Mark Clement

Amazing Creative Opportunity For Churches

About a year ago God laid something in our lap that we have been developing and has turned out to be one of the coolest and most rewarding things we've done with churches since we started in 2003. We simply refer to it as Long Term Partnerships.

The way it started was one of the coolest churches I've ever been around, First Hattiesburg in MS (don't let the name fool you), lost their full time video/media/designer guy. They were already in the habit of outsourcing some things, knew me from some other connections and called to ask if we'd be interested in trying to make it work. We had already been working on a similar arrangement with another client and everything fell right in to place. Today, a year later, it's been one of the most rewarding things we've ever done, we've added several other clients to the program, and all of them, as well as us here at Big Picture Media, couldn't be happier.

It has been so amazing in fact that we are moving some resources around and are excited to open four new slots for potential church partners. (2 have been filled since this post first aired and we only have 2 slots left). So here are the nuts and bolts:

1. For about the same or even less than it would cost for you to hire a full time media person, you can partner with us here at Big Picture Media to take care of all your media needs.
2. You now have not one single guy, but you have access to our entire team of video producers, writers, graphic designers and all around creatives who bring well over 50 years of high level creative experience to the table.
3. We come in and participate with all of your high level creative planning every month, helping you to shape, brand and plan everything from big events to your monthly message series and everything in between.
4. Our long term partnership clients who have had full time media people on staff say that we produce 3-5 times as much content as they did, an amazing boost in productivity. This is due to our years of experience, our efficiency and the high level systems we have in place.
5. Samples of our work are at the bottom of this post and include things like video announcements, message series bumpers, baptism story videos, missions vids, banners, signage, at the movies, year in review vids, vision vids, training vids, special worship elements, videos for your age group ministries, tv and print ads, social media consulting...the list is virtually endless.
6. You save tens of thousands of dollars on equipment because we already have it all. Cameras, lights, audio gear, green screens, editing systems and software. 
7. We partner for 12 months at a time and offer some pricing options from the full blown partnership that we're talking about here to some smaller setups if that's more appropriate for your church. We've very flexible and accommodating. 
8. We are all about quality, not quantity, which is why we're only opening four new slots. We limit our number of clients so that each one gets the maximum amount of attention from us. We want to hit home runs with a select few, not singles and doubles with the masses.

What are the requirements for your church to be a long-term partner with Big Picture Media?

1. To fit into the cost structure we're talking about here, and because we're on site with you so much, you need to be within a half a day's travel from Birmingham, AL where we are located. By car that means pretty much anywhere in AL, GA, MS or TN. By plane, most anyhwere in the eastern half of the US, especially if you are near a Southwest destination city. We can actually do this anywhere in the country, but outside this region the cost will go up a little bit depending on where you are.
2. You have to have strong vision and a commitment to excellence in communications so as to fully utilize what we're bringing to the table for you.
3. Must be a gospel-centered church committed to seeing lives changed.
4. You have to be large enough to be able to afford a full time media person. In other words, if you're a church plant running 150, this is going to be out of reach for you.

In case you're not familiar with us, you may be wondering 'who is Big Picture Media?' Easy. The two main people you would be creating with are:

Mark Clement | Founder & CEO Mark has over 15 years of experience on pastoral staff and has worked with over 300 churches of every possible description across the country in his 8 years with Big Picture Media. He is often the creative go-to guy for organizations like Giving Rocket, The Change Group, RSI, Generis, Cogun, Compassion, MAG, LIVE Design, Churchplanters.com and many others.

Scott Ross | Creative Director Scott was one of the founding members of All Things To All People and for years was the creative director for Student Life. Scott's energy, passion and enthusiasm for the local church is unmatched and he is considered one of the best 'idea men' in the business.

If you are interested in finding out more about this opportunity please contact Mark Clement HERE. If you know of a church that may be interested please pass this info along. Our existing partners say their ministries have been drastically impacted by Big Picture Media. What can we do for you?

 

 

Baptism Interview: Alexis Riddle from First Hattiesburg on Vimeo.

First Look for the week of June 26 from First Hattiesburg on Vimeo.

Premiere Of Our New Film 'Running' Is Tonight

If you're anywhere around central AL tonight, we want to invite you to come to the premiere of our new film 'Running'. It shows at 7:30 & 10 PM at the two campuses of The Worship Center Christian Church here in Birmingham. Campuses are in Huffman and Bessemer and you can find all the details, directions, etc... HERE.

All four services will be standing room only so be encouraged to arrive early for best seats. Conservative estimates are that there will be between 6 and 7 thousand people in attendance. We're very proud of this project and would love for you to be a part of it. Best part is that the 7:30 slots will be done by 9 in plenty of time to make the New Year's Eve parties you have lined up. The cast and crew of the film will be attending the 7:30 event at the Bessemer Campus. Check out the trailer below:

 

New Trailer for 'Running'

After filming in Jamaica last week we wanted to update the early trailer for 'Running'. Check it here:

'Running' Teaser Trailer

This is a very early look at what we're putting together for the upcoming @twcpastorvan film 'Running' which will debut December 31st here in Birmingham. We're very excited about how it's coming together and wanted to share a little sneak peak.

From The Set Of 'Running'

John Marc Green, my 1st Assistant Director, took some great behind the scene photos from our shoot over the last few days:

Fun little Animoto vid showing some of the pix:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

 

Me and Director of Photography (DP) Joe Walker talking through a couple of different shots:

This is a great shot showing the complicated lighting required to pull off an outdoor night scene. L-R Paul (key grip), me directing, Joe (DP):

Me and our 2 lead actors Scott Ross and Van Moody working through a complicated emotional scene between the two men. Because you often have to shoot things out of order to be more efficient, it takes some effort to get everyone up to speed on where we are in the story, what just happened, what are you feeling, etc... Always stretches me as a director. One of my favorite parts of movie making is the spirit of collaboration, everyone contributing to make it work.

 

MuteMath & Tolstoy (Again)

I originally wrote and posted this a couple of years ago, but after seeing MuteMath live again last week I felt compelled to put it out there again. Why? Because they freakin' blew me away. Again. There show wasn't fancy, but it was crazy good. One of the best I've been to in the last couple of years. The show, the music, inspired me to be a better artist, a better filmmaker and story teller. It reminded me that the quaility of my work should be my ticket to say what I want, not the other way around. No free passes here. This is the real world:

For the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk about the church’s role in influencing culture. If you’ve been to Catalyst or Q, or read Relevant magazine (just to name a few) you’ve seen and heard it. In very small ways it is beginning to happen, and there is (obviously) a long way to go. But it CAN happen. Believers can influence culture. It has happened before.

 
In the early 1970s author Malcolm Muggeridge heard that members of the intellectual elite in the Soviet Union (still Communist at that time boys and girls) were experiencing a spiritual revival. Encountering a Russian dissident in England he heard first hand that virtually every writer or artist or musician of note in the U.S.S.R was exploring spiritual issues. Muggeridge writes, “I asked him how this could have happened, given the enormous anti-religious brainwashing job done on the citizenry, and the absence of all Christian literature, including the Gospels. His reply was memorable; the authorities, he said, forgot to suppress the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (from the 1800s), the most perfect expositions of the Christian faith of modern times.”

Under the worst conditions, artists were influencing not only the culture at large, but the creative leaders themselves, the purveyors of culture. And why were the cultural leaders listening? Because these two writers were arguably some of the best of all time. They were great at what they did and their talent opened the door even 100 years after they were dead and gone. Do we in 21st century America have any less of an opportunity to influence? In our free country, in this age of podcasts and YouTube and blogs and 130 tv channels and regular radio, hd radio and satellite radio, do we have any less avenues by which to be seen and heard? Some are already doing it. I was on John Mayer’s blog the other day and was thrilled to see his take on MuteMath, “the album that will take me through the rest of the year” he said. He goes on to say,“My mouth is agape while I listen.” And why is Mayer listening? Not because they are nice guys who deserve a break. Not because he agrees with their beliefs. John Mayer is listening because MuteMath is incredibly good. Period. We want to influence culture? We better be incredibly good at what we do. Period.

BTW, their new album Odd Soul owns me. Do yourself a favor and get it HERE. You're welcome.

Springhill Presbyterian Print Design

Over the last few months we've had the privilege of working closely with Springhill Pres in Bozeman, MT on an upcoming project to go multi-site. To make it even better we got to work alongside Generis and specifically, Rusty Lewis. There are few places in the world as beautiful as Montana and it was a blast to film and work there, and use images that reflect that amazing landscape. The following is a key print piece we designed for their campaign. Click on it to go to full page view and flip through the pages.

Open publication - Free publishing - More big

What can we do for your church?

Big Picture Media Announces New Film Project

Excited to announce that for the last several months we've been in pre-production on an upcoming film tentatively titled 'Running'. This project is being produced by Vanable Moody and the team at The Worship Center Christian Church (TWC) here in Birmingham. I am writing, directing and exec producing the project.

Every year TWC does an unbelievable new year's eve service and this year will be the biggest yet. Their vision is to do something radically different this year, so instead of their typical services, we are producing this film which will debut that night. Between all their campuses and multiple services there will be an audience of somewhere between 8-10,000. Then throughout the month of January TWC will host a series of messages based on the film, using pieces of it each week for illustration purposes, etc....

It's a very innovative and exciting project ans we're thrilled to be a part of it. Principal photography will be in November and December here in Birmingham and in Negril, Jamaica. Then the real race to finish the film in just a few weeks will begin :) Stay tuned for more info over the coming weeks.

Still More Stuff We've Been Working On

This first video is a message bumper we created for First Hattiesburg entitled 'Call Of Duty'. This one was a lot of fun to do. We essentially took bits and pieces from some of the Call Of Duty game trailers, mixed them with new music and sound fx to create this piece. The church also went all out decorating it's enormous atrium with military sets and even had Humvees and other military vehicles out in the parking lot. Great series that they are in the middle of right now.

This second piece was an introductory worship element for a beautiful 'Watchnight' service on new year's eve at the end of 2010. As usual, The Worship Center knocked it out of the park.

More Stuff We've Been Working On

Here are a couple of fun little vids we did just this past week. The first is promoting a new custom app for The Worship Center Christian Church. We wanted to take something familiar and tweak it. Reaction among the congregation has been off the chart.

For the new school year that kicked off in fall of 2011 First Hattiesburg asked us to create an opening sequence for their kids live stage show each week, in the vein of something you might see on Nickelodeon, highlighting all the characters, etc... We knocked this out from shooting to editing in about 4 hours. Nothing fancy, just a straight forward, uptempo, fun little piece to get the kids excited.

What could we do for your church/organization?