Christian Films

Note: I wrote this way back when I was going to MTSU. This is actually a paper I had to submit for an independent project. Originally I was going to shoot a short film (around 20-30 minutes) that I was so excited about. I had shooting locations, actors, ideas, etc, etc. However, when it got down to it all my actors had one excuse or another. Thus I was left with a short film script that was developed with numerous rewrites, and still sits in a pile wondering if one day it will be made. However, I still have this paper, that from the last time I read it and remember it, detailed a nice look at Christian films (which from what I can tell are still horrible).

I. What I Feel is Wrong with Christian Films

The art form of making movies has been a long and tedious journey. The development of the motion picture has gone through many stages: soundless, black and white to color, the cheesy flicks of the 1950’s, the development special effects and technology. All have played a vital role in the evolution of the motion picture. Though the motion picture as a whole has developed into a glittering, glistening industry full of creative scripts, brilliant actors and actresses, and mind-blowing special effects, there is still a genre that lacks when compared to all other genres. That genre is the Christian genre.

The Christian genre is filled with select movie genres that would be found in the secular realm of film entertainment: comedy, drama, children, action and adventure. These kinds of movies are the majority of those you would see produced by Christian Production Companies. These are the genres that Christians feel can be used to entertain and preach their message.

These movies are filled with the basic components that are found in any movie of the like genre, the only difference is that the overtones of these movies are heavily rooted in Christian beliefs. The message that is told in the vast majority of these films is the simple message of redemption through Jesus Christ. The majority of these films are used as evangelism tools. It is only a small minority of films—motion picture, straight-to-video that is—that are for entertainment. The rest of these straight-to-video style films are for evangelism.

There are other videos put out that do not exactly fit into an evangelism genre. These are children’s videos that teach lessons to kids. The most famous of these is Veggie Tales—videos that teach kids moral values and lessons through biblical retellings starring vegetables. The biggest success of the Veggie Tales series came in 2001 with Jonah: A Veggie Tales movie. It grossed a pretty good purse at the box office for a Christian film. The reasoning behind this is quite evident. It is directed towards children and children don’t expect too much from their entertainment. As children grow up into teens and adults they expect more from their entertainment and Christian movies directed towards them just aren’t that good.

Big Idea Productions, the company that makes Veggie Tales, has a good idea how to make videos. They know their audience and they use a formula that works. They know what their audience expects and how to deliver. Christian production companies that target adults or teens just don’t understand how to get connected to their audience. Taking formulas used in the secular market, Christian companies try to produce top quality films that they believe will capture their intended audience. Lay It Down, a Christian style version of the movie The Fast and the Furious tried doing this. The Christian movie involved the same basic idea as the secular one—street racing.

Though some Christian movies use the basic concepts of secular ones it is the original ideas that sell better. And what can get more original than their own belief? Movies based on the Bible have been some of the best-produced films in the Christian genre. One reason for this may be the desire to stay true to the sacred text that commands such quality. A perfect example of this would be the Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. He went to great lengths to create a movie that stayed true to the scriptures and some have jumped him for that desire. He has had pastors and preachers from all over the country viewing it to see what they think. He had theologians and Bible scholars go over the script to make sure it was true to the scriptures. The biggest part he wished to remain true was the suffering that Jesus Christ went through from his arrest to his death. These movies based on the Bible not only have film critics looking at them, but also the entire Christian community. When making a film version of any Bible story it seems the whole world is looking at it and scrutinizing it. That too can push the production to be top quality. Whether straight-to-video or a theatrical release, any movie based on the Bible is going to have a pretty good production quality, script, and acting. Speaking of whether the movie is a theatrical release or straight-to-video, distribution plays a big role in the Christian film. This is another reason Christian films aren’t on the same level as those in the secular market.

Distribution for Christian films is far less widespread than secular films. Christian films for the most part are straight-to-video releases. When they are released to theatres, it is in select cities. Movies like The Omega Code, Megiddo, and The Gospel of John have opened in select cities and stayed that way. It is rare that a Christian film opens up nationwide. When the movies do go to video though, it becomes hard to find them at the local Blockbuster. The best place to find such videos is at Christian bookstores that rent them out. If you wish to purchase them though, the average selling price for any Christian film is $19.99. Where you can buy secular movies at stores from $7.99 to $19.99, there is usually only one price for Christian films--$19.99. But if there isn’t a Christian bookstore near you, there is always the Internet. Searching the web you can always find video sellers who offer a wide variety of titles for any specific reason—from evangelism for all ages to entertainment for all ages.

Though the distribution of these films may be limited it is not the reason why they are not favored or even put on the same level as many secular titles. One of the main reasons is simple: they are of poor quality. Christian movies made for television can be of decent and sometimes great quality, but it’s when they are for video or theatres they suddenly become very shabby. It’s not in one area that they are shabby. It is in quite a few areas where these movies tend to fall short.

The first part is the script. A Christian film created for evangelism purposes follows a pretty straight outline: Intro and setup, the Christian and non-Christian relationship, the Non-Christian seeing the light and getting saved. That is a basic evangelism film. An entertainment film is sometimes not much better. This is because many people believe that because they are Christians and making movies for Christians that it has to convey an atmosphere that is all neat and perfect. Sure, there are struggles and problems, there must be in such film for the power of the Lord to triumph and convey the Christian message. But Christians are set on high platforms as being these neat and perfect people who may say that they struggle, but it is not seen. They may talk about their imperfections, but those are not seen. This is a huge reason why I believe Christian films are not very good. They do not represent Christians as humans like everyone else.

Another reason is the acting. There are some great acting in many Christian films and sometimes the poor acting is a direct consequence of the script being bad. But then there are some films where things just don’t fit and the acting suffers because of the script. Basically, I believe that the reason the acting is bad in a majority of the films is because of the script, not necessarily the actors.

The next reason is finances. This branches off into the special effects in some movies. I have seen many Christian movies where the special effects have just made the movie very laughable. Some of these movies have had pretty good scripts too and it was the special effects that ruined it all. For instance, the movie Megiddo had a scene at the end with the devil being in his natural form. Though the movie was not great, it was pretty decent. That was until the devil was shown. The devil was a computer generated image—a very bad computer generated image. The end result of the animators was a CGI that looked like the first CGI’s when special effects started to get good. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t that bad. It was still enough to make the film somewhat laughable. The poor quality of the CGI was a direct result that most Christian films do not have a large budget like many Hollywood secular films. The key thing to remember from such films is that if you can’t do it and make it look good—don’t do it. This lack of funds stretches into many other aspects of the film, just not special effects. This is yet another reason why Christian films are not on the same line as secular films.

The final reason why I believe Christian films are not on the same level as secular films is that many do not know their audience. Like I mentioned before, Big Ideas Productions knows their audience with their Veggie Tales product. They know what the audience wants and expects and they stay along those same lines improving time after time. I feel though that many people in the Christian film industry do not understand this. A great example of this is any film that is meant for evangelism but doesn’t appeal to anyone but a Christian. They must know their market.

II. My Film Strategy

From these observations I plan on creating a short Christian film that is mostly meant for Christians and for their entertainment but can also be used as an evangelism film. The sole purpose for my film is not evangelism. What I mean by this is that the film will leave questions in a viewers mind like “what is he talking about?” and if they really want to know more they can seek out more. Another example to relay this understanding if for a Christian person to take a non-Christian with them and in turn ask if they have any questions. This is what is meant by the evangelism part. This is the sole intent on the evangelism side.

As for the entertainment aspect of the film, I have seen the job that many Christian films have done in entertaining. Of all the ones I have seen—meant for someone other than children and for entertainment, only one has had a decent entertainment value. There is one film—To End All Wars that critics have given a great revue of, but is still in select cities. What I have read about it seems to fall into what I perceive as a good strategy for Christian films. The basic concept of this strategy is to make a secular film with Christians in it as the stars. I have held this belief as long as I can remember. After seeing my first Christian film and seeing how cheesy it was it suddenly hit me why they weren’t that good. This is the reason.

For Christian films to be on the same playing field as secular films they need to be secular films with Christians in it. Does that mean all the cussing and sex and everything else that fills secular movies—no. This means that the basic storyline of the film is not cheesy, is not loaded down with all these perfect Christians but is created by the real world that surrounds us and the stars are Christians.

II. My Film Concept

After looking at all this I have finally narrowed my film down to an idea that I can do. Though I have many more ideas that are probably better as well, the one key thing for me to remember is to make a film that I can actually do. This means no huge special effects or anything I don’t understand. Simply, do what I know. This leads me to a film idea I’ve had for nearly five years. I originally thought of this idea before I became a Christian. Then as I further understood my faith I tailored the idea to it. The best way to relate my film to someone is that it uses the same techniques in storytelling as do many of Kevin Smith’s movies. These would include Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. His idea in his early works was a basic film with no actual script—which is what Clerks seems to be. It just follows a day in the life of two employees at jobs they hate. The body of the work is simple dialogue. No action really takes place.

This is partially what my film will be like. Though mine has more of action like his later works, its content and heart fall directly on the dialogue. The dialogue will be filled with conversations between the characters that many can relate with as wisecracking and just plain conversational, though there are some conversations that step up and presents views and issues that everyone deals with, especially Christians.

The actual film will target teens and young adults who can relate to the characters, who are in their late teens to mid twenties. These characters are people like everyone else and it should be easy for everyone to relate to someone. The most important thing about these characters, who are all Christian, is that they are still human. They deal with issues that are seen on the screen; they mess up like everyone else. They have imperfections and those show through.

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