By Jon Jeffery, UBS Planning
and Research Officer

MIAMI, USA — Bible Societies throughout the UBS fellowship are increasingly realising the importance of using film and video to engage people with the Scriptures. This is important if we are to reach not only the 1.8 billion people in the world who cannot read but the countless others who can – but increasingly choose not to.

As part of a research project looking at the way Bible Societies use non-print media to tell Bible stories, I have been impressed by many of the products now being produced. Two in particular stand out and they both tell the same story: that of David. It is, of course, a story which lends itself to animation using video and it is also a ‘good story’ that appeals to the young in particular.

Animated format

The first example is the video entitled Heroes of the Faith – David, which has been produced – initially in Spanish – by the UBS Americas Region, and then there is David the Brave, produced by the Indonesian Bible Society in both the English language and in Indonesian (see World Report 359). Both these productions are in animated format and they have much in common.

Each is of sufficient quality to enable it to compete with similar, purely commercial products. In Indonesia the Bible Society worked with a video film company who saw the work as a form of ‘tithe’ – the company concerned being Christian-owned.

Disney techniques

The video of David in the Heroes of the Faith series produced in the Americas region can teach us much about the successful use of video and much, too, about launching and marketing this sort of product. Loida Ortiz, who was the UBS Media Consultant for the Americas at the time of the production (she has since become the Publishing Coordinator) realised that a product like this has to compete with the best that Hollywood can produce. With this in mind she recruited the voluntary support of an executive from the Disney Corporation to help in the product design and launch!

The video itself borrows many of the techniques that go to make Disney’s animated films so successful, including having David’s harp as the comic narrator of the story. (Despite the use of this device, however, the story which the harp tells remains very true to the biblical text.)

Not cheap

Costing some US$160,000 altogether, the production did not come cheap, but to put that sum in perspective, the Spanish-language version will be used by no fewer than 20 Spanish-speaking Bible Societies, costing about US$8,000 per Society. The fact that it is an animation, of course, means it will be relatively easy to dub it in English and many indigenous languages as well. Perhaps an important lesson to learn from this is that high-quality video is probably best produced on a regional basis or with a number of Bible Societies working together.

The launch of Heroes of the Faith – David was spectacular. A pack was put together for a major commercial product fair. It was designed to appeal to young people (who were the video’s target audience) but also to the adults who will probably be the purchasers of the product on their behalf, for churches and youth groups and for distributors – including TV companies.

During the launch, ‘tie-in’ products such as stickers, posters and pencils were given away and there was a special ‘blow-up’ Goliath whom children were invited to try to hit with a ‘sling shot’. If they succeeded in hitting him they were given a prize. This proved a roaring success!

Moreover, the video itself was packaged in a stylish and commercially-appealing way.

Following the initial launch at the product fair, Bible Societies all over Latin America held a series of launches of their own to which churches, youth groups and other organisations were invited.