Jesus Camp

A very Current event. This network needs more material like this.

While the interviews intrigued me, the cuts of the movie somehow made the pod seem very promotional, commercial-like.

Thanks for the comments fell2earth, any suggestions on elements in the pod that do not add to the piece overall that you could see hitting the cutting room floor? We put in film clips, because Version '0' (rough cut) was just a talking heads piece, and didn't really do it for us, magnolia pictures provided a promo reel that was about 12 minutes long from their press screening, and I decided to slice in film clips to make the pod visually appealing and show the viewer what the film is about.

We've been going over the pod with a fine tooth comb trying to present the film & our interview clips in a way where we don't seem like we are doing what you said. Hopefully version '2' will be posted later on today, which trims the clips down a bit, and has reworded some of the slates for clarity. Any suggestions from the community are always appreciated, as we are very proud of this piece, and want to see this hit the air. -zen

The christian rap sequence seems like it could be cut.

Hmm, I'll think about that. I'm working on V3 now which will clip up the opening interview sequence a little more. -zen

Edits are done! Version 3 is a much more complete video I think, let me know what you think, especially if you've seen version 1 and 2 over the last 2 days. I think I've finally gotten the hang of Video Egg. I rendered the final DV AVI in Sorenson Squeeze as a 640x480 MP4 with CD quality audio, it doubled the size of the rendered file from 30Mb to 67Mb, but the fonts are now crystal clear, and the video is not as pixelated. The audio seems a little blown out, so I might need to adjust the audio codec or the bitrate again until it's perfect, but for now I'm done with this piece. I'm going to do the same for my other pod on "the prisoner" and see if the quality improves. The Video Egg PDF, while lacking in some of the finer details, does make a good suggestion for rendering at 640x480, and the proof is in the final Flash 8 video file, that's for sure. -zen

I couldn't tell who was more ridiculous, the moviemakers who were interviewed or the camp people who they filmed, and I couldnt spend more than 7 minutes to find out. Sorry, needs more work.

Actually I think that the underlying intent was captured quite well, good intentions plowing the earth for the growth of tomorrows saviors or dictators. I think this clip will have a wide range of viewer conclusions from horror to heaven. nice job!

It has a very promotional feel to it, probably because you don't have any other perspectives other than the film makers. I don't care for the music you chose. I like it over - all.

Sean G, thank you for your comments. I'm thinking of taking a handheld camera to one or two movie theaters and trying to get 2-4 quick comments from people who saw the movie to open the video pod. This would serve as a means to present a variety of opinions from moviegoers on what they thought of the film before we profile the co-directors and the film itself. Maybe that would balance the piece out some more. The reason we decided not to do this initially was two-fold, one was the time constraints in getting this pod out while the movie was still fresh in the media's eye, and two, since we have a budget of $0, travelling to somewhere in the mid-west (in addition to NYC) to get the opinions of moviegoers where the majority of evangelicals are from was not feasible from a budget standpoint. But I think your comments have shown us we need to add a few more elements to it for a 4th revision to round it out some more. Thanks! -zen

I think that the film speaks for itself. This ia an adendum. Something that allows the film makers to speak. That seems to be the primary purpose of this piece adn it serves it well. there are few interviews with these film makers and this gives us an interesting window into a brewing contraversy. Big greenlight from me (my gl doesn't seem to count anymore though, I am sure that will be cleared up soon)

this is very intrestng becouse just becouse!

After seeing the Countdown With Keith Olberman story on this film tonight, I am convinced that we have presented the most balanced perspective of this movie that you will see anywhere. -zen

This is really great...I'm going to see the film tomorrow. I currently live in the Dallas, Texas area, and there aren't many showings of the film around here...I'm still trying to figure out why that is...Anyway, I think you did an excellent job capturing the movie along with the film-makers interviews..by the way, how in the world did you get an interview with the film-makers???

I just posted my mini-doc about hurricane Katrina for the "Seed's of Tolerance" contest..check it out and let me know what you think. This is my first project, I'm pretty proud of it, but I know I have lots of room for improvement;)

-Tara

Hi Tara, thanks for your question, I'll try to answer it as best I can.

After I found the jesuscampthemovie.com website in late August, I started with a series of emails to Magnolia Pictures and asked if they'd be interested in letting me do a piece "on spec" for Current.TV.

It took a little persuasion, a little demographical information (how many households Current is seen in), and a bit of luck.

I found the PR contact at Magnolia Pictures to be affable and very open to the notion of an interview. Bear in mind, I contacted them before the film had been released, because I saw the story was there, I could smell it.

After a few phone calls, & some more emails, I was invited to a press-screening in NYC for media types as a prerequsite to the interview, the filmmakers wanted journalists to see the film before they were allowed to interview them. I was given a 12 minute Beta SP copy containing several film clips after the screening.

Shortly thereafter (about 4-5 days later), we were invited to come to a press junket at a Hotel suite in NYC where all types of journalists showed up, but they were mostly radio and print media.

Myself and my cameraman Rick came in with his DV camera, and my 3 head light kit and EV mic. and set up in a side room at the hotel where they were conducting interviews.

I found Heidi and Rachel to be very open and honest about their film, and based on that interview, we decided to present the film in as unbiased a manner as possible to respect the filmmakers and the vision they presented to us for their reasons for doing it.

It was a learning experience based largely on my own time as a cameraman working in professional sports news the last 4 years, and realizing I needed to use the correct language to let them know I was there to do a story, nothing more.

I learned a lot from setting up the first pod we ever did in regards of how to contact people about a doing a story, these are the things I have learned. The hallmark of a good producer is being honest and upfront about your intentions first and foremost - you must gain their trust. We told them this video would be submitted to the online community to be voted on, and had an excellent chance of making airplay based on my perceptions of the film from the press-screening. They bit. And what you see is the fruits of that labor.

What we do is not rocket science. If you see a film that looks interesting, contact the film company. The buzz about Jesus Camp was on the web weeks before it hit mainstream media, that buzz helped me to formulate this story in my mind. This is what a journalist can feel, you will know if a story is compelling the moment you think of it - if you hesitate, it will be scooped up by someone who thought of it after you.

I think it was this knowledge, and our hunger to produce interesting and timely pieces, that led me to jump on the first two pods we did. But this one, through the successful efforts of the filmmakers with their movie, in addition to mass-media finally picking up on the buzz of Jesus Camp 3 weeks later, has to the best of my knowledge, helped us get noticed as the first televised media that picked up the story.

It's satisfying to think that our pod scooped everyone in TV first. Damn satisfying.

I wish this was on the air, and not sitting in the 'pod pool' but what are ya gonna do? Help us out and greenlight us. This story belongs on TV.

-zen

well done! as a non christian viewer, i find it very interesting. on one side of the world you got the muslims which are doing similar things like this people although not as slick as having summer camps. if my pc did have to buffer the movie a hundred times, it would even be better. definitely a green light from me. come to think of it, its a little short. needs to be a little longer.

Yeah I hate waiting for the buffer. If you mouseover the screen when it starts, and hit PAUSE and let the status bar load up a little bit (say 2+minutes) then the movie will play without having to re-buffer it while viewing. -zen

Great hustle getting this story. This is a really importaint topic and I like the way it was handled. This should be TV bound. GL

You are scaring me. Greenlight for that.

i didnt even have to watch it until the end to decide GREENLIGHT

This is interesting for people to see. Politics and religion, what a mix that seems unavoidable.Gl

Hell yea! oh sorry please play this, very very good topic.

Congrats on the scoop. Compelling subject matter. Most appreciative of the objectivity, considering the dicey subject matter. Story is moved along effectively by the text screens, non-obtrusive, but important info that leads you into the next scene. Pacing perfect. Didn't feel too long, or short. Hope it gets air while the movie is in theatres. GL!

Wow, who would have thought? If I didn't know this was a doc, I would have thought it was an SNL skit. (-; I am not sure if editing it down a little bit would help you get on air, but good luck either way!

looks really good, thats cool that they gave you permission to use some footage from the movie, it really adds to the interview, you can see what they are talking about...