Video and the Web

The potential of video shorts (and podcasts) for evangelism

“The soul never thinks without a picture” – Aristotle

With the growth of high-speed broadband connections, video is becoming an integral part of the web experience. As connection speeds increase, it is even practical to watch satisfying streamed TV or full-length videos online. Special events can be ‘web-cast’ – i.e. streamed live on the Web. However these options really represent a different medium to the Web itself: they are one-way ‘linear’ broadcasts, but delivered to your computer. They are, like normal TV, ‘appointment’ programs – people normally only watch them intentionally by prior knowledge when they have set aside time to do so.

Interestingly, broadcasting itself is becoming more weblike: it’s increasingly interactive and feedback-based, and most radio/TV stations integrate the two mediums with a website. And ‘podcasting’ has become the Internet’s version of ‘listen when you want it’ broadcasting: audio (and increasingly video) content, just when the user wants it, using their computer or mobile device, rather than set time ‘appointment’ programs. For more on podcasting, go here.

A new phenomenon

It was in 2006, with the rapid growth of YouTube, that the significance of video clips as a communication medium became really apparent. They have been called ‘tracts for the 21st century’, though ‘parables’ is probably a better description of their best use. A key element is their potential for viral communication [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing ] – that is, that people pass them around (or share the URL where they can be found). And with hand-held devices such as mobile phones or iPods, it becomes possible to store a portfolio of video clips, and send or share with friends when appropriate.

Posting video clips to social network sites

In a web evangelism context, short video clips are a strategic way forward. For example, YouTube.com, [www.YouTube.com] iFilm.com, [www.iFilm.com] Google Video, [video.google.com] and Yahoo Video [video.yahoo.com/] are leading examples of popular secular networking sites where short videos can be uploaded by users. The most popular video clips receive the highest exposure and positive user-feedback, sometimes resulting in download figures of a million or more. These video sites are popular: people upload 35000 new video clips a day to YouTube, and watch 35 million daily downloads (late 2006 figures). MySpace.com [www.myspace.com] (which is more than just a video system – it’s a social networking site) serves even more videos daily.

These sites offer various categories, such as movie trailers, video blogs, ‘banana skin’ accidents and ‘you’ve been framed’ humor, pop music videos, and narrative stories. Among these categories (and plenty of dross), there are some remarkably good and creative home-made shorts. (Yes, inevitably among the 1000s of video clips, there is also inappropriate material, but with some measure of protection because videos voted as 18+ by users are flagged as inappropriate by users. (There are editor-chosen (i.e. not open for anyone to upload to) video humor clip archives which lack this protection and also have a much higher percentage of suggestive, cruel or unpleasant material.) Take care in what you visit. We are not recommending all these sites as necessarily great places for Christians to visit without due care, but as ideal locations for Christians to post video clips.)

CurrentTV [www.current.tv/make/] is another site willing to carry home-made video clips. and then screen them on TV. They also have a useful training section [www.current.tv/training/] which will help anyone to make better video clips.

Video parables

Here is a whole new area for sharing faith online – the ‘video short’, posted online at secular networking sites. But what will work effectively for this audience? Not preachy 3-point sermons with appeals. Not religious churchy stuff, over which savvy young people may fall about laughing. The way forward is surely to craft highly creative, zany, possibly humorous films which communicate a single truth or a question to consider, embedded within a brief narrative story, and aimed at people who are probably not inquirers. Is this a new idea? No – it’s exactly what Jesus did with parables.

A parable does not normally carry more than one element of truth – it does not attempt to summarize the entire gospel. Frequently, it leaves unanswered questions. Jesus did not add, “and the moral of this story is...” interpretations at the end. Our evangelical mindset finds it hard not to add this interpretive punchline! But Jesus did not. It is the unspoken question left hanging, which is so powerful. Examples are given of parable stories being told in a mission setting for the first time, without interpretation. A week later, people in the market were still discussing them.

Content can be acting, mime, dance, voice-over, comedy, cartoon animation, and much more. On most sites, you can tag your video clip with several subject classifications – so choose appropriate secular subject tags.

Of course, short video clips can also be posted on evangelistic websites. But the value of getting them out of the ghetto onto secular networking sites is obvious: this is where the non-Christians are. If you have already produced videos, why not also post them on all these sites? Different sites vary in file sizes and other requirements – YouTube, Ifilm and Yahoo Video file limit is 100Mb, which effectively means an absolute maximum of 10 minutes and preferably less. (YouTube Director account holders can exceed this limit.) The vast majority of video clips are shorter than this – unless content is compelling, many will not watch to the end of a long clip.

Even the West is moving away from being a ‘print communication culture’ and is increasingly taking on attributes of an oral commmunication culture. Video and animation clips have a strategic potential for Japan.

Churches often post video clips to a networking site as the best place to host it, as these sites usually provide ready-made code to insert the clip into a web-page – see the Alpha Course example lower down this page.

Please tell us of such video clips that you find at a secular networking site. And if the site offers a voting option, help to boost its popularity by adding your vote. And if you find video clips on Christian sites that would be appropriate for a secular audience, why not suggest to the webmaster that they post them on a secular site too?

Most video-sharing sites also allow you to add your own rating of a video, send it directly to a friend or a blog, post your own comments about it, or insert it into your own website with some ready-made code. So you can dramatically increase video viewing by taking time to do this for clips you believe are significant.

Short video is a creative genre you see every day perhaps without realizing: the TV commercial. The best commercials are amusing, memorable and tell a narrative story within seconds. Now, we are not proposing here ‘video gospel commercials’ in that blatant sense, but short thought-provoking narratives using those same communication skills, to embed some truth – or maybe just a question – in the viewer’s mind.

Sowing approach, but relationships are possible

This approach is very much a ‘sowing’ strategy. There is limited opportunity (on secular networking sites) to build significant ongoing relationship with viewers. However, most video sites offer the opportunity to post comments on the clips, and this provides a place for limited discussion and interaction with viewers. In addition, you can add a final screen to a video clip showing an URL of a webpage that you would encourage them to visit – whether your own, or an outreach website you feel is particularly appropriate. In addition, your own website and other information about you is usually displayed next to the video clip – so the URL you provide can be a a specific entry page for designed for viewers, which might also include onward links to other appropriate outreach sites.

Examples of video shorts (mainly) at secular sites

At secular sites...
Not yet at secular outlets – but might usefully be posted there...

Opportunities for creativity

This is an area where Christian drama groups, artists, film-makers, writers and others with creative gifts can use their skills. Sadly, Christians in the creative arts have tended to stick to safe, predictable, sometimes cheesy, material, and it has been non-Christians who have displayed breath-taking leaps of imagination and creativity. In the world of film, it is often supposedly secular films which reveal embedded themes of longing, seeking and redemption. In fact, the question has even been posed and debated:
Why do heathens make the best Christian films? [www.godspy.com/culture/Why-Do-Heathens-Make-the-Best-Christian-Films-by-Thom-Parham.cfm]

Podcasts and iPods

The huge use of video-equipped iPods and other mobile devices gives the opportunity to offer short video clips by this route too. The value of being ‘ahead of the curve’ on this form of distribution, while it is still a novelty, could be immense.
• More on podcasting

Sharing through mobile devices

There is great potential for short video clips or animations to be passed around by friends on their mobile phones and mobile devices. Technical requirements for movie clips may vary on different devices, but expect a rapid convergence of standards and improved ease of video sharing in the future.

Rox35 Media (who offer training in cartooning and animation) have a competition [http//comix35.gospelcom.net/Animation_Comp.html] to create outreach animations for mobile devices.

Flash-based games are another type of file which can be passed from user to user.
• More on mobile outreach

For outreach sites

Increasing numbers of normal websites now include short video clips embedded into pages, and the addition of sound and vision can enhance the communication experience, (not least for those in oral cultures). Video clips are very appropriate for short testimonies, and with the growth of video-equipped mobile phones and video camera ownership, it has never been easier to create and upload a short ‘talking face’ video. Online testimonies should be a jargon-free area – though frequently they are not.

If you offer video clips on your website, the best way is through an embedded video player within the page. The Flash format is particularly good for this. However, you should also make it easy for people to download the clip for later viewing, or for passing on to others, by offering a separate ‘save this video’ link. The Mpeg format may be best one to offer for downloads. You can also add to your site a ‘send this video to a friend’ link, which will send a ready-made ‘tell-a-friend’ email with a direct URL to the video.

You can save a video onto your hard drive, from YouTube and other video-sharing sites, using a Firefox extension [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2390] – note that the icon resides in the status bar, so make sure you have enabled your Firefox bar.

Building a ‘bridge strategy’ site using YouTube videos

Bridge strategy sites are built around a secular topic of interest, and should offer genuinely useful material about the chosen subject. However, they can also transition appropriately to material that shares the Gospel. This can be through testimony, or pages that draw a spiritual parallel from the chosen subject, or merely links to other sites which explain the gospel.

YouTube (and other video-sharing sites) offer a very easy way to insert a video clip directly into your own website. This provides us with a new way of creating valuable and attractive bridge content.
• Read more

DVDs and other videos

Of course, full-length presentations on DVD or VCD also have great potential and the full-length JESUS film is streamed in a large range [www.jesusfilm.org/languages/index.html] of languages, and also distributed by Podcast. [www.jesusfilm.org/podcasting/02.html]

Training

There are increasing opportunities for training seminars in both animation and video production. There are also many online tutorials – note many of the articles from WebVideoUniverse in the right-hand margin news feed.

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Further reading

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