Directors John J.Schafer and Tom Bancroft discuss the challenges of producing their ‘hand-crafted’ animated feature about the life of Jesus, set in 30 AD and told through the perspective of Apostle John, that hits U.S.today, September 5.
There have been many cinematic depictions of the gruesome crucifixion of Jesus Christ.But very few have been brought to life, through animation, for a young audience.
With their feature film , now showing in theaters nationwide, directors John J.Schafer (producer of ) and Tom Bancroft (animator on Disney’s and ) knew they had their work cut out for them creating a captivating film about the life of 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader Jesus, rooted in historical accuracy, that didn’t leave audiences so distracted by the character’s brutal death they lost sight of the true message of the film: hope.
“You’re the first to ever ask about the crucifixion,” says Bancroft to AWN.
“We’ve done a ton of interviews and everybody seems to avoid that subject.But we’re doing a story about the last three years of Jesus’ life, and we knew from the beginning that was where we were headed.The hard part was deciding how much more story to tell past that part.
You have to.Because, spoiler alert, he rises again.” Produced by Salvation Poem Project, known for creating the theme song of the Emmy-nominated 3DCG animated series , tells the story of Jesus, recognized by Christians as “The Son of God,” through the eyes of his youngest apostle, the 13-year-old John.The film, produced by a team of diverse faiths and belief systems, takes place in 30 AD where everyone is expectantly awaiting the coming Messiah.
While Jesus (Ian Hanlin) isn't exactly what they imagined, there is something special about this man. Soon, characters John (Benjamin Jacobson), James (Dylan Leonard), Andrew (Vincent Tong), Peter (Sam Darkoh), and others begin to follow Jesus on an unexpected adventure, from the beginning of his ministry of miracles and teachings through his crucifixion and resurrection.Animation was provided by Irish studio, Lighthouse Studios, with Bancroft’s brother Tony Bancroft () serving as animation director.Check out the trailer: “We always knew we had one shot at telling the story of the life of Jesus, but we wanted families to feel comfortable to take their six-year-old to this,” shares Schafer.
“We also wanted to keep a PG rating, because once it goes PG-13, we really isolate our audience.” To paint a picture of what the team had to deal with, historians note Jesus’ capital punishment under religious authorities and Roman leaders consisted of being flogged, beaten, and forced to carry a cross onto which he was then nailed by his hands and feet and left to die. “We didn't want to hide away from the crucifixion,” notes Schafer.“But, when Jesus is being scourged, you hear a whip and hear him cry out, but you don’t see it.We also made the lash marks on him a darker reddish brown, as opposed to a bright red, so it feels a bit less like an open wound.
There’s only one single bright red blood drop that you see in the film, and it's when he dies, and you see it drop from his forehead.And when you see the Roman soldiers line up the nail to Jesus’ wrist, just before the hammer is about to go down, John turns away toward the audience.We cut to seeing his anguish.” Schafer hopes, through the eyes of young John and his friendship with Jesus, that the audience, especially those around John’s age, still feels the impact of this moment in the story without any on-screen violence. “Most theologians and historians now believe many of the apostles were teenagers, with Peter probably being the oldest at 22 or 24,” says Schafer.
“John is the youngest, only just now coming into adulthood according to Jewish culture.Making this story a coming-of-age story also helped us home in on how we portray things to our audience and navigate through those tough graphic spots.” That, and a bit of prayer. “We had over 400 people working on this movie and I would say 85 percent of them were not Christians,” shares Schafer.“Many joined because they fell in love with the concept art and the passion that Tom and I had.
They were upfront with that and we were upfront with our beliefs.So, if we couldn’t figure something out in production, I would ask the 30 people on the Zoom call, ‘Hey, do you mind if we pray for a second?’ And they let us.Also, typically, it was the people who weren’t Christians who would ask us the right questions and lead us to solutions.
At one point, someone came up with the idea to have Jesus’ eyes bug out in surprise at something his mother says, and those nuances made him feel more real, more relatable.He wasn't this stiff Jesus we’re used to seeing.” When it came to constructing Jesus’ face, the team was sure to portray his humor, humanity and Middle Eastern heritage, but it was also his eyes that held the key to the character lighting up the silver screen. “The only note Matt McPherson gave us was, ‘He has to have kind eyes.’ Scripture tells us Jesus wasn’t a handsome guy, but people were drawn to him, so he had to have kind eyes.And we went through many different iterations.” Bancroft adds, “Jesus is my favorite character in the movie and, for a lot of it, we have Lighthouse to thank.
At Disney, you’d have six to eight months just to figure out a character style, dissect it and make the model sheets.You’d have 90 percent of it figured out by the time you did the first animation shot.We didn’t have that time on this film because of our budget.
The style was still really raw when we brought it to Lighthouse.But they worked with it.Tony and I and a team of four artists did draw-overs and special poses for almost every shot, 700 of them, which helped us learn the characters, but we did it while Lighthouse was already animating.
We’d go over every sequence and make revisions to get the performances we wanted.” The clean-lined, geometric styles of the character designs woven into vibrant, painterly settings was inspired by children’s book illustrations Schafer studied from around the world, including Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ireland. “What also inspired me early on was ,” says Schafer.“And, when we reached out to Cartoon Saloon, they were the ones that connected us with Lighthouse.We also included traditional Jewish papercutting folk art in the animation when Jesus is sharing a parable.” As much as Schafer and Bancroft hope the film and its star stir the hearts of viewers, they also aim for it to spur creative waves in the animation industry.
“Independent animated films are really hard, but they need to be out there,” says Bancroft.“And we need to bring 2D animation back.It's not totally gone, but we need to ignite that flame every once in a while.” Schafer adds, “The hand-crafted nature of 2D also represents us as Christians.
We are imperfect and nuanced and 2D shows that authenticity.Disney’s was the first film I saw in theaters, and it was the same year I first saw , which would change my life for the rest of my life as a Christian.That's what I want to do; change people's lives through animation.” Tickets for can be purchased on LightoftheWorld.com. Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime.
She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment.Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
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