MID-2022 REVIEW OF GOSPEL MOVIES

What’s up, gospel movie lovers all over the world? You’re welcome to this Fantalk article where I discuss the progress made in the drama ministry this year so far, as well as improvements still to come. Without further ado, let’s dive straight into it.

1. INCREASE IN QUANTITY
I think the increase in the turnout of gospel movies in the past few years is now clear for all to see, especially on the YouTube platform. I remember that in 2020, I could barely watch all movies, and in 2021, where I managed to watch almost everything, I couldn’t review them all. This year, I’ve scarcely seen every production, not to talk of reviewing them. These just go to show that gospel drama and film production have come a long way this year.

2. QUALITY FILM SERIES
There has not only been an increase in the number of gospel film series; the quality of story writing and production has also gone up a notch. Opeyemi Akintunde’s series have been very good, Love in Hell was fantastic, and Japa has been a beauty to watch. That’s a big kudos to gospel filmmakers.

3. MORE SPECIALISATIONS
There was a time when the norm was to have one person as the writer, producer and director of a particular movie. While I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that…I mean, if you’re just starting out, that might be inevitable…but it’s a thing of pleasure to now see more attention being given to specialized offices. We’re all differently endowed and we would be certain to get the best of people when we let them function in their areas of strength. Someone may come up with the concept, another with the script, and yet another to direct it. In fact, the video editor might not necessarily be the person that edits for sound design. Take a look at the Games Series, The Bond, Shadow Chase and the upcoming Enoch: different people came up with the story concepts, wrote the scripts and directed the movies. So, specialisations have resulted in better films.

4. MORE COLLABORATIONS
Another phenomenon that has resulted in gospel movies fulfilling their potentials is collaborations, and I’m happy a few more have materialized this year so far. I don’t think I’ve seen a film collaborative effort that didn’t turn out well. Mount Zion particularly has done this to produce the amazing Abejoye Series with Flaming Sword Ministries International, worked with Bethel Campus Fellowship to deliver the outstanding Last Man Standing: Into the Den, and are about to release a big one in the widely-anticipated Enoch in conjunction with Solid Rock Foundation. Where necessary, collaborations are greatly encouraged, and the outcome will definitely be great to behold.

5. BETTER THUMBNAILS
I don’t think I’ve seen a distasteful or blurry poster picture this year at all. This goes to show that more attention is being paid to it. I’ve come across some thumbnails on YouTube, not of gospel movies, that are so appealing that you’d want to see their videos, only to sometimes discover that they’re fakes of what they promised. That highlights how vital thumbnails are in getting gospel movies watched. While some still use a captured image from the movie, I would say, ‘let’s go for gold’ and do proper poster pictures.

6. MORE TRAININGS
There was a time when, to get trained in your areas of calling or interest, you’d have to travel down to the few places where they were organised. Now, there are many trainings, even online, that are geared towards empowering believers for the work, particularly in drama. The Mount Zion Institute of Christian Drama, now an affiliate of Ajayi Crowther University, has a diploma course in Christian Drama, Mount Zion Film Academy has a couple of online courses, P2O Academy has an imminent training, G-Bay Film Productions has an annual Excursion to a Film Village and PREM Film Academy has the Fejosbaba Talent Workshop. All these are valuable opportunities to work towards getting skilled in what God’s called drama ministers to do.

7. STRIDES IN CHANNEL SUBSCRIPTION
It was a great delight to see Fejosbaba TV YouTube channel reach 100,000 subscribers in the first half of this year. It was a testament to the hard work, grace and favour drama ministers get from God, and also highlighted the importance of consistency in whatever we lay our hands on to do. I pray that many more gospel films channels will celebrate such a feat soon.

8. BETTER ORGANISED FILM COMPETITIONS
You could be forgiven for wondering whether there are ‘competitions’ related to gospel films. Somehow, they’re not very popular. Over the years, I’ve filled in for a few gospel scriptwriting competitions that were unfortunately, not very well organised. This year though, I came across the Peculiar Priesthood Productions Scriptwriting Challenge 2022, where we had to come up with a potential script to the sequel of a movie Mended. By God’s grace, I came tops, along with Odusina Abraham and Ogunyemi Oluwatobi. For me, what stood out was the way the organisers conducted the whole process, even holding a winners’ announcement ceremony that was still another avenue to learn more about gospel screenwriting. I hope there will be more like this subsequently from other individuals or organisations who may want to plan contests like this.

So, those are the areas of growth and development that I’ve noticed so far. We’ll now discuss the things I feel still need improvement.

1. BETTER SOUND DESIGN
Music is so important to film production and it is an aspect I desire more attention is given to. It’s an art and I believe that apart from a natural ability for music, it is a skill that further needs to be learnt and honed. Some of the challenges I’ve seen in our gospel movies include using a single original soundtrack throughout the movie, which has a way of giving the film a single mood and tone, thereby causing drabness. Some do better by using the instrumentals during the movie and the full track only at the end, but even such instrumentals should only be used where it serves the story. Background music comes into play here but even the right type has to be applied depending on the atmosphere in scenes. Furthermore, sound should not cut abruptly between scenes. The ‘coolest’ level in my opinion, is being able to use both OSTs and copyright songs, though this might involve some paperwork, I’m not sure. As we strive to make our productions better, the icing on the cake would be for the song details to be included in the end credits, as found in technically standard movies. 

2. CONSISTENT RELEASE TIMES
This relates particularly to gospel series. You watch an episode that ends with a cliffhanger, and you have to wait till the following week to see what happens next. It’s when the episodes don’t come at the expected time that some people might say things like: ‘When all the episodes are released, then I’ll watch the series’. That means that the audience is mindful of our productions and we need to try as much as possible not to disappoint them. If unforeseen circumstances pose challenges, the producers need to communicate with the audience promptly in order to manage expectations.

3. A JOINT YOUTUBE CHANNEL?
This is just to echo a suggestion I saw in an open letter online, that perhaps, there could be a single YouTube channel on a large scale where people can watch gospel movies from different ministries. I think it’s an idea worth considering, especially if it’s a conglomeration of ‘smaller’ ministries. Importantly though, there would need to be proper planning, sufficient understanding and detailed agreement among whatever parties would be involved. 

4. BETTER ORGANISATIONS FOR COMPETITIONS
As I hinted at earlier, a good number of the gospel movie contests I’d been involved in were crippled by poor organization. Going forward, I would say that having a timeline for each stage of the competition is a good place to start. Also, constant updates on social media handles would go a long way in cementing the viability of such competitions.

So, that’s my mid-2022 review of gospel movies. How about you: what progress or improvements have you noticed this year so far? What things still need to be worked on? Please, share them with me in the comments section below. Thank you very much.

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Till the next article, stay blessed!