Fun Making Movies

In my current preaching class (using media and the arts while preaching) we have to preach 3 times in class. We can only use a particular form (art, movie clip, powerpoint, poetry, music...) one time.

I did my first sermon on a piece of art as I was going to wait and navigate how the digital realm was working. When 8 people preach on the same day and we all use one joint computer (so you need to bring everything on a disk or something) I just didn't want to deal with the technical difficulties.

Choosing to do that paid off. Between running videos and powerpoints most people had few technical difficulties, but still had to navigate their bodies awkwardly to change slides and start videos (we don't have a sound booth guy). It gets pretty distracting. Some people haven't faired even that well. We've had 3 videos without sound and one that tried using multiple computers and projectors (which made his switching task easier) but forgot to turn off the first projector so both were casting on the same screen while we were trying to watch a video.

I decided i don't want to use digital format the next time I preach either (which is funny because i am probably more comfortable with it than the rest of the class, and have a remote to use with a projector so i need not be awkward) so i have decided to create my own DVD and use the tv/dvd combo that is standard in the class.

So it began tonight. I downloaded the 6, 30 second commercial clips that the Ad Council has produced for their "Generous Nation" campaign. They are running currently and will continue through September 17 (you find out weird things when researching copyright issues). You might recognize them better as the "don't almost give commercials."

Tonight, i effectively rid them of all "don't almost give" links and text screens (this was allowable by the Ad Council, even encouraged as long as wherever you show it either donates the time, or is for educational purpose), and have added multiple scripture texts and keywords between clips, and keywords displayed over some.

Thank you Windows Movie Maker for your wonderful program. I'll get by for free, creating myself a compilation of all the digital components i was going to use this time (video clips and power point slides) by creating them into one 3:09 long DVD. Yay for avoiding technical mess.