Earlier this year an aspiring Christian filmmaker said to me, “Christian’s have never led in the arts.” I responded, “Have you heard of the Renaissance?” If my friend thinks Botticelli, Donatello, Giotto, Michelangelo and Titian are brands of Italian pasta or Ninja Turtles, he’s not alone. The Christian creative community is seriously under-educated on art history, especially Christian art history. This ignorance has led to a lack of confident inventiveness and innovation on the part of Christian artists resulting in art that is an unsatisfactory copy of mainstream entertainment.
When you are facing a deadline or looking to produce the next top ten hit on SermonSpice.com, it is easy to look at something that works in the mainstream and copy it shot for shot without straining your creative muscles. Here are some recent examples of Christian short videos copied directly from mainstream products: The Evangelism Linebacker (Terry Tate Office Linebacker), Jesus vs. Santa (Mac vs. PC) and Curb Your Evangelism (Curb Your Enthusiasm). While some of these videos are admittedly funny, they remain poor copies of someone else’s work. Frankly, this copycat approach lacks creativity, appears farcical and borders on plagiarism.
Like a façade on a back lot it is easy for Christian videos to “look” like the real thing but upon further examination be nothing more than the image of an idea propped up in the form of someone else’s work. Just because Christian’s are a sub-culture, or as I like to say, a sub-stream beneath the mainstream, doesn’t mean we should emulate the larger culture. We should always strive to innovate.
I’m not saying anyone who uses linear perspective is stealing from Stanley Kubrick. Utilizing the techniques and styles current in the medium of moving images comes with the territory of creating. I think we all are able to discern the difference between using the same paintbrush and paints as Van Gogh vs. doing a paint by number of his painting Starry Starry Night.
In spite of this copycat epidemic, some members of the Christian arts community show incredible originality. Rob Bell’s Nooma series has taken the typical Christian talking head edutainment in a new direction with the utmost standards of production value. His creative team has done an excellent job in innovating and deserves to be commended. However, instead of Rob Bell’s innovation inspiring others to try something new, copycat versions have popped up. Many times I have sat with a prospective producer who wants their video to “look like Nooma.” The reason Nooma looks the way it does is because it was created as something new from the ground up.
There is a Biblical precedent for unbounded creativity from Christian artists. In Genesis we are told we are made in God’s image. Like Him we have a free will and the ability to create, freely! Unbounded by society or mainstream needs, God created all we see and experience from nothing and we are in His image. A simple read of Genesis should give anyone who is questioning whether or not they are “an artist” all the encouragement they need to go out and create something. The Temple is one of our only detailed accounts of a piece of art being created in the Bible. It was something totally new. The artists involved were creating a new expression of God’s interaction with mankind. In the same way, Jesus Christ’s stories were new and creative expressions of God’s Truth and His Kingdom. We all have the ability to create new expressions if we would but focus on the inventiveness and innovation found in the Truth rather than emulating mainstream society.
So what can you do to insure the sub-stream of Christianity is moving in the same spirit of creativity that drove the great Christian artists of the Renaissance?
Step 1: Cease copying anything from mainstream culture.
Step 2: Don’t be afraid to use techniques you see in work you admire.
Step 3: Take some time to study the great Christian art of the Renaissance, the achievements of the Catholic Church and artists like Francis Schaeffer.
Step 4: Go experience the agony and the ecstasy of creating something new to the Glory of God and the common good of mankind, whom He loves!
(this article was published in the October 2008 issue of Christian Video Magazine)
Circumstantial Style
Earlier this year an aspiring Christian filmmaker said to me, “Christian’s have never led in the arts.” I responded, “Have you heard of the Renaissance?” If my friend thinks Botticelli, Donatello, Giotto, Michelangelo and Titian are brands of Italian pasta or Ninja Turtles, he’s not alone. The Christian creative community is seriously under-educated on art history, especially Christian art history. This ignorance has led to a lack of confident inventiveness and innovation on the part of Christian artists resulting in art that is an unsatisfactory copy of mainstream entertainment.
When you are facing a deadline or looking to produce the next top ten hit on SermonSpice.com, it is easy to look at something that works in the mainstream and copy it shot for shot without straining your creative muscles. Here are some recent examples of Christian short videos copied directly from mainstream products: The Evangelism Linebacker (Terry Tate Office Linebacker), Jesus vs. Santa (Mac vs. PC) and Curb Your Evangelism (Curb Your Enthusiasm). While some of these videos are admittedly funny, they remain poor copies of someone else’s work. Frankly, this copycat approach lacks creativity, appears farcical and borders on plagiarism.
Like a façade on a back lot it is easy for Christian videos to “look” like the real thing but upon further examination be nothing more than the image of an idea propped up in the form of someone else’s work. Just because Christian’s are a sub-culture, or as I like to say, a sub-stream beneath the mainstream, doesn’t mean we should emulate the larger culture. We should always strive to innovate.
I’m not saying anyone who uses linear perspective is stealing from Stanley Kubrick. Utilizing the techniques and styles current in the medium of moving images comes with the territory of creating. I think we all are able to discern the difference between using the same paintbrush and paints as Van Gogh vs. doing a paint by number of his painting Starry Starry Night.
In spite of this copycat epidemic, some members of the Christian arts community show incredible originality. Rob Bell’s Nooma series has taken the typical Christian talking head edutainment in a new direction with the utmost standards of production value. His creative team has done an excellent job in innovating and deserves to be commended. However, instead of Rob Bell’s innovation inspiring others to try something new, copycat versions have popped up. Many times I have sat with a prospective producer who wants their video to “look like Nooma.” The reason Nooma looks the way it does is because it was created as something new from the ground up.
There is a Biblical precedent for unbounded creativity from Christian artists. In Genesis we are told we are made in God’s image. Like Him we have a free will and the ability to create, freely! Unbounded by society or mainstream needs, God created all we see and experience from nothing and we are in His image. A simple read of Genesis should give anyone who is questioning whether or not they are “an artist” all the encouragement they need to go out and create something. The Temple is one of our only detailed accounts of a piece of art being created in the Bible. It was something totally new. The artists involved were creating a new expression of God’s interaction with mankind. In the same way, Jesus Christ’s stories were new and creative expressions of God’s Truth and His Kingdom. We all have the ability to create new expressions if we would but focus on the inventiveness and innovation found in the Truth rather than emulating mainstream society.
So what can you do to insure the sub-stream of Christianity is moving in the same spirit of creativity that drove the great Christian artists of the Renaissance?
Step 1: Cease copying anything from mainstream culture.
Step 2: Don’t be afraid to use techniques you see in work you admire.
Step 3: Take some time to study the great Christian art of the Renaissance, the achievements of the Catholic Church and artists like Francis Schaeffer.
Step 4: Go experience the agony and the ecstasy of creating something new to the Glory of God and the common good of mankind, whom He loves!
(this article was published in the October 2008 issue of Christian Video Magazine)