Each of us at Compass Cinema is extremely detailed in his own particular way. As a result, we like to work systematically. We try to plan out creative processes as much as possible beforehand; as Orson Welles said – and I quote him loosely – if you don’t have a plan, you don’t have anything to deviate from. Although we don’t believe God is in the details, we do believe He cares about them – and so do we.
When we work, we start with an idea (whether its ours or from a partner), then do the following steps, preferably in this order:
- DEVELOP the Idea.
- Identify the unique needs and goals, distilling them into simple statements that everyone agrees on.
- Do extensive theological and pedagogical thinking to ensure everything is Biblical.
- Develop an in-depth conceptual structure by aligning the goals and the theological/pedagogical material.
- Identify all the necessary elements for project completion: locations, people, crew, etc.
- Plan and budget project execution with as much detail as we can achieve.
- PRODUCE the Material.
- Pre-production: we write scripts, pre-interview subjects, find locations, hire cast and crew, plan shoots, and all the other parts of planning necessary to the project.
- Principal Photography: we like efficient productions whether they require a 3-man documentary team to a multi-week 150+ cast/crew/extras shoot. (We like to keep the trains running on time.)
- Writing: we write all kinds of study materials (as we did with Modern Parables) or we can work with a partner who provides that aspect of the project (as we did with Seek Social Justice).
- COMPLETE the Product.
- Post-Production: we edit all our own material, find or commission the right music, oversee color and sound editing, and then finalize everything.
- Formating: video inevitably has to be put into a usable form, so we do all our own encoding as well as DVD authoring in order to ensure quality at every point. This includes digital downloads, streaming internet media, and DVDs.
- Design: we work with local graphic designers to create all our designs and branding (like Modern Parables) or we work with a partner’s designers to support their look (like Seek Social Justice).
- Printing and Duplication: through our work with Modern Parables we have excellent relationships with offset printers, box-creators, book printers, and duplicators. Since we’ve always done short runs on our products, we have found very cost-effective ways at getting small orders finished.
- Distribution: We maintain our own distribution network through Modern Parables, and have key relationships with most of the major Christian retailers both domestically and internationally.
