August « 2011 « deviantmonk

August, 2011

Motion: Character

This is a video for rezlife’s 2011-2012 Sunday School curriculum, Character.

This year is a focus on the Old Testament, as related mostly through the people who encapsulate most of its story. Thus, characters like Moses, Abraham, David, Adam and Eve, etc., form the nucleus of the curriculum’s content. Of course, the title Character is multi-faceted, since it not only deals with the characters of the Old Testament but also the character that is evidenced through their lives and the choices they make.

As I was thinking about what to do with this video, I tried to break down the Old Testament into some basic ideas that would reflect both aspects of character. Since there are too many people and stories in the Old Testament to make into a 35 second video, I opted for using some of the stories and essentially abstracting them from their particular contexts to sort of revolve around this one idea that comes at the end: Everything we do matters.

And I think that is one crucial lesson we learn from the Old Testament. It is full of stories of people who, through many different circumstances, come face to face with a choice- to do good or to do evil, to stay or to go, to obey God or to harden their heart, etc. And through these choices many different things are realized, from the fall of humanity to the wandering in the desert to the dividing of a kingdom.

The bottom line is that all these things come about because of the choices we are given every day. While the decisions we make may not seem that grand, it is perhaps in the seeming banality of these day-to-day decisions that we make to follow God or to not follow God that our true character is revealed and developed.

Anyway, those were just some of the thoughts that were going through my head as I was developing this piece.

Enjoy.

Life / Photography — No Comments
28
Aug 11

Photography: rezlife student ministries 2011-2012

For the rezlife student ministries 2011-2012 de3sign collateral I also created some staff photos that went with the rest of the design scheme. I took these all with the Canon T2i and the 50mm 1.4.

Enjoy. Continue reading →

Design — 2 Comments
24
Aug 11

Design: Connection Cards

These are the connection cards for rezlife student ministries 2011-2012.

Ok, they are actually ‘business cards,’ at least in size and shape. But I think ‘connection card’ more adequately describes their intent. Plus it gives me a dramatic two word statement to make into a sentence fragment, the addition of a period giving the sense that it is important.

Look out Rob Bell, I’m gunning for your book sales.

Really.

Enjoy!

Life / Motion — No Comments
24
Aug 11

Motion: Priorities

This video and graphics package is for rezlife’s current teaching series: Priorities.

With this series I knew I wanted to really strip it down, going as simplistic as possible. With a series called “Priorities,” there any number of directions to pursue. I started thinking about what things define us in the modern world, especially younger people, and I was immediately struck by how attached most of us are to our smartphones.

Whether calling (does anyone actually use a smart phone for that?) or texting or surfing the internets, these devices can give you a feeling of dependence on being connected. During the message tonight, Jason Gant talked about how sometimes we even carry them from room to room, and how many of us would rather lose our wallet than our smartphone. Continue reading →

Life / Motion — No Comments
24
Aug 11

Motion: rezlife 2011-2012

Every year for rezlife student ministries I end up creating a entire package of design collateral: a brochure, (this year a booklet) connection cards, signage, screen graphics, etc. Along with that I also make an intro video. This year was especially tricky in that I wasn’t really feeling any ideas for it, even up to the point of making it.

However, crunch time has a way of forcing you to generate ideas, so I finally decided that since the rest of the collateral has a kind of organic, hand-made feel, the video should as well. So I opted for a stop motion.

Stop-motion pieces are fun to make and hopefully fun to watch, but they can be really tedious. Megan and I spent quite a few hours cutting and pasting and cutting some more. Once we started shooting, I basically stood behind the camera and took the shots while she made every movement for the entirety of the video. That’s love.

Enjoy.

Classics / Theology — No Comments
23
Aug 11

Exordium

Since, then, we wish to have our hearer receptive, well-disposed, and attentive, I shall disclose how each state can be brought about. We can have receptive hearers if we briefly summarize the cause and make them attentive; for the receptive hearer is one who is willing to listen attentively. We shall have attentive hearers by promising to discuss important, new, and unusual matters, or such as appertain to the commonwealth, or to the hearers themselves, or to the worship of the immortal gods; by bidding them listen attentively; and by enumerating the points we are going to discuss.¹

I have recently been studying the book Hebrews, and in the midst of my research concerning the opening lines I happened upon a note regarding the rhetorical nature of the prologue, and was made curious enough to dig a little deeper.

In the ancient Roman world, rhetoric stood at the height of education and human endeavor. To be a good public speaker was a necessity for any advancement in civic life, and one’s skills at rhetoric were invaluable in all areas from commerce to politics.

Of course, rhetoric was just as useful, if not more so, in one’s literary production. A Demosthenes could achieve universal renown as an orational prodigy, a Cicero could become well nigh immortal. So influential were the most skilled rhetoricians that their writings would be studied, emulated and treasured for centuries. Some would even be seen as the absolute pinnacle of language.

In such a culture, to write was not simply a casual effort, especially if one is writing with the intent to persuade, exhort or direct. The very words one might use, the order in which they were used; the very way in which the sounds and rhythm flowed from one to another were not meaningless minutiae but rather the substance of how one’s work would be perceived. In many respects, the style of the presentation was paramount, even in comparison to the content or argument conveyed.

As can be seen from the opening quotation, the ancients were as keen to tout the new and the novel as the modern world. We are used to this: New! Never Before Seen! Shocking Discoveries! Mysteries Revealed! Exclusive Interview! Whenever any type of media makes this claim- be it a book, television show, product, etc.- one can see a timeless principle of rhetoric at work: whenever you want to get the audience’s attention, tell them that what they are about to hear or see is new. Continue reading →

Rhetorica Ad Herennium, 1.4.7 ↩

Church Fathers / Paraphrase / Theology — No Comments
20
Aug 11

Essence Beyond Existence

This installment of my paraphrases of the early church fathers comes from St. John of Damascus, also known as St. John Damascene or The Damascene.

John was born in Damascus around AD 676 to Mansur, a Christian who was the chief financial officer of the caliph in Damascus. John’s father wished for him to have an excellent education, and secured the release of a Christian captive named Cosmas who undertook John’s education. John was an eager student, and showed immense capability in many areas, including mathematics, astronomy, theology and music.

Following Mansur’s death, John was appointed the chief councilor of Damascus. During this time, so his biographer relates, some of his enemies forged some documents purporting to have been written by him, offering to help overthrow Damascus, which caused the caliph to order John’s writing hand to be severed. Evidently his hand was miraculously restored, and the caliph became convinced of his innocence. Civic and political life, however, was not his calling in life, and near AD 700 he joined a monastery near Jerusalem. Continue reading →

Design — No Comments
18
Aug 11

Design: Postcards

I had three quick turnaround postcards that I finished up last week. Nothing terribly special, but I still like them.

Enjoy. Continue reading →

Design / Life — No Comments
17
Aug 11

Design: rezlife 2011-2012 booklet

Every fall for the past five years I have designed a promotional/informational flyer for rezlife Student Ministries. Generally we do a 8.5×14 folded flyer, but every year more and more content has had need to be included. The flyer originally consisted of some pictures of the meeting space, (the Student Center) a few quotes from some volunteers and a brief overview of some of the ministries. However, over the last few years as the ministry has grown and expanded any kind of catch-all informational packet has felt more and more incomplete, and as an informational piece really wasn’t accomplishing it’s purpose by trying to cram a lot of info into a small space.

This year they decided on going with a booklet, to better facilitate a sectioning of information as well as making this piece essentially an all-inclusive introduction to the ministry as a whole for someone who may be unfamiliar with its purpose and ministry philosophy, program times, events and summer activities and staff.

This was originally supposed to be 12 pages, but it grew to be about 16 pages when all was said and done. All of the spreads had to be made digitally by hand, so it was certainly not a quick project.

I wanted to have each page have its own feel, yet have an overall cohesiveness. I decide to go with this hand-made organic feel so I could have greater latitude with each individual page while still keeping it all together under an over-arching design aesthetic.

We opted to have it printed through PrintPlace.com, and we were extremely happy with the quality and fast turnaround. These ended up on a semi-glossy paper, which is heavy enough to have a very sturdy feel without feeling bulky. I was surprised at how well they nailed the layout in the booklet form, as some print-on-demand places are hit-or-miss with booklets. If you are ever looking to outsource a booklet, I highly recommend them. One of the best aspects is their service- early in the morning on which we needed to send them the final .PDF I had a few questions about setting it up for them. I was able to quickly connect via an online chat session with one of their print reps who was able to answer my questions. Check them out.

Anyway, I snapped some pics of the whole booklet, although one of the spreads ended up a bit blurry. A thousand pardons.

Enjoy.

Life / Motion — 2 Comments
7
Aug 11

Anatomy of a Messy Office

Photoshop can be extremely unstable. Especially on my computer at work. It has this odd habit of crashing, and then taking about 15 minutes to complete the crashing process before I am able to use it again.

Quite annoying.

On Thursday it happened, and I was not inclined to simply sit patiently and wait, so I had a random idea of making a video.

You see, I am not the most organized person in the world.

Nor do I have what might be called a ‘clutter-free’ workspace.

Thus, I deemed it appropriate to create an impromptu homage to my messiness. I shot this all with my Canon T2i, only making using of the small desk lamp I use to illuminate the office, as well as the ambient light streaming in through the window.

Poignant and possibly profound, I give you, Anatomy of a Messy Office.

Enjoy.