by Mariana Da Silva
One of the hardest things for the film crew is balancing looking through the lens of a camera and experiencing God and stopping to appreciate the importance of each location. Yesterday at Mount of Beatitudes I found myself in tears right at the end because it was the moment that I finally stopped in awe of the place that I was in and the beauty of having the sea of Galilee behind us and experiencing what the disciples would have experienced, sitting there, listening to Jesus. I was also a little sad that we were about to leave and I didn't get to experience that earlier.
As an Associate Producer it's harder because I have a million things going through my head - making sure we get all the shots we need, making sure the actors know what we need, making sure the camera and audio are good, and keeping an eye out at the crowds around us. So by the time I can take a breath, we're about to leave, and we aren't going back. It's frustrating but that's mixed with the relief of getting good footage and the happiness I feel with the group working so well together. I would just encourage the film crew to stop and take that moment to reflect - it's probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for us.
The other thing that I struggled with, especially the first day of filming, is with my role as Associate Producer. I had already been struggling with what exactly I was supposed to do on set since training. I had several conversations with our Producer, Seth, about it because we have similar roles. The hardest part is pouring so much into the script and shot lists and handing that over completely to a group of people and trust that they are going to do their job and get the footage we need.
It really is a reflection on my struggle to hand things over to God and allow Him to take control of my life. It's hard because it requires vulnerability and trust. But it's the body of Christ -- you have to have the different parts of the body in order for it to work. I'm used to handling things myself and getting it done, but in a project like this you have to allow people to do their job and it requires this balance of stepping back and stepping in when needed. Having said all that, I'm really happy with the crew that we have and couldn't have picked a better crew to work with.
