The Title Post

Given that this blog is called 'Cutting it as a Christian', I've written remarkably little about faith and editing. In fact, I've written remarkably little at all lately. Time to rectify this. By talking about puppets. Obviously.

Don't close the tab just yet, there's method in my madness. It's by cutting a video that centred around puppets that I was reminded of one of the many reasons I love the editing process. I love how you can start from trawling through what can be hours worth of footage, pick out golden moments, put them in order, refine them, find patterns, restructure again and again, and finally end up with something complete, layered and sometimes quite different to what you started with. It's an often frustrating, but ultimately very satisfying process. It's often in the edit that subtleties and meanings can really start to surface, and really it's a great privilege to be the one to unearth them. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's widely accepted among Christians that God is in art, and to me editing in itself is an art-form through which God can speak.

All this from a puppet video you say? Maybe I should take a step back for a moment...

Over Christmas I was involved in creating our annual puppet music video for church. Yes, you did indeed read that correctly. Every year we put on a puppet show for two of the local schools' annual carol services, which are held at our church, and over the last few years we've created a video to accompany this.

This time, we opted for an upbeat version of  'Do You Hear What I Hear?' In the video, there's an instrumental section that involves two of the puppets (a sheep and a green shepherd, because all the best shepherds are green) heading off to tell a king about this miracle baby the angel's told them about. I love cutting to instrumentals, there are no words to dictate the picture so they allow a certain creative freedom that you don't get in many other genres. Sometimes they're not thought about before or during filming, which makes them a complete and utter nightmare because you have nothing to fill them, but in this case, we had discussed them beforehand and the on-set team had done a fantastic job, managing to capture lots of wonderful and creative ideas for me to work with.

I've deviated somewhat (remind me never to play 'Just A Minute'). Back to editing. Suddenly I'm cutting this video together (more specifically this instrumental), and really starting to see a deeper meaning in the footage I'd been given to work with. It may have just been meant as something to be quite amusing and get the characters from A to B, but it actually started to form something more than that. It started to feel like the shepherd was so enthralled by this news, and saw it as so important that he was rushing, pelting it across the land (or...Eastleigh) to tell the 'mighty king' of his incredible news. First he rushes past the station, beckoning the sheep on, as if he's saying 'come on - we've got BIG NEWS to spread'!

Then, as they pass the church, the shepherd hurries on past the camera - and turns round - where's the sheep? He runs out of frame, and returns seconds later - carrying said sheep. It's a lovely comic moment that the team created on set, but to me it has some beautiful subtext. In his desperation to proclaim his news, he still doesn't leave anyone behind. He has a destination to get to - but when he sees the sheep struggling, he decides to take on the extra weight rather than dash on alone. This in my mind is so reflective of what this child would one day go on to teach. It's so human and chaotic but love and determination wins out. Maybe I'm going a bit deep, but that's what I saw, and that's how I cut it. Don't get me wrong, I also thought it was a pretty good way to get a laugh, but just because something's funny it doesn't mean it can't have depth.

We finally go to a shot of the sheep sitting on top of a statue whilst the shepherd hurriedly looks round trying to find it. I could start comparing it to the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, but then I'd be unnecessarily mixing messages and being very dishonest by saying I thought it was anything other than a nice way to fill the following few seconds before the next verse started.

All that from what ends up being mere a few seconds of the video. It's basically two puppets dashing around to music, but at the same time it there's a meaning there for those who want to see it. It doesn't scream 'OI KIDS - CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS' (which is a good job really, there's probably rules against that and we'd never be asked to do another video next year.), It's fun, and it captures the impact of the birth of Jesus without ever forcing our views upon anyone.

It goes back to when Jesus was asked why He so often spoke in parables. I've already touched on that though, so I'll only recover that ground when I run out of ideas for this blog.

To claim that all this solely comes from the edit would be doing a terrible disservice to all those who work in scripting, pre-production and production, but these processes tend to get the recognition they deserve, whereas I think editing carries a much greater weight than it's often given credit for. I was heavily involved in the preparation and scripting of this video (yes, puppet music videos need scripts), and I can say that an awful lot of the above didn't occur to me until I started to cut and look back on the footage.

At the beginning of this post I used the phrase 'centred around puppets', but actually, I don't think it was. It was a video centred around the Christmas story. It's about the spreading of the news that a great saviour has come to us in the form of the child. It was just allowed to be a fun puppet show too. The edit played a huge part in both.

There we have it. I can finally justify the blog's title. Which is nice, as deep down I'm quite proud of that wordplay.

The Jungle: A hot, sweaty, grubby mirror?

Right everyone, just give me a second to wipe the dust off this thing.

Yes, it's been a while. There's good reason for that, which will be revealed in good time. For now, however, I've reached out to the back of the shelf to drag this blog into the light of day, in order to write about a certain reality show that's generating headlines here, there and everywhere.

I feel that, until the other day, I had done an excellent job in avoiding 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' altogether, until I ended up in the same room as someone who wanted to watch it. It started out as me simply being too lazy to move, and ended in myself getting drawn in by the beast I saw before me. Much like the proverbial car crash - I was fascinated and horrified in equal measure. It made me feel pretty helpless too. The show manages to hit viewing figures as high as ten million, and people take part in the public vote in their thousands. 

Before I properly begin (yes, I know I'm already on paragraph four), let me get one thing out of the way. I know the 'celebrities' put themselves up for it. I know that they know exactly what the show's like and what to expect. What I want to talk about is not so much the ins and outs of the show in itself, but the appeal on which it runs.

In which case, I'll hurry past the fact that the programme was a staggering hour and forty minutes long, along with the first hour or so of standard reality set-up, padding and melodrama, and get straight to one of the more interesting alarm bells it set off. I guessed the second they opened up voting who was going to end up enduring a 'bush tucker trial' . Clearly it was the one who made the most fuss over completing their first challenge. Whether the audience do it as a punishment for showing such 'weakness' or because it'll prove more entertaining to see someone provide them with bigger reactions to the challenge, I'll leave to be discovered. One thing is clear though - the audience pounced upon the person they perceived would, at least outwardly, have the worst time during the trial. The audience wanted to create a bigger struggle to an actual person. The confines of a reality show seem to completely change our reactions to someone having a bad time. Or does it simply make the same thing we've always felt deep down more acceptable?

The whole voting aspect really does say something in itself. 'I'm a Celebrity...' is not a show that's simply based upon revelling in the pain, fear and discomfort of others, but where the audience get to feel like they're making it happen. They choose, they decide. 'Hey people of the UK - who shall we throw bugs over today?'

The other thing that astounded me was the psychological level on which the show operated. From very deliberately degrading names and environments such as the 'celebrity slammer,' and its 'inmates' being dressed in stereotypical prisoner's clothes, to making the survivor of the first 'bush tucker trial' choose which group to give their food to, clearly planting a few early seeds for conflict later on. The whole thing seems to be grounded in a very transparent social manipulation of the contestants. I use the word 'transparent' but in actuality it was a celebration of it, and I'm pretty sure I spotted more than a hint of disappointment in the eyes of Ant and Dec when the decision was actually made very easily and painlessly. 

Talking of the nation's cheeriest hosts - the whole thing is presented to us in a fun-loving style with plenty of gags from the chirpy presenters. The voting details are displayed in a garish yellow font with upbeat snazzy music and a friendly voice-over. This, ladies and gentlemen, is entertaining and accessible. This is easy viewing. Let's find some nearly-famous people, starve, humiliate and come as close to torturing them as we're allowed, all because their careers haven't quite gone to plan. It's not at all dissimilar to theatre theorist Antonin Artaud's concept of a 'Theatre of Cruelty.' The idea that there is a sub-conscious part of all of us that responds to pain and wants to see more of it.  

The show does have some redeeming features. Watching a group of people band together to face their fears, forming friendships and realising they're capable of things they never thought they could do, was genuinely quite joyful to watch. However, I doubt the show would do nearly as well if everyone was able to face all the challenges in their path with a good nature and all come out stronger and happier. Let's face it, that's not what the show thrives from.

So what does all of this say about us? About the programme's audience, and those who vote? I know plenty of people who watch this show who are genuinely lovely, caring and empathic. I really struggle to understand their enjoyment of the show. Does it come down to that basic idea of detachment? It's on a screen therefore it's safe, it's a different world? Is it purely cynicism - that not even reality TV is real, everything's fixed, therefore this is ok? Or is there something much darker in even the nicest of us? Maybe someone better versed in psychology than me could answer that question.

I'm sure, as far as the jungle itself goes, everything that happens is actually fine. Everyone knows they're on a TV show which is produced and structured as any other would be. I'm sure whatever happens in those three weeks, everyone goes home pretty unscathed, both physically and mentally, but that's a little beside the point. The show is based on the enjoyment people get from watching and voting on real people have a rough time. It's that underlying buzz from watching others struggle that's interesting, and concerning. I would be very surprised if the show isn't once more covered by 'Gogglebox' (a programme that I'm sure at some point will merit its own blog post), and I very much look forward to watching some of the (heavy editing aside), base human reactions it generates.

I have to admit, that although it's the most obvious example, this jungle-based circus is not alone on thriving on the ideas discussed in this blog. I also imagine plenty of people would disagree with my analysis altogether, and I'd love to hear your opinions. However, as I have mentioned before, the media can become an astoundingly perceptive mirror into the way we are, and the consistent success of 'I'm a Celebrity...' forms a fascinating, if not somewhat worrying reflection to look at. 

Faith and... all sorts of jobs! (Ok, two...)

Ok. So I've neglected this blog a little, but that's only because a very exciting thing happened.

Ok. So I didn't write about the very exciting thing. I'm a terrible blogger/Internet person/human being, I get it. So let me backtrack a little.

I left off at me getting a promotion at work to the role of technical operator and talking about how I was going to have to adjust my mindset to such a different job. Well, I've recently spent about two months doing another job. I was a trainee edit assistant on a new TV drama! The. Dream.

It was a brilliant job to be on too. Some trainees barely get to touch an Avid, but I was able to get properly stuck in. I was actually one of the assistants rather than just an observer. I learnt, hands on, an incredible amount. Everyone on the team was lovely and I couldn't have hoped for a more talented and skilled boss to show me the ropes of the job. I could go on and on about it (and on and on, trust me), but the much shorter story is that it absolutely sealed my desire to be in this industry, and to go freelance properly.

Sadly though, it came to an end. I had this vision in my head where once you got the first job, you wouldn't have to look back, but in my case this hasn't happened yet so for now I'm back technical operating, where it seems I have FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING. I had barely got to grips with the job before the placement, and it turns out if you don't do something for a while, you don't remember much of it. Re-learning also becomes that little bit more difficult when you've been on your dream job and have to come back from it. Don't get me wrong, Encore is where I learnt the foundations of the industry, it's a fantastic company and I'm so, so grateful for every opportunity they've given me. If I could stay there and be an editor, I would. But hey, comfort zones are for leaving right?

So, I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed that something else didn't come up straight away, and I've already had to deal with the disappointment of not getting a couple of other jobs I was interviewed for. Both of which would have been a huge deal to do. As ever though, God has had me prepared. In a previous life (and a previous blog to go with it), I had this bizarre notion in my head that I was going to be an actress. Let's say, it didn't go too well. I mean, I had an agent and went to auditions, but I was dealing with rejection after rejection after long periods of nothing. I often took it hard and I really take my hat off to those who persevere with that career. I sometimes looks back and think what a waste of time and money and effort it was and how it should have just stayed as a hobby - but in reality the whole thing really toughened me up.
I mean, going back to my editing aspirations, these were big disappointments. I know exactly where I want to be, and to be honest, I want to be there now. In retrospect not getting those film placements (yes, feature film placements) is a much bigger deal than not getting those acting roles, but I've taken them less hard, and much less personally. I've still got itchy feet to get into the big bad world of freelancing (primarily on TV drama, but the odd feature wouldn't have hurt...) but I took those rejections a lot better for having been through so many earlier in life.

So, I'm still looking at that next step. I always will do, but I still have a good job. I carry on. I keep looking. Keep trusting that God has something lined up for me. For now I need to back to proving myself.

(No real 'message' coming through in this one. Just an update and account of how God still continues to work in my life and my work. Did I just hear a collective sigh of relief...?)

My Prayer for The Media

Dear Lord

Thank you that we live in a world with so many ways to communicate. Thank you for the joy and entertainment that the media can bring us. For all the amazing ways the it can be used - for campaigns for justice and truth, for fundraising and increasing awareness of worthy causes, for organisations such as Sat-7 that allow your word to be heard in places it couldn't be otherwise.

Sorry for using the media for our own gain and not Yours, for concerning ourselves with how we are seen, not how others are treated. For where our engagement with it has not been in line with your teaching.

May your word, your truth, your integrity be at the heart of our media. Please bring hope to the humiliated, peace to the harassed, truth for the slandered, inspiration to the storytellers, justice to journalism, courage to campaigners and integrity to the influential.

May Your wisdom be in every creative decision that's made, your love be shown on set, in the studio and in the edit suite. May your truth and justice shine through the newsrooms.

Lord, sometimes the power and the influence of the media can seem overwhelming, but we recognise that you are bigger, more powerful and have an amazing plan for it.

Amen

Day of Prayer for The Media: 1st June 2014

I can't stress enough how important I think this day is and how delighted I am that it's happening. I've said it before I know - but the media is so important, so powerful, makes such a direct impact on the way we live, that as Christians we can't ignore it.

The media is one of those things that's such a constant, such a norm nowadays that we encounter it all the time without realising. It, right now, is changing people's minds, slipping into our subconsciousness, forming opinions, creating and destroying stereotypes. People like to think it doesn't, but I believe it has a very firm grasp on the way we think, and yes, maybe we often gravitate towards media that already conforms with our view of the world, but some of it is more dominant than others, and of course makes a huge impression on those who haven't yet worked out who they are or what they believe.

I think this is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness in churches about this giant that encompasses our world. To learn about its beautiful and ugly sides, about its complications, its impact, the people who have the most control over it, and most importantly, to seek some much needed direction from God about our place in it.

This is so important because we have got to get to a stage where we're engaging positively with the media - with newspapers, television, radio, film, social media, and stop simply complaining about what we don't like. It's about time we went beyond our cute little Songs of Praise bubble and started engaging with and helping to create television, news articles, blogs, websites, adverts that challenge the status quo where it's needed, that are filled with truth and justice and speak, whether directly or indirectly for the glory of God, media that is bold and relevant to more people than just us. Media can't be a little side project or add on for us any more, we've got to do it properly.

I'm delighted to say that I have encountered some amazing people who are on fire for Jesus and who are brilliantly talented in their chosen field, who have deep wisdom about how the media operates and how God wants us to go about creating and engaging with it, but the industry needs more people like that, and both them and it need the support of surrounding Christians. In short, we need to take action, and where does action through God start? In prayer. In prayer God enlightens, strengthens, equips and inspires us.  It's where God initially sends us out. It's where we actually come back to Him and admit that He's the one in the know and in control. As mentioned earlier, the media is a powerful, complicated, often beautiful, often dangerous thing - we need to go back to the most powerful, the most wise, most beautiful, omnipotent one.

I urge anyone who is a part of a church to engage with this day on some level. You don't have to suddenly drop everything in your life and start a career in television or anything, just pray for us crazy people that have. Maybe use it as a chance to learn how what you watch is made, how it affects us, to have a discussion with someone about what they read in the newspaper, or maybe even pick up a camera and see what you can do. It could be anything, but please let it be something. There's no such thing as 'just' a prayer.

The official website for the initiative is here. Read it, get involved. Otherwise I'm going to come to your church and hijack your microphones and projectors. I know how to do that, I work in the media.

Why I Signed the #nomorepage3 Petition

Before anyone asks - yes this is relevant to this blog. The newspapers are part of the media, and not wanting to see breasts in a widely available paper has everything to do with my faith. I know lots of people have done a brilliant job at arguing the cause but I wanted to add my voice from a Christian perspective. There's so many reasons why this page shouldn't exist and why it's a tragedy we still have to discuss it in 2014, they're not all written here because it would be such a long post, and I want to keep this to what I think I can add to the debate, but that doesn't mean I'm not behind those arguments too.

For anyone not in the UK, or who (until now) is lucky enough to be unaware of what 'Page 3' denotes over here, it's really quite simple. There's this tabloid called 'The Sun', and every day on the third page, it has a massive picture of a fully naked women. Let me reiterate - this isn't an 'adult' mag, you don't need ID to buy it, it's not covered in a special modesty bag in the Co-Op, it's a newspaper. Not a very good one, but it is an easily accessible piece of so-called news available pretty much everywhere.

I don't have much time for The Sun anyway, it indulges in scaremongering, smearing anyone who dares stand against it, promoting self-interest above responsibility, and all too often downright lying. I wouldn't be sorry to see the whole thing go, but getting rid of this archaic page would be a start.

Whatever your views on 'adult entertainment', placing bare breasts in a paper anyone can buy sends out a strong message: 'This is ok, no question. Nothing needs to be argued here.' I can't stand the idea of sex and nudity being a commercial venture to be exploited full stop, however at least when it's 'lads mags' and dodgy websites, people are forced to actually spend a few seconds thinking about what they're about to look at, rather than just having unquestioned access amongst the day's news, and at least it's only the people looking for it who see it.

There are plenty of brilliantly put arguments outlining the dangers of children spotting page three, so I won't delve too deep into it again here- but I will say this: when a child is dedicated in a Baptist church, the whole congregation stand and make a pledge before God that they will aide the parents in providing a Christian, loving environment for the child to grow up in. I'm sure similar covenants are made by other denominations during infant baptisms and christenings. If we've taken that vow seriously, we have to question where page three fits in.

Sadly abolishing this page still wouldn't get close to solving everything. I think there is a culture emerging (from both genders) of sexual objectification being the norm - we see it in music videos, advertising, online, and even in one of my favourite things ever - television drama. Why wait until you're in a stable relationship with someone you love to see a naked body when you can just turn on the television, boot up a laptop - or open a newspaper. The Sun may not be the only offender but it is feeding the problem and profiting from it. 'Page 3' is a huge cultural thorn in the nation's side, and getting rid of that would be an excellent start for the bigger picture. We can either sit there and moan about how difficult and ingrained the issue is, or we can take on the problem, one battle at a time.

There's lots of debates and disagreements within Christianity, but this is a rare instance in which I simply can't see any way in which you can be a Christian and not take issue with this. We're not being snooty, holier-than-thou, complain-about-everything-that-isn't-Songs-of-Praise Christians by standing against it. This isn't saying 'I was offended by', this is saying 'this is deeply damaging, it needs to stop'.

You can sign the petition here.

Faith and... Technical Operating!

For those who haven't heard, my working life has changed somewhat recently. This post is a little overdue, so serial television style, let's have a quick recap:

On 19th August 2013, I started work as a runner at post production company in London. One house move, one name change (the company's, not mine), three pairs of shoes (they wear down fast when you're on your feet all day), countless flat whites, even more cups of tea and almost six months to the day later, and I was offered a job as a technical operator! 

Yes - I sort of skipped an 'episode' - the one where I actually applied for the job. Just imagine me bumbling my way through an interview, whilst trying to recall anything vaguely useful that my brain had to offer. Then my surprise when despite this not only did they refrain from questioning my career choice, but they actually offered me the position. All caught up?

In a blog post that I never finished, I talked about how starting as a runner was keeping me humble, and I do believe that from a Christian perspective it was an important way to learn how to quite literally serve, but now I'm learning humility from a different perspective. Being the one with the most to learn. Ravensbourne seems like a another life ago, I feel like I've forgotten everything I learned there and that everything wasn't anywhere near enough in the first place.

Before I started this role I was absolutely freaking terrified. I feel a lot better now I've got started but I haven't been anywhere near the deep end yet. I don't feel as if I could never be good at this job like I did when I started as a runner, but, if you forgive the cliché, there's a mountain to climb. Tape decks have manuals that are two hundred pages long. Timecode comes in more forms then most sane people would care to know about. There's a monitor we use that flickers on and off so you can only see what you're doing about 50% of the time. As for being the only female tech-op, I think I'll leave that for a whole other blog post at some stage.

It's going to take some time to readjust my mindset from running to technical operating, get used to a new environment and start to really hit my stride - but I know I can. Not out of any inflated opinion of myself, but because of one simple fact. If God got me to a stage where I was, dare I say it, good at being a runner, something that is so far away from my natural skill-set that you'd have to catch a plane to commute between the two, then He's more than capable of reigniting a flair for something I spent three years studying. It's still going to take a lot of hard work on my part, but I'm not alone. I've had lots of people tell me that they're there if I ever get stuck on something, which is a real blessing, one of many I'm sure God has up His sleeve.

I appreciate that this post is in a very similar mood to my first 'Faith and Running' post. That's because in many ways it feels like starting again, but that's in no sense a bad thing. By starting as a runner I got to see just how far beyond our established abilities God can take us (without there being a master tape or a whole production's rushes at stake). Once again I find myself outside my comfort zone. I have an awful lot to learn, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity to learn it.