Here is the story behind the awesome video that Allie and Kathryn made regarding Jesus Christ. I hope you take a moment to listen to the beautiful music and read the behind-the-scene story below. May we all turn to the #PRINCEofPEACE for true joy and happiness in this life. Find out how to become more like Jesus Christ by learning about the Principles of Peace here.
The film was taken place in Jerusalem. Here is a bit about the location.
The BYU Jerusalem Center for Neareastern Studies is an amazing place. It sits right on top of Mount Scopus, just a five minute walk from the Garden of Gethsemane, overlooking the Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock). On the Jerusalem Center Program, Students learn about the Old and New Testament in the very places that the stories took place. Last year, something amazing unfolded.
Allie’s Story – soloist: “One of the girls in the Jerusalem Center’s sister passed away. I was sitting in sacrament meeting overlooking the beautiful City of Jerusalem and thinking about how blessed I was. I wanted to know how to help her. Suddenly, the idea to make a music video and share my testimony of the resurrection and eternal families just sort of flooded my brain.
My minds eye was totally opened. I saw the exact shots we needed to take, exactly where we needed to go. I was filled with a sense of urgency to get started. It was amazing. There were countless miracles as the whole project unfolded. I knew that this video was not about me. It for the purpose of bearing testimony. I prayed throughout the project that we would be able to touch someones heart both while we were filming as well as when people were watching it afterwards.
As we were at the Garden Tomb towards the end of our trip, I was filming my final testimony. As we were filming I noticed a man coming out of the tomb and was just crying and thanking God in portugese for the opportunity to be there. The spirit was so strong. As i noticed him it got to the point of the music that i needed to sing, I was filled with emotion and was able to sing the last verse with all my heart.
After we finished, they came up to me and thanked me for singing so beautifully at the tomb. We sang “I Stand All Amazed” together, they sang in portuguese and I sang it in english. We all had tears streaming down our faces. That experience taught me that:
1. God answers prayers.
2. The Savior really was resurrected and lives today.
3. God knows His children.
In the Holy Land, we are not allowed to talk about the Church. But it gave us an opportunity tobear our testimonies and be witnesses of Christ. Every shot was a miracle. Many times we didn’t know the camera was rolling and the shots ended up being perfect.”
Kathryn’s Story – videographer: “Allie originally told me about her idea to make a music video to “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” for our friend whose sister had just died unexpectedly, I immediately loved the idea. I was worried that my videography skills would be subpar for the project, but thankfully I put aside those fears and agreed to help.
That same day we went out into Jerusalem and started filming. The first part we filmed was the beginning of the words, in the Holy Sepulchre. I remember taking as much footage as possible and praying that something would be usable. That night I put the footage on my computer and started putting the clips to music. We had only a few seconds of film but I could already tell that this was going to be an amazing project and that I was a part of something much bigger than myself.
The next little bit was a great learning process. Filming became a little frustrating. We would try to plan what we would film and where, but that footage consistently seemed to be lacking the sense of conviction and power of testimony that we were trying to capture. The purpose of our video was to share our testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that through Him we can live again. This struggle continued until we went to Capernaum.
During our field trip there we were given time to wander around and to ponder on Jesus Christ and His life there. We were in a city where He had walked. Allie and I both spent some time pondering and then went back to the remnants of a synagogue.
We started filming but found that we were only getting frustrated. We both took a moment to breathe and then decided to film the whole song just to see what happened; no plans, just living in the moment and thinking about the song. I don’t have the words to describe what happened next.”
Allie: “We got a little frustrated that we were in such amazing places and yet we couldn’t “feel” while we were filming. We finally decided to just film the place and get a shot of me singing about it later. But as we were getting to the door of the ancient synagogue, something inside of me said, “You Know, Allie. You know He lives. Here is where you should sing about it.” I said, “Kathryn. Turn on the camera!” And I sang.”
Kathryn: “There was a burning in our souls as both of us began to cry. We knew. We really knew that Jesus was the Christ. and we couldn’t deny the spirit we felt as we stood in that sacred place. All I know is that Heavenly Father guided us to be able to share our message that His son lives. I will never forget that day. Some of our favorite footage came from that trip.
I am eternally grateful for that experience and that I have it captured on film. Few times have I felt so strongly that my Redeemer lives. From that moment on I knew without a doubt that Heavenly Father wanted us to create this music video and that it was going to be something special. As we continued to film and edit, I saw something magical unfolding before my eyes.
Every day after filming I would excitedly add that day’s footage to current edit of the video. My fears were replaced with a strong desire share our testimonies. From the beginning Allie was firm that she did not want to video to be about her. We knew that we needed other footage in the video besides Allie singing. Thus came the idea to have clips of many of our peers from the Jerusalem Center.
This was one of my favorite parts to film. I filmed silent interviews with as many of my friends as possible. A silent interview is where you are asked a series of questions but you cannot say anything in response. There is so much emotion shown through our faces and the smallest of reactions can carry a strong message. It was beautiful filming everyone’s testimonies of Christ and then adding them to the film. The power behind the words of the song and the testimony that was visible through everyone’s eyes was really powerful.
I could go on and on about the many miracles that were part of the process of making this video, and I feel blessed to have been able to participate in the making of it. God was the director of this film. I could never have imagined the response to the video. We shared it with our friends in Jerusalem and our family back home. I never expected anything big to come of this video, it was just a small opportunity to help comfort our friend who had lost her sister. I do hope, however, that somehow we are able to bless and comfort others through our video.”
Allie said, “In the end, we didn’t make this music video. God did.”
