Film star

Im a film star !  😀

Both Sam and Josh are studying film - Sam at Queens University and Josh at A level.  So in our house if someone needs help with their homework its not just a matter of sitting at the kitchen table with a divtionary or a calculator.  It often involves costumes, learning lines and standing about in the cold for hours on end whilst whichever son fiddles with cameras and lenses and microphones.

Yesterday I was playing the part of a detective who is investigating a murder.  The action takes palce partly at the kitchen table ( easy enough) and partly in a shed up at grandmas farm - freezing cold and absolutely devoid of any mod cons.   Ive done three evenings of filming for Josh and those three evenings will result in about 3 minutes of film at the end of it all.  It is a very time consuming business being a movie star.

Whilst I was standing around in a cold barn last night I reflected upon the incredibly long winded and massivly expensive process which has to be undertaken in order for a full length feature film to be made.  Every scene needs to be shot from different angles.  Lines need to be spoken in various ways.  Lighting and sound and costumes and props need to be set up and arranged and fiddled with until they are just right.  Its a complete palaver.

So that got me wondering why it is that anyone bothers.   Clearly people bother making films because lots of other people want to watch the films and pay good money for the pleasure of so doing.  Why?  What is it about human beings that want to watch other human beings pretending to be people they are not, in situations which are entirely fabricated?   Why do we find make-believe so entertaining?  We could, in theory, watch nothing but documentaires and educational programmes but we dont.  We much prefer to have Bruce Willis performing heroics and Daniel Craig saving the world from baddies in unlikey scenarios with improbable romances and frankly ridiculous outcomes.  ( or perhaps your thing is Leo and Kate in Titanic or  Hugh in 4 weddings...... whatever, it doesnt really matter)

Years ago I remember hearing John Eldredge speak in Edinburgh.  His premise was that God is writing a story and we are in it.  God's story has a begining, middle and end.  It has a hero.  It has peril and danger and threat.  The hero has to overcome adversity in order to rescue the beloved from the clutches of an enemy.  There is a dragon to slay and a kiss to be won.  Because this is the story God has written into the very fabric of the universe we, His creation, are predisposed to recognise stories, tell stories, and enjoy them wherever we see them.  Jesus clearly loved them and used storytelling as a way of getting people engaged, involved, and thinking differently about their world.  Our ability to imagine a scenario, invent a character, envisage a possible outcome seems to go back into the deep recesses of history long before the films studios or the printing press existed.  Our ancestors sat round fires telling stories of their ancestors, passing them on from generation to generation.  We are incredibly creative - made in the image of an incredibly creative God. And we are all waiting for the final act of God's story to unfold.  So in the waiting we write our own endings.  The superhero saves the world.  The things that was lost is found. The enemy is defeated.  The unexpected underdog turns out to be the saviour of the day.  Hidden identities are revealed.  Boy wins girl and everyone lives happily ever after. 

Jesus is our superhero.  We are the lost, Satan is the defeated enemy.  The carpenter from Nazareth turns out to be the saviour, who reveals to us our true identity as sons of God.  He wins His bride and we all live happily ever after.  But this is not a story.  It's a fact.

Spielberg eat your heart out!

( If anyone wants to watch the five minute film Sm made for his GCSE project its here.  Featuring yours truly 😀  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD3ywJPF4wg  )