Fuel

I drive a 2000 Ford Explorer with mileage north of 140,000… to say that this is the point in ownership where the parts start to go south would be a bit of an understatement; less than a month ago, I had to forfeit nearly the equivalent of a mortgage payment to replace the radiator and associated pump, hoses, and gaskets. Yesterday, as I hopped in for a short trip, I found myself listening to the never-fun sound of an engine that, try as it might, had no chance of turning over. Once again, I was stuck… going nowhere.

I’m blessed to have a AAA membership, so I called for a tow truck. When asked about the problem with my vehicle, I told the operator that it simply wouldn’t start; I was nearly offended by the next question:

Does the vehicle have fuel, sir?

Are you kidding me? I’ve been driving since 1982! I know what I’m doing! I’ve had some mishaps along the way, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I have never run out of gas… not even close!

While my driving sense was mildly insulted, I answered that I had just filled it up the day before and we proceeded to make the arrangements for the towing and visit to the repair shop.

If I’m writing about this, there must be a teachable moment in here somewhere, right?

I think that those of us who work in and around churches can make the dangerous assumption that we are properly fueled, if only by osmosis. We get to hear the sermon multiple times on any given weekend, even to the point that if the pastor were to fall suddenly ill, we could probably grab his notes and preach it ourselves! We might pray with our teams just before the service… We can tap our feet and maybe even sing along with some of the worship while still doing our appointed jobs; we are masters of multi-tasking, but

…are you out of fuel?

or more importantly, are you offended that I’m asking?

Are you doing and doing, keeping the creative and technical aspects of your church life going, but not having any time where you can unplug and read God’s word for yourself?

Do you have a sabbath? …a day when you aren’t doing church? …a day when you can find some quiet, some rest, a true re-fueling?

I’ve seen some of the smartest, most talented, and best intentioned people crash and burn because they filled every possible moment with their tasks, but left no margin to seek God on their own. I’ve come to believe that we can be crushed under the weight of all we have to do if we don’t have proper time to seek the One we claim to do these things for.

First and foremost, God wants my heart. Not my art, not my technical know-how… he simply wants me, and I need to make time for that.

What are you doing, intentionally, to re-fuel?

New Series Promo – Arrested

I’m not going to lie, I love doing promo’s for new sermon series. The ‘fun’ part is that we rarely have a lot of time to put them together, but I think that time crunch actually keeps our team pretty sharp; we often have to come up with our concepts pretty quickly! This one was no exception. Seacoast is continuing in our study through the book of Acts; next up is a five week series where we will look at chapters 21-25 where the apostle Paul is imprisoned for preaching the gospel, thus the series title, “Arrested”.

I went back to what has become one of my favorite places to shoot, which is a very industrial area with old warehouses and rusty fences in what is known as the Navy Yard here in Charleston. Having a location that works for several different looks is another great help when you’ve got no time for scouting locations. The piece ran in our Easter services. Have a look:

Tech specs: Shot on a Panasonic HVX200 at 720/24p, edited on Final Cut Pro, and treated with Magic Bullet Looks.

Make it work

So… after mulling over a script for a video that we are working on AND looking at the weather forecast, I made up my mind that I wanted to shoot a section of this project in the rain. The video is a cool spin on a spoken word piece that we are putting together to use as a “big opener” for Easter so adding a little raw emotion in the rain seemed to make sense… until I realized that I don’t have suitable protection for the camera. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a handful of Ziplock bags and some gaf-tape and I made it work!

After shooting out in the rain for about an hour and a half, the camera did really well! Sure, the lens and hood got pretty wet, but the main body stayed dry!

I’m quite aware that good companies make custom covers with all kinds of Velcro and rain-proof material, but in a pinch, you have to figure out how to make it work!

New Series promo – Compelled

One of the things that I love about Seacoast Church is the way that we study an entire book of the bible in 4-6 week chunks. We try to find a theme in the chapters as they are grouped together. We’ve been studying the book of Acts since about the middle of last year and I can honestly say that it has come alive for me! Going through it, chapter by chapter, has really given me countless new insights on the early church. Next week we start a new section; 6 weeks where we will cover Acts 12-17 and how the disciples were compelled to preach the gospel, even when it seemed that the world was against them… thus the series title, “Compelled”. Here is a promo that starts running this weekend:

Your feedback is always welcome!

I’m curious… how does your church plan out it’s sermon series? Leave a comment so that this community can learn from each other.

Production Tools – Storyboards

I am an office products geek… always have been, always will be. A recent visit to http://www.moleskineus.com revealed something that can help all of us in our pre-production planning: The Storyboard Notebook!

While I wish that it came in a 5×8.5 size, this is a good start! Anytime that you can map out your various scenes, it makes your shoot go so much smoother, and a small notebook that you can put in your back pocket for quick reference is a great idea!

You don’t have to be a skilled artist to make a good storyboard; stick figures are fine. They are a great tool to help you at each stage of production and post-production as well. Even a quick doodle as the ideas are flowing can be a way to make sure that you get all of the shots that you need. Every bit of pre-production planning will pay off in some way before you are done with your project.

Moving Pictures – Clips

Don’t get stuck in a rut.

I remember the first time I heard about a church using a clip from a movie as a sermon illustration… I thought it was a brilliant idea! There are a lot of very good moments in countless movies that will preach, so why not? In the years since then, I’ve seen movie clips used very well… and I’ve also seen them miss the mark horribly. I worked at one church where, as we would look at the week’s sermon topic, inevitably the pastor’s assistant would turn to me and ask, “What movie clip do you think we should use?”

Umm… didn’t we just use a clip last week… and the week before that too??? (I didn’t work there long)

There’s a problem; when something is perceived as “cool in church”, it can just as quickly become an over-done pattern of irrelevance. I’m not saying that churches should stop using movie clips, I understand that in some places that those clips might be all the media that is available. In those instances, pick and choose your clips wisely… just don’t default to it because you’ve done it in the past.

Using movie clips is a great way to get started at thinking “visually” …now how can you start to do your own illustrations, sermon bumpers, and stories?

Moving Pictures – New Eyes

One thing that seems to always happen with me is that once I’m in post-production on a project, I tend to get tunnel vision; I only see what I want to see on the screen. I try to keep all things in mind as I edit:

• What was the original plan or vision for this piece?
• Who is my main audience?
• What do I want people to walk away with?

But even with awareness of the over-all plan, I can get too close to the piece and lose sight of how it will play with a larger audience. Here is where I try to call on “new eyes”. I have a small group of friends and co-workers (non-boss) that I lean on to check me as I go through the process. Some times, I call one or two of them in to the edit suite and don’t tell them anything about the project so that they can give me feedback without any preconceived ideas about what they are going to look at… call it an impromptu focus group. Once they have seen the piece, I ask questions about what they got out of it. That initial feedback will tell you a lot about what your audience will get… or miss. After the initial look, I will ask more specific questions about some of the more subtle aspects like: Does the music feel right? Are the graphics helpful or distracting? Is the piece too long/short?

One of the great things about these new eyes is that you are free to listen to and watch their responses without the pressure of having to have everything polished and perfect… simply tell them that the piece is about 75% done and you just want to get their opinion on how it’s looking. Allow this small audience to speak freely and honestly; while not always easy to hear, it’s better to get a fresh perspective now than to get it in the final approval process.

Moving Pictures – locations

Location – Location – Location

This is an area of story telling that I’m very particular about; Where you shoot something says as much about the final product as the dialogue itself. The selection of the right location should be a major item in your pre-production planning. Some times the location is an easy thing to decide: A story about a teacher should be shot in a classroom… A story about a fireman should be shot with him sitting on the bumper of a fire truck… easy enough, right? Not always.

As a video producer, you will inevitably end up with a story that doesn’t seem to demand a particular location… and that’s OK. I think that the next logical decision should be where NOT to do the interview. Just my opinion here: don’t just default to putting your subject in the corner of the room with a silk plant behind them… this isn’t a testimonial for the local credit union, it’s a story about how God works in the lives of people! Find somewhere to shoot the interview that won’t distract from what’s being said. …and PLEASE: Don’t shoot an interview with your subject on a green-screen unless you’re going to add a cool motion element to the piece! (Great example from my friend Ken Wilson at NewSpring Church: http://vimeo.com/5368535)

Bottom line: When the story doesn’t “demand” a certain location, keep it simple and effective.

For John’s story, I had very little time to plan and just one (late) afternoon to shoot. Rather than just have him “meet me at the church”, I suggested that I could stop by his house. I took advantage of a great looking staircase in front of his place and then just let him tell his story. Editing and treatment took about a day and a half, and the final product worked great in a sermon about God meeting us right where we live. In the end, I’d like to think that the viewer doesn’t even consider the location simply because it didn’t distract any from the story.

Production and purpose 9/10/09

Production and Purpose™ is dedicated to featuring great examples of well planned and executed video productions that tell the story of God’s transforming love.

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NewSpring does it again! Check out the story of Jad Dean, a record setting place kicker for Clemson University from 2003 – 2006. Beautiful pictures, great post-production and another great story of how Jesus changes lives.

I chatted recently with Adam Kring from NewSpring to get some of the details from the production:

• Jad Dean is a friend of Brad Cooper, the student pastor at NewSpring (Work your contacts! Your friends and co-workers are tied to people with great God-stories!)
• The old school football filed was a last minute find… and what a great find! (Don’t ever stop scouting locations!)
• They deployed a trio of Panasonic cameras; the HVX200, HVX170, and HPX500; all on P2 media.
• Edited in Final Cut Pro and treated with AfterEffects.

I love Adam’s attitude… he finished our discussion like this:

It’s weird for me sometimes to sit and watch my work and realize that God had chosen me to be apart of what He is doing at NewSpring.  I am a storyteller at heart and when opportunities like this come along with such a powerful story to be told, I am so thankful I get to be apart of it.

Lending help on this project: Justin Beam, Ben Coleman, Tyler Sloan, and Ken Wilson.

Have you found an example of Production and Purpose? Drop me a link and a line at: murphy24p[at]gmail.com

Moving Pictures – Part 1

As I consider what I love about telling stories via video, I’ve become enamored with the term “Moving Pictures” – pictures that cause people to think, reflect, change… in that, I’ve decided to do some short posts regarding different aspects of what that means to me and how it may help others who work in church video production. Here is the first:

Purpose

A video that moves people will have a well defined purpose. Do you want people get a great mental picture of a section of your pastor’s sermon? Do you want people to get involved in a cause? Do you want people to consider different aspects of God? Plan, produce, and deliver a piece that is rooted in great purpose and people will be moved.

A video that is well planned and executed will add great value to a service or sermon… the opposite can leave your congregation confused and distracted. Get a clear vision on the purpose of the piece and run with it! Run concepts and rough cuts past trusted friends or co-workers to help you stay true to the intended purpose. Most importantly, when you hit one out of the park, post it on your blog (or youtube or vimeo) with a description of how the piece came to be and how it was used so that it may inspire some one else to do something similar.