Who is God? Creative Brief
Intro
This document represents an approach to content and three creative styles to accomplish your goals. The briefs work to inspire thought and further questions among viewers. The general theme we are hoping to address is “Who is God?” defining for many viewers the aspects of God that may not get so much attention in modern media.Content Approach
Thinking about how to best grab the attention of our audience, we would like to begin these videos by drawing into question some of the preconceived notions our viewing audience may have about God. To do this, we would start each video in the eventual series by stating what God Is Not.For example, if the video theme were God is for Everyone, then we might start off by saying, “God is not republican, nor is he democrat. God’s not American or Israeli or Palestinian. He’s not white or black. Etc.”
Then, we would transition, using the method of our great teacher Jesus, toward posing questions for our audience. The key turning phrase here would be God is More. For example, “What if God is more than the box you’ve created? What if God is present and loves you no matter what color or sex or denomination or orientation or diet or wealth or health or stance on gun control or whether or not you think you’ve got it all figured out? Would you want to know that God?”
And then to wrap, we would end each video with the sample simple question, alluding back to His Exodus name I AM, but in the third-person.
“What if God is?” #WhatIfGodIs
The hashtag happens to be open and clear at the moment, so there’s some legs on creating shareability with this series.
*Also, please note the writing above is really just an example. It might be a good start but does not represent a proposed script.
Style 1: Motion Graphics
Duration: 60 secondsDriven my emotive music, VO, kinetic type and iconography, we’ll take a motion graphic approach. The writing and voiceover style would be informal, street-smart and conversational.
I have a bunch of reference points to help you understand my angle on this medium. None are perfect, but all point toward elements that working together would make up our vision for the video.
Curiosity. This one’s a good thinker. It’s a little more “handmade” in that it’s lacking music and the VO has a “found audio” sound, perhaps borrowed from a presentation or speech. We would recommend a more finished sound, but we like the way the elements come together here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
10 Commandments. One of my favorites of the “kinetic typography” genre, this motion graphic shows the power of written word and music alone. The style is great, though I think a slightly increased pace and voiceover would help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Is God Good? I’ve included this one because of content. Shows the strength of the medium to explore a lofty concept, though I think it could be shorter and have a lot more personality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Style 2: Talent & Spoken Word
Another approach to our content would be to feature on-screen talent, who charismatically leads us through the script. We would employ various graphics and text to support the key points. We could keep the same talent for a whole series or change it up each time to feature a diversity of delivery styles depending on the content. Here’s a few examples on that style.Gospel in 4 minutes. I love this one. It’s all spoken word with some GFX and stylistic approaches that help break it up visually. Really love the cadence of the delivery, which makes for high impact in a short period of time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus. (live action) A little more controversial from the content standpoint, this live action piece probably has a little more edge than I would envision from our VO script, but I include it because it certainly got 33 million people to think. I like the attitude.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Style 3: Image and Word
Very similar to Style 2, this approach would also drive through voiceover and on-screen text, but instead of a talent, we would provide a backdrop of cinematic footage only, likely a mix of produced footage and supporting stock if necessary to tell the story as outlined by the script.Some examples:
Ballet Some really nice and balanced integration of text within footage around a common theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
UIC Pharma - From a content standpoint, not at all what we’re suggesting, but really wanted to include as a style reference. Great subtle use of tracked-text within various scenes.
https://vimeo.com/channels/287
Starting Points
For the pilot video of the Who is God series, there are nearly infinite starting points, but here are a few that would make for a good story.Theme: God is Kind.
Opening Idea: God is not the source of your pain.
Turning Point. What if God wants you to succeed? What if He works through pain to bring life?
What if God Is?
Theme: God is for Everyone
Opening Idea: God is not a republican, nor a democrat.
Turning Point. What if God is more than the box you keep him in?
What if God is?
Theme: God is Love
Opening Idea: God does not hate you.
Turning Point. What if God is more than the condemnation of a street corner preacher? What if He was a friend that died for you?
What if God Is?
Theme: God is Forgiving.
Opening Idea: God is not a heavy weight carried by a guilty conscience.
Turning Point. What if God could lift your shame away?
What if God Is?