We'd Better Get Better

Posted on Apr 16, 2011 at 11:18 PM Today I happened across a couple music videos that have been popular as of late. Of course, in the style of many of today's popular artists, they tended pretty hyper-erotic in a TV “friendly” (and I use the term loosely) sort of way. However, one thing I couldn’t deny was just how stinkin’ well-done it all was. There were reoccurring visual thematic elements, EXCELLENT (I’m talkin’ dollar signs here) special effects, and they really got their points across, whatever they were. Metaphorical images were executed with amazing visual/special effect prowess, many different side stories were presented about different protagonists, some of which were really quite moving, while others were pretty morally skewed. But still –they made their points, and did it in a way that was both super-direct and cleverly subliminal. They preached their sermons in a way that many won’t forget.

This is really what well-done media does, it moves you emotionally and argues its point mentally while dazzling you sonically and visually (that is, until we get smell-o-vision. It's coming, people). As Toby Mac says so well in “Lose My Soul”, “I pray that I’m an artist who rises above the road that is wide and filled with self-love. Everything that I see draws me, though it’s only in You that I can truly see that it’s A FEAST FOR THE EYES, A LOW BLOW TO PURPOSE, and I’m a little kid at three-ring circus.”

SO! Why is it that many Christian artists don’t have this kind of money? Is it because they (or even the whole industry) is afraid of prosperity, or just doesn’t know what it really means? Why do we so many times think that we just made an awesome music video just because we shot our band playing in some parking garage with a few blinky lights and shot it in HD? Why is it that so many times the special effects have CLEARLY not been up to par with Hollywood, but we pretend like they are? And why is it that when Christian artists HAVE tried to give their videos a story, many times the writing has been just as half-baked as the acting and cinematography?


I’ll tell you though, not everyone is this way. I mentioned him before, one guy who seems to be trying to do this thing right is Toby Mac, and there ARE others. I think he realizes something; it’s not just a show, but it is important, so if we don’t always push and pour into making it as awesome, effective, and spectacular as it can be, we may miss somebody. And quite frankly, our stuff is supposed to be the best anyways, and I for one refuse to forget that.