(Figure 1)

There are certain things about a video that help us believe it.  Some things are not as obvious like camera framing, editing, something called The 180º Rule, and audio.  Other elements of the production are right out there for everyone to see like acting, wardrobe, and set design.  For many of our videos, the sets are standard: church interior, home interior, store front, etc.  For Unnoticed Moms, LLC we were tasked with designing a very distintive set from scratch.

The first hurdle we encountered was the “vision”.  There were three of us who had slightly different pictures of the set in our heads.  Of course, it’s nice to have an Art Director who can dole out assignments for the vision and be the one who designs the set.  Steve and I, however, did a little flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants (collective pants) to work out the set.  It’s a mixture of old and new as well as fairly interesting looking generic boxes and stacks of stuff.  We each ended up bringing ideas to the design and just seeing what would stick.  It was a little confusing at times.  It was even a little frustrating at times.  But I feel like we were able to put our ideas together and work up a nice little nondescript world for our actors.

FILLER

(Figure 2)

Something that was really neat to me and sort of unexpected was a set of items our designer, Ashton, created for the background.  She spent some time pulling together some old and interesting looking imagery that we printed out and hung on the wall behind the Akron character (Figure 2).  She also found a great Post WWII map on the Library of Congress website that we turned in to a banner for the wall (Figure 3).

(Figure 3)

I’m sure you will agree that none of these items really caused any of our mothers to have a happier day, but it can be argued that these elements brought another level of realism to the set.  Yes, the set might have been just fine otherwise. I am confident, though, that these extra– well, the Cajun word for it is “lagniappe” (LAHN-yahp)– this lagniappe made the world believable and caused the background to drift to the back of everyone’s minds so the action and dialogue could take center stage.

Of course, there isn’t a magic formula, but we ended up having a lot of fun with the set design.  I would encourage you to do the same for YOUR productions!

We know it might be a little late for this year, but hey, we are WAY early for Mother’s Day 2013!

Texting Mom

I’ll Need You Mom

Why We Love Mom

A Mother’s Day Moment

Do you need some “Motherly-type” backgrounds? Click here to view our Mother’s Day store!

Today Martin Massinger passed away.  We are rejoicing and mourning all at the same time. He was a spiritual guide for me as well as many. I was privileged to be on the Watermark worship team for 8 years with Martin. Some of my favorite memories are with him and our team.  We also got to do some wedding receptions and other events and those were just as fun.  The picture above is Martin playing bass at my wedding.  Haley and I loved having the band play our reception.

I also got to hang out with Martin the last 5-6 years because he was the graphic design artist for my dad’s company magazines. Since we share office space, I would see Martin on a daily basis. In fact we often used Martin in our Igniter videos.

Below are the videos Martin graciously acted in. He was always a great sport about being in our videos and he had a great time with it.  We are forever blessed to have known Martin Massinger.

“Why I Say Happy Easter”

“Why I Call It Good Friday”

We think these videos could be a great start to your service. They get people to slow down and think about the gravity of what really happened years ago and what it means today.

***If you already have a subscription, just click download and they’re all yours – no extra cost! If you don’t have a subscription, click here and get started now!

We couldn’t be more excited to launch Igniter Subscriptions! We’ve been working on this for a while and we know many of you have been curious about it.

Why get a subscription? Depending on which subscription you get, you’ll have access to all of our files, new or old! For instance, next week we’ll release our new Easter mini-movie. If you have the Unlimited or Mini-Movie subscription, you would just log in to your account and click download! For more information, click here.

There are three different subscriptions to choose from:

-Unlimited: access to everything on our site

-Backgrounds: access to countdowns, loops and stills

-Mini-movies: access to mini-movies

Have you made a recent purchase, but are still interested in the subscription? We’ll be happy to help you get a discounted price. Just call us at 866-340-1826.

We think subscriptions will serve you well, but if you have any questions or concerns shoot us an email or give us a call.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not sure if it’s right for your audience? Click here to watch all five minutes of these clever church signs. If you really like this one, don’t miss our first one!

If you caught Christmas in 50 Words, this is a similar premise, but an entirely different video. The original poem by Dana Livesay has been used time and time again in sermons, etc. and we were so pleased to have permission from him to use it in this video.

This unique video covers God’s story from Genesis to Revelation. As big believers in the power of story, we love how 50 little words can cause you to look at the Bible in a  new way. We think it’s a great conversation starter for your service. Maybe it will help jump start a message on the Bible – the power of God’s word, how to study it, the importance of spending time in Scripture. Or, maybe it is a subtle reminder to your audience that Jesus cares about their story as much as he cared for those in the Bible. We have no doubt you’ll find it a great resource! Let us know how you’re using it.