Production Notes

A Note From The Director

"Keep The Faith" was the first feature-length dramatical movie that my wife and I had ever created. I originally planned the length of the video to be about 1 hour and 40 minutes. The actual length extended to 2 hours and 27 minutes, so as you can see, I slightly miscalculated. I guess this is why directors have the "theatrical version" and "director's cut" of their movie releases.

This movie, being the first, was a learning experience as well as a step in faith trusting that we would be able to create a feature from start to finish. Before "Keep The Faith", I had only directed short skits, not exceeding 5 minutes in length for a college show called "ON CAMPUS". I figured that a feature-length video was simply a collection of skits strung together. I soon found out that there was much more to it than that. During the creation of the movie, we were most definitely led by God for the results to be as they were.

When "Keep The Faith" was produced, I was a 22-year-old college student at Western Michigan University. I found that my calling was to make Christian video specifically focused on reaching the lost for Christ. "Keep The Faith" was our first attempt at doing so, and let me tell you, it is a true joy to serve the Lord. Armed with only a $600 VHS camcorder and tripod, we were on our way. During the creation of the movie, I quickly realized that the witness of making the video was actually more important than the video itself.

-David M. Evans

The Production

Since the idea for "Keep The Faith" came to me in a dream, and at the time I was reading a lot of books, I decided to write the story in book form first. It was fun to do. I'm not much of a writer, especially anything that extends over 10 pages, but with God's help, I managed to finish it. I took a month transcribing it into a director's script making it ready for production. A good friend, and co-worker Jeannene, who would later become my wife helped me with the typing of the script and we were ready to go.

We were only able to work with the equipment that we had at the time, which was a standard VHS camcorder and tripod. No lights, no external microphone and virtually no budget. Basically, just the equipment that a family would use to shoot their home movies. We spent about $100 on this entire project. We had to improvise with existing lights and the actors had to speak a little lounder than normal so that the microphone would register loud enough. This was difficult because we had no way of monitoring the level of audio or controlling much of the light that we had to deal with. Improvisation was the name of the game.

It took us 3 1/2 quick months to shoot the video. Good college friends and others from my campus Christian group served as the actors for the video. Their dedication of time and energy was something that will never be forgotten. The locations at which we wanted to shoot were easily acquired, and the video and audio turned out relatively well. God did surely provide.

Editing the video was also a blessing. Since I worked at the campus production house, I was able to use the facilities during the late evening and early mornings. We were able to complete the entire process in less than a year from conception to completion. That in itself is a blessing.

During the creation of the movie, the lead actor's girlfriend passed away. Consequently, the production of the movie and the revelation of the character he played, in a way, mirrored his emotional condition from the lose of someone close. This parellel touched him deeply, spiritually and emotionally. His life, as well as a few others were changed due to the Christian focus of the movie.

We adopted the name "KTF Productions" from the title of our first movie, "Keep The Faith". It was to be the beginning of great things.

-David M. Evans
Director, "Keep The Faith"

The Script

As we began our trek in making Christian videos focused on reaching the lost, we realized that the delivery of the videos had to be appealing enough for the secular audience to have an interest in watching. God showed me how to do this. I made sure that there was a scriptural reference that would compliment each video, sort of a "moral for the story". The scripture we chose for "Keep The Faith" was 2 Timothy 4:7 as Paul speaks to Timothy about our call to keep the faith. This verse was mirrored throughout the movie.

The concept for the script derived from a partial dream that I had one night. A dream that was mysterious as well as impactive. I truly believe that the Lord was prompting me to make a video based on the concept from the dream. As I told friends about the idea, they wholeheartedly supported me, which gave me confidence and strength to take on such an endeavor.

Another incentive to make the movie came from the idea to do it for college credit. A sideline blessing is that I received an "A" for this project.

The movie follows the life of a college student, who through a recurring nightmare was reaquainted with his faith in God.