Monday, October 20, 2008

Mission Update 5: Thought Showers Over Rwanda

The week of September 20th, 2008, I moved into my new office, thanks to David, the British AIM Media Director that had been staying with the OFM team for a while, who kindly gave up the office prematurely since he was leaving at the end of the week. It will be the nicest office I will have for a long time. I have my own room, desk, and window overlooking the compound. For the first time I could say, with all sincerity and honesty, “step into my office”.

I spent the week before Rwanda researching about Rwanda and the college the video was about. We were going there to film a theological college called the Rwandan Institute of Evangelical Theology (RIET) or Faculté de Théologie Evangélique au Rwanda (FATER). The Alliance of Evangelical Churches of Rwanda (AER) created RIET in response to the genocide. We were going to film to raise awareness and support for the college. We brainstormed, or as David informed us the politically correct British term is, “thought shower”, although Andy and I began to call it “mind clouding” instead. David also taught us to always remember Mrs. Potts; a metaphorical elderly British lady who doesn’t understand film technique or care about style but is often the intended audience for many videos. Unfortunately, pleasing Mrs Potts is not a creative or glamorous task, but sometimes a necessary burden nonetheless. We kept her in the back of our minds as we discussed the style and structure of the movie. We weren’t going to do everything to please her, just enough to make her happy.

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