goldenspines wrote:Its only stealing if you don't get caught.
WorldsTraveler wrote:I have a total crush on scenes in a story where the protagonist is able to forgive and/or love the antagonist. Because it’s really, really hard to pull off. When I see it done well, I just sit back like “whoa” and then I analyze the stuffing out of the plot to see how it worked. While I’ve seen many Christian movies attempt this scenario, I can’t think of a single one that actually succeeded in making me believe it. It tends to come across as too sudden and unrealistic.
Nate wrote:Counterpoint: Noah was cool and good because it didn't try to be a dry retelling of the bible story.
goldenspines wrote:Its only stealing if you don't get caught.
Kaori wrote:WorldsTraveler wrote:I have a total crush on scenes in a story where the protagonist is able to forgive and/or love the antagonist. Because it’s really, really hard to pull off. When I see it done well, I just sit back like “whoa” and then I analyze the stuffing out of the plot to see how it worked. While I’ve seen many Christian movies attempt this scenario, I can’t think of a single one that actually succeeded in making me believe it. It tends to come across as too sudden and unrealistic.
You need to watch I Confess by Alfred Hitchcock. It has a scene like that, and it's done phenomenally well. Also, the antagonist is someone with whom the hero has a long previous history (he's his pastor, and we get some background on how the pastor helped the antagonist in the past), so it's not sudden at all but rather a steadfast perseverance in love even when the parishioner turns against him.
Kaori wrote:If you don't mind firestorm I'm going to post my thoughts here as well since I don't really like to share my facebook info anymore. I'm actually a bit more divided when it comes to film and Christian Media then other areas because, honestly, I think there's been some really good Christian movies. The Mission is the biggest one that comes to mind to me and if you have never seen it, seriously hunt down a copy. The Mission to me is the blue print for how any piece of Christian media should be. Its a high quality film that wrestles with a very real theme (the Liberation Theology movement was underway at the time this movie was released) and I don't think its not outrageously insulting to people who disagree with its message. While I think generating the scale of The Mission would be very hard for say an Independent Christian film studio to replicate, I do think they could take its formula and make a solid or very good Christian film.
Kaori wrote:You need to watch I Confess by Alfred Hitchcock. It has a scene like that, and it's done phenomenally well. Also, the antagonist is someone with whom the hero has a long previous history (he's his pastor, and we get some background on how the pastor helped the antagonist in the past), so it's not sudden at all but rather a steadfast perseverance in love even when the parishioner turns against him.
Nate wrote:Counterpoint: Noah was cool and good because it didn't try to be a dry retelling of the bible story
firestorm wrote:Now how many of you would watch a Christian Romcom if it was worth watching?
How many of you are would be inclined to watch a Christian short film if it was good?
Any examples of such that you have seen that you guys would recommend?
I'm wondering if I share with you guys the summary of the film, would any of you help me build a fan base to help momentum for when I put it online? I am aiming to put it in the festival circuit first after I am done filming it. Afterward I am gonna put it online.
Nate wrote:The problem with "Christian romance" and "Christian comedy" is that it tries too hard to be the former rather than the latter.
Good comedy doesn't try to be anything except funny. By forcing your jokes to somehow be related to Christianity you're already hamstringing them. That doesn't mean it's impossible to write Christian humor, obviously it can be done, but if you're setting out to purposely write it then you're going to often sacrifice the humor in favor of the Christianity and then you've narrowed the potential audience to people other Christians.
Which I guess isn't always a bad thing but it is something to keep in mind. If all you want to do is give other Christians a laugh then sure but if you're interested in getting it to appeal to non-Christians then you've sabotaged yourself because non-Chrsitians by and large aren't going to find "Christian humor" to be funny. Because it's more interested in being Christian than being humor.
Nate wrote:EDIT: And mech already touched on the problem with Christian romance being that it 99% of the time portrays God as a vending machine who gives you the perfect soulmate for putting in purity coins. There's really no way around it, and it's just going to reinforce the thought process of "God will give me the perfect person as a reward for me not having a girlfriend/dating these other people who weren't right for me."
Let me tell you, as a person who didn't enter my first relationship until I was 24 I was VERY much into the "This is why God made me be alone for my life, because now I've met the perfect woman and this is my destiny," it nearly destroyed me when the relationship ended. Reinforcing that kind of belief through "Christian romance" actually really upsets me and I am 100% opposed to Christian romance films on that alone.
If you think you can make a Christian romance without putting forth the idea that 1) God will reward you for faithfulness and 2) God will give you the perfect partner if you just believe then hey go for it. But if you're going to present either of these ideas without the plan of showing how they're incorrect later in the film, I'd say Christian romance is something that should never be done. Ever.
WorldsTraveler wrote:A story doesn’t have to be “These are two ‘Christians’ serving as role models and deliberately displaying Biblical values in life.” It could be, “These are two Christians who happen to be in love, planning a wedding, and dealing with all the funny coincidences and issues that pop up during weddings.” There doesn’t have to be anything blatantly ‘religious’ about it. It might just mean that, when the wedding cake decides to topple over, the exasperated characters hope to God for an otherwise smooth wedding instead of just yelling at the caterer. That’s just an example, but you see?
firestorm wrote:Basically the Bride-to-be, with some persuasion from the husband, allows the mother-in-law to help her with the wedding planning but the mother-in-law, who never got to have the wedding of her dreams, starts to be overbearing in helping (basically living her dream wedding through the brides) and screws things up in several occasions
firestorm wrote:Basically the Bride-to-be, with some persuasion from the husband, allows the mother-in-law to help her with the wedding planning but the mother-in-law, who never got to have the wedding of her dreams, starts to be overbearing in helping (basically living her dream wedding through the brides) and screws things up in several occasions. Eventually the Bride confronts her about it, and along the way the bride learns what it means to be a Godly woman.
firestorm wrote:Basically it's situations that the Mother-in-law puts the bride through unknowingly. Originally I didn't want people to associate my movie with this, but they've kind of thought of it like Monster-In-Law. However the mother in law isn't doing it on purpose in this one.
WorldsTraveler wrote:Romance is romance. It’s a state of mind and heart that comes from interacting with another human being who displays affection towards you. Humor is humor. It is a curious ability in which we find certain things ‘amusing’ and that (hopefully) provokes laughter.
So we write a story with those two ingredients… and then we make the main characters Christians. How is that difficult? Christians are human beings. Like any human being, they have a philosophy and set of values by which they live their life. Those values just happen to be related to what the Bible teaches as opposed to another philosophy of life.
WorldsTraveler wrote:A story doesn’t have to be “These are two ‘Christians’ serving as role models and deliberately displaying Biblical values in life.” It could be, “These are two Christians who happen to be in love, planning a wedding, and dealing with all the funny coincidences and issues that pop up during weddings.” There doesn’t have to be anything blatantly ‘religious’ about it. It might just mean that, when the wedding cake decides to topple over, the exasperated characters hope to God for an otherwise smooth wedding instead of just yelling at the caterer. That’s just an example, but you see?
WorldsTraveler wrote:Anyway, if anyone here wants to read more about the expectations of Christian media and artistry, I highly recommend the book Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts by Steve Turner. It does a much better job of exploring the concept than I could possibly do justice to.
Yuki-Anne wrote:I think the best kind of "Christian" art is GOOD art that happens to be made by Christians. You don't have to have a message. Just make a story with relateable characters in an interesting situation and let it speak for itself.
mechana2015 wrote:It's not difficult (and Nate covered this somewhat with his response) but... there are films like this but they aren't considered capital C "Christian" films. I think the issue is what you mention in your most recent post. The label is too narrow minded to contain films that don't contain things like in depth prayer scenes, preaching, proselytizing or conversions. There's a sort of enforced list of content that is expected in these sorts of films, which automatically stereotypes the characters and pigeonholes the contents of the story down to specific content. Characters say things no real person would say in reality because the genre demands it.
mechana2015 wrote:Christian comedies tend to be painfully forced from what I've seen, since Christianity as a whole seems to be terrified to laugh at itself.
firestorm wrote:I've never heard of it. What about the film as a whole was it good?
Yuki-Anne wrote:I think the best kind of "Christian" art is GOOD art that happens to be made by Christians. You don't have to have a message. Just make a story with relateable characters in an interesting situation and let it speak for itself.
Zeke365 wrote:Let me ask you guys what the heck are you looking for in a christian movie please explain in detail what you want? You want everything to be perfect not gonna happen not everyone I truly do not understand it seems like the slightest change to anything in movie or based on a book it get ridiculed like crazy.
Zeke365 wrote:plus are you listening to secular options or user options on these movies. Just be cause it says it bad means you wont watch it? How many you have actually watch the movies described? and the top question still applies I really want to know.
Zeke365 wrote:Let me ask you guys what the heck are you looking for in a christian movie please explain in detail what you want?
Zeke365 wrote:plus are you listening to secular options or user options on these movies. Just be cause it says it bad means you wont watch it?
Yuki-Anne wrote:Here's the problem with Christian media: it's scared. It's message-driven. It's just plain bad.
Christian movies often don't try to take any risks or do anything unexpected because they're afraid of offending church-goers. They also get on a soap-box and have to have some kind of moral or message. There's nothing I hate more than having a movie spoon-feed the gospel to me. There's always that cheesy conversion scene where Kirk Cameron cries in a bathroom while CCM plays. It makes my spine crawl.
I think the best kind of "Christian" art is GOOD art that happens to be made by Christians. You don't have to have a message. Just make a story with relateable characters in an interesting situation and let it speak for itself.
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