches millions more people via DVD, Blu-ray, and various video on demand services available in the home, online, and via mobile devices.

Engaging the New Literature

There are a number of interesting points that can be made about this information. Consider, for instance, that the technol-ogy necessary to spur the rise of the film industry did not even begin to develop until the late 19th century, while the creation of films for general public viewing did not begin until the 20th century. In other words, film as a viable part of popular culture has existed for only some 100 years, give or take some years. Print, on the other hand, is more than 5000 years old—a time-tested medium capable of capturing the most detailed ideas within the minds of great thinkers throughout the ages of recorded history. For a few years now I’ve touted the idea that film and television are the “new literature.” Literary types, fully im-mersed in the world of the printed page, are sometimes shocked when I make such a statement. Yet, I myself am a “literary type,” having an extensive printed library and possessing a great love of books. Others have embraced my insight, eager to celebrate film and television uncritically, praising the contribu-tion such mediums have made to the world and, in some instances, to Christian ministry. First, my remark that film and television are the new literature in no way intends to dismiss the

ongoing relevance of printed literature. Second, my claim that film and television are the new literature does not mean that I advocate embracing or utilizing these mediums uncritically or exclusively. With those introductory remarks in place, let me move on to the focus of this article; namely, unpacking the concept of film and television as the new literature and offering some insights for the application of these mediums to contemporary Christian ministry, taking into account the rise of the online world of video. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman considers the age prior to ours the Age of Exposition, defined as “that period of time during which the American mind submitted itself to the sovereignty of the printed press ...” (p. 63). It is during this time that typography, that is, writing and literature, were the primary means of communicating ideas. But that is no longer the case. Writing in 1985, Postman believed that by the late 19th century we had left the Age of Exposition behind to some extent and had entered the Age of Show Business. And that, in fact, is where we are now: the Age of Entertainment. Given this premise, is it a stretch to theorize that film and television are the

August 2010 5Christian Video® Magazine

By ROBERT VELARDECover Story

new literature? I don’t think it is. Film and television are the new literature not in that they are literature or even literary in the traditional sense of the word, but that they have to a significant extent eclipsed printed exposition and discourse in our culture. We have largely shifted from a “Have you read ...?” mentality to a “Have you seen ...?” perspective. What do the majority of people do instead of reading and discussing great literature and its myriad concepts? They watch movies and television. They no longer build anything resembling a library of books in their home, but they do build a library of recorded films and television programs, whether the library be digital or copies of DVDs and such. Furthermore, in most circles people discuss the latest television shows and films much more than they would the latest work, in print, of, say, epistemology or metaphysics. If film and television are the new literature, what are we to do? One option is to entrench ourselves in the Christian subculture, burying our heads in the sand, so to speak. Another option is to fully embrace this trend towards film and televi-sion, but all too often this happens without much discernment, instead focusing on celebrating the wonders of film and television. But entrenching and embracing will not do. The tertium quid, or third alternative, that I propose as a Christian philosopher of technology, is to engage the new literature intelligently. We must learn to exegete (interpret) the new literature in ways that are meaningful and will reach this new kind of person, who is a product of a media-driven culture. Moreover, if the contemporary Christian church is to remain relevant, it must find thoughtful ways to incorporate the relatively new mediums, historically speaking, of film and television into ministry without compromising biblical truths. As far as engaging film and television intelligently is concerned, there have been some efforts to do this, many of them in print (i.e., books), which seems in some ways contrary to reaching this audience. My latest book, for instance, The Wisdom of Pixar: An Animated Look at Virtue, seeks to glean insights on virtue ethics from Pixar films and apply those insights to classic Christian virtues and the Christian life. It is, in short, a work that utilizes film in order to address issues regarding spiritual formation (discipleship), moral philosophy, and the engagement of culture, albeit in a popular format. Books like these may equip us for engaging the new literature and help us mature in our faith, but in the end, despite my

misgivings, I think it will be necessary to counter the new literature by using the new literature wisely. In other words, we must move beyond the printed page, not leaving it behind, but adding film and television to our repertoire of modern ministry methods. Where does the online world fit into my theory that film and television are the new literature? If film and television are, historically speaking, relatively new forms, then where does that leave the online world? Although the internet has existed in some form since the 1960s, for decades it resided within the hands of a select few, comparatively speaking—mostly academics and military types. In 1993 that changed dramati-cally with the rise of the worldwide web, made possible by easy to use web browsers (the first being NCSA Mosaic, publicly released in 1993). For those of you keeping count, this makes the modern web-browser internet less than 20 years old (17, to be precise). The contemporary online world is not yet old enough to vote, yet it is leading culture. But where is it leading us? My first forays on the internet began in the late 1980s, using a slow speed modem (300 baud, anyone?) and access provided by the university I attended. Broadband access speeds had yet to become available to the average person. This resulted in extremely slow connection speeds that handled text quite well, but not video. As I sometimes remark, the internet as it ex-ists now is something like a big magazine with videos. But this was not possible in the ‘80s. Now, with many people having access to broadband internet connections, video is catching up online. Hence, the rise of iTunes, Netflix, YouTube, and other video-on-demand services. Moreover, mobile devices such as cell phones no longer resemble large, cumbersome military-grade walkie-talkies. Instead they fit in our pockets and are often capable of streaming online video or at least holding plenty of video content within the bowels of their capacious memory chips. I take it you’ve heard of something called the iPhone? How is the contemporary Christian and the church as a whole to react to the rise of film and television, not to mention the ascent of online video? As I’ve noted, we can entrench ourselves—hunker down, so to speak. We can embrace film, television, and the rise of online video, without giving much thought to the potential detriments of our celebratory stance. Or, in the view I support, we can engage culture intelligently,

6August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

thoughtfully considering not only the mediums of film and television, but also their potential integrative ministry uses and applications. As with any medium developed by fallen human beings, film and television, whether they are delivered in traditional formats or online, bring with them an abundance of depravity. This, however, does not mean that the mediums of film and television, cannot be used positively in a redemptive sense. Marshall McLuhan observed that any new technology brings with it what he termed extensions and amputations. Think of these terms, respectively, as benefits and detri-ments. Whenever considering the use of film or television in relation to ministry, think not only about the benefits, but also the potential detri-ments. Ask pointed questions. Will this use of film and television benefit the cause of Christ? If so, how? If not, why use it? Does the integration of a particular video clip enhance a sermon? How so? Does it seem like a gimmick? I’m not foolish enough to claim to have the answers to these and related questions regarding film and television in ministry, but that does not mean we shouldn’t seek to answer such questions. The new literature—film and television—is a juggernaut. But it is not an unstoppable one or an entirely negative one. Indeed, some of its elements may be redeemed. Whatever your take on this article or what it encompasses, my hope is that the Christian church will begin to seriously engage the mediums of film and television, adapting as necessary but doing so without compromise to biblical revelation. Robert Velarde is a writer, educator, and philosopher. He is the author of several books including The Wisdom of Pixar,

By ROBERT VELARDECover Story

Conversations with C.S. Lewis, and The Golden Rules of Narnia. He studied philosophy of religion at Denver Seminary and is completing his graduate studies at Southern Evangelical Semi-nary. http://robertvelarde.blogspot.com/ http://www.thewisdo-mofpixar.com/

August 2010 7Christian Video® Magazine

by GREGORY FISH

Salty Editing

Greg’s Toolkit

You are the salt of the earth, are you not? When salt loses saltiness, what have you got? Salt cannot ever be salty again. It’s thrown on the ground and tram-pled by men.” This is poetry from Kyle Holt’s “The Bible in Rhyme”. This text, Matthew 5, was the subject of one of my newest videos. I’d like to walk through some of the editing choices I made in this process. But first, let me interject another scripture that comes to mind when I think about salt. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Could this apply to our editing as well? If the Bible calls us to “salty speech,” then maybe as producers, we should incorporate “salty editing” into our process. What do I mean by this? Though there are many ideas on what Paul meant with the salt metaphor, it is generally accepted that two benefits of salt are pre-serving and flavoring. Our video productions must be those that preserve the truth of God in an attractive and pleasing way that the masses will comprehend. Visual imag-ery is the new language of mankind and a powerful way to communicate great truths, or anything really. But to be completely salty, the way we speak (or edit) must be tactful and effective in its quality.

“

I could have found a background and faded in text and been done with this video. But it would not have been very “salty”. Instead, I took my sweet time with it. Indeed I did. I edit video in my off time from my full-time ministry. So due to the complicated portions involved in this animation, I took two long (or too long) months to create it. It was worth it, I think. Check it out at http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/19611/Matthew-5 and keep reading! I started by animating a hill scene, moving mainly the trees layer in the foreground. I arranged the text along the hills dropping in from above. A long word, “mountainside” fell in at an angle so that the “m” hit

first and then rotated simulating a fall-into-place effect. For the next scene I remember a “keyhole” transition in Windows Movie Maker, but I had to draw a keyhole in Photoshop to use in After Effects. With the moving clouds, I brought in a subtle yellow sun ray effect right when the word “heaven” was spoken. Throughout the video whenever there were multiple lines of text, I did something very simple that I love to do. I accent certain keywords by using a different font for them. Don’t go too crazy with this. I think I prob-ably used no more than three or four fonts in the whole video. Pick a couple and stick with them, unless the video calls for craziness!

8August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by GREGORY FISHGreg’s Toolkit

Text around the rotating earth footage was wrapped around the natural curvature of the sphere. The word “gold”, I thought deserved a yellowish/ gold color change to standout and be true to itself. “Filled by God” became the word “God” cloned (duplicated and resized) and filling a frame made by the other text that came before. There was some kinetic typography throughout to the style of this tutorial- http://www.crookedgremlins.com/09/01/2008/kinetic-typography-tutorial/. For the pure in heart section I had an HD clip of hearts bouncing in. I found a text preset with the same bouncing in effect. Then I scaled up the clip so that the red heart filled most of the frame and I could change the text color from red to white. For “peacemakers” I used a picture of two fingers making a peace sign. I had a little problem when it left most of the frame in white (due to its dimensions). To

compensate for this, I had to create a gradient (or ramp) that matched the colors in the picture and blended in perfectly. Then I had the text fly in around the fingers, filling the frame. “Persecuted” was naturally a dark background. “Heaven” brought those familiar clouds and rays back. The next text that came out floated with the clouds from right to left. To mimic a cloud-like movement, I added a wiggle to the text. (Google “wiggle” and “After Ef-fects” to see how to do this). The next section was perhaps my favorite. I feared its complexity and procrastinated some time on this part. When I finally got to it, it was not hard at all to do. I brought in the rotating earth footage and placed it in the corner. I drew a mask around it to get rid of both the black around it and the moon that orbits the earth. I placed a simple gradient or ramp in the background so that you would be able to see the salt. I prepared a

August 2010 9Christian Video® Magazine

by GREGORY FISHGreg’s Toolkit

salt shaker in Photoshop®, eliminating the white background and shadows that came with it. I then added the previously mentioned wiggle effect to it to give it its shaking motion. I created a particle system to be the salt. It took just a little tweaking to get it right and I was ready for text. I found some simple presets for the text which I slanted at an angle to fit between the shaker and the earth. Another preset threw the text to the ground and I brought in a foot-print to fill the screen when the “trampled” part was spoken. I found a swinging bulb HD clip for free on one of the stock footage sites I’ve written previously about. I thought it’d be neat if the text could swing with the bulb. Thanks to motion tracking and this tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pjXZkmpIzU) it was not so hard to accomplish. The hardest part was finding a spot to track. After failing with two spots, I found that in the middle of the bulb, where the brightness starts, was a pretty good point to track. Then I used a light clip that I had purchased to use before I had seen the swinging bulb clip. It made for a good ending. After fin-ishing all of this work in bits and pieces, I then searched for fitting music in my stock music collection. Much of the time, I like to start with music and edit around it and on the beat and such. Here, I did the opposite and it worked out great. I got lucky, maybe. All in all, I was pleased with the outcome. The important thing was that the author, Kyle Holt liked it too (after all, it’s his con-tent). You’ve got to take some pride in your work. Being arrogant would not be a good thing. There’s a difference between healthy pride and plain arrogance. I wouldn’t dare be arrogant about my skills. I know there’s SO much more to learn. I do know that this video is a ton better than many that I’ve done before this point. So I can take some pride in that. It was done in an appealing way AND contains the incredible message of God. It’s tactful, tasty, and preserves a timeless truth. That’s salty editing!

Gregory is a preacher in South Texas with a passion for combining the timeless message of God’s grace with the technology of our day. On the side he produces videos for “FishXpressions” at various different Christian video sites. 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 production blog with tips, helpful links, and other musings at www.fishxpressions.wordpress.com.

10August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by MARTIN BAGGSArticle

Iron Man 2

Sequels are quite often duller than the originals. Being formulaic, they are put together to cash in on the success of their predecessors. They are typically pro-duced to milk the cinematic cash cow. Fortunately, Iron Man 2 does not fit this bill. It is as much fun as Iron Man but without the need to introduce and explain the characters, allowing the viewer to get right into this new story.

Remember, before showing clips from movies, be sure you have a license to do so. Check out Church Video License to be sure you are legal. www.cvli.com

Wounded Saviors

The film picks up several months after the first one left off, but reprises in flash-back Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) surprising press conference revelation of his dual identity. This revelation is critical, as Stark’s alter ego is now in plain view. Indeed, during the opening credits, we see magazine cov-ers portraying the technolo-gist and industry magnate as a savior. Iron Man is Time’s “Man of the Year.” Other newspapers show Stark as the person who has brought global fighting to an end. Subpoenaed to testify before a Senate hearing, Stark declares, “I have successfully privatized world peace!” With characteristic charisma, Stark flashes a peace sign and welcomes the audience’s applause and semi-worship. Just like the original, Iron Man 2 is replete with spiritual references. Stark presents himself as the

savior of the world, and soaks in the world’s ac-claim. Surely the world needs a savior that is true. But not one like Tony Stark. As Iron Man he has dealt with the external conflicts but we need a Sav-ior who can address our internal issue, the enmity we have with God (Col. 1:21). We have no inner

peace, and without it ex-ternal peace is only tempo-rary. Jesus is the Savior the world needs (Jn. 4:42), and he is as humble as Stark is egotistical. In Iron Man, Stark dis-

covered a literal and metaphorical internal change of heart. He realized he needed to give something back to society. Here he has regressed. Once more he is self-centered and self-indulgent. As an out-in-the-open hero, he now faces a government that wants his suit as a weapon, a business rival that wants his secret, an enemy that wants him dead, and a mid-life crisis that leaves him sinking into depres-sion and alcohol. Stark is back into his playboy

August 201011Christian Video® Magazine

by MARTIN BAGGSArticle

ways. He must face these inter-nal and external demons. The film is loaded with acting talent. Mickey Rourke plays Ivan Vanko, a discredited Russian physicist who blames Stark. Sam Rockwell, so good in Moon, is Justin Hammer, the weapons’ supplier to the military and Stark’s arch-rival. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts, Stark’s assistant who keeps him and his com-pany running. Gone, though, is Terrence Howard, who had a falling out with Marvel Stu-dios. Don Cheadle replaces him as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, who has a bigger part in this story, as does Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, the leader of the Avengers. Making the strongest impression, though, is Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman, a young lawyer for Stark Indus-tries. Rushman is in my favorite scene, as she takes on a whole platoon of security guards while her company driver Happy Hogan (played by the director, Jon Favreau, himself), struggles to fight one guard. In Matrix-like freeze-motion, we see her take all the guys down herself without need for a me-chanical suit. Of course, in coming to see Iron Man 2 we come to see comic book action and these actions scenes are terrific. Two stand out. The first is set against the stunning backdrop of the Monte Carlo grand prix. With Stark on the track, Vanko shows up to wreak destruction with a high-tech weapon

of his own. This is a spectacular sequence of flying cars and electric whips. Then there is the final battle where Stark with help combats Vanko again, now in an armored suit himself. The action is better and the climax superior to the original movie. Vanko is a fearsome enemy, with his own de-

12August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by MARTIN BAGGSArticle

mons and internal motivation. In one scene, he tells Stark in his Russian accent, “If you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in Him. There will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come . . . All I have to do is sit here and watch, as the world will consume you.” He does not want to simply kill Stark; he wants to wound him and let the world bring him down. If Iron Man is shown to be vincible, his supporters will turn away. Here is a classic contrast with the real Savior. If Stark’s blood is shed, his wounds will cause the peace that he has enabled to fall apart. His world cannot handle a wounded savior. But that is because Stark is not God, he is not the real Savior. In real-ity, the world needs a wounded Savior. It is by the shedding of Jesus’ blood that our sins can be for-given (Heb. 9:22). His blood was poured out for us on the cross as he died there for us; by his wounds we are healed (1 Pet. 2:24). And with his death and resurrection Jesus has inaugurated his kingdom, a kingdom that will ultimately usher in peace (Isa. 9:7). One wounded savior ended peace; the other wounded Savior brings peace. Another point of reference for biblical Chris-tianity comes from Stark’s claim, “I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one.” His Iron Man suit is an anti-type of Jesus, who has come to be one with the human person. The real Jesus comes to us and makes his dwelling in us (Jn. 14:17-18). He said “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30). The fullness of God in Christ is the very same fullness we have been given in Christ (Col. 2:9). When we choose to follow Jesus in obedience and love, we can no more be separated from Christ and his love (Rom. 8:35), in whom we find our new identity (2 Cor. 5:17), than can Tony Stark be separated from his suit in which he derives his identity. One semi-humorous scene has Stark, dressed in his Iron Man outfit, hosting his birthday party. Full of swingers egging him on, he uses his technologi-cal weaponry as party poppers to entertain this wild and drunken crowd. And he is drunker than they are. He has gone off the deep end, in the realiza-

tion of his mortality. He has hit rock bottom in his character. So far down is he that he faces off in a mano-a-mano combat with his friend Rhodes, who has donned another of Stark’s mechanized suits. Not a fight for life and death, this is fight for dignity and respect. Stark cannot accept anyone else giving him orders or wearing his suit. This takes attention away from him. He is a lone ranger. He needs no help. He wants the limelight all to himself. This brings us to a final key theme of the film: partnership; fighting together, supporting one an-other. Rhodes says to Stark, “This lone gunslinger act is unnecessary . . . you don’t have to do this alone!” Stark thinks he does but he really doesn’t. Americans have adopted the lone gunslinger men-tality. And we have extended it even into our faith. Too often followers of Jesus think we can live out our faith on our own. Yet it is simply not true. Of course, we must come to Christ on our own; it is as a personal decision of ours to make. But once we are part of his family we are part of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). We all contribute to the well-being of the corporate body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:14-27). We cannot live alone with God. We need others; and they need us. Stark learns this lesson and comes to depend on his friend. We can learn this, too. Despite the depression Stark overcomes his demons and emerges stronger, though narcissis-tic. Wounded, he is not weaker. Flying, he is more grounded. As a savior, he is still less than perfect.

Copyright ©2010, Martin Baggs

Martin works as an engineeing 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

August 201013Christian Video® Magazine

By ROBERT KRAMERArticle

Taking Church Media in a New Direction:

Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with Dallas Jenkins of Jenkins En-tertainment. Dallas has produced many feature films that have been released the-atrically. His films include Hometown Legend, Midnight Clear, and None Go With Me. His most recent film, What If…, is due in theaters on August 20th 2010. What If… tells the story of a successful business executive who gets a second chance at a life he gave up 15 years ago to pursue his fortune in business. In the tradition of It’s a Wonderful Life and The Family Man, What If… is a story of finding your true purpose in life.

An interview with Dallas Jenkins

Dallas has just begun a new role with Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago as their Media Director. He tells us a little bit about his new role and talks about the church’s plans for the future.

CVM: Can you describe the different aspects of your new role at Harvest?

DALLAS: I’m responsible for everything from the production of the weekend services to the videos and general media we do to the feature films we’re planning to make starting next year. I don’t necessarily do all this stuff myself, of course, but I’m ultimately responsible for it.

CVM: Are you responsible for the multiple campuses or does each one have its own media director?

DALLAS: I’m ultimately responsible for all campuses, but each campus has its own production teams for the weekend services. But the campuses rely on us for the videos, general media, and the training and manage-ment of the volunteers from each campus.

CVM: What does your media team look like? (Staff size, positions, and volunteer base)

DALLAS: We’re very small right now, but that’ll change soon. Right now we’ve got one full-time guy on our video team, three full-time guys on our produc-tion team, and then a large amount of volunteers for the weekend services. We plan to up the ante as we develop our media to the next level.

CVM: What is the vision for the feature film aspect? Will you follow Sherwood Pictures example or go a dif-ferent route?

DALLAS: We’ll certainly glean from Sherwood Pic-tures what has worked, a key part of which is the main idea that the church provides significant support and resources that other movies don’t have. Food, lodging, locations, production assistants, etc., are all very much within the scope of usual functions for a church. These are all things churches do well for free that many film productions struggle with on a budget.

14August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

By ROBERT KRAMERArticle

We’ll be different from Sherwood Pictures, how-ever, in our relationship with Hollywood. Sherwood is pretty much exclusively a church model—they’re a church making a movie, and while they bring in many crew members from outside the church, they’re all Christians, all part of the church team. They don’t work with any of the Hollywood unions, including the actors’ union. We’ll have more of a partnership with Hollywood, starting with the fact that I come in as a Hollywood filmmaker who’s worked primarily with Hollywood actors and key crew. I’ll continue those relationships and bring some of them to the table.

CVM: Being in Chicago I’m sure there will be no shortage of crew or talent, how will you select who you work with on the films?

DALLAS: We’ll certainly use a fair amount of local tal-ent, but the primary objective is to get the best available and affordable person for each particular job, no matter what that job is. Church member or non, Chicago native or not, we want what’s best for the project. And many times it makes sense to go local or within the church, and that’ll be great—but that won’t be what dictates every decision.

CVM: Along the same lines, how will you select your projects?

DALLAS: I’ll meet with our Pastor, James MacDonald, and other key members of our Leadership and Mar-keting team, along with whatever distribution partner we work with, and choose a project that fits most what we’re looking for. Perhaps we, as a church, have something we really want to say or talk about; per-haps there’s some amazing script that we’re all excited about; perhaps we sense the audience is looking for something specific; and more than anything, we’ll be praying that God makes it clear to us the story He wants us to tell. We unapologetically believe that God’s hand should be in this every step of the way.

CVM: What will the goal be? (Entertainment, evangeli-zation, edification, profit?)

DALLAS: I think all of those are worthy goals. A mov-ie is a movie, and it’s meant to entertain, not preach. And of course, if our movies don’t make money, we can’t make more movies. But we also don’t shy away from the fact that we have something to say, like any Hollywood filmmaker. And what we have to say is that there is absolute truth, there is hope in the midst of the darkest of places, that the gospel is real and alive and that God has a role in our lives. I’m not sure a 90 minute film can single-handedly bring someone from spiritual death to life, but it can certainly make a contri-bution to the spiritual conversation in culture.

CVM: How will the films be financed?

DALLAS: The church will finance the films initially, and by church I of course mean the congregation and supporters. Obviously, the church doesn’t pull its money from some magic box—we survive only by God’s grace through the giving of his people. Ultimate-ly, though, our goal would be for the movies to pay for themselves through their sales and profits. We’re not in this to make money; the money that comes in goes right back out for more impact. This is a model I believe will become more com-mon. It’s more surprising that more churches have NOT done this before than it is that a couple of them are starting to do it now. The church has resources and tal-ent to do this; they’ve just been distant from Hollywood for so long. This is going to become a powerful tool to bridge the gap between the church and popular culture.

CVM: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. We look forward to seeing your new film, What If…, and many more to come.

For more information about What If… go to www.thewhatifmovie.com

August 201015Christian Video® Magazine

By ANTHONY HORVATHArticle

A Defense of the Arts for Christians

He has set eternity in the hearts of men...” So begins chapter three, verse eleven, of the book of Ecclesiastes. I bet everyone sometimes falls into the habit of thinking that the only real things are those things we grasp with our five senses, but I would also wager that we have all experienced the angst and restlessness that shows that our rat race lives cannot provide us all the satisfactions we need. Chris-tianity would offer another interpretation for that unsettled feeling: it is homesick-ness.

“

Humans uniformly experience moments of dissatisfaction, even when they have their every material need met. Christians know that this is because we have been made in the image of God and he has made us in such a way that, unlike the beasts, we can never have rest apart from being in His full presence. Unfortunately, though we were made for that relationship, it has become fractured and broken. Nonetheless, we feel in our very bones the desire for that relationship restored. Christianity offers the good news that God has put in place a plan that will achieve just that. Why does an apologetics ministry such as Athanatos Christian Ministries, which I am the executive director of, think in these terms? To answer, I think back to one of my years teaching a religion class for seniors. The topic was ‘love,’ and we began by taking a survey on what these young Christian men and women believed on the subject. After they returned their answers, I did two things. First, I showed them how nearly all of them could be traced back to a Disney movie, sometimes verbatim. Secondly, I challenged them to show that the Bible supported any of their beliefs on the subject

of love and romance. You can guess how that turned out. Through the years, I have engaged in all of the typical activities that apologetics organizations get involved in. There have been lots of appeals to reason, evidence, and argument. There has been a lot of writing and research and quite a bit of teaching. Through it all, however, it has remained apparent that Story is often the critical element in shaping the beliefs and attitudes of a person. The Story could have been apprehended in a movie, in a book, in a picture, or even in music. People are moved by Story. Argument rarely has the same effect. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it is however the reality. Coming to grips with the ‘reality on the ground’ has been shaping how ACM carries out its ministry. In short, it has become apparent that God has set inside our hearts a longing and desire that mankind has attempted to fill in any number of ways, and if one’s task is to defend the one faith that claims to have the definitive answer on how to satisfy that longing, Christians have to wade into the fray and set their answer before people in a way in which they will respond.

16August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

By ANTHONY HORVATHArticle

To this end, ACM has been holding writing contests and having online conferences discussing how to use the arts in the promotion and defense of the Christian faith. Though this has been our new emphasis, it is worth remembering that the arts have been the domain for Christians for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It is only in our own time that secularists have laid hold of creativity and attempted to make it its own. For centuries, the best music, art, and books were produced by those within the Christian church or at the very least within the Christian culture. It is disappointing that in some quarters today you can find Christians looking down on the arts. Oh, they mean well, and sometimes their concerns have a reasonable basis. Their mistake is twofold: they forget that we are made in the image of God and that we have been made with ‘eternity’ set in our hearts. Our God is a God of order, yes. He is a just God, indeed; loving, absolutely. But he is also a tremendous artist. He is a creator, an author, and a painter. Long before humans ever perceived that something was beautiful God himself was creating and enjoying beauty. This is the God whose image in which we are made. This is not a minor point. Over the last few centuries the trend has been to try to provide naturalistic explanations for all facets of human experience. Beauty resists this reductionist program. What is the naturalistic explanation for the awe we feel in our hearts when watching a sunset or gazing down from the mountain heights? And if we are nothing more than the products of naturalistic processes, why can’t people be satisfied with what nature has to offer? Why sing songs, write stories, watch movies, paint murals, or even go so far as to invent religions? Mankind is in rebellion against naturalistic explanations that attempt to reduce humans to mere beasts. One cannot put their finger on an argument, here, yet it is nonetheless an indisputable facet of human experience. When Christians malign the arts, they do nothing less than malign God himself, who created us to take intangible joy in them.

Yet having said that, it doesn’t follow from what has been said that we should embrace the arts without wisdom and discernment. Christians know that history is chock filled with good things that have been twisted and abused. Still, this is no cause to dispense with good things when we find them! It is written, “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” (1 Thess. 5:21) Employing the arts in the cause of evangelism is nothing more than re-claiming ground that has been abandoned to the world over the last two centuries. Yes, it is true that young people will still come of age having taken much of their worldview from the movies they watched growing up, yet the making of movies and the watching of them is nothing less than participating in the joy of creation itself, even if it is only a shadow of that joy the Creator himself felt and feels. This joy has the ability to confront people with their own nature and drive them to consider the conclusion that they truly are made in the image of a creator. For the Christian engaged in the arts, the questions are many: should the Christian message be explicit or implicit in our movies, stories, and music? If there isn’t an explicit or implicit Christian message, is it still worthy of attention by Christians? Can Christians enjoy art just for the sake of art? Are there limits to what a movie can accomplish? Are there boundaries to what books should discuss? Let us ask the questions, but never forget that we are doing nothing less than probing what it means to be made in the image of God. If we can drive those who are the image to consider what it is they reflect, we will have gone a long way in helping people come to terms with what it means to have eternity set in one’s heart.

Anthony Horvath is the executive director of Athanatos Christian Ministries. His ministry hosts an annual writing contest and will be announcing details to their next ‘apologetics through the arts’ conference soon. He can be reached at director@athanatosministries.org

August 201017Christian Video® Magazine

by STEWART REDWINEArticle

Back to the Basics

This August onetimeblind and 36 Parables, myself and co-producer John Schimke, shot 10 more mini-movies. As I began the review of footage for editing, it was hard to believe we were able to shoot 10 scripts in two days. We completed 8 pages on the first day and plowed through the remaining 16 pages on day two. The only way we were able to shoot 24 pages in two days was by sticking to the tried and true production practices that have been guiding our industry for the past one hundred years.

More often than not, we are dissatisfied with our pro-ductions because we either don’t give ourselves enough time or we don’t constrain ourselves to come up with an idea our time will accommodate. When I feel like time is the one thing I don’t have, I remember a phrase my old Gaffer from 36 Parables, Phil Eastvold, picked up from an electrician in LA, “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” So I slow down, and go back to the basics.

The Basics

Scripts First things first, take the time to write down your ideas. And re-write them. And re-write them again. At this stage of production all you need is pencil, paper, and your time.

Pre-Production Pt. 1: Production Design & Camera Prep.

Production Design - Leading up to your shoot, take at least a day to focus on Production Design. This means locate your costumes & props and do a Location Scout. Taking time to be deliberate about your Production De-

sign choices will enhance your story without fail.

Camera Prep - The day before you shoot, set up your camera and make sure everything works the way you need it to. Test lenses, frame rates, and any other equip-ment or camera settings you’ll need during your shoot.

Pre-Production Pt. 2: Storyboard & Rehearsal

Rehearsal – If you can do nothing else in Pre-Produc-tion, take the time to rehearse. Rehearsal pays huge dividends on set because the talent will have already worked through the scenes and the story with the Direc-tor.

Storyboard - Even if all you have is pencil & paper, which I like to use, take the time to draw each and ev-ery shot you can visualize. You may not know every-thing you are going to shoot, but at least create some visual parameters for how you want to tell your story. Another approach is to take pictures at your re-hearsal. For the onetimeblind shoot John used Cinemek Storyboard Composer (http://www.cinemek.com/story-board/index.php).

18August 2010Christian Video® Magazine

by STEWART REDWINEArticle

Block, Light, Rehearse, Shoot If you embrace this approach to shooting you won’t go wrong — guaranteed.

Block – Have everyone on set stop what they are doing and watch the talent run through the entire scene you are about to shoot. Discuss any perti-nent creative or technical needs for the scene and have the actors step off the set.

Light – Set up the lights, camera, and sound equipment for the entire scene starting with your first shot, preferably the widest shot.

Rehearse* – Bring the talent back in and run through the scene with the entire cast and crew.

Shoot – Shoot the scene. Start with your wid-est shots and work your way down to your tightest shots. This is called the Master Scene Technique (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1430571/master_scene_techniques_for_filming.html?cat=40)

*I underlined rehearse because sometimes rehearsal demands even more time, and is worth it. Towards the end of our second day of shooting with onetimeblind we stopped work for an hour so the Director and actors could run the mini-movie we were about to shoot.

Slate Better slate than never. The whole point here is to keep everyone and everything organized. When you slate every single shot you accomplish two things:

1. Insure everyone on set knows what you’re shooting and why.

2. Provide your editor with the exact same information you had in the field.

Check out the basics here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clap-perboard

Redundancy, Redundancy, Redundancy

36 Parables and onetimeblind team up for another 10 mini-movies.

As soon as we filled a card on our Canon 7D, we dumped it and made three copies. If you can’t make three copies, at least have two.

Limit Your Choices It is a good idea to put some bounds on what you will and won’t do. For this recent collection of ten mini-movies, we limited ourselves to a white cyc. We wanted to shoot some of the scripts off the cyc but our schedule wouldn’t allow it. That being the case, our creative choices were severely limited by the location we were in. For the most part, we stayed on a dolly and were on one lens the entire time (Canon 16-35mm/f2.8 L). There were a couple of shots when we used a slider, one handheld shot, and I used a ¼ Black Pro Mist Filter to emphasize the style of one mini-movie. When you constrain yourself to one location, or one lens, or in our case both, you might be surprised by the creative solutions you come up with to tell your story.

Why are you there? What part of the production are you? Director, Camera, Sound, Actor… or, all of the above? If you are a jack-of-all-trades this section won’t apply to you. The best advice I can give you, I already have. If there is more than one person on

August 201019Christian Video® Magazine

by STEWART REDWINEArticle

your crew, you need to know why each person is there. Is one person focused on sound, and the other on the visuals? If you haven’t already, you need to break the work up. If you don’t you are in danger of playing herd ball. Have you ever scene kindergarteners play soccer? Every player on both teams follows the ball where ever it goes. Everyone running to each problem and trying to help does not make for a success-ful day of shooting. You need to break up the work and then when it comes time to let some one solve a problem in their area, let them do it.

Slow is Smooth, and Smooth is Fast

I was talking with John about the idea for this article and he made an excellent observation. It is easy to give yourself time to script and even time to edit, but it’s difficult to make time on set. Unfortunately, when time is cut short on set, the story suffers. If we provide ourselves time to write and edit, in order to refine our story, we also need to make time on set for the

same refining process to occur. However, there is often so much work to be done it is difficult to see how slowing down and going back to the basics will do any good. You feel like you need to have a camera running all the time. Your feel like stopping for one minute will cost you the entire day of shoot-ing. You feel like you can’t possibly move fast enough. At those moments you need to remember, “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast”.

Stewart H. Redwine is a Video Producer for Christ in Youth (http://www.ciy.com) as well as Producer and Director of Photography for onetimeblind’s hit mini-movies (http://www.onetimeblind.com) and Zondervans’ 36 Parables DVD series (http://www.36parables.com)

His videos, short stories, & thoughts on faith, culture, and the arts are available at StewartHRedwine.com.