It’s not too much of a stretch to assert that there has never been a better time for church filmmaking than the current season. Church film teams are evolving and growing into almost every genre of the art form, pushing the craft further than anyone thought possible even five years ago. Better still, the depth of ministry-centric storytelling is continuing to deepen significantly among writers and directors working in churches today.
VFX also allows church film teams to create unique visual looks without the aid of an art direction department.
Almost as importantly, the line between Hollywood technical prowess and the quality of what churches are producing continues to draw thinner than ever before. As visual artists in ministry push that envelop further, they are continuing to explore how the world of visual effects, or VFX, can help them fulfill their artistic vision. VFX is becoming a bigger part of how film teams tell new stories that otherwise might not be feasible. It’s helping to remove distractions and visual barriers to those stories, and it’s even opening up new story settings through the use of virtual sets.
DEFINING VFX
A comprehensive exploration of the world of VFX is far too massive a topic for the scope of this article. Instead, we’ll focus on how church film teams are currently beginning to harness its power in their specific contexts. The first VFX area we’ll focus on is using that same VFX software to enhance or improve footage in order to remove visual distractions. Secondly, we’ll explore the use of that same software to create imagery that wouldn’t be possible to capture in-camera.Other areas of VFX include 3D animation and practical visual effects, such as force perspective and miniature work. While these are certainly areas that a few churches have begun to explore, they are still largely beyond the reach of anyone outside of the feature television and film world.
IMAGE CORRECTION
Often without quite realizing it, many church film teams take their first steps into the world of VFX through the art of color grading. Color grading allows ministry filmmakers to correct basic visual mistakes like white balance and tint balance problems, which are issues inherent to the style of run-and-gun documentary shooting churches require week in and week out. It also allows church film teams to create unique visual looks without the aid of an art direction department.
Adding photorealistic natural elements like rain, snow, or fire into shots is now easier and more convincing (and safer) than ever before.
Another area that serves as a useful gateway into the world of VFX is in the ability to re-light a scene in post. Almost all major editing platforms now feature power window-style tools for selectively adding or subtracting light from a specific part of a shot, helping to draw the attention of the viewer where the director wants it to go. A third image correction VFX area that comes in handy on an almost weekly basis is the ability to remove unwanted camera shake from handheld footage. While it has its limitations, stabilization continues to get better and more useful with each generation of editing platforms and visual effects suites. Thanks to advances in 3D tracking and rotoscoping techniques, church film teams today are able to remove stray visual impediments like graffiti, automobiles, or even unwitting civilians. These tools also help with subtle corrections like sky replacements and strategic blurring.
SPECIAL VFX
As ministry filmmakers continue striving to elevate the power of narrative, they’re leaning into the power of special VFX to tell stories that might have otherwise been considered impossible. Adding photorealistic natural elements like rain, snow, or fire into shots is now easier and more convincing (and safer) than ever before. For instance, film teams telling stories involving auto accidents can add fire to a car crash scene without the danger or expense of real onset pyrotechnics. Another popular use of special VFX includes the ability to portray “miracles” onscreen in a convincing manner.
Adobe Premiere, Final Cut X, and, to some degree, Avid, already have powerful VFX tools built right into the software.
Miracles like allowing people to fly, object cloning, physical healings, and even walking on water are easier than ever (at least visually) thanks to the power of compositing. Greenscreen compositing also allows church film teams to place well-known local ministry personalities into popular movies and television shows for parody purposes. Nothing’s more fun or engaging for a congregation than putting your lead teaching pastor into the opening scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” A final popular use of motion tracking VFX being used by churches today is the ability to superimpose GUIs, or graphical user interfaces, into live action footage. Think “Tony Stark,” “Minority Report,” or “Stranger than Fiction.” GUI VFX allows filmmakers and animators to externalize the inner life of a character in clever and inventive ways, and is endlessly useful for ministry filmmaking.
PHOTOREALISTIC 3D
Thanks to the wide online availability and affordability of 3D models, filmmakers with no previous background in animation or 3D modeling can now incorporate artificial objects into live action footage in ways nearly indistinguishable to most viewers. For example, a Model T can be placed in the background of a scene staged in the early 20th century. A shuttered steel mill can be brought back to life with moving machinery, gears, sparks, and steam. Futuristic cityscapes can be placed into handheld footage. Spiritual beings, weaponry, and warfare can be incorporated into everyday settings. While these types of VFX shots will often be planning- and labor-intensive, just one or two well-placed VFX shots can go a long way toward selling the integrity of a setting or scene. Building on a previous example, one establishing shot with a Model T or two in the background helps subconsciously convince an audience to suspend their belief for the rest of a scene made up of medium and tight character shots.
MOVING FORWARD
For churches looking to take their first steps into narratively driven VFX work, begin by exploring what your current editing solutions already have going on under the hood. Adobe Premiere, Final Cut X, and, to some degree, Avid, already have powerful VFX tools built right into the software. Teams ready to expand their VFX capabilities beyond their native editing software will want to to explore the advanced capabilities included in Adobe’s After Effects. Not only is After Effects home to a number of powerful tools, it also serves as the backbone for industry-standard VFX plug-ins from Red Giant, Boris FX, and Video Copilot.
Thanks to advances in 3D tracking androtoscoping techniques, church film teams today are able to remove stray visual impediments like graffiti, automobiles, or even unwitting civilians.
One of the more interesting developments in the VFX world is the recent incorporation of DaVinci’s Fusion VFX and compositing software into the larger Resolve editing suite. For the first time editing, VFX, industry-standard color grading and audio mixing have been incorporated into an all-in-one post-production suite. While it still has that new-kid-on-the-block-in-the-post-production-world vibe, it’s definitely a tool churches should be carefully exploring moving into the future. Ultimately, all the VFX power in the world won’t save poor storytelling. On the upside, well-executed VFX can help take great storytelling to a whole new level, an “Are you saying OUR church made that?!” level. And that matters if part of the mission of your film team is to capture the attention and communicate the Gospel to people beyond the walls of your church.
