Crystal Nowoc
Living Word Studios' Laura Tapp is teaching a session at the 2020 Capture event in Dallas this August. To find out more, visit https://capturesummit.com/. In this article, we find out what inspires her creativity and how she gets it all done.
CPM: Tell us about your introduction into filmmaking, how that evolved into church filmmaking, and a little about your early years in the industry.
Tapp: I started in communications and did commercials for a resort where I worked. After I left, I concentrated on being a wife and mom and raising our kids. My husband and I started a business in 2008 that I managed for 10 years. We were sensing a change in our life in 2017 as our kids were all but grown by then and I had an opportunity to work on set with Living Word Studios (LWS) as a script supervisor for our 3rd film, Christmas Wander. Micah, our director, took a chance on me. I had NO experience aside from acting in a couple commercials. I jumped into the deep end and got bit by the filmmaking bug. I would work 12-14 hours on set, and go home and watch YouTube videos on continuity, special effects makeup, etc., for hours! We shot for three weeks. I was totally exhausted, but the adrenaline rush was incredible! Two months later we decided to close our business and Micah asked me to come onboard with LWS. It's been amazing. The learning curve is steep. I was AD for our next film, The Big Fix, along with assistant producing. Currently I am producing Sentenced! and producing our in-development project to be shot in October 2020 called Little Mama.
CPM: Your movie trailer (and movie) created for Living Word Family Church and entered in the 2019 Capture film festival was called The Big Fix. It detailed what children of potentially divorcing parents go through. It’s a topic almost everyone can relate to in today's world. Tell us a little about the film’s purpose.
Tapp: This idea started as, "What if kids could divorce their family because they don’t get along with the other people in it?” We expect our children to learn to get along, but as adults our culture is quick to say “remove yourself from the situation,” rather than "learn to get along.” And that is much easier said than done. (Of course, it’s different with adultery or abuse and isn't what we are talking about.) Often, we only see from our own perspective and what others are doing to us - never considering the other person’s viewpoint. In The Big Fix, mayhem ensues when each family member prays in a church service that God would "fix the other person" and then find they have switched bodies! The parents become the kids and the kids become the parents! They must learn to work together and see from the other's perspective. It was a fun project!
CPM: What other hot-button topics are you addressing in your current film work?
Tapp: The project in preproduction now is Sentenced! It’s a comedy about a blended family totally disconnected from each other. They live under the same roof, but that's about it. Through a series of unfortunate events the parents are arrested for disturbing the peace and sentenced to three weeks in a small, quirky fishing cabin with no amenities! They are forced to be close to each other and connect.
The project in development called Little Mama deals with trusting God when what you pray for doesn't happen and how strength and peace prevail in difficult times. This is a tough topic to tackle. Using comedy helps to make the "lesson learned" palatable to the audience. What do you do when you are all in with your prayers and faith, and it doesn't happen?
CPM: In your view, why is church filmmaking important for discipleship and highlighting challenges in our society?
Tapp: Our culture has evolved so much in the last 10 years. Every kind of information is at our fingertips. Content is easy to find and get. Connecting with an audience is harder from a conventional perspective. Packaging Biblical truths in a way that culture understands means an avenue for discipleship previously untapped and there is a demand for quality storytelling now more than ever. What better way to show how to be a disciple in a way that will be uplifting and fun?
CPM: What are two pieces of gear your filmmaking crew can't be without, and why?
Tapp: Light meter! When shooting multiple weekends and scenes out of sequence, having uneven lighting is difficult to deal with. A light meter helps to keep your editor from pulling out her hair! The second is a Dana Dolly (or slider if you don't have a dolly). This adds depth to your scene by using movement to tell the story. Shots with movement can help add emotion and make an otherwise boring scene really intriguing. Your audience may not even notice it but will definitely feel it!
CPM: What is the focus of your break-out session for Capture 2020 in Dallas and what do you hope attendees come away with?
Tapp: I will be talking about making preproduction successful. The more planning and decisions made before the cameras start rolling, the less stress, time, and money will be spent on mistakes later. It really is the hardest part of filmmaking. There are some tips and tools we have learned along the way. I'll be sharing some of those.
Also, I will be elaborating on building a volunteer team specifically for a film crew. Our set is 90% volunteers. From the camera operators to the production assistants, we have about 100 volunteers on each project. There are processes we have in place to facilitate a positive atmosphere. There are horror stories of disorganized, crazy, uptight sets. Ours isn't like that! Our first discipling actually happens with our volunteers. Our first allegiance is to Jesus Christ, then to our brothers and sisters we get to work alongside, then to those who are in the audience of our films. We have lots of testimonies from viewers and volunteers of the change that happened within them as a result of seeing and/or volunteering on our projects. That is the real win! What we do can be replicated. And having a team that is dependable, skillful, knowledgeable, and maturing spiritually is totally doable!
