The Mission Field - a video to introduce a sermon

[brochris]

Made this to introduce my sermon tomorrow night on "Everyday Evangelism." Wanted to do it from a first person perspective in one take. I think it turned out well, let me know what you think about it.

CMN Player - Entering the Mission Field

[wmmsaved]

More professional acting would help but, if these "actors" are immediately recognizable to the congregation, that doesn't matter. Your audience will love them all the more and hang on every word.

The idea was well-conceived and the script well-written. I'm sure it had the desired effect making it the great lead-in you wanted.

BTW, we've had the same thought-provoking message posted at our parking lot exits for a number of years and it still makes me think about my responsibility as a Christian.

[brochris]

Thanks for your comment. I think it did have the intended effect. One person came up to me after the service and said something like, "You know, I've walked under that sign for so many years now that I don't even notice it's there anymore. This was a great reminder that I enter the mission field whenever I leave the building."

[joshsliffe]

not knowing the audience... i can only trust that it was relevant to them... but imho..

i think these kinds of videos while they make a point... are overly cheesy and just sound like your watching a children's program. and christian actors never talk like they do in casual conversation

this is kind of the difference that people talk about when they compare church media and communication to the quality of communication the secular world at large creates.

i can tell your intentions are good and it sounds like people enjoyed it... but i think we need to be doing things differently.

[jcalhoun777]

Looks like your message got across, which is great, and the main purpose for video. Great message by the way, and a cool way to communicate it. Just some technical things I noticed maybe for the next time.
> Try to capture better audio, something other then any on-camera mic. Maybe recording the POV VO later would help with the main dialogue. Quality audio is one of the most crucial, and overlooked areas in video production.

> Be super steady when shooting POV shots, as our brains naturally have a steady cam, and don't have that shaky camera look. Most POV shots use steady cams, just helps sell it as a POV, rather then someone walking around with a camera. If you don't have a steady cam, use a bath towl by grabbing the ends of the towel, and let the middle hang down. Cradle the camera in the bottom, then lift up the ends of the towel to the desired hight, and walk around that way. It may sound crazy, but it works surprisingly well.

> Also, make sure that whoever is interacting with the person/camera looks the into the cameras lens, and not the person holding the camera.

> Last thing, getting back the importance of audio, I'd throw down maybe some nice "purposely cheesy" music, something that's a throw back to maybe 1950's television to help sell the "we know it's cheesy, but it's just suppose to be fun" idea. Also, do a little sound designing, get rid of as much location audio as possible, and replace it in post.

Again, great idea though, good job!

[seez52]

certainly a message we could all communicate better, good job