800 turn out for Night of Film

Compelling films dealing with choices ("Alius Promoris"), valuing life ("Volition") and overcoming adversity ("Unthinkable") were screened before an audience of 800 Saturday, October 25 at Coast Hills Church. The night was hosted by the Grove Center and co-sponsored by the Visual Story Network, The Door Post, 168 Film Project, and the Veracity Project. See the photo album under the photo tab.

A Night of Film

The Visual Story Network is partnering with the Grove Center for the Arts, 168 Film Festival and the Veracity Project to host a Night of Film. Look under Events to get more info.

100th Online Community Member

We started the online VSN community only two months ago and we just had our 100th member sign on. For his exceptionally good timing, Isaac Anderson (isaacstanbul) received a signed copy of the book "Innovation in Mission" (Reapsom / Hirst). The books co-author, Jon Hirst, is a part of the VSN community.

VSN Forum in Dallas a success !!

Wow! I'm amazed by the way God brought an amazing group of leaders together in order to expand our vision, showcase effective visual story, sharpen our skills and lay the groundwork for a movement.

See my video link under the video section below for my take immediately after the Forum in Dallas.

"Fireproof" to release September 26

VSN Community members David Nixon, Larry Frenzel, and Chris Bueno are involved on the upcoming film Fireproof. Set to release September 26, Fireproof comes from the team that brought us Flywheel and Facing the Giants. This group has shown the potential impact of a church made film. For a glimpse of what is to come, view the trailer posted under the video section below.

The new delivery platform...

There is an overwhelming trend towards a device that much of the world will soon possess. Read this article for the trends in Asia alone.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=330661

You're Invited!! VSN Forum, Sept 2008

We are less than three weeks away from the Visual Story Network Forum in Dallas. Check out this 2 minute invitation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mv1Po9xdgA

"VSN Forum" Registration Site Online

We are excited about bringing together strategic “visual story practitioners” including producers, church and mission leaders, innovative thinkers and filmmakers.

In partnership with the International Orality Network, the Visual Story Network Forum will be held September 16-18, 2008 at the Dallas Solano Marriot.

To secure a place at the forum, register at www.visualstory.org/forum08.

A Unique Collector of Stories

Jonathon Harris is an artist and computer scientist. He uniquely captures and retells stories in our modern world. Listen to his talk on TED (20 minutes). It will be worth your time.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_harris_collects_stories.html?utm_source=SubscriberMail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=This%20week%3A%20Stories%20of%20our%20shared%20humanity&utm_term=&utm_content=ff78afcdc00f479d8e0ef53c33025f7a

Search Engine Optimization

We have powerful content that can touch lives. The folks at www.AllAboutGod.com have made available a powerpoint that highlights the power of search engine optimization. They had 22 million user sessions last year through their work with optimization. Here is the link to a free download.
http://www.allaboutgod.com/go/gregoutlaw-nrb-2008.zip

VSN Forum in September!

We are excited to announce a strategic gathering in Dallas from September 16 (5:00 p.m.) to September 18 (5:00 p.m.). The Forum will offer fresh visual story models, networking with key innovators, workshops on critical issues and strategic planning sessions. Registration will be available online soon. For more information, go to www.visualstory.org/forum08

Winter Light

Here is a link to an article from the New Yorker about the power of film to provoke and persuade. Fascinating the way Wolf describes the turning point for his friend and himself.   Deep, real issues addressed, which is the best way to tell story.  I’ve been reading McKees’ Story and he writes “I believe we have no responsibility to cure social ills or renew faith in humanity, to uplift the spirits of society or even express our inner being.  We have only one responsibility: to tell the truth.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/09/080609fa_fact_wolff

Slide show from the Summit

Here's a link to the slide show that tells some of the story of the 55 executive leaders that gathered in Pompano Beach, Florida for the VSN Summit.

See the VSN Summit slide show (select “view pictures” then “view as slideshow”) available at
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AauWjdu0aOGLuA&emid=sharshar&linkid=link4

Keynote Summary posted

Don Eland did a great job with the video podcast giving his take on the Summit (see the post below). He edited my keynote address down to less than 7 minutes from 75 (not really that long!). Check it out at
http://web.mac.com/elandinteractive/iWeb/iweb/PODCAST/PODCAST.html

1st VSN Roundtable sounds alarm!

The first roundtable could be the beginning of what is needed to help move the global church towards using the visual media to effectively communicate the narrative of the Bible...
Check out Don Eland's excellent podcast of the event at: http://web.mac.com/elandinteractive/iWeb/iweb/PODCAST/PODCAST.html

The Eagle Has Landed

It’s a wrap. Nearly 50 leaders stayed engaged in the process of considering how to unleash a global movement of visual story for the sake of the kingdom. We struggled with the way to move forward in light of diverse backgrounds and callings. In the end, we divided into groups focused on North America, global opportunities, training and communications.
There were powerful connections among people who care deeply about Christ’s kingdom and the power of visual story. Next steps include: pursue a regional event in the next several months in Dallas, develop a wiki / social networking platform and explore partnerships with the International Orality Network, International Christian in Visual Media and Mission America.

Day 2 of the Summit

Intense. Big picture. Strong personalities. Buy in to a global movement of visual story for the sake of the kingdom. An amazing cross section of people. A great venue. Screened 8 great visual story examples.

We broke into focus groups around strategic / business planning, production, distribution and effective visual story use and training.

Please keep praying. Tomorrow we will distill this into 2 near term objectives we can embrace together.

An Amazing Start

Tonight faith became sight after several months of dreaming, praying and inviting. God assembled a group of more than 50 visual story innovators from around the world outside Ft. Lauderdale, FL. There is a deep desire to see more done in this realm of visual story for the sake of the kingdom of God. Here is a lineup of part of the leadership team that has made it possible.

Digital Storytelling

Expressing compellingly now requires text, images, sound, animation and video. I came across some valuable information on the techlearning website. There is a new literacy, without learning it we will be increasingly irrelevant.

By combining writing (a script, presented in a voice-over), images or short video clips, sound effects, and music into a movie, students can find a way to become producers of content as well as consumers. Clear communication encompassing a variety of media is comfortable and natural for today's students and engages them in creative thinking and planning. Resources for learning this skill include the following:

* Center for Digital Storytelling
www.storycenter.org
* DigiTales: The Art of Digital Storytelling
www.digitales.us
* Scott County Community Digital Storytelling
www.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/cdst.html
* Tech Head Stories
www.tech-head.com

I recently ran across a pretty powerful thought on how visually portraying a thought can affect destiny:
Steve Duenes answered reader questions Feb. 25-29, 2008: “Mr. Duenes manages the graphics department, a group of 30 journalists who research and create the diagrams, maps and charts for the newspaper and the Web site. He started at The Times in 1999 as the graphics editor for science. In 2001, he became the deputy graphics director, and in 2004, he became the graphics director.” Check out this excerpted anecdote from one of the readers (emphasis mine):

in september i traveled with bill gates to africa to look at his work fighting aids there. while setting the trip up, it emerged that his initial interest in giving pots of money to fight disease had arisen after he and melinda read a two-part series of articles i did on third world disease in January 1997. until then, their plan had been to give money mainly to get countries wired and full of computers.

bill and melinda recently reread those pieces, and said that it was the second piece in the series, about bad water and diarrhea killing millions of kids a year, that really got them thinking of public health. Great! I was really proud of this impact that my worldwide reporting and 3,500-word article had had. But then bill confessed that actually it wasn’t the article itself that had grabbed him so much — it was the graphic. It was just a two column, inside graphic, very simple, listing third world health problems and how many people they kill. but he remembered it after all those years and said that it was the single thing that got him redirected toward public health.

No graphic in human history has saved so many lives in africa and asia.