The next chapter...Jesus anime 2.0
Many people have been asking what's next? We've worked on web episodes of "Escaping the System" for the last 2 years and before that My Last Day on Earth. What's next? What are you doing now?
That's a good question. First, let me say that I've pondered a bit over my last 25 years with Campus Crusade for Christ (soon to officially be called Cru here in the U.S.). I have spent all 25 of these years working for just one ministry - the Jesus Film Project. And I've wondered, why have I stayed? Am I just so uncreative that I can't think of anywhere else to go. Many people have multiple careers in that time. Well, I actually have had several careers in that time.
When I first came in 1986, it was just me, Tom Dennen and Mike Milchling in 2 rooms in San Bernardino with a bunch of tape machines. Yes, magnetic audio and video tape. The PC was in the second generation (the 80286) and the Mac was just barely 2 years old. I was trained to lip-sync dialog for JESUS films by recording little bits of audio from one tape machine to another. My first language Mwaghuval (for Nigeria) took me a month. Boy was I motivated to speed up the process.
Which led to my second job: writing software in C to speed up what we were doing. This was in the days before Microsoft Windows, so everything was a 'roll your own solution' in DOS. I operated in this mode for the next 5 or 6 years. I eventually wrote the software for what became our first all digital recording system that used 'lunchbox size' computer. I later had to write software to edit the dialog digitally, and then digitally mix down all of the tracks for our final master.
Nan and I became recruiters by going to Christmas conferences and talking to students who were interested to use their technical skills in helping to reach the world for Christ. With a small team, we began to write a new version of software that could take advantage of Microsoft Windows and laptop technology that could now free us from videotape by having both the video and audio on the computer. It was truly a revolution to speed up everything we were doing in making JESUS film languages.
Eventually the industry 'caught up' with what we were having to write custom software for - and we could buy and customize what we needed. This freed me up for my second career: animation production. This really started when Disney shut down their Florida animation studio and I met Barry Cook. Barry had spent about 24 years with Disney rising from the ranks of effects animator on Tron and many other films to eventually become the director of the feature film Mulan. Barry had long supported the JESUS film and volunteered to spend some time with our leadership helping them think through how animation might be helpful in reaching the next generation.
Barry had talked with our staff team in Budapest, and we also took a trip to Japan to talk to the team there. Barry had earlier met Hayao Miyazaki on a trip with Disney studios and admired the artistry that was coming out of Japan. Coupling this with conversations with field staff working with students the idea arose: what about an anime version of the life of Jesus? We already had the dialog of the gospel of Luke in hundreds of languages for the JESUS film. Could these 2 ideas combine?
Eventually Barry did a storyboard version of Peter's denial (part of which you can see at here from :43 to 2:46). After more planning and research, he eventually wrote the 'My Last Day on Earth' screenplay - based on the idea that any dialog that would be used would come from the JESUS film so that when the animation was done translations could be made available quickly - without having to translate and send dubbing teams all over world. You can see the 9-minute film that resulted from this effort and the first languages that are freely posted at http://mylastdaymovie.com
My role in all this was working with Barry and being a producer. Getting a large project done in a ministry context is quite different from a commercial project. It was about serving the field needs and the strategy of how it would be used rather than seeking investors and how to 'make a profit'. I had to do Internet surveys, make websites and DVD's and generally gather information for the ministry about anime and the need for this type of project. In the process of seeing 'The Demoniac', 'Peter's Denial' and later the 'My Last Day on Earth' storyboard videos produced I also learned video editing with Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Autodesk Maya 3D. When My Last Day on Earth was fully funded, Brethren Entertainment was our production company, enabling us to work with Studio 4C in Tokyo.
My most recent career was acting as producer on the "Escaping the System" web-episode series with the Agape Ministry (part of Cru) in Spain. They had a storyline that involved characters encountering Jesus in a post-apocolyptic setting through a 'history file'. This allowed me to put budgets together and work with our Director, Dom Carola, to find a team of young talent, most of them recently out of animation school. But you can read about that here.
Which brings us to the original question - what now? Well, production is continuing in Spain. Some of the former team members are volunteering in the midst of their new jobs to help upgrade parts of episode 1 and 3, so I am helping coordinate that. I am also recruiting volunteers to help with current production. We now have a small computer animation lab and 'rendering farm', so it is a perfect opportunity for volunteers and interns to come in and help with an ongoing production. Please pray for 'the Lord of the harvest' to raise up the laborers for these worthy efforts - young people with tech and animation skills that want to gain some experience and help reach their generation for Christ!
I am also working my way down from leadership and various contacts to people that can help answer the 'what next?' question for Jesus anime. A key voice already is Karl who is all about new strategies for equipping students to reach the next generation in East Asia. Karl was telling me about huge comic cons that need a witness for Christ. For instance the one in Hong Kong has 700,000 young people stream through it in August over the course of 5 days - this in a city of 7 million people. Mobile devices and social networks will play prominently in the work Karl will be doing to equip the evangelists of the next generation. Anime is a key visual language of this generation.
Barry wrote 7 synposes of stories we could use - all based on telling the story of Jesus through the eyes of someone close to Him. Please pray for me, for Karl and other key people the Lord will be putting together as we figure out 'What next?'. We want to know what is on His heart! If you haven't signed up for my prayer email and you want to pray for this project, please sign up by clicking here...
That's a good question. First, let me say that I've pondered a bit over my last 25 years with Campus Crusade for Christ (soon to officially be called Cru here in the U.S.). I have spent all 25 of these years working for just one ministry - the Jesus Film Project. And I've wondered, why have I stayed? Am I just so uncreative that I can't think of anywhere else to go. Many people have multiple careers in that time. Well, I actually have had several careers in that time.
When I first came in 1986, it was just me, Tom Dennen and Mike Milchling in 2 rooms in San Bernardino with a bunch of tape machines. Yes, magnetic audio and video tape. The PC was in the second generation (the 80286) and the Mac was just barely 2 years old. I was trained to lip-sync dialog for JESUS films by recording little bits of audio from one tape machine to another. My first language Mwaghuval (for Nigeria) took me a month. Boy was I motivated to speed up the process.
Which led to my second job: writing software in C to speed up what we were doing. This was in the days before Microsoft Windows, so everything was a 'roll your own solution' in DOS. I operated in this mode for the next 5 or 6 years. I eventually wrote the software for what became our first all digital recording system that used 'lunchbox size' computer. I later had to write software to edit the dialog digitally, and then digitally mix down all of the tracks for our final master.
Nan and I became recruiters by going to Christmas conferences and talking to students who were interested to use their technical skills in helping to reach the world for Christ. With a small team, we began to write a new version of software that could take advantage of Microsoft Windows and laptop technology that could now free us from videotape by having both the video and audio on the computer. It was truly a revolution to speed up everything we were doing in making JESUS film languages.
Eventually the industry 'caught up' with what we were having to write custom software for - and we could buy and customize what we needed. This freed me up for my second career: animation production. This really started when Disney shut down their Florida animation studio and I met Barry Cook. Barry had spent about 24 years with Disney rising from the ranks of effects animator on Tron and many other films to eventually become the director of the feature film Mulan. Barry had long supported the JESUS film and volunteered to spend some time with our leadership helping them think through how animation might be helpful in reaching the next generation.
Barry had talked with our staff team in Budapest, and we also took a trip to Japan to talk to the team there. Barry had earlier met Hayao Miyazaki on a trip with Disney studios and admired the artistry that was coming out of Japan. Coupling this with conversations with field staff working with students the idea arose: what about an anime version of the life of Jesus? We already had the dialog of the gospel of Luke in hundreds of languages for the JESUS film. Could these 2 ideas combine?
Eventually Barry did a storyboard version of Peter's denial (part of which you can see at here from :43 to 2:46). After more planning and research, he eventually wrote the 'My Last Day on Earth' screenplay - based on the idea that any dialog that would be used would come from the JESUS film so that when the animation was done translations could be made available quickly - without having to translate and send dubbing teams all over world. You can see the 9-minute film that resulted from this effort and the first languages that are freely posted at http://mylastdaymovie.com
My role in all this was working with Barry and being a producer. Getting a large project done in a ministry context is quite different from a commercial project. It was about serving the field needs and the strategy of how it would be used rather than seeking investors and how to 'make a profit'. I had to do Internet surveys, make websites and DVD's and generally gather information for the ministry about anime and the need for this type of project. In the process of seeing 'The Demoniac', 'Peter's Denial' and later the 'My Last Day on Earth' storyboard videos produced I also learned video editing with Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Autodesk Maya 3D. When My Last Day on Earth was fully funded, Brethren Entertainment was our production company, enabling us to work with Studio 4C in Tokyo.
My most recent career was acting as producer on the "Escaping the System" web-episode series with the Agape Ministry (part of Cru) in Spain. They had a storyline that involved characters encountering Jesus in a post-apocolyptic setting through a 'history file'. This allowed me to put budgets together and work with our Director, Dom Carola, to find a team of young talent, most of them recently out of animation school. But you can read about that here.
Which brings us to the original question - what now? Well, production is continuing in Spain. Some of the former team members are volunteering in the midst of their new jobs to help upgrade parts of episode 1 and 3, so I am helping coordinate that. I am also recruiting volunteers to help with current production. We now have a small computer animation lab and 'rendering farm', so it is a perfect opportunity for volunteers and interns to come in and help with an ongoing production. Please pray for 'the Lord of the harvest' to raise up the laborers for these worthy efforts - young people with tech and animation skills that want to gain some experience and help reach their generation for Christ!
I am also working my way down from leadership and various contacts to people that can help answer the 'what next?' question for Jesus anime. A key voice already is Karl who is all about new strategies for equipping students to reach the next generation in East Asia. Karl was telling me about huge comic cons that need a witness for Christ. For instance the one in Hong Kong has 700,000 young people stream through it in August over the course of 5 days - this in a city of 7 million people. Mobile devices and social networks will play prominently in the work Karl will be doing to equip the evangelists of the next generation. Anime is a key visual language of this generation.
Barry wrote 7 synposes of stories we could use - all based on telling the story of Jesus through the eyes of someone close to Him. Please pray for me, for Karl and other key people the Lord will be putting together as we figure out 'What next?'. We want to know what is on His heart! If you haven't signed up for my prayer email and you want to pray for this project, please sign up by clicking here...
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Irv