After Praying Over Broken Camera, Christian Film Director Shares Miracles of Filming Volition
At TheCall is "when it really hit me, hit my heart that there is a need for just some sort of voice in the arts, in the entertainment world, in defense of these unborn babies."
The RED One has been described as the "Lamborghini" of digital film cameras; shooting in 4k resolution with a dynamic range close to that of traditional cameras, the RED prices at about $25,000, with all the necessary gadgets. And so, when a rented RED One was dropped on the second day of shooting the powerful pro-life short-film Volition, 22-year-old director Tim Morgan, and his younger brother and collaborator, Matthew, thought the game was up.
"At that point we thought we had to throw in the towel, because there was no way we could continue filming that day," Tim Morgan told LifeSiteNews in a recent interview. And with only three days to shoot scenes in three different locations depicting three different historical periods, the film was already on a tight, if not impossible, schedule. It was beginning to look as if Volition was not meant to be after all.
Its circuit boards cracked, the camera refused to start up for ten minutes…at least, not until members of the cast and crew gathered around the camera and prayed over it. At that point it fired up, and the shoot was completed.
Tim says that in the whirlwind of post-production he and his brother completely forgot about the incident—until they sent the camera back to the manufacturer. The manufacturer, he relates, said that "all the circuit boards were cracked and there was no way this camera should have been able to work."
This incident, which the young director posits may be a veritable miracle, is just one of a host of remarkable stories that surround the making of Volition. It is a short film of startling beauty and rare poignancy that cuts to the very heart of the debate over abortion, and the very meaning of what it is to be human. The "thesis" of the film, explains the director, is "that throughout history there's been groups of people that have tried to classify other groups of people as less than human, as sub-human, through scientific means or whatever means possible, so as to rationalize the mistreating and the suppressing of the other group."
Morgan relates, for instance, that for most of his life, while he had always been "pro-life," he had never given much thought to the issue—that is, until last year when he attended the massive prayer rally, "TheCall. That's when it really hit me; hit my heart," he says, "that there is a need for just some sort of voice in the arts, in the entertainment world, in defense of these unborn babies."
According to the young director, there is a great need for Christians to enter into and influence the art world, including the film world. He and his brother hope to be two of those who do exactly that. The Christian community, he says, "has kind of left the art world on the back burner. My vision would be them treating the art world, the film world, with the same sense of urgency as they're treating, for instance, an overseas mission.
"This is an emergency for our culture, to be able to influence our film, our arts, the American pop culture in this way."
To read Tim's amazing epiphany that broke his heart for the abortion issue while he was in Uganda, follow the link provided.
