Tools: Adobe Premiere Pro

Project Goal: Create a video essay covering a topic of my choosing to explore the opportunities of storytelling within video editing.

Process: I decided to write a short essay on how the Christian faith and themes of the Gospel can be seen within the popular series, The Lord of the Rings. This process involved recalling of my existing knowledge of the subject, extensive research of these parallels and J.R.R. Tolkien as an author, writing a script based on my findings, gathering footage and quotes, recording voiceovers, and planning out how to creatively combine religious imagery, scripture, and footage from The Lord of the Rings to build a compelling narrative.

Result: For the video essay, I chose to use footage from the Christianity-focused television series The Chosen , as well as display scripture on screen while playing footage from The Lord of the Rings in order to support my statement that there are connections between the themes in both Christianity and J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic series. The final video both visually and audibly makes connections between Biblical themes and themes within The Lord of the Rings, taking the viewer on a journey through two incredibly well-known stories.