Penetrating Hearts through Sight and Sound

By Walter Cooley, Church Magazines

The Audiovisual Department of the Church captures the sounds and images that continue to spread the voice of the Lord unto all people (see D&C 1:2). Through current video, photography, broadcast, Internet, and engineering technology, the department portrays the Church’s messages.

“Technology provides significant support to the ongoing mission of the Church,” said President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. “I am certain the Lord expects us to apply technology to the advancement of His purposes and the blessing of mankind” (“This Is Our Day,” Liahona, July 1999, 19).

Advancing the Lord’s work for the Audiovisual Department means helping members and others who view its work to know, feel, and act upon gospel principles.

International Development

Members in Bishop Raymond Ruiz’s ward in the Philippines learned how to reverently conduct Primary after watching a local training video produced by the Audiovisual Department.

Bishop Ruiz said: “The following Sunday after we showed the Primary training video, I came out of my office to observe the Primary children. I saw that they were reverently lining up to enter their room one by one. I also saw that the leaders were standing by the door to greet the children as they entered. I realized that the Primary leaders were actually doing what was shown in the video.”

As it did in the Philippines Area, the Audiovisual Department assists Area Presidencies in preparing and distributing training materials. In the Philippines, the department worked with the Area Presidency to produce a set of three auxiliary training videos. In other areas, such as the Europe East Area, the department provides technical assistance to allow the Area Presidency to train local leaders through videoconferencing.

The department has also produced a DVD that shows members how to clean their local meetinghouses. The DVD has an accompanying booklet, titled Hermano Olympio.

The department also assists with voice-overs used for Church films. Church productions that require language voice-overs are sometimes recorded at a studio in the country where the language is spoken.

For example, studios in Japan, Finland, Thailand, Brazil, and Ukraine have been used to tape audio recordings of actors from those countries.

An important distinction between the Church’s Audiovisual Department and other creative studios is the message presented. In all audiovisual productions, the message originates from another Church department or from priesthood leaders. The role of the Audiovisual Department is to design the appropriate look and feel of that message.

Internet and DVDs

As the Church has grown and spread across the world, new technology has been developed which has made communication with even remote areas possible.

Distributing audiovisual materials to Church members in many languages has become easier with the invention of DVDs and the Internet.

One DVD can replace several dozen VHS tapes produced for the same general conference. On VHS tapes, a production could be dubbed in only one language and had to be matched to the appropriate television format.

Now a single DVD can hold up to 26 language translations. The DVD format is also the new international video standard, eliminating the need to match international television standards. DVD players have been placed in Church meetinghouses throughout the world, and the Church is currently converting existing videos to DVD.

In addition to DVD technology, the Internet is also proving to be a highly interactive medium that can deliver broadcasts and interactive training.

Recently the Audiovisual Department helped design interactive online training lessons for the Young Women and Primary auxiliaries. These lessons, which can be downloaded from www.lds.org, have a potential to distribute interactive training to thousands of members.

David Nielson, director of the department’s media design and production division, said the Church’s use of the Internet and DVDs to deliver audiovisual materials will most likely increase in the future.

Broadcasts

April and October general conferences are two of the most widely viewed productions with which the department is involved. General conference can reach up to 97 percent of the Church’s members through live broadcasts. The other 3 percent of the Church receives conference on DVD following conference.

Preparations for general conference involve many technicians. Camera and teleprompter operators, audio controllers, producers, and photographers are only a part of the audiovisual team that helps ready dozens of cameras, several control rooms, sound systems, and facilities for interpretation, American Sign Language, and closed captioning for conference and other broadcasts.

In addition to general conference, the department broadcasts CES firesides, remote stake conferences, worldwide training meetings, general Relief Society and Young Women meetings, and temple dedications.

Motion Pictures

The most recognizable Audiovisual Department productions are Church films such as The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd. Church films are developed upon approval by the First Presidency and are created primarily at the Church’s motion picture studio in Provo, Utah.

The studio is located near Brigham Young University’s Provo campus. Nestled within the 25-acre (10-ha) wooded area are several cinder block buildings and sets replicating early 1800s-style buildings, including an exact replica of the Newel K. Whitney store located in Kirtland, Ohio.

Unlike most Hollywood studios, the Church’s studio does not rent its equipment. The studio facilities include a metal shop, a wood shop, several audio recording studios, and a wardrobe storage area. Scenery for films is created on-site.

From this studio, portions of the Church’s full-length motion pictures such as Legacy and The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd were filmed. Scenes from the Church’s upcoming movie about Joseph Smith were also filmed at the studio. Editing of all Church motion pictures takes place entirely on-site. Short video clips shown between sessions of general conference are also produced at the site.

Engineering

When the new movie about Joseph Smith opens in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Audiovisual Department will have created not only the film, but the projection system that plays it.

The engineering division of the Audiovisual Department designs and creates systems capable of displaying the department’s productions. Sometimes this process involves modifying existing technology; sometimes it includes designing and patenting a unique system.

The Church currently holds several patents for systems built by the engineering division. Engineering created the systems used to run temple ordinance presentations, Church historical site exhibits, and visitors’ center exhibits.

God’s Plan, a new visitors’ center exhibit, is one audiovisual production currently playing at three visitors’ centers. At regular intervals, the exhibit displays a message about the eternal nature of families. From a remote control, the sister missionary leading a small tour of visitors can push one button to dim the lights and start the movie.

The message about family plays in surround sound on a plasma screen television. Visitors watch from benches facing what looks like a house. The exhibit can play in a variety of languages.

The engineering division designed much of the technology needed for the God’s Plan exhibit because it was not available commercially. Future visitors’ centers will include the exhibit.

Other engineering projects include working closely with temple architects to ensure that temple designs will support audiovisual systems. Audiovisual engineers also install audiovisual equipment in a new temple before its dedication. Engineers periodically reevaluate these systems to simplify technical support needed for temple audiovisual equipment, making it easier for local temple staffs to identify and fix problems with minimal assistance.

“We have the responsibility to monitor new technologies and to evaluate their ability and to incorporate them carefully to build the kingdom,” said Lynn Hadfield, director of the department’s engineering division.

As the Audiovisual Department’s sights and sounds continue to teach, train, and testify, the department helps to fulfill the Lord’s prophecy that there will be “no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated” (D&C 1:2) by the gospel.

Young women and their leaders gather for a general Young Women meeting broadcast from the Conference Center by the Audiovisual Department. (Photograph by Craig Dimond.)

Actors portray Joseph and Emma Smith during filming for the new film on Joseph Smith and the Restoration. (Photograph by Christina Smith.)