As Told by Children: Using Video to Tell The Story in Worship
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by Scott McAndless
Several years ago, Knox Presbyterian Church in Leamington, Ontario, considered how to enhance the way we present and receive the message of the Bible in our Sunday morning worship experience. We decided to purchase projection equipment that many churches use these days to project the words of hymns and prayers on a screen instead of printing them in a bulletin. After a few years of using the equipment for these purposes, we began to see some new possibilities emerge.
We had a great group of children in our church. We wondered if this new technology might open up new ways for our children to hear the stories of the Bible and also exciting ways for them to learn how to tell The Story to others. Using only equipment that we had and with our very limited skills and talents, we started making videos with the kids.
To get started, all we needed was
- a basic digital video camera (You could probably easily borrow several in your congregation.)
- a tripod (Somebody lent us theirs.)
- any necessary cables to transfer the video from the camera to a computer
- a computer with video editing software (We used a rudimentary program called Windows Moviemaker, which is included with all Windows operating systems.)
- (occasionally) extra portable lights
We gather following Sunday worship once or twice a month and, after lunch, spend about an hour taping two video episodes that are based on the Bible passages the minister will be preaching on over the coming two weeks. We have developed a method of making videos that really makes it easy. We do it like this:
- Every child or young person who comes out and wants to participate is included.
- Everyone who comes gets a part and will get the chance to be the star at least occasionally.
- We assign parts by consensus (though sometimes the director has to have the final word), making sure that everyone gets a chance at the juicy roles. Because of this, we don’t necessarily worry too much about things like gender or age. (On many occasions, we have had a young girl play Jesus, for example.)
- A script is prepared beforehand, but only one copy is printed. The children do not read the script at all. Rather, the script is presented to them orally. We have found this to be very important, because you can usually tell when children are reading their lines or repeating something that they have learned by heart. Instead, we have the director give the actors their lines one at a time – as much of a speech as they can handle. They repeat the line until they get it right and then we move on to the next line.
- In between each line of dialogue, the actors remain in place and the camera is moved or zoomed in or out. This is absolutely essential as it allows for the merging of each dialogue clip into one seamless whole during editing.
This method allows us to tape two or more episodes fairly quickly. The video is then transferred to a computer for editing. Editing video on a computer is quite simple with the basic software. It is just a matter of cutting your video to the right lengths and putting the resulting clips one after the other. During the editing process, we add a number of other elements:
- Opening and closing credits: With Knox Players videos, we never skimp on giving credit to our budding actors. The credits are one of the most important parts of the process.
- Narration: We usually have someone come in and record the narrator’s part a few days after the original taping. Once you have a rough edit of your video, it can be a little easier to know exactly what details the narrator needs to add. The narrator’s lines are recorded directly onto the computer using an open source program called Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net).
- Music: A musical soundtrack for a video can do so much to set the right mood and get the message across. It can also help to cover up background noise. To avoid copyright issues or royalty fees, use music from the Creative Commons (creativecommons.org). One excellent source for royalty free music is composer Kevin Macleod, who makes all of his music available online (incompetech.com).
To see a demonstration of the process, watch the video “How to Shoot a Knox Players Video” (www.youtube.com/knoxknotes).
Now, thanks to this simple process, we are able to produce three- to five-minute videos for just about every worship service throughout the year at Knox (not including the summer). These videos are generally used to introduce the key scripture reading for that Sunday and they are tied into the theme of the sermon.
We find that this is an excellent way to get the kids up and in front of the congregation – contributing in a very important way to the worship. It is, I believe, something almost any congregation can do. Even small congregations can make quite meaningful videos for worship. Indeed, it is a ministry that takes advantage of some of the unique strengths of a small church. It is easier to tape with smaller groups and, in a smaller church, is it easier to let everyone play a part and give everyone a turn to be the star.
The videos we create do not look like something a professional would produce, of course, but that is not the point. The point is to get our kids more directly involved in the worship life of our congregation.
The biggest lesson we have learned by doing this is that it is easier than you think. Just grab a camera and start shooting and you will discover what you can make. The stories we tell are simple. In most cases, we just relate the story as it is found in the Bible with only a few twists to modernize it or to bring out certain connections to modern life. Try to prepare the script in such a way that it coincides with the message of the sermon. A number of videos that have been made by the Knox Players (including the one mentioned above) have been posted on YouTube at www.youtube.com/knoxknotes. Feel free to base your own videos on the ones that you find there. These are some of my favourites:
- How Mordecai got things done
- The seeds that wanted to grow
- Pick up your bottle of oil and be on your way
- Job’s very bad day (written and directed by one of our young people)
We are very glad that we started experimenting with creating these videos a few years ago. It has enhanced the life of our congregation in many ways. Give it a try. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is!
Recommendation: It is advisable to receive written permission from all participants appearing in videos.
The Rev. Scott McAndless is minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Leamington, Ontario. He enjoys experimenting with new technologies and new ways of communicating the gospel.
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