Yesterday was the last session we had to make final edits to the group movie. After making sure each participant had the clips they wanted in their respective sections, or chapters, I cleaned up the edit (and in some cases, added extra footage) to each section in Final Cut before showing it again yesterday. A few people made some requests to add specific clips, and we discussed the format of credits, and then we had fun with the camera.

We decided to incorporate video into the credits, and shot a few “outros” of the editing team talking about themselves and the project. I will add these in, make many DVD copies of the final film for all participants, and then upload the final video here so families can see it before the congregational screening at the church on December 5.

Not only am I impressed with the quality of video content produced by this group, but I’m also impressed by their commitment (2-3 hours of video training AFTER a 3+ hour church service every other week!) and their artistic expression. We passed the digital camera around yesterday and let everyone photograph one another. This group can do more than video production! Now I hope to find a way to let participants continue editing their own footage — either from home, on available software (often Windows Movie Maker) — or in another context, or online. Hopefully I will be working to build a platform that will host and organize mobile video content based on tags and filters, but I’ll keep you posted.