September 1, 2025 • 22 mins
Official Light of the World Movie website:
https://lightoftheworld.com/
The Covenant Eyes Podcast welcomes Brennan McPherson, producer of Light of the World and president of the Salvation Poem Project. This powerful new animated feature film tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of the Apostle John—and it’s coming to theaters worldwide on September 5, 2025.
In this conversation, host Rob Stoddard talks with Brennan about:
🎥 The vision behind Light of the World
🎥. Why the film was created in hand-drawn, 2D animation
🎥. The challenges of producing a gospel-centered animated film with a team of over 600 people
🎥. Why they chose John’s perspective to tell the story of Jesus
🎥. Brennan’s personal journey of faith and the hope he wants families to take away from this film
🌍 Light of the World will premiere in theaters across the U.S., Canada, Central and South America, Europe, and Australia. Learn more, get tickets, and explore free resources at 👉 https://LightoftheWorld.com
🔔 SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS:
https://youtube.com/@covenanteyes
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Free church curriculum & family devotionals
https://lightoftheworld.com/resources/
BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEOS & ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS:
https://lightoftheworld.com/minigames/
UPCOMING CHRISTIAN VIDEO PROJECTS FROM SALVATION POEM:
https://salvationpoem.com/our-work/clayfire/
🙏 If this episode encouraged you, don’t forget to like, comment, and share with your friends and church community.
CHAPTER LIST:
0:00 – Welcome & Introduction (Rob Stoddard introduces Brennan McPherson)
0:41 – Brennan’s Story & The Salvation Poem Project
2:15 – The Vision Behind Light of the World
2:46 – Why Tell the Story Through John’s Eyes
3:53 – Release Date & Global Theater Launch (September 5, 2025)
4:34 – Building the Team & Disney Animators Involved
5:50 – 600 People, 3.5 Years: The Making of the Film
6:07 – Why Choose 2D Hand-Drawn Animation
8:18 – A Film for the Whole Family (Not Just Kids)
9:07 – Sneak Peek: Light of the World Movie Clip
11:19 – The Goal: Helping Families Fall in Love with Jesus
12:50 – Brennan’s Favorite Scene (Jesus Weeping)
14:30 – Why John’s Perspective Matters
16:24 – Free Resources at LightoftheWorld.com
17:36 – What’s Next: Games, Music, & More Films
19:34 – Brennan’s Personal Faith Story & Encouragement
21:56 – Closing Thoughts & Call to Action
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Use Promo Code: FreePodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Well.
Hello again.
Welcome back to another episodeof The Covenant Eyes Podcast.
I'm Rob Stoddard,I'm your host today, and today
we have a wonderful guestand a wonderful film
that we're going to talk about,Brennen McPherson.
He is the producerof light of the world
and president of the SalvationPalm Project.
So, Brennan, welcome to TheCovenant Eyes Podcast.
(00:27):
Thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me,I appreciate it.
Well, great.
Well, Brennan, if you wouldn'tmind, just start out
telling us a little bitabout yourself, and how you got
to the point of,making this this film.
And what is this film all about?
Well, I mean, I was just livingin a cardboard box
on the side of the road,and someone.
No. I'm kidding.
So I, I, grew up ina Christian home
(00:50):
and was always into, art, musicand and writing, ended up
starting to workfor the Salvation Poem project
a number of years ago.
And about threeand a half years ago,
we started making a transitionand decided that we were going
to build outthe nonprofit ministry
into more of anonprofit media company,
where we were goingto be creating high,
(01:10):
high level mediawith the mission
to craft storiesto share Jesus Christ
with the world.
So we make gospel centered mediain a variety of
different mediumsinteractive games, film,
multimedia, discipleshipcourses, music publishing, etc.
but it's all gospel centered.
And so back when we startedwork on this film, three
and a half years ago,there was four people
(01:32):
that worked at the nonprofit.
So I was kind ofI fell into the role of
got to figure out how to buildthe team and make a film.
So no preexisting experiencewithin film other than being a,
you know, a guywho loved watching
behind the scenesstuff all of his life.
You know, I buy a filmand watch the behind the scenes
(01:54):
making of featurettesbefore I watch the movie.
So, you know, a little bit of,of some experience as well
in music production and, andstorytelling and,
creative production,but very little
in film or animation.
And so it was moreof a responsibility thrust on me
and, had to figure it out.
(02:15):
Well, excellent.
Well, tell us a little bitabout light of the world.
What, what it's all about.
What we're going to see.
So light of the world is a hourand a half long feature
length animated film on the lifeof Jesus, told through the eyes
of his youngest apostle, John,who in our film is pictured
as a teenagerbecause he probably
was a teenager.
(02:37):
It's very differentfrom the old bearded man
portrayal of most ofthe disciples.
But, you know, evenJesus himself
was in his early 30sduring his ministry.
And we know Peter was an adult.
He paid the temple tax,but he seems to be the only one
who paid the temple tax,which means they were probably
younger than 20.
So we wanted to show this,the the story of Jesus
(02:59):
through a perspectivethat hasn't been done before
and an intimate perspective.
John was the one of the closestto Jesus.
He was the only onewho was present
at the crucifixion.
And he was present for most ofthe most important,
events in Jesus life, ministry.
And so, we wanted to show howJesus changed a person's life
(03:20):
and how Jesus can changeother people's lives.
So showing that through Johnfelt like the perfect vector.
And it's,hand-drawn 2D animation,
old school Disney style,because it's it's
beautiful forever.
You know, we wanted tomake something that would last.
So our goal as a ministryis to launch this film, and then
all the proceeds of itgo back to the ministry
(03:42):
to translate it into hundredsof languages and get it shown
around the world, to hundredsof millions of people
to help them to fall in lovewith Jesus and make permanent
life change.
So that's a man.
That's that's wonderful.
So the the film is due out,is it September 5th?
This is correct.
Yeah.
It will be out in theaterseverywhere, September 5th
(04:03):
across the US, Canada, central,South America, even some
European countriesand Australia.
And so, if you go to lightof the world.com,
you can keep an eyeon where the film
will be releasing and onhow to find, how
to purchase tickets as well.
Wonderful.
Well, for many Christian,especially animated films,
getting it outbroadly and produced this way is
(04:27):
not an easy feat.
Tell us a little bitabout the team behind the film
and just how all of thiscame together.
Sure, yeah, itdefinitely is not easy.
I mean, making films at all isvery, very difficult.
At the beginning Isaid a little bit,
there's like four of usat the nonprofit.
When we started making the film,mainly it was me
(04:47):
and John Schaefer,who was the lead
producer of Superbook for CBN.
We were the ones who were taskedwith trying to build the team
and figure outhow to pull off the film
in three and a half yearson budget, on time, with no
preexisting structure.
And so luckily, he brought a lotof experience to the table.
He also broughtsome relationships.
We pulled on Tomand Tony Bancroft,
(05:08):
who are twin brotherswho worked for Disney
for a number of years.
Tony Bancroft, his kind of claimto fame is
he co-directed Disney'soriginal film Mulan.
The original one,the hand-drawn one.
And both Tomand Tony were animators,
from everything from beautyand the Beast to Lion King,
The Emperor's New Groove,Lilo and Stitch.
And so they hada long history there,
(05:30):
and then eventually left and didlot of things
like VeggieTales and,their own projects, etc.
and, now we're teaching,animation
at Lipscomb University,but they came on board,
Tom co-directed with John,and then Tony was,
one of the twoheads of story and also,
animation director and,tons of other
people were involved.
(05:50):
Over 600 peopleworked on this film,
for a period of about threeand a half years.
So it's a huge undertakingto do an animated film, but,
largely it worked because Godhad mercy on us,
because it wanted to fall apartevery week.
But that's film.
Yeah. That's tough.
That's, full.
Great. That.
I mean, that'sa huge undertaking.
(06:12):
Brennan, for those,in our audience and myself,
tell us a little bitmore about 2D and in why is that
an older styleand why did you choose
to use that?
Yeah.
So, I mean, some of the earliestanimation was stop motion,
but then pretty closeafter stop motion
came hand-drawn 2D animation,which is basically
(06:32):
you draw a drawing,you know, like this
flip books used to see.
Yeah, right.
You have it.
Each frame is another drawing.
Right.
And and then you, you hitthrough the frames fast enough
and it looks like it's moving.
It's magical.
Right. Okay.
So that's traditional2D animation is frame to frame.
Now we have modern technologythat allows you to do
other things.
Rigged animationat a pretty high
(06:53):
level, interpolating,which basically invents frames
that don't existbetween two drawings
and fills out the space.
So there's lots of toolsthat make it more efficient now,
but it is stillan incredibly work
intensive art form.
It's mainly goneto boutique animation
because Disney dropped it infavor of CG when they saw that
that was an efficient wayto make films that were
(07:14):
very cinematic.
But there's always beenthis hole in the market
where people love 2D animation,especially in children,
have an easy timerelating to it.
It's not overly stimulating.
And us as animation nerds,we love it
because it's a beautifulart form,
and we wanted to expressour care and love for Jesus
in a beautiful art formthat we really respect.
(07:35):
Also 2D animation.
When you have somethingthat's hand-painted, hand-drawn,
it's beautiful forever.
It's not just beautifulfor the next 3 to 5 years
and then it looks dated.
You know, that's how a lot of CGanimation becomes dated quickly,
because technology progressesso quickly.
And we knew we needed to havean evergreen product
that could be usedfor the next 20,
(07:55):
30 years, becausethat's our plan.
It takes a long time totranslate a film
into 500 languages.
And so there's some practicalconsiderations,
but also artistic.
We just love it.
We love the medium.
And we thought thatwe could do something
very unique and,highly stylized and, had its own
special appeal by doing it inhand-drawn 2D animation.
(08:18):
So with this, with this film,it is out for the entire family,
right? Mom, dad it is.
The kids are allgoing to love it.
It's not just directedat children or.
No, it is not.
It is the fullgospel presentation.
And we don't waterit down for children.
It's you see, everythingand you see it in a way
that I think is going to bereally refreshing
(08:39):
to a lot of adults.
And we'll, I mean, we've donea lot of early screenings
and everyone fromeight year olds to six year olds
have absolutelyloved it and adored it.
So, you know, we think this isabsolutely a full family film
of course it is.
PG you see, Jesus crucified.
We we think we've done itin a very tasteful manner.
(09:00):
But, you know, you have to makethose decisions
for your own family.
Your taxes...Canyou pay them or not?
Yes. Of course. Oh, no.
My son. John is.
Right here with your money.
Three days double what you owe.
And if you can't pay, we takeyour father to prison.
I brought someone who can help.
(09:21):
This is Jesus.
Never heard of him.
He's helping people.
I want to be a part of that.
This is my chance to show up.
Now, we've talked about this.
It's just a story about.
(09:41):
We're going to.
Need a bigger boat.
(10:04):
This.
This light.
He turned water into one.
He's the king of old kings.
I knew a guy who ate those.
The baptizer with the honeyand the wild hair. Oh.
That gets me every time.
(10:24):
Oh.
Come on.
Tell me.
About this. Jesus.
Jesus is no Messiah.
He's nothing.
And sometimes evil men silencethose who speak the truth.
What is truth?
(10:49):
This is not the end.
It's the beginning.
(11:10):
It's the light of the world.
What's your greatesthope for families to, you know,
to take away from this movie?
Well.
I don't believe thatart is a great vehicle
(11:30):
for a sermon or complextheological truth.
It's very highly stimulating.
You have very little spaceto actually communicate complex
truth in it, right?
Yeah.
But what it isespecially great at
is inciting desirein people's hearts
and at giving peoplean experience, an empathetic
(11:50):
experience of someone's life.
And so really, what that meansis our hope for this film is
that people will watch itand will fall in love with Jesus
and experiencethrough watching John
go through his journeykind of sense.
The, the changethat comes through
(12:12):
Jesus relationship to Johnand know that
that can be something they theythemselves can access.
You know, the end of the film.
It's unique.
It feeds intoa direct call to action.
If you want to learnhow to follow Jesus, go here.
It goes through a freediscipleship material
that's being used by thebiggest ministries
around the world.
And we know it's effective.
(12:33):
And so our goal is thatthis film will lead to holistic,
long term spiritualgood for full families.
Yeah.
I still fall in love with Jesusand serve him.
Amen. Amen.
And that's great.
So, Brendan, do you have afavorite scene in the movie
that you'd like to share?
I have a couple favorites.
(12:53):
One favorite scene, is one that.
It's pretty personal to me.
There's a moment where.
Jesus.
Well, Johnwalks up to Jesus, tries
to make a joke, and then he seesthat Jesus is crying.
And Jesus is grieving the lossof a beloved character.
And, their interaction there.
(13:16):
And John seeing Jesus emotion,and us as the audience,
seeing Jesus became a manand subjected himself
to all of the ups and downsof living a human life
of experience,loss of experiencing
loss and griefand sorrow and pain.
And separation from peoplethat he cared about,
(13:36):
and seeing other people suffer,you know, roped to
the wheel of time like we are.
He experienced it.
And for me,that was very meaningful
because, the yearwe began work on
this film was the yearthat we lost my brother
to cancer.
And so it was like, rightin the midst of the grief
(13:56):
of that lossand the trauma of it.
And, knowing that Jesus walkedthrough that with me,
that he grieved when I grievedthat he wept like I wept
is something intensely,personally meaningful to me
and something thatI really wanted
to be in the film.
There's a couple versions of itthat it wasn't in there, and I'm
(14:17):
so glad thatit made it in there, because
it's the truth of who Jesus was.
He's a he says.
We put those who weepand rejoice
with those who rejoice,and he himself
modeled it and lived it.
Well, that'sand that's wonderful.
That is so true.
That is so true.
He he walked what?
We walk and then.
(14:37):
Yeah, means a lot.
So, Brennan, let me come back tothe angle of seeing all this
through the apostle John.
Yeah.
Was that a difficultdecision to go
that route or. Why?
Why really?
Did you, did you choosethe apostle John
to just tell the story through?
It was a decision that I madereally early on, actually.
(15:00):
It was one of the thingsthat kind of was that North Star
for us as we developed the film.
Because you have 85 minutesto tell all four of the Gospels
the important piecesin animation for a full family.
That's you got to cut a lot.
So what do youput in there? Right.
And so we needed some wayto just narrow down
(15:20):
the scope of it.
And telling itfrom John's perspective
was fairly easy for a number ofdifferent reasons.
One, he was he was the only onepresent at Jesus crucifixion.
And so obviously we wantedto cover the crucifixion.
We needed to have a viewpointthat was there.
And also him being the youngest,it felt very accessible
for a global,full family audience.
(15:43):
You know, 13 year oldgoing through that
coming of age story as an adult.
You remember thattime in your life
and you can relate to itas a young child.
You want to age up to it.
And as a teenager you're like,I'm living it.
And so it's very accessible.
So that's a very likepragmatic reason for it.
Yeah.
But also it was aunique perspective we had never
seen done before.
(16:03):
And it, it excited us from anartistic standpoint.
But that allowed us tosay, okay, anything
that isn't relevant to John'slife change arc we cut.
So it really helpsyou narrow things down,
focusing on what'smost effective and most powerful
for telling the gospel story.
And so in a way that haspersonal stakes,
personal importance.
(16:24):
Yeah.
It's wonderful that, I can'twait to see that.
So, Brendan, where do audiences,our audience, go to find out
more about the film and,anything else they have?
Go to light of the world.com,and you can follow us
on social media.
We're on Instagramand Facebook, etc., all the
regular platforms,but go to the light
(16:44):
of the world.com.
Sign up for updates.
Look at all the content we have.
We have a bunch ofbehind the scenes video content.
We've got mini games for kidsthat are free.
We've got a free churchcurriculum for people.
We've got, you know, a 90 dayfamily devotional
that's coming out, a children'spicture book, coloring
and activity, books that peoplecan get through Tindale
and, lots of different waysto dive deeper into, their faith
(17:06):
through the vector of this film,through the lens of the film.
But also to then go beyond that.
So yeah, go to light ofthe world.com
for more information,to find out
how you can get tickets,to get free resources
to watch the videos.
That's the home.
Home for everything.
Well, guys have a lot there.
That's wonderful.
We'll put that in the show notesfor sure.
So, everyone will be ableto find that,
(17:28):
Brendan, tell me soif you've now got this one
first film feature film done,is there going to
be more from you?
Yeah, we do have plansto make many,
many more films now,God willing. You know,
it depends on a lot of things.
But we have, different scriptsthat are in various stages
of, completion.
(17:51):
And we're right nowworking on an
interactive video game,that's inspired by
the Gospel of John, but it isa full fantasy.
So it's kind of it's kind ofNarnia esque,
but that's going to be,like a six hour play experience,
a premium game, something thatyou would find on Xbox
or Nintendo Switch or PC.
But it'll be completely free.
(18:12):
And, you know,we're really excited
about expandinginto the gaming sphere.
There's very little,in, in the gaming space
that's a goodoffering for families
and children.
It's much larger than the filmindustry by far.
And there'sit's nearly a wasteland
for spirituallyappropriate content.
(18:35):
And I grew up agamer, to say the least.
You know,many of my relationships
were built around games.
I love games,but I also recognize the potency
in their dangers.
And we want to makedigital products that get people
into physical,real relationships
that are healthyfor them long term.
And so we are reallyworking hard to push
and innovatein the gaming sphere,
(18:56):
as well as in film.
And then of course,music and literature, as well.
Come along for that. So.
Wow, wow.
That's wonderful.
That's exciting.
I do wholeheartedly agree.
There's athere's a big void there
in the gaming world.
And, that's exciting to hear.
So and there's a lot of peoplestarting to work on it.
But you know, we'rewe're in the very
(19:17):
early stages of that.
And so we're hoping to seea lot more people jump onto it
and contribute as well.
Oh, great.
Well, Brennan, again, thank youfor joining us today.
Any last thoughtsthat you want to pass on
to our audience?
Now's your chance.
Well, one thing, I grew up ina Christian home, and,
(19:40):
you know, was a good boygrowing up.
But it wasreally in college where
I realized I had to live moreof an integrated life
if I was really goingto be serious about this. And,
the thing that I discoveredthat really changed everything.
And it was through a varietyof different things.
One being a bookby Andrew Murray called Abiding
(20:00):
in Christ.
And then some other influencesas well, started spending
sustained timeevery day in prayer
and reading scriptureand really just
setting my desireson Jesus himself.
Because thegreatest commandment,
commandment is to love Godwith everything that you have.
(20:20):
That's why we exist to worshipand be with him
and to enjoy him.
And I think that's one thingthat is lost a lot of times
in our busynessis enjoying Jesus.
That's what the entireChristian life is about.
That's why it's why we exist.
It's why we're alive.
And so I hopethat this film helps
(20:41):
to spark in peoplea desire for Christ.
And I hope that they follow thatand dive deep and spend time
setting their desire for hoursa day, every day on Jesus,
because that iswhat leads to real
transformation.
You know, we go through ourChristian life and we feel like,
oh, I gotta be better.
I gotta do better.
That's not how it works.
(21:01):
As we spend timesetting our desire on Jesus,
he gives us the desiresof our hearts.
By changing what we desire.
He makes us desire himand the things that are good
instead of the things thatare against him, that are
against us.
That's how we experience life.
Change is we.
We allow him to change us.
We patiently waitin his presence
(21:24):
as he does the work.
And so the one thingthat I would love
to just leave witheveryone is just
that encouragementto make a dedication,
to really spend timesetting your desire on him.
Because that is what leadsto life change.
That's what leads to himpouring out of us as we are
with our family and friends,and we naturally will just share
(21:45):
who Jesus is to us.
Because people will seethat we're different
and we're differentbecause of him,
not because of us.
So that that's what I would,I would say is like the most
important thing.
Okay, well, wonderful words.
And I canhear your heart in that.
Brendan, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
Thank you for making this film.
(22:05):
Really looking forward to it.
So again, I'm glad you canjoin us.
And, we'll,we'll look forward to,
when this comes out.
Thanks, Rob.
It's good to be with you. Yeah.
To our listeners, again,hope you will share
and like this.
And especially go and seelight of the world.
It's going to bea wonderful film.
We'll have the,links in the show.
(22:27):
Notes.
Thanks again for joining us.
Look for the next episode.
Thank you so much.
God bless. Bye bye.
Well.
Hello again.
Welcome back to another episodeof The Covenant Eyes Podcast.
I'm Rob Stoddard,I'm your host today, and today
we have a wonderful guestand a wonderful film
that we're going to talk about,Brennen McPherson.
He is the producerof light of the world
and president of the SalvationPalm Project.
So, Brennan, welcome to TheCovenant Eyes Podcast.
(00:27):
Thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me,I appreciate it.
Well, great.
Well, Brennan, if you wouldn'tmind, just start out
telling us a little bitabout yourself, and how you got
to the point of,making this this film.
And what is this film all about?
Well, I mean, I was just livingin a cardboard box
on the side of the road,and someone.
No. I'm kidding.
So I, I, grew up ina Christian home
(00:50):
and was always into, art, musicand and writing, ended up
starting to workfor the Salvation Poem project
a number of years ago.
And about threeand a half years ago,
we started making a transitionand decided that we were going
to build outthe nonprofit ministry
into more of anonprofit media company,
where we were goingto be creating high,
(01:10):
high level mediawith the mission
to craft storiesto share Jesus Christ
with the world.
So we make gospel centered mediain a variety of
different mediumsinteractive games, film,
multimedia, discipleshipcourses, music publishing, etc.
but it's all gospel centered.
And so back when we startedwork on this film, three
and a half years ago,there was four people
(01:32):
that worked at the nonprofit.
So I was kind ofI fell into the role of
got to figure out how to buildthe team and make a film.
So no preexisting experiencewithin film other than being a,
you know, a guywho loved watching
behind the scenesstuff all of his life.
You know, I buy a filmand watch the behind the scenes
(01:54):
making of featurettesbefore I watch the movie.
So, you know, a little bit of,of some experience as well
in music production and, andstorytelling and,
creative production,but very little
in film or animation.
And so it was moreof a responsibility thrust on me
and, had to figure it out.
(02:15):
Well, excellent.
Well, tell us a little bitabout light of the world.
What, what it's all about.
What we're going to see.
So light of the world is a hourand a half long feature
length animated film on the lifeof Jesus, told through the eyes
of his youngest apostle, John,who in our film is pictured
as a teenagerbecause he probably
was a teenager.
(02:37):
It's very differentfrom the old bearded man
portrayal of most ofthe disciples.
But, you know, evenJesus himself
was in his early 30sduring his ministry.
And we know Peter was an adult.
He paid the temple tax,but he seems to be the only one
who paid the temple tax,which means they were probably
younger than 20.
So we wanted to show this,the the story of Jesus
(02:59):
through a perspectivethat hasn't been done before
and an intimate perspective.
John was the one of the closestto Jesus.
He was the only onewho was present
at the crucifixion.
And he was present for most ofthe most important,
events in Jesus life, ministry.
And so, we wanted to show howJesus changed a person's life
(03:20):
and how Jesus can changeother people's lives.
So showing that through Johnfelt like the perfect vector.
And it's,hand-drawn 2D animation,
old school Disney style,because it's it's
beautiful forever.
You know, we wanted tomake something that would last.
So our goal as a ministryis to launch this film, and then
all the proceeds of itgo back to the ministry
(03:42):
to translate it into hundredsof languages and get it shown
around the world, to hundredsof millions of people
to help them to fall in lovewith Jesus and make permanent
life change.
So that's a man.
That's that's wonderful.
So the the film is due out,is it September 5th?
This is correct.
Yeah.
It will be out in theaterseverywhere, September 5th
(04:03):
across the US, Canada, central,South America, even some
European countriesand Australia.
And so, if you go to lightof the world.com,
you can keep an eyeon where the film
will be releasing and onhow to find, how
to purchase tickets as well.
Wonderful.
Well, for many Christian,especially animated films,
getting it outbroadly and produced this way is
(04:27):
not an easy feat.
Tell us a little bitabout the team behind the film
and just how all of thiscame together.
Sure, yeah, itdefinitely is not easy.
I mean, making films at all isvery, very difficult.
At the beginning Isaid a little bit,
there's like four of usat the nonprofit.
When we started making the film,mainly it was me
(04:47):
and John Schaefer,who was the lead
producer of Superbook for CBN.
We were the ones who were taskedwith trying to build the team
and figure outhow to pull off the film
in three and a half yearson budget, on time, with no
preexisting structure.
And so luckily, he brought a lotof experience to the table.
He also broughtsome relationships.
We pulled on Tomand Tony Bancroft,
(05:08):
who are twin brotherswho worked for Disney
for a number of years.
Tony Bancroft, his kind of claimto fame is
he co-directed Disney'soriginal film Mulan.
The original one,the hand-drawn one.
And both Tomand Tony were animators,
from everything from beautyand the Beast to Lion King,
The Emperor's New Groove,Lilo and Stitch.
And so they hada long history there,
(05:30):
and then eventually left and didlot of things
like VeggieTales and,their own projects, etc.
and, now we're teaching,animation
at Lipscomb University,but they came on board,
Tom co-directed with John,and then Tony was,
one of the twoheads of story and also,
animation director and,tons of other
people were involved.
(05:50):
Over 600 peopleworked on this film,
for a period of about threeand a half years.
So it's a huge undertakingto do an animated film, but,
largely it worked because Godhad mercy on us,
because it wanted to fall apartevery week.
But that's film.
Yeah. That's tough.
That's, full.
Great. That.
I mean, that'sa huge undertaking.
(06:12):
Brennan, for those,in our audience and myself,
tell us a little bitmore about 2D and in why is that
an older styleand why did you choose
to use that?
Yeah.
So, I mean, some of the earliestanimation was stop motion,
but then pretty closeafter stop motion
came hand-drawn 2D animation,which is basically
(06:32):
you draw a drawing,you know, like this
flip books used to see.
Yeah, right.
You have it.
Each frame is another drawing.
Right.
And and then you, you hitthrough the frames fast enough
and it looks like it's moving.
It's magical.
Right. Okay.
So that's traditional2D animation is frame to frame.
Now we have modern technologythat allows you to do
other things.
Rigged animationat a pretty high
(06:53):
level, interpolating,which basically invents frames
that don't existbetween two drawings
and fills out the space.
So there's lots of toolsthat make it more efficient now,
but it is stillan incredibly work
intensive art form.
It's mainly goneto boutique animation
because Disney dropped it infavor of CG when they saw that
that was an efficient wayto make films that were
(07:14):
very cinematic.
But there's always beenthis hole in the market
where people love 2D animation,especially in children,
have an easy timerelating to it.
It's not overly stimulating.
And us as animation nerds,we love it
because it's a beautifulart form,
and we wanted to expressour care and love for Jesus
in a beautiful art formthat we really respect.
(07:35):
Also 2D animation.
When you have somethingthat's hand-painted, hand-drawn,
it's beautiful forever.
It's not just beautifulfor the next 3 to 5 years
and then it looks dated.
You know, that's how a lot of CGanimation becomes dated quickly,
because technology progressesso quickly.
And we knew we needed to havean evergreen product
that could be usedfor the next 20,
(07:55):
30 years, becausethat's our plan.
It takes a long time totranslate a film
into 500 languages.
And so there's some practicalconsiderations,
but also artistic.
We just love it.
We love the medium.
And we thought thatwe could do something
very unique and,highly stylized and, had its own
special appeal by doing it inhand-drawn 2D animation.
(08:18):
So with this, with this film,it is out for the entire family,
right? Mom, dad it is.
The kids are allgoing to love it.
It's not just directedat children or.
No, it is not.
It is the fullgospel presentation.
And we don't waterit down for children.
It's you see, everythingand you see it in a way
that I think is going to bereally refreshing
(08:39):
to a lot of adults.
And we'll, I mean, we've donea lot of early screenings
and everyone fromeight year olds to six year olds
have absolutelyloved it and adored it.
So, you know, we think this isabsolutely a full family film
of course it is.
PG you see, Jesus crucified.
We we think we've done itin a very tasteful manner.
(09:00):
But, you know, you have to makethose decisions
for your own family.
Your taxes...Canyou pay them or not?
Yes. Of course. Oh, no.
My son. John is.
Right here with your money.
Three days double what you owe.
And if you can't pay, we takeyour father to prison.
I brought someone who can help.
(09:21):
This is Jesus.
Never heard of him.
He's helping people.
I want to be a part of that.
This is my chance to show up.
Now, we've talked about this.
It's just a story about.
(09:41):
We're going to.
Need a bigger boat.
(10:04):
This.
This light.
He turned water into one.
He's the king of old kings.
I knew a guy who ate those.
The baptizer with the honeyand the wild hair. Oh.
That gets me every time.
(10:24):
Oh.
Come on.
Tell me.
About this. Jesus.
Jesus is no Messiah.
He's nothing.
And sometimes evil men silencethose who speak the truth.
What is truth?
(10:49):
This is not the end.
It's the beginning.
(11:10):
It's the light of the world.
What's your greatesthope for families to, you know,
to take away from this movie?
Well.
I don't believe thatart is a great vehicle
(11:30):
for a sermon or complextheological truth.
It's very highly stimulating.
You have very little spaceto actually communicate complex
truth in it, right?
Yeah.
But what it isespecially great at
is inciting desirein people's hearts
and at giving peoplean experience, an empathetic
(11:50):
experience of someone's life.
And so really, what that meansis our hope for this film is
that people will watch itand will fall in love with Jesus
and experiencethrough watching John
go through his journeykind of sense.
The, the changethat comes through
(12:12):
Jesus relationship to Johnand know that
that can be something they theythemselves can access.
You know, the end of the film.
It's unique.
It feeds intoa direct call to action.
If you want to learnhow to follow Jesus, go here.
It goes through a freediscipleship material
that's being used by thebiggest ministries
around the world.
And we know it's effective.
(12:33):
And so our goal is thatthis film will lead to holistic,
long term spiritualgood for full families.
Yeah.
I still fall in love with Jesusand serve him.
Amen. Amen.
And that's great.
So, Brendan, do you have afavorite scene in the movie
that you'd like to share?
I have a couple favorites.
(12:53):
One favorite scene, is one that.
It's pretty personal to me.
There's a moment where.
Jesus.
Well, Johnwalks up to Jesus, tries
to make a joke, and then he seesthat Jesus is crying.
And Jesus is grieving the lossof a beloved character.
And, their interaction there.
(13:16):
And John seeing Jesus emotion,and us as the audience,
seeing Jesus became a manand subjected himself
to all of the ups and downsof living a human life
of experience,loss of experiencing
loss and griefand sorrow and pain.
And separation from peoplethat he cared about,
(13:36):
and seeing other people suffer,you know, roped to
the wheel of time like we are.
He experienced it.
And for me,that was very meaningful
because, the yearwe began work on
this film was the yearthat we lost my brother
to cancer.
And so it was like, rightin the midst of the grief
(13:56):
of that lossand the trauma of it.
And, knowing that Jesus walkedthrough that with me,
that he grieved when I grievedthat he wept like I wept
is something intensely,personally meaningful to me
and something thatI really wanted
to be in the film.
There's a couple versions of itthat it wasn't in there, and I'm
(14:17):
so glad thatit made it in there, because
it's the truth of who Jesus was.
He's a he says.
We put those who weepand rejoice
with those who rejoice,and he himself
modeled it and lived it.
Well, that'sand that's wonderful.
That is so true.
That is so true.
He he walked what?
We walk and then.
(14:37):
Yeah, means a lot.
So, Brennan, let me come back tothe angle of seeing all this
through the apostle John.
Yeah.
Was that a difficultdecision to go
that route or. Why?
Why really?
Did you, did you choosethe apostle John
to just tell the story through?
It was a decision that I madereally early on, actually.
(15:00):
It was one of the thingsthat kind of was that North Star
for us as we developed the film.
Because you have 85 minutesto tell all four of the Gospels
the important piecesin animation for a full family.
That's you got to cut a lot.
So what do youput in there? Right.
And so we needed some wayto just narrow down
(15:20):
the scope of it.
And telling itfrom John's perspective
was fairly easy for a number ofdifferent reasons.
One, he was he was the only onepresent at Jesus crucifixion.
And so obviously we wantedto cover the crucifixion.
We needed to have a viewpointthat was there.
And also him being the youngest,it felt very accessible
for a global,full family audience.
(15:43):
You know, 13 year oldgoing through that
coming of age story as an adult.
You remember thattime in your life
and you can relate to itas a young child.
You want to age up to it.
And as a teenager you're like,I'm living it.
And so it's very accessible.
So that's a very likepragmatic reason for it.
Yeah.
But also it was aunique perspective we had never
seen done before.
(16:03):
And it, it excited us from anartistic standpoint.
But that allowed us tosay, okay, anything
that isn't relevant to John'slife change arc we cut.
So it really helpsyou narrow things down,
focusing on what'smost effective and most powerful
for telling the gospel story.
And so in a way that haspersonal stakes,
personal importance.
(16:24):
Yeah.
It's wonderful that, I can'twait to see that.
So, Brendan, where do audiences,our audience, go to find out
more about the film and,anything else they have?
Go to light of the world.com,and you can follow us
on social media.
We're on Instagramand Facebook, etc., all the
regular platforms,but go to the light
(16:44):
of the world.com.
Sign up for updates.
Look at all the content we have.
We have a bunch ofbehind the scenes video content.
We've got mini games for kidsthat are free.
We've got a free churchcurriculum for people.
We've got, you know, a 90 dayfamily devotional
that's coming out, a children'spicture book, coloring
and activity, books that peoplecan get through Tindale
and, lots of different waysto dive deeper into, their faith
(17:06):
through the vector of this film,through the lens of the film.
But also to then go beyond that.
So yeah, go to light ofthe world.com
for more information,to find out
how you can get tickets,to get free resources
to watch the videos.
That's the home.
Home for everything.
Well, guys have a lot there.
That's wonderful.
We'll put that in the show notesfor sure.
So, everyone will be ableto find that,
(17:28):
Brendan, tell me soif you've now got this one
first film feature film done,is there going to
be more from you?
Yeah, we do have plansto make many,
many more films now,God willing. You know,
it depends on a lot of things.
But we have, different scriptsthat are in various stages
of, completion.
(17:51):
And we're right nowworking on an
interactive video game,that's inspired by
the Gospel of John, but it isa full fantasy.
So it's kind of it's kind ofNarnia esque,
but that's going to be,like a six hour play experience,
a premium game, something thatyou would find on Xbox
or Nintendo Switch or PC.
But it'll be completely free.
(18:12):
And, you know,we're really excited
about expandinginto the gaming sphere.
There's very little,in, in the gaming space
that's a goodoffering for families
and children.
It's much larger than the filmindustry by far.
And there'sit's nearly a wasteland
for spirituallyappropriate content.
(18:35):
And I grew up agamer, to say the least.
You know,many of my relationships
were built around games.
I love games,but I also recognize the potency
in their dangers.
And we want to makedigital products that get people
into physical,real relationships
that are healthyfor them long term.
And so we are reallyworking hard to push
and innovatein the gaming sphere,
(18:56):
as well as in film.
And then of course,music and literature, as well.
Come along for that. So.
Wow, wow.
That's wonderful.
That's exciting.
I do wholeheartedly agree.
There's athere's a big void there
in the gaming world.
And, that's exciting to hear.
So and there's a lot of peoplestarting to work on it.
But you know, we'rewe're in the very
(19:17):
early stages of that.
And so we're hoping to seea lot more people jump onto it
and contribute as well.
Oh, great.
Well, Brennan, again, thank youfor joining us today.
Any last thoughtsthat you want to pass on
to our audience?
Now's your chance.
Well, one thing, I grew up ina Christian home, and,
(19:40):
you know, was a good boygrowing up.
But it wasreally in college where
I realized I had to live moreof an integrated life
if I was really goingto be serious about this. And,
the thing that I discoveredthat really changed everything.
And it was through a varietyof different things.
One being a bookby Andrew Murray called Abiding
(20:00):
in Christ.
And then some other influencesas well, started spending
sustained timeevery day in prayer
and reading scriptureand really just
setting my desireson Jesus himself.
Because thegreatest commandment,
commandment is to love Godwith everything that you have.
(20:20):
That's why we exist to worshipand be with him
and to enjoy him.
And I think that's one thingthat is lost a lot of times
in our busynessis enjoying Jesus.
That's what the entireChristian life is about.
That's why it's why we exist.
It's why we're alive.
And so I hopethat this film helps
(20:41):
to spark in peoplea desire for Christ.
And I hope that they follow thatand dive deep and spend time
setting their desire for hoursa day, every day on Jesus,
because that iswhat leads to real
transformation.
You know, we go through ourChristian life and we feel like,
oh, I gotta be better.
I gotta do better.
That's not how it works.
(21:01):
As we spend timesetting our desire on Jesus,
he gives us the desiresof our hearts.
By changing what we desire.
He makes us desire himand the things that are good
instead of the things thatare against him, that are
against us.
That's how we experience life.
Change is we.
We allow him to change us.
We patiently waitin his presence
(21:24):
as he does the work.
And so the one thingthat I would love
to just leave witheveryone is just
that encouragementto make a dedication,
to really spend timesetting your desire on him.
Because that is what leadsto life change.
That's what leads to himpouring out of us as we are
with our family and friends,and we naturally will just share
(21:45):
who Jesus is to us.
Because people will seethat we're different
and we're differentbecause of him,
not because of us.
So that that's what I would,I would say is like the most
important thing.
Okay, well, wonderful words.
And I canhear your heart in that.
Brendan, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
Thank you for making this film.
(22:05):
Really looking forward to it.
So again, I'm glad you canjoin us.
And, we'll,we'll look forward to,
when this comes out.
Thanks, Rob.
It's good to be with you. Yeah.
To our listeners, again,hope you will share
and like this.
And especially go and seelight of the world.
It's going to bea wonderful film.
We'll have the,links in the show.
(22:27):
Notes.
Thanks again for joining us.
Look for the next episode.
Thank you so much.
God bless. Bye bye.
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