ABSTRACT

For my major project I am creating an informational video of the church that I attend. This video will briefly discuss the church’s beliefs, doctrine, and theology. It will also show the different ministries and programs of the church. And it will give a brief history of the church.

My motivation in making this video is to inform the community of the church and its ministries. I am hopeful that this movie will be given to potential new members, visitors, and newcomers. It is also my hope that this film may be used as a promotional item for the church to inform the community of the church.

The audience for this video is the community at large. Those who are searching for a church or are interested in becoming a regular attender can use this video to discover some of the many programs and ministries.

The educational goals for this project are that I will learn some basic techniques in videography. Also that I will be able to take a wealth of information, video, and other media and put them together in a coherent and comprehensive video. I also want to expand my understanding of software applications and of using video to convey meanings in messages.

I will need access to a video camera, tripod, computer with video editing software (I will be using Apple’s iMovie and iDVD software), microphone, and videotapes. I will also need to have a basic understanding of how to operate a video camera, iMovie and iDVD, and some basic videography techniques.

HUMAN SUBJECTS AND COPYRIGHT PLAN

I will be videotaping people within the church who are members or regular attenders. This will include people of all ages. All people will be videotaped only with their express permission and consent. I will also be using copyrighted, historical documents and photos to give a brief history of the church. I will also be using materials copyrighted by other organizations, namely the Christian & Missionary Alliance. All of the copyrighted material will be documented accordingly in my video. Again, the materials will only be used with the express permission of owners.

VIDEOGRAPHY AND MEDIA PLAN

I will be using mostly video in this project. I will also use some still images mainly for the aspects of the project where it is impossible to get video, such as construction of the church building. These materials will be used in the video to demonstrate and give a visual representation of the actions being described. These materials will be used to appeal to the emotional, ethical, and moral. It will also be used to simply give the viewer a clearer understanding of the information they are hearing about.

I will begin the video with a basic over overview of the church and its current programs and ministries. I will then give a brief history of the church and show some major milestones and changes that have occurred in the church’s history. I will then go into further detail about the church’s basic beliefs, morals, and doctrine. After that I will take a more thorough look at the various programs and ministries of the church. I will then discuss the various programs for children, including children’s’ church. Then I will show the programs for teens and young adults. Then I will show the programs for adults and senior citizens. After I have outlined the different programs for each age group I will show testimonials of the church members. These testimonials will be of the members discussing anything about the church from their favorite aspect of the church to what drew them to the church to what they are doing to help the church reach its future goals. Then I will finish the video with an overview of the church’s long-range goals and plans for the future while giving a welcome feeling for the viewers of the video.

REFLECTION

For this major project, I created an informational video of my church. The educational goals behind this project were for me to learn some basic videography techniques. I also wanted some more experience in working with iMovie and iDVD.

This video can hopefully be used by my church as a promotional item. This can be handed out to new visitors to the church or to those who have never heard of the church or to those who would like more information about the church.

I used the metaphor of a "video flyer" as my guide for this project. I wanted this video to contain much of the same information that a three-fold flyer would contain. But I wanted this information to be presented in a new and different way. And by presenting it digitally in video format it is much more powerful and effective in getting the message across.

I think this project has a very useful application in the classroom. It can be used to show students how different types of media can be put together to create an exciting way of presenting information. This film could be used in the classroom to show students some basic techniques that work well and maybe some that don’t work so well.

While working on this movie I explored how spoken words in the form of narration affected the feel and message of a movie. I used my voice as the narration in the film simply because of time constraints. I would have rather had someone else with a much better voice for the job. I also learned a lot about using background music how to make the music and video work together to form an artful and well-done piece of video. The techniques that I learned from making this movie will be very useful in my next projects. I know that I can take what I have learned from this project and apply it in other situations. This can be in situations where I am making another movie or where I am teaching others how to make movies. I can offer suggestions and advice on what is good and what is not so good.