OT - Help with telling the story

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/2/2008, 6:22 AM

I have an opportunity to return to Ecuador this summer with a church mission group, and am looking for some fresh ideas to help tell this story via video.

Last year I produced a video of our trip and it was well-received. If I had to categorize its style I would say it was mostly travelog with shots of the various activities and a few short soundbite interviews to help explain what was being accomplished.

This year we would like something a little more edgy that focuses on the experience of a few of our young first-timers. This might include some of their struggles and/or personal growth experiences. The overall theme will be similar to last year's which was "Ordinary people accomplishing great things".

There are a lot of folks in this forum much more creative than me - I would appreciate any ideas you would like to share about how to tell this year's story in an interesting and exciting way.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
The men in the group will be helping add a roof to the church (i.e., lots of manual labor). The women will conduct a daily bible school with crafts and games for the village children. There will also be various fellowship gatherings, church services etc.

Thanks,
Jerry

Comments

baysidebas wrote on 6/2/2008, 6:58 AM

Make sure to have footage pre-trip and post-trip. Interviews of the participants, what they're looking forward to accomplish, some biographical material on them, their reactions after the trip.

Rory Cooper wrote on 6/2/2008, 7:09 AM

Start with the story in the bible where they took the roof off to get the paralysed man to Jesus now the spin is you are putting the roof on have all the rubble laying around and here is your line JEE SUS THIS MESS

Hope you guys a have a sense of humour

RalphM wrote on 6/2/2008, 7:52 AM

Assuming that you want the video to encourage people to consider service to others either locally or abroad, you may want to weave in the development of testimonials.

What I'm thinking here is that you may want to interview pre-trip with questions about expectations, then follow on with the time and work there, then post trip interviews where people tell how the experience affected them and what they received as a result of giving of their time and effort.

You could trace several people, but most especially the younger members of the group. They often see and express in a way that older people cannot match.

Best wishes for your trip.

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/2/2008, 9:30 AM

Good suggestions all.

Ralph, I like the idea of pre and post trip interviews, and especially giving the younger first-timers the opportunity to express what they received as a result of giving their time and effort.

Fx, I chuckled. Without sense of humor, what would we be left with?

Jerry

video777 wrote on 6/2/2008, 4:37 PM

Jerry,

I love doing ministry videos and have done many. I did one for a men's group that went to Cuba and used a number of interesting effects. For one I started it with mysterious music with choir voices and a black screen. Text came on the screen that said things like "10 Men" and the next screen said "Making a Difference." The music turned upbeat as I faded each name on the screen one-at-a-time in different places on the screen. That led to a full screen shot of the entire group followed by some key photos of the group during the trip. Next it went to video of them traveling; road noise and no music. There were times when I incorporated fast motion such as when they were tossing bricks in a line and then up on the roof. I showed them do it at normal speed with the ambient sounds. The instant it sped up I added fast music and killed the ambient sounds. I also did some interesting things with slow motion like when they were leaving.

One interesting thing at the beginning was some video of people's feet (most were wearing sandles). I overlayed the Scripture "How beautiful are the feet..."

Since you want to encourage young people to be involved you need to have some sections with some upbeat rock music or other high energy music. Intersperse that with comments from people on the trip. They need to hear SHORT "My life will never be the same!" Next person, "I think everyone should go on a trip like this. It's something I'll never forget."

I did another one from Xalapa, Mexico. Yes, it drove people nuts that I had a video camera in their face so often. However, when I handed each person a 3 DVD set of our experience they were all blown away. I did this at no charge. I particularly wanted to avoid the impression that I somehow had filmed it so I could sell them something. One girl said it was the best gift anyone had ever given her in her life.

I hope this sparks some ideas.

johnmeyer wrote on 6/2/2008, 4:49 PM

Two questions: Who's your audience, and what's your goal?

For instance, will this be shown only to current church members, or will it be shown in other community venues? Will it be aimed at younger people (presumably to get them to go on the next mission), or much older people who might be too old to make the trip, but might want to contribute?

This leads to the next question which, to put it in crass sales terms, means "asking for the order." After people have viewed this video, what do you want them to do? If you know the answer to that question, then everything in the video should lead up to the point where you "ask for the order," and I would recommend not being shy about stating explicitly what you expect from the viewing audience.

Give them plenty of reasons to act, and then make it easy for them to do so.