Happy Thanksgiving!

As our way of saying Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the full version of our Thanksgiving Fanatic video:

Our Workshop at the National Worship Leader Conference

Our workshop yesterday went awesomely. I don't think that's actually a word but it went really well. We had about 75 people attend and only about 60 seats, so it was standing room only. We talked about making your media matter and the big idea for us is that all the media you use should serve the message and shouldn't be used simply because it's cool. When used properly, media can work hand in hand with all of your programming to build a theme for your service that perfectly sets up the pastor's message. We ran a mock Creative Team meeting. We gave away a free Programming Pack to everyone who attended. It was great.

We also kicked off our session with a video we shot on the first day of the conference. It was a Man On The Street Video where Lee asked people at the conference what they thought about eleven72. It was our fun way of introducing ourselves. Check it out:



Feedreaders, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rWjnp7p7g

Happy Birthday America

I know the 4th is still a few days away, but I wanted to send out this birthday greeting. What a blessing to live in a country where we are free to worship God and to follow after Christ. It's my prayer that we would take advantage of that freedom and allow God to work in and through us to reach people with His life changing message of true freedom. The freedom found only in putting your life fully and completely in the hands of Christ.

We have some great 4th of July resources on our Seasonal Tab. Jump over there and check them out. We made a 4th friendly version of our very popular For Freedom video and we've also got a couple of great countdowns for your 4th of July festivities. Click here to peruse our 4th collection. We hope you find something you can use.

I'm going out of town next week, so keep an eye out for some brilliant blog posts from my partner Lee. I'm retreating to the mountains of New Mexico and will be without an internet connection. Although I'll be spending time with family, I also hope to find time to connect more deeply with God in His beautiful creation.

Happy 4th and God Bless!

Teenage Affluenza Spreading Fast

Came across this video on YouTube this morning. From the view count, I'm far from the first one to see it (441,000 views and counting), but I wanted to share it anyway. It makes such a great point in such a creative way. I found myself laughing and feeling ashamed in the same breath. Very well done.



If you're reading the fee, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI

For Freedom and Other News

We're really excited that our brand new Memorial Day video, For Freedom has been received so enthusiastically. We're setting daily sales records with it on our site and it's also selling really well with other distributors. It's always really gratifying to make something that so many people can use. It's humbling to think about and we're really grateful that God is blessing the video in this way. You can check it out by clicking here.

I'm also really excited about the reponses we've received on last Friday's post, Been Caught Stealing. Check out the comments we've gotten and jump into the fray with your own. I'm thinking we need to talk some more about what actually constitutes a parody. So, that will be food for a new post some time soon.

In other news, it's been a busy week here in eleven72 country and that's kept me off the blog. It's mostly personal stuff, but I'll let you in on some of the what's goings ons...

I wrecked my car a couple of weeks ago (no serious injuries but the car was totalled) and so I'd spent the last 10 days or so hunting for a replacement. Yesterday, after much research and agonizing, I became the proud owner of a 2003 Ford F-150. There was much rejoicing as I can now get back to work and eleven72 now has a work truck to haul around production equipment, props and what not.

And earlier today, I helped Lee and his family move into a new place. So, their family is in transition to a new house today. And this should be the start of a great new chapter in their families history. So that's exciting.

Talk to you later.

(I wanted to put an image here but I didn't want to steal it)

Been Caught Stealing

So... I saw a video this morning on a certain distributors website which shall remain nameless. The video is a "Christianized" copy of a video put out by the ONE campaign. The ONE campaign video uses highly recognizeable faces and a stark black and white aesthetic to draw attention to the startling statistic that a child dies every three seconds from AIDS or extreme poverty. The video is really well done, highly creative and very effective in communicating its message. Click here to watch it now.

Imagine my surprise when I'm looking through the new releases on a certain website and I come across a video that is an exact copy of this video. It's black and white, shot on a white background, the people in the video aren't the same celebrities but they are snapping every three seconds. Then the text comes up and it's been changed to reflect that every three seconds (same as in the ONE video) six people die. The point the video is trying to make is that people are dying every second and a lot of those people don't know Christ as Savior. I get that. And I applaud the filmmakers for trying to make that point. I just wish they would have taken inspiration from the ONE video and used that inspiration to creatively come up with their own original idea. As it is, to me it seems they've just stolen the idea. They give no credit to the original creators and they are passing it off as an original work. I could go on but I think I've made my point.

This isn't the first time I've seen this in the church video space. It's one of the most blatant copies I've seen, but it's not the first. We need to be innovators. We need to be drawing on the creativity that God has given us to come up with original and powerful ways to communicate truth. And we need to be above reproach. There is a difference between parody and stealing. There is a difference between homage and rip off. And it just seems wrong.

I would really love it if you guys would weigh in on this topic and let me know your thoughts. I really feel like this is a discussion we all need to be having as makers and users of media and most importantly as bearers of the image of Christ.

Office Space

We made a short (silly) video to show off our new office space. It's just a sublease, but for us, it's a big step forward in the life of our little company. Here's the video:



For those of you reading the feed, here's a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvvFzN8yhGk

Enjoy!

Watch This: Two Sites With Top Notch Content

If you're creating videos. If you're a storyteller. If you aspire to get better at making, presenting, explaining things through video, graphics, animation... Then you have to be a student. You have to be checking out what other people are doing and what's being done by the best and the brightest content creators out there.

Below you'll find a couple of resources we really like. We hope you'll use them to learn, analyze, absorb, break down, emulate, critique, and get ideas from. Then you can go make your own great, informed, unique content!

Motionographer

(From Their About Page):

Motionographer (pronounced like “oceanographer”) seeks to be a source of inspiration for filmmakers, animators and designers by sharing:

• outstanding work from studios, freelancers and students
• feature stories that give readers a closer look at influential studios and individuals
• commentary that sparks discussion or introspection about the creative process
• miscellaneous items that Motionographer contributors find interesting

Boardsmag's Screening Room

(In My Words):

The Screening Room posts commercials, music videos and short films from all over the world. And the main Boardsmag site has all kinds of articles and other resources.

These aren't "Christian" resources, but these are films and videos made by really talented people. Sometimes the content or the message is questionable, but we can still learn a lot from the imagination, skills, and techniques that are being used.

If you know of other good places to tune in and see great things. Resources you use. Sites you're always checking out. Please leave a comment and let us know about them. We are always looking for more solid resources. And we love watching movies!

Easter. Then What?

We just finished and posted our newest Sermon Illustration and we're really excited about it! So, what's the story? A few weeks ago, Lee and I sat down with the Teaching Pastor (Ted Beasley/Gateway) at our home church to talk about Easter. The conversation eventually got around to how a lot of people, Christians and non alike, can feel stuck and even depressed around this time of year because they aren't sure how to apply the message of Easter to their everyday lives.

Our Easter video was born out of that conversation. Out of a desire to give voice to that feeling, to set pastors up to take the podium and teach on the Good News that what Jesus did for us isn't just for "fire insurance." His sacrifice was made so that we could have a relationship with God now, a relationship and a freedom in Christ that can be a very real part of our everyday lives.

Click here to check out the video. Then leave us a comment on this post and let us know what you think.

Nike and The Art of Storytelling

Speaking of great storytellers, I think Nike does an awesome job of storytelling. I don't know if there's any other corporate entity that taps into our hearts, our dreams, our desires, like Nike does. They want to tie our longings and desires to their products. We know the only place we'll find satisfaction for those desires is at their source - God. It's easy to say that Nike is able to tell such great stories and do so much because of all the resources that their wealth provides. I often find myself using excuses like that. But sometimes, Nike does it so well and so simply that it lays my excuses bare. We can tell stories like this. Stories that inspire, encourage and point people to the Source. Watch this short video about Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho and think about the stories you want to tell:

Free Easter Worship Backgrounds and Stills

The March Free Media is here! Check out the add on the homepage. You'll notice the ad is now clickable. Click on it and you'll be taken to our new FREE MEDIA page, where you can preview the free downloads each month.

My hat's off to Lee this time. He has really created two awesome backgrounds and stills that are highly usable for Easter. And we're giving them away! We're so pumped about Easter and it makes our hearts glad that we can participate in your services by offering you this media. It's our gift to you because God has given us so much.

We also have other Easter content available on our Seasonal page. Check out Jesus Is and I Will Remember. We've got a Palm Sunday themed background and countdown, as well as some great Sunrise stuff (Sunrise Countdown w/Scripture, Sunrise Countdown and Sunrise Worship Background). Check out the Seasonal page to see them all!

We would really love to hear from any and all of you. Please let us know what you think of our stuff and how you're using it. We want to help share your stories with others and learn from you how to better serve God's church with our gifts.

God Bless,
Storme

Did you know?

In China, 10,000 people a day convert to Christianity.

Over the last 20 centuries, 70 million Christians have been martyred.

67% of all humans from A.D. 30 to the present day have never even heard the name of Jesus.

These are amazing statistics, aren't they? These statistics and others like them made such an impression on us, that we put together a sermon illustration and a countdown that highlight these exciting facts. Check out our Evangelism Statistics Illustration by clicking the image below: (if you're interested in downloading these for your church - click here to purchase the illustration and here to purchase the countdown).

For more information and statistics like these, visit the following websites:

http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/gd/findings.htm
http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/1040.htm#religion

Free Video Of Your Choice

We'd like to give you the video of your choice...free. Read below and find out how to get your free video.

We're really enjoying this blog and keeping you all up to date on what's happening around eleven72. Toward that end, we wanted to check in with our readers and make sure we're giving you information you can use. So...

We'd like to hear from you. What kinds of articles would you like to see on the blog? What kind of help or tips or information would help you in your ministry? Do you need technical how-tos, information on where to find resources, articles on how to use media?

Please take a few moments, jot down an email and let us know what you would like to see on our blog. Then (here comes the free stuff), we'll send you an email with a code that you can use to download one free piece of media from our store. Any piece of media in our store. You browse. You pick. You download the video you want.

Send us an email about the blog, get a free video. Easy enough, right?

Tell us what you think :): storme@eleven72.com or lee@eleven72.com .

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Jesus at Crossroads

We received a really great call from the pastor of a church in Tucson, Arizona on Friday. After buying our video Jesus Is to use in one of their services, Pastor Kyle contacted us to see if they could use it on their website. They have a page directed at new comers and seekers that raises the question "Who Is Jesus?" He thought our video fit so perfectly with their purpose for that page that he wanted to incorporate it. We were really excited about the idea and they've already got it up - Check it out here!

Kyle is leading a really cool church in Tucson called CrossRoads Church. They are meeting weekly in an active movie theater in Tucson and are very much a community based church. Our home church here in Austin started out portable and meeting in movie theaters. We have really fond memories of that time in our church, so we were excited to hear about how they're doing church. They get a really early start every Sunday, set up in one of the theaters, have their service and have to get all their equipment and people out before the matinees start.

CrossRoads is focused on creating relationships and getting people involved in small groups/home churches and that approach is really paying off. By meeting in a movie theater, Kyle says the typical non-church going person is more intrigued by their set up and is more likely to come and check it out. He is really excited about what God is doing with their church and it's so cool that our media can be a part of helping CrossRoads reach people in Tucson.

Happy Valentine's Day from eleven72

We don't really have any Valentinesy videos here, but we wanted to send a little love your way. Change is Possible (available on our site here) is one of our favorite Sermon Illustrations. Here's wishing you something fun(ny) this Valentine's Day:

Fired Up

Found footage! New freebies coming soon!







We've unearthed and rediscovered some exciting footage that we've shot over the last couple of years and it has inspired us to put together an urban series of stills, loops and who knows what else. I'm getting so excited just looking at the footage that I may just pick up my camera right now, head downtown and start shooting.

We've got all this first-rate footage. And even though we shot it in the past, it's like it's brand new again. Time-lapse footage, protest footage, gritty black and white footage. Some of it was used in a documentary we did, some of it was just because we wanted to capture a past event, and some of it was for this cool little black and white short film we did (shot on 16mm B&W film!). Whatever the reason we shot it, we've got it, and pouring over the footage has given us inspiration to create a whole new set of urban mini-movies, loops and stills.

Right now we're working on a new set of free power point still images and free worship background loops that we'll be serving up to all our email subscribers very soon. If you're not currently on our email list, I encourage you to sign up on our homepage before the new stuff goes up. That way, you'll get the free loops and stills we're offering now and you'll get the new free stuff when we send out our newsletter in the next couple of days.

We're really fired up about giving you resources you can use and we're hoping this new urban themed media will help you fire up the people you serve!

New Years Videos (Ready to Serve!)






New Years is all about second, third, fourth or five hundredth chances. The beginning of the new year provides a great space for people to reflect on their lives and on the people they are and want to be. It is a time of Hope, Resolve and Change. Is it just a coincidence that we've got some brand new Countdowns and Sermon Illustration videos that are perfectly suited to those new year themes?

Check out the funny sermon illustration videos Change IS Possible and Resolve. And don't miss the incredible time-lapse photography and inspirational scripture that is New Year's Hope (Available as a Sermon Illustration or Countdown) on the New Years Tab.

Let us know what you think :).

New Programming Packs!
(for those following the series on getting started using media in the church, the next post in that series will be out by early next week)

Our two newest Programming Packs are now up and available on the Volumes page. Check out Money and Church Volumes 1. If you don't know what our Programming Packs are, I blogged about them recently here.

Money Vol. 1 features the hilarious Sermon Illustration, "How Much?" We were fortunate to have a couple of great actors and a talented crew to pull this off. And it really shows. Check out "How Much?" here.

This Programming Pack also features a great new countdown that contrasts the difference in the way Scripture and the World view money. We also have the first two of a series of Worship Backgrounds that we're really excited about featured on this volume. And it's rounded out by 5 original stills. We got some authentic, ancient Roman coins and were able to get some wonderful photographs of them that we think will provide a great backdrop for services on money, giving or tithing.


Church Vol. 1 is anchored by "The Body." Peopled with great characters like EYE, EAR and FOOT, this fun illustration is a wonderful reminder that the Body of Christ is made up of a diverse group of people, each uniquely created by God, and each needing the others to function completely. The rest of the Programming Pack keeps the fun going. The Countdown mixes and matches different people, literally, to illustrate 1 Corinthians 12. And the Still Backgrounds feature very usable and well designed silhouettes of hands, feet and a body of people. The entire volume urges us to "Be The Body!"

If you blog and there's no one there to read it, does it make a sound?

We're still ironing out the kinks on how to integrate the blog into our site so we haven't linked to it yet at eleven72.com. If you're reading this, you're one of the select few. Maybe even the select one.

One of our goals this year is to grow our mailing list. We really want to grow the eleven72 community and toward that end we're offering a free video to anyone who signs up for our mailing list. You can sign up by visiting our homepage at www.eleven72.com. The free video is Fear, which has been one of the most popular videos we've made thus far. Check it out.

Even if you have no use for our free video, please sign up for our mailing list. That way, when we're out socializing, we can brag about how many subscribers we have :). Seriously, we would love to be able to let you know when new products come out or when big events happen in the life of eleven72.