What it is:
Short animated film/video to be shown at youth oriented Christian
outreach services.
Target Audience:
Non-believer teens to twenty-somethings. Those that may be resistant to traditional Christian doctrine. The audience perspective is assumed to be
that of ones who perceive themselves as having been adversely “affected”
by their parents, authority, society etc. leading to a self centered victimhood.
Goal:
The Gospel and its traditional parables was written to an agrarian culture.
We will tell the parable of the seeds in a different way. The hope is that the target audience will be somewhat receptive to an abstraction that
provokes thought.
The film will be an animated modern metaphor of the sower
from Matthew 13.
Through an abstract analogy, we will show them how dire their
current course is. How it leads inevitably to death and an empty eternity.
So, when they encounter the name of Jesus, as they will when they view this film, how will they react? We want to make them aware that accepting the name of Jesus will change their lives in this world and the next.
After we get them to identify with situations and characters depicting the
types of soil from the parables, we want to leave the viewer with the question: “What kind of soil am I in today’s world? And who is this Jesus that changes?”
The film does not directly elucidate Christian doctrine in the traditional way
(explaining the saving grace of the Blood of the Cross, or who Jesus is in history, or why atonement is needed). Using some obvious but strong metaphors, it presents the fact that in an increasingly distracting world,
Jesus will change your fate in it and for eternity.
The greater purpose of the presentation is to spur curiosity and investigation into Christ’s saving message, not to explain what the message is
or even whom the person of Christ is.
Vehicle:
An animated CGI short (estimated 8-10 minute) depicting common human experiences in an abstract way. We want to create a “think piece” that will stir the mind and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
Explanation will be the responsibility of the follow up ministry (yet to be outlined) to drive home the Scriptural message. Many opportunities for discussion will naturally proceed.
Plot Outline:
The audience sees through the eyes of an “alien” explorer piloting
some sort of craft through a strange world. We watch from his craft and through his 2 drones as they follow the experiences of multiple characters on their journey flying though life. It will become obvious that the wold he is exploring is our human existence.
The characters we follow are based on the Biblical soils in both humorous
and tragic ways that mirror a modern non-believer’s experience.
The world is a grey place, in fact the entire setting is in shades of
black and white.
Color is used only to accent our Spirit. The human characters start in color
and gradually turn grey as they fly through the world. The only dialog
between characters consists of variations and inflections of “blah, blah, blah” and the spoken Word “Jesus”. The contrast of gibberish to the spoken name
of “Jesus” will be stark for impact. The Word, “Jesus” brings color back into grey characters and changes their direction.
As the human characters experience transformation, so does the alien transition from that of a safely detached observer to one being physically affected by what he observes. This interaction causes the explorer to have to make life changing decisions to survive. The viewing audience, as casual observer, identifying itself from the point of view of the alien, will in turn be drawn into the decision making process.
History:
The Devil has battled God since time began. God has already defeated the Devil in Christ Jesus’ sacrifice millennia ago. From God’s point of view, outside of time, the battle is over, but inside of time it is a constant struggle between God’s good desire for us and Evil (the Devil’s influence and our flesh).
Humanity is on a perpetual, unstoppable, inevitably LITERAL fall toward death (one per customer) from birth. The
Devil/Evil’s MAIN function is to destroy God’s creation. The best way is to get us to deny the Devil’s existence.
To this point, Evil hides itself in neither black nor white but gray. The gray, “BLAH” machinery keeps pulling us toward death. Evil keeps us from God’s spiritual buoyancy during our lives and ultimately from recognizing our Saving Grace before death. The gray BLAH world is full of distraction. It steals our light and color and draws us blindly to our death. The one thing that can slow our fall and give us hope and purpose is to embrace Jesus. Who will embrace Jesus or won’t is what this story is about. Ultimately the audience is challenged to see who they are in this scheme.
Our movie is set against a cloudy sky, providing a murky backdrop to a fast-paced and interesting foreground story. Each element has the purpose of disguising our hero-less fate..
Jesus, the ultimate hero, comes to each character as “The Word,” after each character’s plight is revealed to them. The characters encounter The Word like a modern day version of the “Sower and the Seeds” parable.
In BlahBlahBlah, there are traditional characters and some that are less conventional, but all are equally important.
1. The Blah – The world we have constructed for our movie is an active character; The Blah. Like the Evil One it represents, The Blah is rendered solely in gray tones. The Blah is permeated with clouds and mist, obscuring our vision. This numbing grayness sucks the color out of each of the human characters as it buffets them to and fro. It introduces “things” to distract but never stops pulling our characters to their inevitable consequence. This distraction is what shapes them into the “Rocky Soil Girl,” the “Weedy Soil Guy” and the “Hard Path Guy.” The Blah constantly hides its malevolence.
2. The Alien Explorer – The audience literally experiences the movie through the eyes of The Alien Explorer (The AE). The AE is on a mission to find “life” and observe it. The AE has been on this mission for a long time. The AE is safely detached in his craft as he observes the world electronically from the bridge. The AE has probes to gather data and survey close to the action so that safe distance can be maintained… at least that’s the plan that has served him in the past. We see this all through the navigation screens of the alien’s craft as The AE explores The Blah.
The screen of The AE’s craft acts as an intelligent guide while encountering the various characters. It directs important features, both comedic and tragic. It serves a dual purpose as the alter ego of The AE. The AE is the audience proxy..
3. Probe 1 – There are 2 “Probes” which are associated with The AE: Probe 1 (P1) and Probe 2 (P2). Both have “cloaking” technology which keeps them invisible to the world that they are observing.
P1 is a robot-tracking drone in the general shape of an expressive eyeball. Its character is bold and bravely interactive with the world it encounters. Its main purpose to The AE is to get close to potentially dangerous situations, transmitting data and video while The AE keeps a safe distance. It is an impish character that has a tendency to poke a little too close to the action.
4. Probe 2 – P2 has a sleeker design and is a faster unit. Because of its larger range, it provides a wider context and time frame, traveling ahead of and behind The AE. Its camera is a wide angle lens.
Each probe character has its own personality exemplified in their construction/function. They are both curious but exhibit timidity or boldness accordingly. They are acting as an extension of the curiosity/fear of the audience.
5. The Path Guy (The PG) – The PG is the first “human” character that The AE encounters. We follow him from color-full “birth” to color-diminishing youth as he transforms into the gradual gray of The Blah, all the way to his marriage. He flies through The Blah at startling speed. He is the first “Flyer” that The AE must keep up with to observe. We see him rapidly transition through the stages of his life, losing his color as he progresses, illustrating the subtlety with which The Blah and its distractions creep into his life.
The comedic technique used will illustrate in patterns of experience and reaction what should be familiar to the audience. It will reinforce a common impression that humans are just a “victim of circumstance.” That “stuff-happens-to-us” feeling that the young audience can relate to naturally. The PG’s segment establishes the mechanics of the interaction between The Blah and humanity.
How The PG responds to his time in The Blah is based on The Word sewn along the well-worn path in the parable. The Word does not penetrate this hardened character. To The PG, He’s seen it all and Jesus is just another distraction and other distractions are more fun.
6. The Girl – The PG, in puberty, discovers “The Girl.” She is the archetypal female object of pursuit. She takes on a number of forms/costumes as The PG pursues.
7. The Nurse – When The PG is in the midst of a near deadly crisis he encounters The Nurse. She is the first person to introduce “The Word” to The PG. She is a “Floater.” A Floater is a character who is able to change direction and slow the rate of their fall. Floaters possess agency.
8. Jesus – “The Word”…. LITERALLY the word Jesus. The spoken word of His name by a “Floater” brings color/light back into the gray, Blah-effected characters. Jesus transforms the Flyer to a Floater when fully received, even if it is only temporarily as the characters encounter Him.
The person Jesus is never shown, yet Jesus is The Hero of our story. The Word “Jesus” is the mechanism for being redirected, like a parachute is to a person hurtling through the sky..
9. Rocky Soil Girl – The RSG is a “flyer” who when introduced is already fully gray, entirely wrapped up in distraction. The Blah has already done its work on her. Jesus is introduced from a book that she encounters as it flies by. When recognition comes that she is actually falling to her death, she is enlightened temporarily, but there is no sustaining desire. Jesus eventually becomes distorted and unfocused as the reason that stopped her falling.
How The RSG responds to her time in The Blah is based on a seed sown in rocky soil in the parable. She’s open to The Word but after a while (because her roots don’t deeply penetrate the soil), she weakens and can’t hold on..
10. Weedy Soil Guy – The WSG is a flyer, all wrapped up in Blah-brand, gray things; clothes, car, gaming equipment, trendy items, etc.
How The WSG responds to his time in The Blah is based on a seed sown in weed filled soil in the parable. He hears The Word, finds temporary color and peaceful float but his attention is choked off by all the STUFF. He resumes trying to grab it all, turning his back on The Word..
11. Death Plane – The DP is part of The Blah. It is a geometric plane composed of Blah debris. It separates the gray, Blah life from color-filled Eternity.
11. Good Soil Girl – The GSG is a gray flyer who hears Jesus and embraces The Word. She shows how it works, producing results and saving others; even perhaps The AE craft and ultimately the audience.
How The GSG responds to her time in The Blah is based on a seed sown in fertile soil in the parable. She hears The Word, finds temporary color and peaceful float and then decides to hold it close to her heart. She becomes a colorful floater and a mechanism that spreads the ability to float to others.
11. Fliers and Floaters – Multitudes of fliers who fly and the few floaters who float to reach the fliers..