Blog

CCC Christmas Production - “This Is My Time” Sample from ProlifikFilms on Vimeo.

“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” is underway at Christ Community Church in Saint Charles, IL.  Big Christmas productions used to be a tradition at CCC, and after an eight year hiatus they’ve brought it back. 

My role was to create a series of roll-in videos to help fill-in parts of the story—which was a blast.

The production is primarily a stage show, with a live band & musical specials throughout.  (A shout out to front men Leonard Ahlstrom, Ben Calhoun and Cody Claussen.  They’re great.  And I can’t say enough about Mindee Hill’s voice.  Amazing.)

The storyline is about a family with a bit of dysfunction under the surface—it’s about second chances, redemption & finding your way.  In a way, it’s a modern re-telling of the prodigal son parable.  The concept was commissioned by senior pastor Jim Nicodem based on need and brokenness that he sees in the community every day.  And writer/producer Sharon Clausen’s ability to tell a story and create a great tempo comes through even with all of the team contributions and adjustments along the way.

I created four roll-in videos—three were pretty in-depth b-roll montages.  The trick was that they happened at different points throughout an eleven month timeline (between one Christmas and the next).  So shooting exteriors that could pass for different times of the year was important.  I actually headed out after a couple of the early production meetings to get seasonal exteriors.

On the technical side . . . I settled on using my Canon EOS 5DmkII digital SLR (DSLR) since I wanted to create a “film-like” look, and the majority of what I’d be shooting was b-roll.  (In many ways, a near-perfect project for a DSLR.  At least considering their current limitations as a production tool.)  The RED wasn’t a good option based on the fact that it would be just me most of the time, and videocameras would have needed a LOT more lighting & depth than we had available.  Based on the “run & gun” nature, I needed to rely on existing interior lighting where possible plus a single KinoFlo Diva 400 to eliminate harsh shadows on faces.  A motorized zoom would have been nice while shooting some of the exteriors, but I was usually able to lock-down the shot & create the moves I was looking for in post.  I suppose some of the scenes could have been shot by just holding the camera, but I have a Zacuto “Sniper” kit which I almost always use unless I’m getting a low-angle (or trick shot), or I’m shooting incognito.

Most of the scenes were picked up in one hour time blocks (after school, on weekends) to accommodate the volunteer actors.  For one of the half-day blocks, my friend Dave Olson helped out as a grip to move the light around.  We had to cover a lot of ground & I wouldn’t want to do it without him.  But for the most part, everything was done with a production crew of one. 

So, the above sample is an abbreviated version of the first montage.  Remember that the roll-ins were designed to augment the stage play, so it won’t make complete sense just watching the video.  And the audio is an early live recording . . . once I get a final track, I’ll update that. 

Lastly it’s important to mention that part of what made this work was the use of Bob & Beckie Untiedt’s amazing restaurants (Grahams’ Chocolate & Grahams’ 318) in downtown Geneva.  There are even more interior shots of the locations in the other videos—one was used for interiors, the other for exteriors.  Each time we were there we enjoyed a different combination of espresso, hot chocolate, baked goods and fondue.  Their generosity & the perfect setting of the locations was part of what made this project so great.