Since the beginning of COLLIDE, we have featured a church media producer in every issue with hopes of inspiring you, the readers. So, we can’t help but feel proud that after reading our spotlight of Floodgate Productions back in the May/June 2008 issue, this issue’s producer spotlight, Centerline New Media, was inspired to launch. We asked co-owners Aaron Holt and Stephen Anderson to share their story and what they’ve learned along the way.
COLLIDE: How did Centerline New Media come about?
Aaron Holt: In October of 2008, my father-in-law gave me an issue of COLLIDE because he knew I was into media and video. That issue had a producer spotlight on Floodgate Productions. Hearing their story was refreshing and inspiring. I’d been working for a video production company and the idea of creating media for the Church seemed exciting and fulfilling, so I called Stephen. We already had been talking about trying our hand at making short films, and creating something for ministry purposes seemed like the perfect job.
Stephen Anderson: I remember the day Aaron called and talked about the idea of forming a church media company. At the time, I had a job that was about the furthest thing from media production that you could imagine. I’d been lost in the business world for about 12 years and was completely miserable, so I was really excited about having a creative outlet and escaping a bit from the world of the bottom line.
Holt: We decided to buy a new computer, software, a camera, and a few other things—whatever our meager budget (and no-interest financing, no payments for a year) would allow.
Anderson: Then, I pretty much gave up television and started watching After Effects tutorials incessantly. I watched them so much and so late into the night that I would literally have dreams about them. After we created some stills, we researched sites to which we could upload them. The first one we sent them to and responded to us was WorshipHouse Media. In December 2008, we uploaded our first round of motions to WorshipHouse.
COLLIDE: Tell us a little about your backgrounds as video producers and graphic artists.
Holt: I’ve always had an interest in film. Not just watching movies, but everything that goes into the actual creation of the movie. But I’d never done anything to pursue it. My wife and I went to school for music and moved to Nashville to pursue that. As the story goes, when we were finally completely broke, we decided we had to move home. I picked up a job with a small video production company. It was mostly weddings, concerts, and local commercials, but it made me want to do more. It was great having access to equipment and software that I could have never afforded at the time.
Anderson: As a kid, one of my friends and I used to spend way too much time making stop-motion animation. We used my dad’s ancient VHS camcorder and did everything manually—pressing the record button on and off as fast as we could in order to record a frame. We didn’t have any kind of software back then. If any project in high school or college required a visual aid, we’d always do some kind of claymation or stop-motion with my old Star Wars or G.I. Joe toys. I’ve also messed around in Photoshop since high school. I’d like to say that I went to school or had some kind of official training for graphic arts, but really I’ve always just dabbled in it.
COLLIDE: Where do you look to find inspiration?
Anderson: Obviously, when it comes to ideas for mini-movies, the Bible is a big one. It’s always nice to read a few different translations because one may cause you to look at something in a new way.
Holt: We both read a lot. There’s a lot of inspiration from other writers. We often read something that can spark an idea. Also, sometimes we’ll see a video from another producer that is unbelievably awesome, and it pushes us to step up our game. Music is always inspiring. Not just the music we choose for the videos, but also music we are listening to at the time.
Anderson: Visually, we’ll often see something in a TV commercial that will spark an idea.
COLLIDE: What has been your favorite project so far to work on? Why?
Anderson: I think we both agree that “What Now” has been our favorite project to work on. We thought it would be interesting to create something geared toward the end of a service—a service ender of sorts. We had just completed “Now is the Time” as a quick, energetic service opener, and we wanted to do something that complemented that.
Holt: It was really something I needed to hear. I’m the worst when it comes to focusing so much on the stresses I face throughout the week that I forget that my life should be an act of constant worship.
COLLIDE: While you have a handful of mini-movies and sermon illustrations, we noticed that you really specialize in motions and backgrounds. Why this approach?
Holt: We started from scratch last October and motion production was already stretching the limits of our capabilities. We were also still both working other full-time jobs. It was never our intention to focus on loops, it just happened. The first movie we ever created was “Love Is,” and we were determined to make something high quality. For a while we thought that we had bitten off more than we could chew, and we spent a really long time on the production.
Anderson: First of all, I am probably the slowest After Effects user in the universe! Also, so much time is spent in coming up with the idea, the script, the overall visual theme, and then the actual motion graphics production. Then there’s rendering, converting, and uploading to various sites. For example, even though “Now is the Time” is only one minute long, from start to finish, it took a couple of weeks to complete.
COLLIDE: Are there any future projects you can tell us about?
Holt: We had a lot of fun filming “Where’s Jesus,” so look for some more live-action mini-movies from us this year.
Anderson: We’re also working on offering After Effects project files on our site in the very near future so that more customization is available for motion backgrounds and title slides.
COLLIDE: What are some words of wisdom you would like to share with churches out there?
Holt: I would encourage them to be very deliberate when choosing media for their services. Sometimes a video can distract more than augment. Don’t feel like just because you have the technology you have to use it every Sunday.
To learn more about Centerline New Media and to see their work, visit www.centerlinenewmedia.com.