What about the film's effectiveness?
Many have seen the Christian movie, "Facing the Giants." For many
Christians the movie represented a breakout film. The success of the
movie was in and of itself a David and Goliath story. Here, a little
church in Georgia decided to make a low budget film (between $100-300
thousand) to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ. The movie attracted
the attention of Sony Pictures and was distributed in 100's of theaters
before going to DVD. Its popularity exceeded everyone's expectations,
especially Sony's.
Christians reacted to the film in a number of ways. Most I know were
spiritually blessed by the film and even if they don't want to admit
it, many cried. Yet there were also many Christians who were critical
of the quality of the film regarding its production quality, acting,
and writing. Not to pick on "Facing the Giants" exclusively, there have
been many Christian films made over the years with quality issues.
Another well known example is the "Left Behind" film based on the
popular "Left Behind" book series. Sighting these examples, there is a
debate among Christians as to if the quality matters when making a
Christian film. Feature films are generally judged by both the money
they make and their quality. As Christians, we may not be interested in
box office sales but we certainly care about the number of people who
see a film. How much should Christians care about a Christian film's
quality? Should we judge a movie based only on the numbers of people
who see it? What about the film's effectiveness? Our real question
should be: Is a Christian film less effective if the quality is lower?
Our answer depends on who we see as our audience. Is our audience
only Christians who have a high desire for Christian entertainment,
thus, are willing to be forgiving on a movie's quality in order to
receive the message or support the filmmakers? Or does our audience
also include seekers or even Christians who are less gracious with the
movies they watch?
Does quality matter? If we wish to reach seekers, I believe quality
does matter. "Facing the Giants" was a miracle and witness of what a
small group of Christians could accomplish together, led and empowered
by God. However, if we want to be effective in reaching people,
especially seekers through film, we need to be careful that we do not
use this success to set a lower bar for quality and excellence. When we
lower the bar for excellence, could we not be communicating to the
world that Christians are not capable of making films on par with
Hollywood? Or, perhaps worse, that the message is not worthy of our
best?
Quality matters to God. Consider when God was leading the
Israelites. When it came to making the Temple or the objects of
worship, quality mattered. God directed the Israelites to acquire the
best workers, the best artists, and the best craftsmen because their
work was in His name and their work represented Him. If our motivation
is to represent God, His Truths, and proclaim them throughout the
world, should Christian films not be held to the same standard?
Consider the Renaissance where the Church commissioned artists to do
great works of art to glorify God, such as the Sistine Chapel. What if
the Church said to Michelangelo, "We just want to get our message
across so we don't need the best artists. Just send us an apprentice.
As long as he is a Christian, I am sure he will do a good job."
There is a new ministry that has been established to aid Christian filmmakers to help them make movies on par with Hollywood.
It is the first donor-funded not-for-profit Christian Motion Picture
Studio set up to help fund and promote excellence in Christian
filmmaking. Excellence, not only in movie-making quality, but also
effectiveness in impacting the world with the message of Jesus Christ
told through great stories set to film. In Jesus' Name Productions
takes its name very seriously. We make movies In His Name; hence, we
desire Christian films to be made with the highest quality possible to
honor Jesus, our Lord and Savior. www.IJNP.org
