Sunday, May 4, 2008

Mormon Leadership in Online New Media

“From the Printing Press to YouTube”
March 27, 2008

The Internet has given religion what no other medium has: a globalized dimension to the world. It is truly the universal source of information. We now live in a world of cyberspace: online breaking news, podcasts and RSS feeds, blogs and wikis, hand-helds and text messaging, video sharing sites such as YouTube and social networks like Facebook; all such tools and devices have been coined as ‘New Media.’ Terry Flew, Associate Professor of Media and Communication at the Queensland University of Technology, has done extensive research in this area and describes ‘New Media’ as capturing “both the development of unique forms of digital media, and the remaking of more traditional media forms to adopt and adapt to the new media technologies” (Flew, 11). Combined with ‘New Media’ or more likely, because of it, the internet has grown at unbelievable rates, multiplying in size of over 265% since 2000. In December 2007, it was estimated that 1.3 billion people use the internet. That is 20% of the human population (internetworldstats.com).


The internet and media alike has always been a two-edged sword for the LDS Church; there is much that cultivates understanding and is very informative, but there is just as much, if not more negativity. This has always stood as a barrier for Mormonism in cyberspace: misinformation. With ever increasing amounts of people accessing the internet, what is the LDS Church doing to counter this literal attack on its values, doctrines, beliefs, and standards?


In a recent discourse given by a member of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second highest governing body of the LDS Church, Elder M. Russell Ballard, at the BYU-Hawaii Graduation Ceremony, urged all his fellow saints to use “New Media” as a means of supporting the work of the LDS Church. He said that God has influenced people to invent tools that assist in spreading the gospel. He also said that “the [LDS] Church has adopted and embraced those tools, including print, broadcast media, and now the Internet.” They have their course and goals well defined. “The emergence of New Media is facilitating a world-wide conversation on almost every subject including religion, and nearly everyone can participate,” Ballard said. He also pushed for participation in this worldwide conversation:

"That word ‘conversation’ is important. There are conversations going on about the [LDS] Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the [LDS] Church teaches. While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the [LDS] Church are established one conversation at a time.”


This comes in response to the many negative and disrespectful ‘conversations’ ensuing on the internet about the LDS Church. It couldn’t have come at a better time in its history, receiving more attention from the news media and on the Internet than it ever has before. These once unnoticed ‘conversations’ have started to define the LDS Church without much input from the Mormons themselves. Ballard’s discourse proves that the worldwide conversation of the LDS Church has reached the point where the LDS Leadership has asked its members to intervene. Or rather, they have been asked to contribute because it will continue on with or without them. Misinformation and misunderstanding are two key hindrances to any organization and the LDS Church is no exception. Ballard went on to tell them to not be afraid of sharing your experiences as Mormons and Christians and that sharing them can help “demystify the church.” This is why this discourse was intended to be more than just a simple encouragement to stick up for themselves and their beliefs; it is a groundbreaking initiative, on part of the LDS Church to bring itself out of obscurity and cultivate understanding of an often misunderstood religion. The only way of effectively achieving that is through reaching the masses. As stated, the use of New Media is the means by which the masses can be reached.

This two-edged sword called New Media is increasingly being used by the LDS Church to turn the tides. Because of their newfound interest in New Media, most especially YouTube, they are paving the way for increased acceptance and understanding. The video sharing website YouTube.com, just celebrated its third birthday in February and continues to grow at phenomenal rates. YouTube allows anyone to upload their own personal videos. The audience is the world and most importantly: it’s free. In fact, YouTube does not make any profits (Yen). This is what drives much of the New Media. In an article by PCWorld in March 2008, Brian Cusack, a YouTube sales team manager said that every day, hundreds of thousands of clips are uploaded and hundreds of millions are viewed. Every month, the site has about 68.5 million unique visitors and 3.7 billion page views. Users spend an average of 54 minutes on the site monthly. And for those that think just college students use YouTube: Cusack said that visitors are spread out fairly evenly among all age groups (PCWorld). The LDS Church is just starting to get its reigns on this media.

Directly before Ballard’s discourse, the LDS Church’s Public Affairs Department, posted eight short dissertations by Ballard, each about one minute long. They focus on simple doctrines. They are much in response to worldwide conversations that have been taking place. Each video’s subject matter is posed in the form of a question as the video title. They have the raw YouTube feel but with much more elegance than usual. The first of which, called “Are Mormons Christians?” shows Ballard sitting in a brown leather chair with a black background speaking shortly of the simple fact that Jesus Christ is the focal point of the LDS Church and that Mormons truly are Christians. This video received an amazing 33,000 views and rising. Others include, “Why Do People Say Mormonism is a Cult?”, “How Do Mormons Differ From Other Christians?”, “How Are Mormon Beliefs Simliar to Other Christians?”, “Does the Church Support Political Candidates?”, “Is There Scientific Proof Authenticating The Book of Mormon?”, “Do Mormons Worship Jesus?”, and “Are Prophets Necessary Today?”. In addition to the eight Ballard videos, six one-minute commercial segments, entitled “Truth Restored” were posted not too long after. Shot in black and white, they have a raw yet elegant feel to them as well, They are regular Mormons converts who are talk shortly about their beliefs in certain topics such as: Conversion, Family, Marriage, and Heaven. Since Ballard’s discourse, more than twenty videos were uploaded by the Public Affairs Department. In terms of length, they range from 18 seconds to 10 minutes. The longest of which, entitled “Mormon Myths and Reality” has received almost 16,000 views. The most recent video, post three days ago, called “Mormon Leader Appeals to Media, to Make Polygamy Distiction”. This has already received almost 3,000 views. There It isn’t just the Mormon Church posting informative material about itself, the members themselves have been posting videos as well. The YouTube username lds9999 has almost 200 Mormon Videos posted, one of which has almost 100,000 views. All of lds9999’s videos have received almost a half-million views. As important as that is, the more interesting thing about these videos is not the content or view count, it is the dates in which they were posted. Username lds9999 joined YouTube 3 months ago, directly after Ballard’s speech. It seems, Ballard’s message really is catching on and affecting hundreds of thousands.

The LDS Church is on track in bringing itself out of obscurity. Whether they be Mormon Parodies or discourses on its doctrines, the Mormons have proven themselves as nothing other than good human beings. So what’s next for the LDS Church and new media? That answer may best be found at MormonWebTV.com.

Ballard, M. Russell. “Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church”. Brigham Young University-Hawaii’s graduation ceremony, 15 December 2007.
Flew, Terry (2002) New Media: an Introduction, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, pg.11
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143074-c,onlineentertainment/article.html
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Yen, Yi-Wyn. “YouTube looks for the money clip.” CNN Money.com. March 25, 2008.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

This blog is getting attention?

The "Mormon Times" section of the Deseret News featured a short list of interesting blogs and blog posts, including mine! I honestly didn't think anyone would care about my random blog posts! Maybe I should watch what I say now? Anyway, the article was listed as the most popular on their website last week when it came out! Here's the link: "Bloggernacle Back Bench: LDS film"

Filmmaking Made Easy

Three weeks ago, I was interview by the Daily Universe for a low-budget filmmaking article for students. Here's the link: "Filmmaking Made Easy"

Friday, May 2, 2008

Changing LDS Cinema

Earlier today, I was working with LDS Filmmaker, Christian Vuissa, in his basement office. We are currently in pre-pre-production of his upcoming film "Father In Israel". I say "pre-pre" because we are prepping the office for pre-production! That mainly consists of creating an ongoing organization scheme and also archiving old production stuff from Christian's last film, "The Errand of Angels" (which will soon be in theaters). Anyways, I was putting together some new shelving as Christian walked into the room. He quickly looked around the small room at the many scattered bits of wood, tools, and cardboard, and said with a smile: "You know Aaron, in this basement we are changing LDS cinema."

Bold statement? Yes! But I agree. And that whole time I thought I was just installing shelving... boy did I fail to see the big picture. Mormon independent filmmaking as we know it, is still very much in its infancy. So what are we changing? Honestly, I'm not quite sure...

At any rate, I saw the rough cut trailer for "The Errand of Angels" today and wow... it's going to make a great impression.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

BYU Film Major: Two Strikes, You're Out!

Today is a historic day for me. And here's why. I just received this wonderful email:


April 24, 2008

Dear Applicant,


Thank you for your recent application for admission
as a major or minor to the Media Arts program at Brigham Young University.


We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted into the Media Arts program. Competition for the limited number of student openings is keen. Such decisions are reached after thorough and thoughtful review of the applications while considering the availability of faculty and resources.


You may apply to the program twice. The next application period is Fall 2008. The faculty generally recommends that if you choose to reapply, your new application should reflect serious consideration of the elements of the application, including five creative projects, ten most significant books and films, the film analyses, creative sample and your commentary on the creative sample. The deadline for Fall applications is Nov 10, 2008.


We appreciate your interest in the Media Arts program and wish you success in obtaining your personal and academic goals.


Sincerely,


Theatre & Media Arts Department



This marks my second rejection to BYU's Film Major. I'd go for another rejection but unfortunately two strikes and you're out. No questions asked. And don't expect any feedback because they they refuse to offer it. So where did I go wrong? I guess I'll never know. Maybe one of the faculty has something against me? Maybe there's no logic to it whatsoever? Maybe they draw names out of a hat... that would actually make a lot of sense. Whatever the case, I feel they've made a mistake. It all could have been avoided had they let ME draw from the hat.


So is this the end of the road for all my film aspirations? Of course not! First of all, I don't need a degree to make films. And second of all, I rather enjoy the drama this adds to my normal life. However, I will apply for the film minor and see if I can sneak in the backdoor. But for that, we must wait another 8 months.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Low Budget Filmmaking

I just got interviewed today by Carolyn Haynie from the Daily Universe (BYU newspaper) for an article titled "How to make a low budget film". It was a pleasant talk. She wanted to know the process -geared toward students.

Personally, I've never made a low-budget film; lots of "no-budgets" but nothing with any sort of funding. However, I recently have started working with Christian Vuissa on his upcoming mormon film called "Father In Israel" currently in pre-production. So that will get me some first-hand experience in Low-Budget filmmaking!
Anyways, back to the interview: Like I said, my knowledge on the subject was very limited. Heck, even my application to Film Major was rejected! (I've applied once more... cross your fingers!). Luckily, she didn't mind too much about my lack of in-depth knowledge and/or my minimal credibility as Film Major reject.

Fortunately, I was able to get something out of the interview. As I was talking about Film-Festivals (such as the LDS Film Festival), something CLICKED. (Okay this is really rough...) Film festivals are like a Single's Ward activity: You're a failure if you went home without 'hooking up'. That is, at a film festival, there's a mutual attraction between filmmakers and studios/distributors. You don't bring your film to a festival just to entertain the audience, you bring it to attract the studios and distributors. They're are on the prowl for their next success. You better look your best. You get the picture...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Berlin

For the past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to be one the camera operators for the musical, Berlin. Written by BYU Alum, Erik Orton, it explores post-war Germany. The Berlin Airlift, one the the most amazing Humanitarian Efforts in history, is the main focus of the musical. Now, because I was on the TV production side of things, I will concentrate on things from that perspective.
It is an interesting set-up, because each showing was in the LDS Motion Picture Studio and the audience was very limited -around 100 for each showing (space wouldn't allow for more). The second week of production (this week) doesn't allow for any audience. The set wasn't designed for a great viewing in terms of a live audience. Word on the street is: the only reason they had an audience for the first week was to accomodate season ticket holders who they promised tickets to! (They had originally planned on having the first week be in one of the Theatres in the HFAC on BYU Campus). At any rate, it has the feel of a Broadway Musical but was adapted to television.

During the first week of production, with an audience, there were six widescreen television cameras that were hidden for the most part in the shadows of the set. The first week was shot as if it was a live broadcast. With the audience there, they often looked at one of a few widescreen monitors provided in front of them for better viewing of what they couldn't. Some said they mostly watched the monitors even if they DID have a decent view (which happened rarely).

Now we are in the second week of production and we are shooting scene by scene, opting for a more narrative film production approach: "Quiet on the Set... Action... Cut!" It is an interesting blend of TV and Film production techniques. More on this later!