Where's The Ending?

Here at FortyOneTwenty we create some of our mini-movies with open endings. That means there is no solid ending in terms of answering questions or concepts that are brought up throughout the video. Lately we have seen some comments on how not answering the tough questions brought up in our video "Anything But Silent" could be harmful to the viewers. Assuming that they watch this on their own...maybe. Now, of coarse we don't want that to happen, but we made some of our media this way for a reason. We believe it's the Pastor's job to get up every Sunday and help his congregation work through tough ideas and questions. We just want to help raise those questions and thoughts in a cool way.

Here are my questions for you:

Do you think you or your pastor would be deterred from using an open ended video?

Should church media help raise these questions and issues, or should we all just keep making Mother's Day type videos that make everyone feel warm and comfortable?

I'd love to hear what you think...

Happy Thanksgiving

All of us here at FortyOneTwenty wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much. Just try to remember how you felt last year after the big meal...you wouldn't do that to yourself again would you? Enjoy the time off too. My family and I are headed to Vegas for this Thanksgiving holiday. Why, you say? Because they've never seen it, and it's at least worth seeing.

We are working hard to bring you great Christmas media. Hopefully we will have everything available on the site by the end of next week.

Almost Top 10?

If you don't subscribe to Collide Magazine...you're missing out. It offers some great insights into media and technology used in the church. Recently in their second issue, we were named one of the 5 up and coming producers to keep an eye on! It's a small little caption at the bottom of an article entitled : The Top Producers of Church Media. So...we didn't make that top 10 list, but I don't think we should. There are some producers out there that have been doing this long before we started. They deserve to be at the top. It's just nice to even be mentioned. So CHECK IT OUT. (Thanks to Greg Atkinson of churchvideoideas.com for writing that article and giving us a little props).

Facebook Group

Facebook is the latest and coolest time waster on the internet these days. Millions use it to keep up with friends and even join different groups that have the same interests. With that said...we just made our own group!! If you can somehow contain your excitement, please take the time to join our group. If you're already registered CLICK HERE to login and go directly to our page.

If that's not enough, tell others about FortyOneTwenty. We need all the help we can get.

PC or Mac?

Greg Atkinson recently wrote an article asking what platform churches use to produce and display media. You can check out his article HERE.

As a producer of church media, this question really interests me. Here at FortyOneTwenty we really want to make sure to offer as much as possible to help better equip you. What platform do you use to present media? Do you like using mpeg 1 videos in your presentations? Would you like us to offer a Quicktime and Windows Media version as well?

We wrestled with this for quite a while before launching the site, but came to the conclusion that most churches out there were happy using mpeg 1 for their video content. It works on both platforms and offers a high quality result. Please let us know your thoughts or comments, you can either leave a comment here or email us at support@fortyonetwenty.com

Make it Free?

There has been a lot of talk lately in the ministry world about the cost of church media. Some think we should give it away (desiringgod.org), others just think the price is too high (eleven72.com). I want to know what you think. Those of you who purchase media from us and other producers. Do you think the ministry world would be better off if we just gave it away? Should we reduce the price? Let me put in my 2 cents...

Note: There are a lot of media pastors out there that create some fantastic media, but I can't speak for them. I do believe I can talk on behalf of producers of church media not on staff at a church.

I strongly believe that the quality of media has risen in the church world due to the growing amount of producers now. We work very hard to create high quality content for ministries all around the world. I know for a fact that many of us could not put out this content if the prices were reduced, and if we gave it away you would be hard pressed to find a lot of new media coming out. What many don't understand is that we only see a percentage of our sales. Many of our distributors pay us royalties off our sales, that means we have to sell almost twice as much to see a decent return. Sometimes we have to make decisions on whether we need to advertise the business or get payed ourselves!

I don't want you to think that it's all about the money, it isn't. We are called to do this...but a pastor of a church is called to preach the gospel, and there doesn't seem to be any talk about reducing their pay. That's because in most cases it's unthinkable! They are proclaiming God's truth and they should be payed for the work they do.

Do you think church media producers are proclaiming God's truth through media?

I would love to hear what you think. Post a comment or send us an email at support@fortyonetwenty.com