Having joined Scripture Use Media in October 2012, I was asked by the
Rosensteels to come to their village for three weeks to dub the Luke
Video Series. The Luke Video series is a 15 episode project, but the
Rosensteels also wanted a Summation (which is like an altar call at the
end) and an audio version. This meant extra recording. Having never
done any recording before, it was a very large project to undertake and
I was advised that it may not be the best first project for me.
A typical recording trip would be under two weeks, but Gary and I
negotiated to three weeks, which would be a long time away from family
for me. Still we felt that it gave us the best chance at producing a
quality product, by not being rushed.
So, in preparing for this trip, I was looking at several concerns:
- I had never done a recording before, would I be capable?
- Three weeks in a village is a long time for someone who had done the
short POC, it was nearly three times longer than any other time I had spent
- Three weeks away from family would be hard
- What would my sleeping environment be like?
- Would I get sick? The last time I was in the village I became so
badly ill, I couldn't complete the job I went to do.
All of these concerns were on my mind, but I also knew that it would be
a good encouragement for the Rosensteels and their 26 year ministry thus
far. I also was looking forward to the challenge. Before I left I was
convinced that this would be emotionally, physically, and technically
the biggest challenge of my life.
But it wasn't.
God went before me and smoothed things out. I was asked by Gary 'on the
first day do you want to rest and relax and get used to the place?' and
I replied "no, let's get to work as soon as we can". I needed to know
all the variables to see how much I would have to adjust, improvise or
overcome.
Quickly I saw the positives. The team of people were enthusiastic and
prepared. Because it was rainy season, Gary and his team had built a
sound recording room with mattresses and bamboo and a latching door!
During recording I found the actors prepared, willing to follow
instruction, and good at reading. The recording team consisted of
myself, one national Ura man who was the coach, and Gary who watched for
grammatical errors. Because we had three people scrutinizing
everything, the chance of a mistake happening was very low.
The equipment had 2 hiccups, both easily overcome. There was a hum
produced on the second day because a rat had chewed through cable. I had
a replacement cable, and proper tools and tape to repair it. This calmed
one of my worries, that being a novice, I might forget a crucial piece
of equipment and not be able to record.
Our main microphone had a power supply that would overheat and turn
itself off. So we took some wire, and tied it to the room fan, and kept
it cool. We lost all of about 15 minutes to this problem over the
period of 10 days!
It was obvious from the beginning that we were on a record setting pace
for recording. So I became worried that possibly we were overlooking
something. At night, I went over the recordings to be sure they were
good, and I heard a beep at the end of each one. It turned out the
timer we were using had a beep, and so I was able to open it up and
using a soldering iron, disconnect the small unit causing the beep.
Because of the way we had the monitors and scripting worked, Gary wanted
to use the laptops to do on the fly fitting and editing, and to avoid
the cost of printing scripts repeatedly. So, he had devised a process
where he would get up, walk to one laptop, scroll down, then walk to his
laptop at his desk, and scroll down, for each part. Having a background
in computers, I created an ad-hoc wireless network between the two
laptops, and then installed and configured desktop sharing so that Gary
no longer had to get up and move around, but instead controlled it all
from one mouse.
During this recording, I reminded myself that even if the Uramet
Bainings never used the Luke video, that the process could be a ministry
as well. So I made it a point to get to know the men I was working
with. They enjoyed it when I tried to learn tok ples. Several times
throughout the recordings they were convinced that I had learned Tok
Ples and would speak to me in it, waiting for me to answer questions I
didn't understand. The reason for this was because in the recording I
was able to add and remove pauses, and change voices to make it fit the
video such that they figured I must be understanding the language. I am
not much of a linguist at all, so the fact that I was so quickly
accepted and interacted with, was a huge answer to prayer for me.
Overall the process went so well, that when I later asked other
recordists 'is this normal? what am I missing?' They told me, 'this is
a miraculously good recording session!'
The team was so energized by how well it went, we decided to spend extra
days going over it afterwards, and making it better, and good enough to
show. For a first time recordist, having a product good enough to SHOW
that quickly is amazing.
I don't say that to toot my own horn. I say that because before I left,
I was wondering if I had the skill to do it. I prayed and had others
pray that it would go well and that I would be capable. In my
experience, God really likes to convince you He's answering prayers,
because the end product was well beyond my capabilities. There were
moments when I didn't do anything to sync the video, and the team would
say 'WELL DONE!' (Mahmurr Mas in Ura). But I knew I hadn't done
anything. The fact that it synced perfectly in those moments, was in my
opinion, a God thing.
The surreal moment for me, came when I was seeing in one field of view,
my laptop recording the voice and the screen representing it
graphically. Next to that was a monitor with a closeup of the actor
playing Jesus on the cross, behind the monitor, was a booth with a
Baining man named Mengseng speaking into the microphone (unaware of what
we were seeing). Behind me, in the reflection of the glass I saw half a
dozen Baining people witnessing this scene, and to my right the two men
who were scrutinizing with me.
"Ready, Go" was the phrase we used to begin each recording. It was the
prompt we gave the actors to begin saying their line. The team would
all have their actions they had to do upon that command. Gary
Rosensteel would hit the start button on the timer. The coach (Lagun or
Penias) would begin reading the line. I would hit the record button and
watch the levels, and the actor would begin speaking their line.
The viewing of the scenes we prepared was received with a somber
attitude. I was unsure if that was good or bad. The Rosensteels told me
it was very hard to know with Baining people because they were not
overly vocal about such things. However later that night one man was
very thankful and very talkative and very impressed, and expressing to
me a lot of gratitude. Later that week, I was honored and given gifts
that gave me an inclination as to the fact they really appreciated the
scenes. Gary told me 'Bainings talk less, but act with significance.'
At the end of the time, I was honored in a ceremony in which I was given
words of thanks, and three gifts of thanks. I was given a decorative
head band made from tree bark. The art upon it was traditional
Baining. The significance of it was deep. The Baining are known for
their fire dance. They make masks and do art work for this dance which
has over time become controversial. There are several people who have
begun following Christ and feel the fire dance is immoral and have
abstained. But, they do not want to lose their tradition. The ones who
enjoy the dance still, reason that they are preserving their tradition.
This headband had the symbolism of a new tradition. They were
preserving their art, in a different form, and giving me a piece of it.
I was given a sling. This was an authentic stone sling, the kind you
twirl and release. I was taught to use it.
And I was given, the most precious gift of the three, an envelop with
money in it. This was the first time in my life a group of PNG people
gave me money. My instinct was to refuse it. I asked council of Gary
who said to keep it, or, if I felt I couldn't to use it to encourage
another ministry, but not to give it back to them as it would shame them.
I didn't understand this gift. I couldn't accept it when I saw it as
them paying me, because I had come to encourage them. This church, this
group of people didn't see it that way. They understood my time cost
money. They understood I was supported by people back home. But more
than that, they wanted to claim ownership of this project. That is a
huge thing.
When Bibles are printed they are often sold at a token price so that the
PNG people buying the Bible will value it. Otherwise, what is to keep
them from seeing the Bible as free cigarette paper? The cost, adds
value. Often times, we see the amount of Bibles purchased in a
location, as a sign of how serious the people are about using the Word.
The gift of money to me, and the amount of money, was a very good sign
that they valued the end product, they wanted ownership of it, and would
use it.
That is my prayer, that this video gets used as a tool. After the gifts
were given I too gave a speech. I gave them words of thanks. And I told
them that we had spent three weeks building a tool. When you make a
tool for the garden, the work isn't over. It becomes time to employ the
tool, a new work now begins. A bigger work now begins. I challenged
them to use the tool and to use it frequently and well.
As is often the case, whenever I venture out and try to do something to
bless others, I am often blessed much more in return.
All of my worries were calmed quickly. So quickly in fact, that they
had to be answers to prayer. I had people praying for me to be flexible
to overcome adversity, to overcome missing my family, to be capable to
do the recording, to not get sick. Every single one of my concerns were
calmed.
There is still work to be done. I am still post-producing the video and
the audio and need that to go well. I have been told often the enemy
makes the final steps the trickiest. I've heard wierd stories of data
loss, and destroyed DVD's.
I am glad to see the Rosensteels encouraged by this project and how
smoothly it went. I'm glad to hear of their plans and their expectation
that this will spark revival.
The point of this project isn't to have a film in Tok Ples. The point
of this project was to see the Words of Christ, the Word of God, change
lives.
I keep hearing 'Ready. Go!' in my head. I keep thinking about how I
wasn't ready, and wasn't sure I wanted to go. But I came to my
community of support and asked for prayer. I committed to doing it, and
with God's help it got done. When something like this happens, people
clap you on the back and say 'you did well!'. But I can honestly say,
knowing my own inexperience and lack of ability, that if God hadn't have
gone before me and smoothed things out like He did, it wouldn't have
gone well at all. I give the praise and the thanks to God.
