(Being text of a keynote presented at the Kingdom Film Festival Lagos on Saturday December 3, 2022)
‘A lot of gospel filmmakers are failing and doing poor work not because they are not talented but because they work alone and have the benefit of only their own meagre experience and narrow ideas. And given how multi-layered and demanding the media and entertainment industry is, the successful storyteller must leverage the power of teams to his advantage’
IT is an honour and privilege to be invited to share with you at this inaugural Kingdom Film Festival. I am sorry that I am unable to join you in person due to other previously scheduled engagements. But I wanted to be a part of the programme even if virtually to underscore my support for the vision and for the visioner, my dear sister Ewoma Luther-Abegunde. I also honour all who have supported her to kick-start the vision and of course, all the filmmakers and contributors who make the festival possible.
Of course, as a believer you understand from scripture that when God gives a vision it is often about shifting status quo. It is always about transformation. So you can understand why I am excited about speaking today about the title Breaking Stereotypes In Storytelling For Kingdom Filmmakers. I feel in many ways that We can reframe the title using a few questions to lead us in the path of answers that give us things to reflect on for insight.
How does a Christian filmmaker tell more impactful stories?
What do we need to do differently for Christian films to grow its audiences beyond church?
Should Christian storytelling aspire to values of technical and performance excellence that secular films attain?
Storytelling is an artform that is as old as scripture itself. The very first line of Genesis 1 introduces us to a character called God. In the following verses, it introduces us to a world. It paints a picture of an inciting incident and describes conflict. It tells us how the character confronted the conflict making a decision with the words ‘Let there be light. And of course, the resolution being the world he goes on to create. The character’s journey since creation has been the heart of storytelling. The mystery of the life of humans lies in the dramatic order of their journey and how that journey connects them to their hopes and dreams.
Jesus brought us the good news of salvation speaking in parables and stories. His stories often began with the words ‘There was a man…’ He introduced us to many different characters in telling his parables such that many of those characters and stories till today guide our understanding of scripture and our Christian journey. So, storytelling itself is a wheel that needs no reinvention. Filmmaking only deepens the emotional impact of a good story. Filmmaking merely offers us the technical tools to make the story itself an “experience.’ An experience that brings the viewer into the world of the story. An experience where through art direction, costumes, locations and performance, the viewer’s engagement with the story forces an emotional reaction.
A well-told story should make the viewer think, it should also make the viewer laugh, smile, cry and feel the narrative deep in their spirit. It should make the story unforgettable and, in the end, there lies our power as Kingdom filmmakers… or may more appropriately call us kingdom storytellers. I say that to say that the first thing and the main thing is NOT the film. The film is the medium. The main thing is the STORY. The story is the reason the viewer watches the film. And the place of impact and power is not at the point of making a film, it is at the point of crafting the story.
Perhaps that is the first place to begin to break stereotypes.
TOO many gospel films we produce locally are first and foremost poorly told stories. The characters are usually not well designed, the story world often is very small, the scenes are trapped within four walls of a home and often the conflict or premise challenges the intelligence of the characters created. Often as well, the role of Pastors, prayers and interpretations of scriptural verses are often out of context because the power of the word is NOT in magically changing a situation, it is in how it empowers and transforms the believer to overcome the situation. The devil is not always the only antagonist in real life, sometimes our very humanity is what we need to overcome. So, in breaking stereotypes of storytelling, using our local films as case-study, we need to know that great storytelling has what I call the ‘X-Factor.’ There’s a magic to its theme, its performances, its locations, and there’s an overall emotionally connecting strand to the story that I call its ‘humanity.’
In practical terms, how does a storyteller identify the right story that possesses the ‘X-factor’ that will connect to an audience? Here are a few tips:
Does the story have an original premise?
Are the premise and the story new or fresh?
Does the story itself have a strong narrative structure with a beginning a middle and an end?
If the story is non-linear, does it make sense?
Does the screenplay feel like the writer is taking us on a journey?
And does it connect emotionally?
Does the script have a distinct and original voice?
Does the story have vivid characters?
Are the characters new or fresh?
Do the dialogue and tone feel consistent from scene to scene?
Does the conflict propel the story forward?
Do the main characters take strong action that propel the narrative?
TO be more effective and affective, our creative instincts must be motivated with deeper emotional intelligence and value propositions. The challenge and the opportunity is to reframe our creative motivation. Making Christian films can be motivated by money but it is also about making meaning. Alfred Adler says “Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give our situations.” So for us as Christian filmmakers, what kinds of stories should we be telling in a country tethering on the strings of inequity, injustice and desperate crimes like kidnappings, ritual killings, mob killings, and various shades of domestic violence? Shouldn’t the stories and characters we create respond with kingdom solutions and values to what is happening around us? It is from the sub-liminalities of our stories, plots and characterisations that we are able to express the scriptural value systems that undergird the choices that confront our country today. How do those choices reflect or advocate for the highest value for human life, the fundamentality of human rights, and the dignity of freedoms that come with those rights to choose, how we live, where we live, how we love, who we love in our pursuit of happiness?
When we break these into molecular parts, the questions focus not just on our creative craft but on the emotional intelligence our storytellers need to elevate our viewing experience beyond basic needs or stories from the bible reframed for local consumption or a medley of characters reciting bible verses as dialogue. How authentic are the values of our creative intent? Do the conventions of our genres have shared meaning? How intentional are our images and visual cues? What do these images mean in the syntax of film language? How are our films detailing the structures of social representation, gender inclusiveness, value referencing, conflict containment.
In the world of our stories what sub-liminalities in characterisation, visual language, historical context, and referencing invite our audiences to imagine or foreshadow a reality or a future different from present realities as promised through the word of God? Transformation is the most important and most urgent promise of scripture and there is no other art form that has capacity to best showcase its power than filmmaking.
We cannot tell consequential stories or create heroic characters without understanding the primary imperative to humanise the value propositions of our premise and the themes of our stories. We need to expand the context of and world of our characters both in their physical actions and in the inner recesses of their mind. We need the articulation of performances in our films to go from the inside out and not in the reverse. We need to surmise the emotional worlds of what they are sensing, thinking, and feeling, so that their ethical choices are spiritual and they make sense. We need the conflicts and choices in our stories to be larger than life, perhaps even existential in scope. That is when we can evolve more multi-dimensional characters and performances that will showcase the awareness, respect, kindness, and empathy that are the emotional intelligence quotient necessary to tell better stories.
Why is all of this important to note?
The fall-out of the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing change in how we reach the unsaved with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The arc of effectiveness and productivity in how we evangelize and how we disciple in the new context bends towards innovation, new thinking, and fresh ideas. And storytelling will become the key capacity to helping people within and without church walls understand and engage the scripture through various virtual channels including films, television, content on OTT and other spaces.
Even in the new work environment, Christians will have to figure out an engaging narrative, a story that engages the emotional capacities of people. Relevance will be your capacity to create context, relatable characters, a nuanced topography of ultra-sensory engagements to achieve buy-in. You will need a winning story and you will have to learn how to craft one. That is because the emotional space for many today is melancholic. It is a time when there is nuance to everything. And isn’t storytelling the oxygen of our humanity. This requires that you and I dedicate ourselves to learning our craft with the intention of creating quality experiences. Mediocre is a much harder product to sell than excellence. The gospel film industry is full of passionate people who have passion, vigorously pursue their passions but lack either the inclination or education for storytelling and filmmaking. We can do more to educate.
And to be educated.
It is not enough to know how to tell a story, we must learn how to sell a story too. One very important success factor that is worthy of mention to Christian storytellers is the power of collaborations. Build teams of excellent people with specialisations that enhance your final product. A lot of gospel filmmakers are failing and doing poor work not because they are not talented but because they work alone and have the benefit of only their own meagre experience and narrow ideas. And given how multi-layered and demanding the media and entertainment industry is, the successful storyteller must leverage the power of teams to his advantage. It may have been only one man that landed on the moon, but it took a whole country to take him there. Time and fate have given this generation of believers unimaginable tools for impactful stories of the transformational power of our faith.
Thank you and God bless you!
Femi Odugbemi
Founder/CEO, ZURI24 MEDIA LAGOS.
2nd December, 2022.
