Blog Posts

Friday, June 12, 2020

TAKE #13 - SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT PRODUCERS / MISSIONARIES... ARISE!



Iris Ministries - Kids amazed and thrilled at a video camera irisglobal.org

As a Christian Film Producer myself sometimes I feel there are so many great positive movie stories that could be produced today, but because movies are a lot more complicated, expensive and take more time to produce.... In the meantime (while writing the scripts or having a film in the pre-production stage), currently, just to keep my creative juices flowing, I'm writing these posts, but I also... post short Creative & motivational Words from The Lord for such a Time as this... and that's a ministry in itself.  In fact, I call it, being a: 

'Social Media Content Producer Missionary'.

I believe Short Motivational Words, Pics or Short Gospel Videos produced and posted with The Lord's help and guidance, are just as Powerful as any movie, because we all know that One Word from The Lord... can change a Life!  Sure we love movie making, but we often forget that the 'Simplicity of Posting' just one short Word, Positive Phrase, and Creative Pic with a message, or even a Short Gospel Video on Social Media can go such a long way as a Social Media Content Producer Missionary! Because whether we know it or not, or like it or not.. Today, as Christians we are all Called to be Social Media Content Missionaries for The Kingdom of God as well. 

And it has become very clear to me and many others, that this is what God intended for us to do when He Created and gave us... The Internet.  So that Christians could post Gospel Messages, Pics and Videos on a Daily basis.  And so many are doing so.  But the great thing, is that we as filmmakers may become as Creative as we can... like for example filming a 30 second mini-short Gospel story on video... with one actor... or even without an actor.  And create a powerful message on video with Text over some cool scenes.  The key is always to grasp the viewers attention, in a cool creative way so that they may receive God's message for that day.


Sometimes as Christian movie makers, we are too focused on the Big Picture, planning the movie we want to make, but forget the little things and the powerful messages we could post each day, just to touch a life out there who may really need it.   Your short Gospel video may be that one message they needed to hear to get them through the day, or even worst, in a more dramatic manner... perhaps, stopping a person from committing suicide.  Because of what God showed them through the short 30 second video you just posted on Social Media, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram, etc, the key it to try to impact and motivate someone at the other end of the wifi connection of the Internet.   

What I am trying to say here, is that we don't have to always think BIG PICTURE or that we MUST produce this 90 Minute feature film to reach the masses for Christ, today, a well made... short 30 second Gospel video, can reach the world faster and 'sometimes' more effective than a movie can.  Yes, we have reached that time in History when such things are truly possible.   If you don't believe me... Think of the millions that are reached daily through the production of small 30 seconds TV and Web spots, which are produced by Secular Companies around the world.   Ask them what they think of the Power of a 30 second spot?  Or ask any Marketing Company of the power of just one 30 second spot?    This is why we don't see Big companies that do have millions to make whatever they want... making movies.  Why?  Because the truth is that it has been proven that a 30 second spot can and will impact the world just as any blockbuster movie.  And the thing is... what does it take to make a blockbuster film?  Nobody knows, because movie making has always been a gamble.  Some make it and some don't.  

I'm not saying that we should stop making movies.   But I am saying that we should also (in the meantime) as The Lord guides us and directs us, we should also become Social Media Content Producer Missionaries.   I believe this is a Time and a Season to post the things that God is telling us to post (even in the process of trying to making a movie).   Keep in mind a movie concept, can also be made into several short (30 seconds) minute videos, and it can well be used as a Movie Trailer for your film.    And even then, if you already have a movie trailer, today you can have several movie trailers for the same movie, to help you self-promote and market your feature all over Social Media in a more effective manner.    

I also know this... and I will be totally honest with you, today, God is bypassing Christian Filmmakers altogether.  How you may ask?  By making every Christian a Social Media Content Producer Missionary!  Let's not forget, that everyone and their mother own a camera these days in the palm of their hands... a smartphone.  And a lot of people are getting busy making all kinds of short videos and short films with it.  So we too, should consider making shorter Gospel videos whenever possible.

Think about it, how many feature length movies can we make in a year?  One or Two feature films?  I have not been able to make more than one a year.   And once a filmmaker makes one Feature film, it takes 3 to 5 years to produce the next.  That at least is the norm (all depending on how much budget you have).  But the reality is that once we finish a movie, we are all broke... and we are still stuck in trying promote, market and distribute our just produced film.   I don't know about you, but for me, that process alone, takes me 3 to 5 years, just to get 'some' of the money back from the Christian films I've produced.   

That said... the reason I tell you this is because I've already tested the waters and have become a Social Media Content Producer Missionary myself.   This very blog you are reading, is part of the several blogs I produce and post on.   This one happens to be on teaching Christian Movie Making.  Something we should all do once we feel we've reached a specific level of professionalism in making movies.   Meaning, we (as Christian Filmmakers) always have something to teach about, we all have our own tricks and techniques on how to make a movie, so why not teach on that. 

I became a Social Media Content Producer Missionary the year I was able to produce over 100 short Gospel videos for a ministry called YesHeis.com  But of course, at the time, we were ready, organize and we had a budget and a crew, so that made things easier.   

Here is one of the 100 shorts Creative videos we produced for Social Media.  It can be done.  It's like making a short film in a day.  Most of these shorts (see short below), were under 3 minutes and shot in half a day.  I work fast, so we moved fast.  


I was camera operator and DP in this YesHeis.com
 short Gospel Video titled: La Prueba (The Test)! 

And again, just because we are Christian movie makers, that shouldn't stop us from becoming a Social Media Content Producer Missionary and Posting Daily creative content for The Kingdom of God.  Of course, some content could be just Text with a Plain Background, or Tex with a Pic, and of course, the key as Christian Filmmakers is to produce a short 30 second Creative video, so that we may continue to be Ministers of The Gospel for The Kingdom of God. 

In such a time as this... God needs you, getting His Word Out... more than ever before!  Amen.

Make Movies 4God!
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