My first disclaimer is that this is a subjective chart. Having spent a number of years trying to create video for use in Christian educational settings, this graph is an attempt to visualize some of my conclusions and opinions. It will likely be of little interest to most people, but for those few who are intrigued with trying to use video to teach Biblical ideas and principles, perhaps it will be of some use.
Although the chart should be self-explanatory, there are some assumptions that I am making here that I think are important when considering video as a teaching tool:
1) Video is a visual medium that works best doing visual things. In other words, there’s a reason why people prefer watching feature films than the nightly news. It’s not that the news isn’t watched – it is; I would just argue that it is not nearly as effective a use of the visual medium as is a documentary or narrative film. For example, imagine a newscaster saying “A man broke into a jewelry store and robbed everyone at gunpoint. While fleeing from the scene of the crime, an old lady tripped him with her cane and proceeded to beat him with it until the Police arrived.” In contrast, imagine a short scene that shows the exact same things happening in real life. The latter is infinitely more interesting and a much more powerful use of the medium than the first. However…
2) The more interesting things are visually, the more they cost to capture. This is the reason why it takes more money to make feature films than it does to shoot the nightly news. For the filmmaker, this is always a challenge, since film and video is a high-cost endeavor from almost any perspective, even that of the amateur. One interesting point, however, is that the documentary is a lower-cost yet more effective (and hence more popular) use of the medium. If done well, a documentary carries a good narrative arc, can communicate a variety of ideas, and do so at a lower entry cost.
3) It becomes progressively more difficult to express propositional ideas accurately as one moves toward more narrative-based films. By propositional thinking, I am referring to the more abstract yet key doctrinal teachings of the Christian faith: the Trinity, the atonement, sin, repentance, justification, sanctification, etc. These are the things that Paul talks about in all his letters, and it’s clear that God knew the verbal/written form was the best medium for communicating these ideas; in fact, I would argue this is one of the main purposes for which He created words – they are the best form of enduring communication. This poses an interesting challenge for the modern filmmaker who wants to express more complex Biblical ideas with his work. For example, one could film a pastor or teacher teaching on justification and have an extremely accurate presentation, but this use ranks low on the popularity scale; it gets better as one moves to a pastor/teacher with b-roll; but the really powerful use of film would be to show it through some narrative form: and that is very difficult to do accurately and well. It also explains why so many films and videos really need ancillary and accompanying study materials that are – you guessed it – words.
These three points are just some quick observations. I think there are lots of corollaries that can be drawn from considering these relationships, not the least of which is that it explains why so much of modern video curriculum falls to the left side of the chart: it’s easier to be accurate and it’s cheaper to make. The challenge, of course, is that most people who use video curriculum in church or small group would prefer to have something that is more visually engaging, more emotionally stirring, and more story-driven. But it’s much more expensive – and it’s harder to do well. Perhaps as markets expand and interest deepens in having media that is both emotionally engaging and doctrinally accurate (i.e., more money is available to try more things), new creative thinkers will begin to create teaching tools that adjust the lines on this chart. For now, however, this seems to be the parameters within which we who are creating these types of media are obliged to operate.
