http://www.vitalvisuals.com/index.htmlHot News!ensteve@vitalvisuals.comCopyright 2008 Vital Visuals, Inc.2008-09-28T21:15:20-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:47:03 -0400steve@vitalvisuals.comScreenings2008-09-28T21:15:20-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/068c00711abfbf82987948ab0f47acd6-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/068c00711abfbf82987948ab0f47acd6-9.html#unique-entry-id-9We’re proud to announce that “Elisabeth of Berlin” will premiere in these cities, where the life of Elisabeth Schmitz unfolded, during the first week of November, 2008:

Berlin
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Hanau am Main
Alte Johanneskirche
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Wandlitz
Wandlitzer Kulturhaus
Thursday, November 6, 2008

]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comIn Production2008-07-31T16:52:42-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/116d88971012c50253f1d38e8042719a-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/116d88971012c50253f1d38e8042719a-8.html#unique-entry-id-8
I’m excited about this one. The early comments seem to suggest that this might be our best work yet. Stay tuned...
]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comIn Production2008-07-25T06:56:43-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/103ea94e0ae75131c0cf4d5826125196-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/103ea94e0ae75131c0cf4d5826125196-7.html#unique-entry-id-7
Over the next few days the program will be completed. Matt Shafer-Powell, narrator of “Hearts Divided,” will record the narration for this program on Tuesday. During the week the audio will be mixed, sound effects dubbed, and music will be mixed. Then comes a color correction pass. While this is going on we will be closed-captioning the program, and once all these steps have been taken, the master will be made and sent to our distributor. It sounds like a lot of work, but it is manageable in the amount of time we have.

I look forward to sharing this very important film with you. ]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comIn Production2008-07-13T07:21:57-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/0dd9fd34503bb7a68502c500629dbd9a-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/0dd9fd34503bb7a68502c500629dbd9a-6.html#unique-entry-id-6
One very pleasing aspect of the past few weeks’ work is that I was able to assemble a segment that I was afraid would not work. In the earliest discussions about the content of the film, Manfred Gailus and I felt the need to work in the conflict between Karl Barth and Adolf Von Harnack in the 1920s. It’s a key piece, since Elisabeth Schmitz bridges them, being a student of both. But how to do this for an American audience? Theological debates rarely make good TV. But Harnack so totally lost the debate that history doesn’t take him too seriously. Barth clearly won the day.

Well, the viewers will be the judge, but I was able to put together seven minutes of Elisabeth Schmitz’s early formation that includes her sitting at the feet of both Harnack and Barth while never renouncing the thought of either one. It fits nicely into the film as an introduction to Act III, where we will go to Kristallnacht and experience her response to it and her years of sheltering Jews before she left Berlin for Hanau in 1943.

Stay tuned!]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comNew Products2008-06-24T13:34:22-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/510f830111960837f4a1519570ebc6e7-5.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/510f830111960837f4a1519570ebc6e7-5.html#unique-entry-id-5
Reasons? Frankly, “Storm Troopers” was scaring people. It’s a good film, but sales haven’t been strong. There must be a good reason for that.

It seems like everywhere I’ve had to explain the title or apologize for it. That should have been a sign long ago. But since the program has not yet been released to public television, there was still time to make modifications, including the name. So.]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comNew Products2008-06-20T15:12:57-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/7ef901e46499e8559e9e690433e1525f-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/7ef901e46499e8559e9e690433e1525f-4.html#unique-entry-id-4steve@vitalvisuals.comCommentary2008-06-20T14:54:51-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/0ca56af921de7a6efbc9f789d59bbacd-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/0ca56af921de7a6efbc9f789d59bbacd-3.html#unique-entry-id-3
I heard from a neighbor who is a longtime member of this church today. He told me how someone came to the church council and asked that a “huge, I mean really huge” American flag be hung on the wall in the Family Life Center. He said a hearty debate took place in the council, and that finally the council voted to NOT allow the flag to be hung in such a manner. Wow.

He told me that he referenced our study of “Theologians Under Hitler” in the discussion. I told him that when I completed the film three years ago I had one modest goal: if the film caused one single person to think twice about the place of the flag in a church sanctuary, then I had done my job. The news he brought me, then, fulfilled this wish!

There’s nothing wrong with the American flag. I fly it proudly at my home on certain occasions. But my neighbor is right: the flag can be confusing when flown too prominently in church. It takes a great deal of theological clarity for a church council in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home of the Little Boy and Fat Man bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to deny someone’s wish to hang a large flag on the wall. It’s a step in the right direction, one the church should be proud of. I have found this church to be healthy, hospitable, and truly loving. Now I can add one more reason to join this congregation, Kern Memorial United Methodist Church.]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comIn Production2008-06-16T05:59:11-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/2ecdea00b1a739233cee96a3e56d7fe9-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/2ecdea00b1a739233cee96a3e56d7fe9-2.html#unique-entry-id-2
With luck I believe it’s possible to get the rough cut ready over the next two weeks. I can then take a break from the program during the first week of July (when I will be taking a vacation with my family) and then come back to give the program the finishing touches through July.

It’s coming into focus! There’s no question that this will be a powerful film, and I am always my own worst critic.]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comIn Production2008-06-07T13:49:14-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/2fcac5740b87be26f09fbbfb38ea172b-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/2fcac5740b87be26f09fbbfb38ea172b-1.html#unique-entry-id-1
So, today the critical issue is: time. I have to be out of town tomorrow through Wednesday. I’ll bring my laptop and external hard drive with me, and therefore get some work done in the hotel room. Sometimes this is very productive time. But the big problem is a certain loss of momentum. When the scenery changes around me, I lose track of where I am in the formation of the story. Ideas are harder to come by. And this is likely to repeat at several points this summer.

As far as editing goes, I have completed about eighteen minutes of the program. It starts off strong, then goes into a more relaxed section necessary to develop the tension points and the characters. I am now trying to construct a transition that moves us into the next important section of the film: the story of Elisabeth Schmitz’s “denkschrift,” or memorandum, that she wrote to the Confessing Church leadership in Berlin in 1935-6. This is one of three crucial turning points in the story, the other two being her resignation from her teaching position after Kristallnacht, and her letters to Helmut Gollwitzer at the same time.

We’ll see how this goes.
+Steve]]>steve@vitalvisuals.comDiscussion2008-06-07T07:44:57-04:00http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/3ea6dd4f8e971ae6abc1fdb8c99caed5-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.vitalvisuals.com/page2/files/3ea6dd4f8e971ae6abc1fdb8c99caed5-0.html#unique-entry-id-0
Well, once again I have decided to take on the dreaded task of redesigning the Vital Visuals web site. This site will have more video clips, more commentary, and more news about our current productions and programs. Now there’s a reason for checking back frequently!]]>