The title of last week's address, "Everything You Need to Know About Filmmaking," was chosen on my behalf by members of the Covenant College Film Club. Saying everything that can be said about filmmaking in one hour (to the extent it's even possible) would be like filling a thimble with a fire hose. Panicked by the aimless hopelessness of the task, I thought of a time when folks said to Jesus "Tell us everything." He said, "Okay, here's everything you need to know about the law, everything you need to take home from the prophets: love God. Hard. Hard like 'throwing-yourself-full-speed-against-the-wall hard.' And here's another thing that's kinda like it: Love even the folks you're inclined to hate as if they were your neighbors."
If those two great commandments constitute everything you need to know about life, then maybe everything you need to know about filmmaking is how to love God and neighbor with camera, microphone, and editing software. Easier said than done, of course.
Consider a not-too-recent shoot of a variety show episode. Our musical guest had, the night before her television appearance, suffered an acne outbreak of biblical proportions -- this in our studio's first semester after an $800,000 upgrade to High Definition. Now acne in standard def and acne in high def are two totally different things. My students sensed this and immediately huddled in the control room, asking "how do we use lighting, lenses, and shot size to love our neighbor and tell the truth?"
Many definitions of godly filmmaking are oversimplified contrasts of virtue and vice as regards a movie's content. "A godly movie doesn't have gratuitous sex, violence, or crude language," some might say. But choosing virtue over vice is milk. The acne incident represents a deeper, smarter, meatier faith-walk on the tight rope between one virtue and another.
Such walks are legs on the lifetime journey to "Everything."
If those two great commandments constitute everything you need to know about life, then maybe everything you need to know about filmmaking is how to love God and neighbor with camera, microphone, and editing software. Easier said than done, of course.
Consider a not-too-recent shoot of a variety show episode. Our musical guest had, the night before her television appearance, suffered an acne outbreak of biblical proportions -- this in our studio's first semester after an $800,000 upgrade to High Definition. Now acne in standard def and acne in high def are two totally different things. My students sensed this and immediately huddled in the control room, asking "how do we use lighting, lenses, and shot size to love our neighbor and tell the truth?"
Many definitions of godly filmmaking are oversimplified contrasts of virtue and vice as regards a movie's content. "A godly movie doesn't have gratuitous sex, violence, or crude language," some might say. But choosing virtue over vice is milk. The acne incident represents a deeper, smarter, meatier faith-walk on the tight rope between one virtue and another.
Such walks are legs on the lifetime journey to "Everything."
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