Comments on: Ideas from A. W. Tozer on filming the spiritual http://compasscinema.com/blog/2010/04/ideas-from-a-w-tozer-on-filming-the-spiritual/ A New Direction in Film and Video Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:09:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jared Wilson http://compasscinema.com/blog/2010/04/ideas-from-a-w-tozer-on-filming-the-spiritual/comment-page-1/#comment-1367 Jared Wilson Wed, 24 Nov 2010 07:33:03 +0000 http://compasscinema.com/blog/?p=1005#comment-1367 This is something I have spent a lot of time thinking about. How do you portray an intimate relationship with God in film? It is hard to explain to someone or talk to them about your relationship with God because there often aren't words to describe it. Film, however, can portray emotions by putting you in the situation with the character, bringing you through the struggles they deal with, and showing up-close the way it affects them. Also, the music aids in setting the emotional mood of a scene. However, the most intimate scenes must be taken from, or at least draw upon, actual experiences we have lived because it is impossible to create something that has the incredible power of an intimate moment with God completely out of our imaginations. So, in order to make films that can truly and realistically portray a relationship with God, we must have an intimate relationship with God. I can't show people a God I don't know. This is something I have spent a lot of time thinking about. How do you portray an intimate relationship with God in film? It is hard to explain to someone or talk to them about your relationship with God because there often aren’t words to describe it. Film, however, can portray emotions by putting you in the situation with the character, bringing you through the struggles they deal with, and showing up-close the way it affects them. Also, the music aids in setting the emotional mood of a scene. However, the most intimate scenes must be taken from, or at least draw upon, actual experiences we have lived because it is impossible to create something that has the incredible power of an intimate moment with God completely out of our imaginations. So, in order to make films that can truly and realistically portray a relationship with God, we must have an intimate relationship with God. I can’t show people a God I don’t know.

]]> By: Emily@Behind the Bookcase http://compasscinema.com/blog/2010/04/ideas-from-a-w-tozer-on-filming-the-spiritual/comment-page-1/#comment-608 Emily@Behind the Bookcase Fri, 28 May 2010 23:45:24 +0000 http://compasscinema.com/blog/?p=1005#comment-608 I enjoyed this post so much, Thomas. Your question about how to convey spiritual realities through storytelling is a question I've given quite a lot of thought, throughout my college English classes and my time as an editor. Part of the problem is that in the last hundred or so years, stories have gone from classical kinds of storytelling (i.e. books or plays) with lots of dialogue and room for deep thought, to a more visual form. That is to say, with the move toward realism, storytelling has emphasized the five senses of characters and narrators verses. While this makes for really crisp, grab-you-by-the-collar kinds of entertainment, there is also a loss. Reading someone like Dostoevesky or Shakespeare, you begin to see the difference in older forms of storytelling and newer stories that draw more on the senses. This emphasis on the senses isn't bad per se, but it does put Reformed Christianity at a disadvantage to philosophies like pure existentialism and even Catholocism, which has so many icons to draw on. That said, I really enjoyed the Christian references in The Last Days of Sophie Scholl, a German film about a girl who resisted the Nazis. There were so many things I liked about the film, but I thought they did about as good as could be expected in conveying the spiritual reality of her life. The movie has a wonderful scene of a prayer--just about as good as I could imagine a secular movie doing. I enjoyed this post so much, Thomas. Your question about how to convey spiritual realities through storytelling is a question I’ve given quite a lot of thought, throughout my college English classes and my time as an editor. Part of the problem is that in the last hundred or so years, stories have gone from classical kinds of storytelling (i.e. books or plays) with lots of dialogue and room for deep thought, to a more visual form. That is to say, with the move toward realism, storytelling has emphasized the five senses of characters and narrators verses. While this makes for really crisp, grab-you-by-the-collar kinds of entertainment, there is also a loss. Reading someone like Dostoevesky or Shakespeare, you begin to see the difference in older forms of storytelling and newer stories that draw more on the senses. This emphasis on the senses isn’t bad per se, but it does put Reformed Christianity at a disadvantage to philosophies like pure existentialism and even Catholocism, which has so many icons to draw on.

That said, I really enjoyed the Christian references in The Last Days of Sophie Scholl, a German film about a girl who resisted the Nazis. There were so many things I liked about the film, but I thought they did about as good as could be expected in conveying the spiritual reality of her life. The movie has a wonderful scene of a prayer–just about as good as I could imagine a secular movie doing.

]]> By: Thom http://compasscinema.com/blog/2010/04/ideas-from-a-w-tozer-on-filming-the-spiritual/comment-page-1/#comment-571 Thom Tue, 18 May 2010 18:04:22 +0000 http://compasscinema.com/blog/?p=1005#comment-571 This is an excellent post, Thomas. It strikes at such a deeply problematic place in the matrix of Christian thought, since, by all rights, only God is allowed to incarnate the invisible so that it what is unseen may be seen. How can one pursue a theology of the cross and film at the same time? And can film avoid the reduction of Christian confession to ethics which was the error of classic liberalism? One thought experiment which may suggest a way would be to ask how a moment looks if the pressure of death is removed in the light of resurrection? Every moment of our cinema today--and especially the realistic stuff--is so saturated with existentialist meaninglessness and the void. I'm just throwing stuff against the wall. Please keep blogging on this topic. This is an excellent post, Thomas. It strikes at such a deeply problematic place in the matrix of Christian thought, since, by all rights, only God is allowed to incarnate the invisible so that it what is unseen may be seen. How can one pursue a theology of the cross and film at the same time? And can film avoid the reduction of Christian confession to ethics which was the error of classic liberalism? One thought experiment which may suggest a way would be to ask how a moment looks if the pressure of death is removed in the light of resurrection? Every moment of our cinema today–and especially the realistic stuff–is so saturated with existentialist meaninglessness and the void. I’m just throwing stuff against the wall. Please keep blogging on this topic.

]]> By: Thom Schuyler http://compasscinema.com/blog/2010/04/ideas-from-a-w-tozer-on-filming-the-spiritual/comment-page-1/#comment-569 Thom Schuyler Tue, 18 May 2010 16:26:09 +0000 http://compasscinema.com/blog/?p=1005#comment-569 Thomas - You have highlighted my favorite piece of Christian writing. Tozer's Pursuit of God, in my humble opinion, possesses a pure and unadulterated passion for the essence of our relationship with the God of the Universe and he presents the possibilities in a clear but profound manner. Blessings in your pursuit - TJS Thomas – You have highlighted my favorite piece of Christian writing. Tozer’s Pursuit of God, in my humble opinion, possesses a pure and unadulterated passion for the essence of our relationship with the God of the Universe and he presents the possibilities in a clear but profound manner. Blessings in your pursuit – TJS

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