<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:tahoma,new york,times,serif;font-size:14pt;color:#000000;"><font size="4"><br><a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/"><img src="http://www.lifesitenews.com/images/newtemplate/LifeSiteNewsLogo.jpg" border="0"></a></font><h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><font size="4">Thursday November 27, 2008</font></h3><hr style="clear: both; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px; height: 4px;" color="#aaaaaa" noshade="noshade" size="1"><h3><font size="4">Behind the Scenes of Volition: Coincidences and Startling Circumstances</font></h3><p><font size="4">By John Jalsevac</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><em>(To see “Volition” go to: <a href="http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=420351f1aefa2b42b1772fe9d5cc044a">http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=420351f1aefa2b42b1772fe9d5cc044a</a></em><em>)</em></font></p>
<p><font size="4">November 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The RED One has been
described as the “Lamborghini” of digital film cameras; shooting in 4k
resolution with a dynamic range close to that of traditional cameras,
the RED prices at about $25,000, with all the necessary gadgets. And
so, when a rented RED One was dropped on the second day of shooting the
powerful pro-life short-film “Volition,” 22-year-old director Tim
Morgan, and his younger brother and collaborator, Matthew, thought the
game was up. </font></p>
<p><font size="4"><img style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 15px;" title="" alt="" src="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/images/2008h/Volition2.gif" align="right" height="175" width="290">“At
that point we thought we had to throw in the towel, because there was
no way we could continue filming that day,” Tim Morgan told
LifeSiteNews in a recent interview. And with only three days to shoot
scenes in three different locations depicting three different
historical periods, the film was already on a tight, if not impossible,
schedule. It was beginning to look as if Volition was not meant to be
after all.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Its circuit boards cracked, the camera refused to start up for ten
minutes … at least, not until members of the cast and crew gathered
around the camera and prayed over it. At that point it fired up, and
the shoot was completed. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Tim says that in the whirlwind of post-production he and his brother
completely forgot about the incident - until they sent the camera back
to the manufacturer. The manufacturer, he relates, said that “all the
circuit boards were cracked and there was no way this camera should
have been able to work.”</font></p>
<p><font size="4">This incident, which the young director posits may be a veritable
miracle, is just one of a host of remarkable stories that surround the
making of “Volition.” Indeed, the creation of the short film is steeped
in coincidences and startling circumstances that hint that “Volition”
yet has some definite purpose to serve. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Morgan relates, for instance, that for most of his life, while he
had always been “pro-life,” he had never given much thought to the
issue – that is, until last year when he attended the massive prayer
rally, “The Call.” “That’s when it really hit me, hit my heart,” he
says, “that there is a need for just some sort of voice in the arts, in
the entertainment world, in defense of these unborn babies.”</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><img style="margin: 10px 15px 10px 0px;" title="" alt="" src="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/images/2008h/Volition8.gif" align="left" height="289" width="201">At
this point, however, Volition was, if anything, but a seed of a
thought, without any definite form. It was one night, while doing some
work in Israel, the birthplace of Christianity, of the Christ-child
Himself, the ultimate proof and testament to the sanctity of human
life, that Tim found himself in a fever and unable to sleep. “So I woke
up and started a hot bath and pretty much wrote the whole outline for
the movie that night,” he relates. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">But with an elaborate script that called for scenes in Nazi Germany,
the pre-Civil-War American South, and modern times, money was an issue.
For six months after Tim wrote the script the brothers sought investors
interested in making Volition a reality; but none were to be had. It
was then, however, that they received an unexpected phone call from The
Doorpost, an online film competition that they had entered some time
back, and never thought twice about. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Now the representative from The Doorpost was telling Tim that the
competition had selected the brothers as finalists and that they were
offering them seventeen and a half thousand dollars to make any film
of their choice on the theme of “hope.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">“It was like a door opening out of nowhere,” Tim says. “All of a
sudden I have this budget for a movie I’ve been looking to get the
budget for.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">The Morgan brothers promptly began to plan the shoot, advertising to
find actors for the rolls and compiling a production team that involved
numerous family and friends. Volition was beginning to take shape.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">With only two weeks to go before production began, however, Tim was
in Uganda filming a documentary for an NGO. Most of the other
contestants in The Doorpost contest had already started shooting their
films, Tim says, but he was halfway around the world, trying to finish
shooting the promo for Show Mercy International (See the promo at: <a href="http://www.showmercy.org/">www.showmercy.org</a>).</font></p>
<p><font size="4">It was in Uganda that Tim says he found the final inspiration for
Volition. “We were working with these orphan kids who had these
horrendous stories,” he relates. “One kid, for instance, he saw his
father chop down his whole family with a machete before killing himself.</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><img style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 15px;" title="" alt="" src="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/images/2008h/Volition11.gif" align="right" height="227" width="308">“And
I’m listening to this kid, and this kid has had nothing. And I’m
thinking to myself, ‘If there was any group of people on earth, that it
would seem that they didn’t have a reason to live, it would be these
kids. But these kids have been given a chance by the people at the
orphanage.” Some of these orphans, he related, now had dreams that
would before have been inconceivable, such as becoming an engineer.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">This experience in Uganda, which Tim describes as “life altering,”
gave him the final confirmation that he needed, filling him with a
sense of urgency. “Just seeing the beauty of a human life given another
chance inspired me, and really crossed over to the issue of, ‘OK,
there’s this whole group of people in the US and North America - the
unborn babies - that are not being given the same chance.’” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">This epiphany, he says, “really crossed over and inspired me, as I was making this movie.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Back in his hometown of Atlanta, Tim and his brother launched into a
hectic schedule of pre-production (two-three weeks), shooting (three
days), and post-production (10 days). Numerous friends and family
stepped in, sometimes at great sacrifice, such as one friend who flew
from Calgary at his own expense to do the art design, and another from
Portland. “They’re not doing this for me,” Tim says he realized at the
time, “they’re doing this because they believe in the message of the
film.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">The end result of that month of work was Volition, a short film of
startling beauty and rare poignancy that cuts to the very heart of the
debate over abortion, and, indeed, the very meaning of what it is to be
human. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">The “thesis” of the film, explains the director, is “that throughout
history there’s been groups of people that have tried to classify other
groups of people as less than human, as sub-human, through scientific
means or whatever means possible, so as to rationalize the mistreating
and the suppressing of the other group.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4"><img style="margin: 10px 15px 10px 0px;" title="" alt="" src="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/images/2008h/Volition10.gif" align="left" height="310" width="190">As
far as the reception of the movie has been concerned, Tim states that,
as expected for a film that tackles such a controversial subject, it
has been “mixed.” On The Doorpost’s website, he says, “There was
definitely a lively conversation that this film sparked, which was
encouraging to me.”</font></p>
<p><font size="4">As far as Tim and Matthew are concerned, however, Volition is only
the beginning of much more to come. According to the young director,
there is a great need for Christians to enter into and influence the
art world, including the film world. He and his brother hope to be two
of those who do exactly that.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">The Christian community, he says, “has kind of left the art world on
the back burner. My vision would be them treating the art world, the
film world, with the same sense of urgency as they’re treating, for
instance, an overseas mission. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">“This is an emergency for our culture, to be able to influence our film, our arts, the American pop culture in this way.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">“I know there’s a lot of Christian investors out there,” he
concludes. “My vision is kind of having the Church as passionate about
the art world and the culture and film, and having people, kind of like
in the old days of the Church, where they would sponsor the artist that
would influence the modern pop culture. I guess my vision is of seeing
that happen again, where the Church sees the urgency of influencing the
film and entertainment world.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">To watch Volition, go to: <u><a href="http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=420351f1aefa2b42b1772fe9d5cc044a"><font color="#0000aa">http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=420351f1aefa2b42b...</font></a></u></font>
</p>
<p><font size="4">To find out more about Tim and Matthew Morgan and their film company, go to: <a href="http://www.rockyfarmstudio.com/"><font color="#0000aa">http://www.rockyfarmstudio.com/</font></a></font>
</p>
<p><font size="4">The brothers can be reached at: <a href="mailto:info@rockyfarmstudio.com"><u><font color="#0000ff">info@rockyfarmstudio.com</font></u></a></font></p>
<p><font size="4">See relates LifeSiteNews.com coverage:</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Film Review: Volition - A Film that Demands a Radical Choice<br><a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112501.html">http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112501.html</a></font>
</p><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><font size="4">URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112708.html</font></div><font size="4"><br></font>
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