In this Catholic Filmmaking Breakdown, Senior Creative Lead Daniel Gebert of Spirit Juice Studios breaks down a music video he directed for well-known Catholic speaker, singer and songwriter Trish Short to promote her song “I Am the Bread.” When you have the opportunity to work with a talented performer like Trish, you want to make sure that all the details come together to provide a perfect look and feel for the production that matches the content of the song.

“I Am the Bread” was written to address some of the current challenges facing the Catholic Church today—a steady decrease in the number of practicing Catholics as well as an overall crisis of belief, especially belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. To match the desolation of these challenges, the first half of the video was shot in an abandoned church that lacked electricity and heat. This presented challenges for a cold mid-January shoot, requiring the production team to bring in generators and heaters. The video makes extensive use of light and dark, thanks to massive lights that were placed in the dilapidated stained glass windows to provide a natural-looking sunlight effect. The camera focuses on the deteriorating details of the location and moves around the performers to give viewers a sense of feeling like they are present in this space.

For the second half of the video, Trish wanted to stress the beauty of the liturgy, so we switched to a new location—a beautiful, well-lit church with a priest celebrating the Eucharist. By cutting between these two settings, we were able to visually represent Trish’s message about the universal saving power of the Eucharist, whether you are receiving it in an abandoned church or inside a beautiful cathedral.

Spirit Juice Studios has extensive experience working in this format to produce visually compelling videos for everything from ancient traditional Catholic hymns to original new songs by Christian music artists. We were so grateful to work with Trish Short on this music video, and we hope it offers a visual meditation for you as you listen to her song. Please contact us for any of your Catholic video production needs and we will make it easy to get started on your project.