Lights, Camera and the Prodigal Son
by Kedra Larsen
In November 2008, LBT missionaries Dan and Kay Finley and I traveled to Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was the first time in Africa for the Finleys, and I enjoyed showing them around. Our primary goal was to work on a video project with the Bible Society.
You know what they say about the best laid plans... During my previous visit in May, plans were made for the projects to be completed in November. Due to illness and other commitments, the individuals I worked with at that time were not able to have the proposed scripts and children's dramas ready to record. As a result, the video project we ended up doing turned out to be quite different from what was originally planned.
After the Finleys and I arrived, the Bible Society worked with two churches to put together two dramas. The first was the story of Ananias and Sapphira (from Acts 5). This was done as a staged drama with primary school children. They did a great job, but unfortunately, the only time they had for recording was during one evening and the lighting was poor. However, it was a learning experience for all, and they now have a better idea of what it takes to put together a drama such as this and the requirements for filming it.
Then, by the end of our second week in Sierra Leone, we had filmed a movie!
This second drama is a short movie based on the Prodigal Son parable from Luke 15. I say "movie" because we worked with young adult actors and shot scenes for the video at three different locations. In Krio the story is called "The Wayward Boy". Below is a synopsis of the storyline as portrayed within a modern Freetown, Sierra Leone context. Each scene is introduced by a narrator reading directly from Luke 15. At the end a Krio song based on John 3:16 is played and the words are scrolled on the screen.
The father owns a general merchandise shop. The son works for his father but is unhappy. He wants his inheritance in order to go off with his friends and enjoy life.
We filmed this scene from a crowded second floor balcony in downtown Freetown. Dan held the camera standing right against the balcony rail and Kay used the fabric light reflector we brought to reflect the sunlight and brighten up the actors' faces. It was a very noisy street, but I was able to place the audio recorder close enough to the actors to eliminate the background noise.
After receiving his inheritance, the son enjoys the high life and lavishly spends the money with his friends.
We filmed this scene at a restaurant. Yes, it was a real chicken dinner. We had to wait for the chicken to cook before we could begin filming. The scene is 8 minutes long – much too long for western audiences, but in West Africa they like to see the whole scene play out as it would in real life.
Eventually, the son completely runs out of money and begs for a job scrubbing pots and pans for a restaurant. He realizes the error of his ways and heads home where his father warmly receives him. We were anxious to film this last scene before it got dark. We used a street that we thought would not be too busy to show the son come hobbling up the road while the father runs down to meet him. We had to work around several vehicles, motorbikes, and pedestrians who got in the way. It made for an interesting time during editing.
The Bible Society plans to use the video as an evangelism tool. They will have the completed project early next year and we will continue to dialogue with them as they distribute and use it. They will also likely market it and sell it in their office store. We may help them produce more Bible story videos and similar materials in the future.
Thank you for supporting LBT to make projects such as this possible for the people of Sierra Leone. It is a blessing to help people interact with the Scriptures in their heart language and to create a tool they can use to share the message of God's love with a wide Krio speaking audience.
Kedra Larsen serves as LBT's ethnomusicologist. Dan and Kay Finley are East Coast Regional Representatives for LBT. They also assist LBT missionaries and national co-workers with vernacular media projects.
bit.ly
