Ukraine Project: Salt & Light

As many of you know I went to Ukraine this summer for three weeks, interviewing pastors and documenting their stories about growing up under the Soviet Union up through their current ministry. For more information about the trip you can read my earlier blog post here and here is a link to see pictures of the trip.

The past few months I've been busy editing and putting the stories together. This is the process I've been using:
1) Match the translation to the correct interview clips. Often I had the translator do two takes for each interview clip (and there are 5-7 clips that are 3-5min each) so I have to decide which parts are better and match it sound like all one clip.
2) Cut the translation down and down to around 13 minutes for each pastor, so that the story doesn't drag but still includes needed information.
3) Cut out all the "ums" and stammers and stutters from the translation and still make it sound natural and smooth
4) Make sure the actual visual part of the interview (handmotion, face expressions) matches what is being said by the translation
5) Start adding b-roll, and pictures that enhance and/or demonstrate what the pastor is talking about. I have footage I shot with each pastor of them at their church, Bible studies and just following them around for the day (approx. 30-45min), and then I also have over 3 hours of what I call "Ukraine B-roll" of misc. life, society and culture that I captured while traveling around.
6) Next I start adding music.
7) After a video is approved, I work on finalizing the audio and do the color correction.
Here's a screen shot I took the other day, you can click it to view a larger version.
The little sliver of a window in the very top left has the full list of video clips, music and other elements that I am using for the project. Next to it is the video window where I can add filters and customize the length of clips I want to use. (Each timeline is where I drag the clips I want to use and arrange them, fix audio, and actually do the editing.) The other three video windows are showing me clips from each of the three timelines down below. The beer bottle correlates with the top timeline of "Ukraine B-Roll," the church clip is from the middle timeline of "Pastor's B-Roll," and the clip of the interview is from the very bottom timeline where I am putting it all together!

I don't usually have that many windows open when I am editing, but for this project it helps save time from clicking back and forth when I'm trying to look through that much footage.
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Ukraine Pictures

I know that many of you have already seen the pictures from my trip to Ukraine, but just in case you haven't, you can view all the pictures here!

Ukraine: Georgia Team

This is video highlight of the team from Georgia and some of the work they did in Ukraine. I wasn't with them very much, but at least its something. You can see the HD version on Vimeo.

In Ukraine

Just letting everyone know that I finally made it here and that everything is going well! Keep praying for me :) I sent my family an email with an update so be checking the FB group link!

UKRAINE July 30 - August 25

WHY I'M GOING:
Gospelink is a missions organization dedicated to advancing the gospel through national preachers. "Gospelink was established for the purpose of advancing the gospel throughout the world. It is our belief that this objective can be best accomplished by assisting national preachers who are actively involved in church planting and discipleship. Through prayer and financial assistance national preachers are empowered, their evangelistic outreach is enhanced, and their church planting efforts are accelerated."

WHAT I'LL BE DOING:
This organization is sending me to Ukraine to interview 5-7 national pastors and then film re-enacted dramatizations of their lives/stories/testimonies.

(Docudrama: A docudrama is a dramatization of actual historical events.)

WHO'S GOING WITH ME:
I'm flying over there and staying with a youth group from a church in Georgia who is going over to do some evangelistic missions work. I won't be working with them during the day, but as I understand it, I'll be staying at the same place with them at night. It's supposed to work out so that a couple of people from the team will be helping me with video work instead of the preaching meetings.

WHERE I'M GOING:
- July 30 - I fly from OKC to GA to meet up with the team. We then fly from GA to Paris, and from Paris to Kiev. The team will be in Ukraine for about 3 weeks and then they are scheduled to come back a week before I do.
- I'm not sure where all I'm going while I'm in Ukraine...stay tuned to find out!
- August 25 - I fly from Kiev to New York, from NY to GA, from GA to OKC.

HOW I'LL BE DOING IT:
I'll be shooting in High Definition on the Panasonic HMC-150 which is a tape-less work flow, and requires hard drives and a computer to store the footage. I also have a 4 piece lighting kit that I am taking with me, so I hope it survives the airline travel and functions well while I'm in Ukraine.

THINGS TO PRAY FOR:
1) That I will be humble and reliant on God's strength to accomplish this task. 1 Thess. 5:24 "Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it."
2) The people who help me will have had some video experience and maybe even know how to use a Mac and even Final Cut Pro! (this would be a huge help to smoothing out the shooting workflow)
3) Protection for the group and equipment as we travel, and that we make all the connections!
4) That despite the language barrier God would enable me to capture the heart of each of the pastor's stories. Also, that He would provide the locations and resources to create compelling dramas that compliment each story.
5) For the technical equipment - that the hard drives and computer function well! Also, their electricity is 220v over there, I have all the necessary adapters and such, but it would be really nice for there not to be any major complications!

Thank you all for praying for me while I'm gone!! It really, really means a lot to me :)

Lord willing, I will be able to post pictures and more updates on the Ukraine Facebook group page as the trip progresses - please consider bookmarking the link and check back often!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112477526810&ref=mf