“A Visit” - Visio Divina for The First Week of Advent by Zachary Helton

“A Visit” - Visio Divina for The First Week of Advent

Zachary Helton

Completed work

Graphic Designer

Video Editor

Videographer

Canva

Final Cut Pro

YouTube

Overview

In the fall of 2022, I was approached to collaborate with a church to create a series of videos, each under ten minutes, to help the pastoral staff engage their congregation contemplatively throughout the week.

Process

Understanding the church's vision of using art pieces to help the congregation prepare for the upcoming season of Advent, I was able to work with the pastoral staff to craft a series of interview questions to provide an engaging context for their guided meditations to be heard.

From there, I was able to conduct and film the interviews, capture quality audio for the reflections, shoot b-roll from around their building, find appropriate, free music through YouTube Studio, and then use Final Cut Pro to edit it all together into a finished project for their review.

After a few revisions, I was able to upload their video to YouTube, use Canva to create a visually appealing thumbnail, and turn the finished product over to their media team for distribution through social media and email campaigns.

By the end, we produced six videos which were well received and well engaged by the congregation.

Zach made my job so easy! I had the seed of an idea about short videos that would guide people through the spiritual practice ofvisio divina (prayer through the contemplation of art), and he took my small idea and turned it into something accessible, beautiful, and moving. He was easygoing in his guidance and wise in his suggestions. And, above all, he made it fun!

Carol Cavin Dillon Senior Pastor, West End UMC