HomeARC ML 0983
TV INTIMACIES!--MWM Telecasting Pioneers!--By Father David DFO 983 March 1981
Compiled by James
1. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HOW MUCH BROADCASTERS ARE REAL PIONEERS because you can't see what's ahead, you can't even see your audience & you don't know what their reaction is or what they're thinking. You have to have the vision for it, you've got to believe it's there & you've got to believe they're liking it & thrilling to it & inspired by it, fed by it & encouraged by it, uplifted by it & that they're really tuning in & turning on! It takes real pioneer faith & vision to be able to see that & visualise it & believe it & therefore really have the courage & initiative to sock it to them directly, individually & personally.
2. THIS IS WHAT MADE FRED COME ACROSS SO WELL ON BOTH RADIO & TELEVISION. When you heard or watched his show he made you feel as if he was talking right directly to you personally, individually, you! He made you feel like, "That guy, he's talking to me! He's saying the very things I need. He must know me, he must know what I need! He's talking right straight to me!" That's what made Fred go across.
3. HE HAD SUCH DYNAMIC, DIRECT PERSONALITY that spoke not to the TV audience in general, not to the masses & millions in general, but to that individual person that was listening, sitting there in front of his TV set, perhaps alone, or an old couple, whatever. He was speaking to them directly, personally, & they could feel it!--That he was talking right to them individually, personally, & that really had terrific impact!
4. YOU MUST BE SPEAKING TO SOMEBODY OR THINKING OF SOMEONE WHEN YOU TALK, that's the way I always did. I tried to visualise somebody in particular that I was talking to out in radio land, & you do exactly the same thing with a camera except you just try to look'm right in the eye as you look right into the camera lens. That's a knack that Fred had a wonderful talent for, looking straight into that camera lens & making people feel like he was really talking right straight to them, making it very intimate.
5. TELEVISION IS THE MOST INTIMATE MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION IN THE WORLD outside of actual personal presence. You're looking at the people, talking to the people, looking them right in the eye, & it's just like you're really right there in their living room or wherever it is, you're really right there with them & you can give them that feeling that you're right there & that you mean them & that you're talking to them personally, specifically, & you give them that very friendly warm personalised feeling that you are really in intimate communication & tête-à-tête with them individually, personally.
6. TRY TO GET THAT KNACK OF BEING ABLE TO TALK TO THAT LENS AS IF IT WAS SOME DEAR SWEET PERSON, & try to imagine that lens as a face of someone you're talking to--it's the face of the World! You're talking to thousands & you may be talking to millions before long, even on television! So try to remember that! Give it that personal, intimate touch of speaking to that lens just like it was a face.
7. THERE ARE SOME BROADCASTERS WHO HAVE THAT TALENT, & Fred was one of them. He could talk to that lens so sweet & butter it up & coo & really really woo that lens as if it was his dearest sweetheart or dearest friend. That's what you have to do when you're doing TV shows, you need to talk to that lens just like it was somebody's face & somebody that you have compassion for, you love, are concerned for, & really make'm feel as if you're really talking to them. That is definitely the style of the TV medium.
8. FAITH'S IDEA WAS THAT THE MORE INTIMATE & PERSONAL YOUR APPEARANCE, such as on television or video, the more interested people are going to become in you folks, personally, individually & as a group, & are going to take a greater personal interest & be more intimately involved by praying for you more & being able to visualise your work better & helping to support you more as well, & I heartily agree.
9. YOU'VE JUST GOT TO HAVE THAT VISION & you've got to know that they're there & you feel that you're talking to somebody, not just to us & not just to a cameraman & not just to a recorder, but you're talking to immortal invisible souls right out there clear around the World!
10. SO YOU MUST TRY TO PUT ACROSS THAT TYPE OF A FEELING with your own conviction that you're talking to somebody & that you are absolutely convinced that they're listening & hearing what you've got to say & responding to it & believing it & receiving it & going to react to it. You've got to believe that when you're broadcasting, because otherwise it can be pretty discouraging, dead & cold, & you're just playing all this music & singing all these songs & singing all these words, they're going out into the air & you don't know where & you wonder if anybody's out there at all.
11. THIS IS SOMETHING WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF THE PROBLEMS OF BROADCASTING, whether radio or television. I can remember my mother saying this, that when you can't see your audience & get what audience reaction, when you don't have a live audience before you to inspire & stimulate you, you really have to keep the vision & let the Lord inspire you that they are there, that you really are talking to somebody & playing & singing for someone, because otherwise the studio can be a pretty cold dead place.
12. I CAN REMEMBER WHEN WE USED TO GET UP EARLY ON SUNDAY MORNING TO GO DOWN & PUT HER SHOW ON THE AIR. She was on the air for 15 years in Miami & had the most popular religious show on WQAM, the biggest station in Miami. We got down to that station & it was not only cold spiritually, & dead, but it was also cold physically & we were nearly freezing & shivering & trying to get warmed up to sing, start off the theme song & get the thing rolling with a bunch of sour announcers & stage hands on hand, technicians who weren't very inspiring & a little skeptical & critical & cynical.
13. WE REALLY HAD TO KEEP OUR EYES ON THE LORD & THINK ABOUT THOSE POOR HEARTS & SOULS OUT YONDER in radio land & how needy they were sitting there hungry, waiting for our program & its inspiration, themselves perhaps somewhat discouraged, down, cold & uninspired, but hoping to get something out of us that morning to feed their souls & encourage them & lift them up.
14. SO IT REALLY TAKES SOME PRAYER & REAL VISION, COURAGE & FAITH when you're broadcasting, performing for an unseen audience & you don't know what the reaction is. You've really got to have a lot of faith. It's real pioneering all over again, every broadcast, every program.
15. YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE THE VISION THAT THEY'RE OUT THERE & REALLY APPRECIATING IT, enjoying it & being blessed by it, & to give you the faith to really push in there to sock it to'm, & the courage to do it with a lot of initiative that God has to inspire you with to be original & the first in many areas. I know it's not easy, it's a tough job.
16. SHYNESS ON CAMERA: SHYNESS REALLY IS A FORM OF PRIDE, in a way, because it's worrying about what people will think about you & worrying about the opinions of men & worrying about being a manpleaser. So in a way, shyness is a bit of pride.
17. I REMEMBER I WAS EXTREMELY SHY & VERY BASHFUL. I told you that one time when I was 9 years old, my 9th birthday, they held a surprise birthday party for me in my friend's house. He had arranged that I was to come over to see him after school to do something or other which was just a trick to get me there for the party.
18. AS I WALKED IN THE FRONT DOOR THEY TURNED ON ALL THE LIGHTS SUDDENLY & everybody jumped up from behind the furniture & the couches & the chairs & said, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" I immediately was absolutely stunned & half terrified out of my wits! I spun around & dashed out the door & never showed up again for the party!
19. CAN YOU IMAGINE? WHAT A TERRIBLE THING TO DO! Here I was the guest of honour & it was a party in honour of my birthday, & I ran away from my own birthday party because I was so shy & bashful! I actually ran out the door & didn't come back, I went home. Wasn't that a terrible thing to do to those poor kids? That's what shyness can do to you. I hurt them all, I'm sure, & made them feel bad, because they were trying to do something nice for me. But it just scared me half out of my wits, & I did it involuntarily, I just turned around, ran out the door & never came back! Ha! So I know what it is to be shy, but I'll never forget when I lost it.
20. I REMEMBER IT USED TO BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO GET UP BEFORE A CROWD & SPEAK OR SING, & I used to prepare all my notes & everything in advance. I'd work on a talk so hard & I'd have everything written down, & even then sometimes I'd get up & I'd almost be speechless & have stage fright! Even when I was 19 years of age & the director of the youth group conducting the young people's meetings & leading the singing also in our church, I was very stiff & really self-conscious & very shy & very worried about what people were thinking about what I was doing & saying, thinking, singing, etc.
21. BUT FROM THE TIME I RECEIVED THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHEN I WAS 19 IN OUR CHURCH IN MIAMI, I'll never forget it, I was absolutely amazed at myself & my own complete abandonment & freedom! The next time I got up on the platform to lead the singing, instead of holding the hymn book in my hand & burying my nose in it & trying not to look at the crowd, I just laid the book down & threw my heart into the songs, waved my hands & practically jumped around the pulpit & was really shouting for joy because I was so full of the Spirit & running over & no longer afraid of what people thought & no longer afraid of their opinions of me!
22. I WAS NO LONGER SELF-CONSCIOUS BUT JUST CHRIST-CONSCIOUS. That's one thing that will be a great help to some of you folks who find yourself to be rather shy & especially in some of these videos when you're camera-shy or on some of the radio shows. If you've got mike-fright, just forget yourself! Don't be self-conscious, be Christ-conscious! Just think about the Lord & think about the people you're singing to or talking to, & the Lord will help you forget yourself & immerse yourself in Him.
23. BE BAPTISED IN THE SPIRIT, BE FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST, & the Lord will help you lose that self-consciousness & that stage-fright, mike-fright, video-fright, whatever it may be, & the fear of men & trying to please them. All I cared about after that when I got on the platform was just about pleasing the Lord & I just would sock it to'm. I'd often tell the crowds off if they didn't sing as they should & throw their whole heart into it as I was, or if they didn't live the kind of Christian life they should & weren't witnessing, etc.--I really socked it to'm.
24. I NO LONGER CARED WHAT THEY THOUGHT, I JUST CARED WHAT THE LORD THOUGHT & I cared about giving the folks His message & relaying faithfully His Word. I really sang & preached with all my heart from that time on without worrying about the crowds or what people thought, & I no longer had stage fright of mike fright. I believe from that moment on, from the time I was filled with the Spirit, I lost all that & had amazing freedom in the pulpit & on the platform, on stage, or on the air.
25. THE LORD REALLY HELPED ME TO BE SO BURIED IN HIM, immersed or baptised in the Spirit that I threw my whole heart & everything I had into whatever I was doing with all my might to please the Lord because I loved Him & because I loved the folks that I was preaching or singing to. I really wanted them to get the message with all my heart & with all the power of the Holy Spirit that He had put within me.
26. SO PRAISE THE LORD FOR MY OWN PERSONAL DELIVERANCE FROM SHYNESS & STAGE FRIGHT, & I hope now that we're making these videos that everybody'll just open up for the Lord & lose your camera-fright too! Don't be camera-shy & afraid of being on camera, just relax in the Lord & think about Jesus & take the verse, "Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." (Isa.26:3.) If you do that, you'll relax on stage & on camera & on the mike & you'll not be worried or fearful, especially of what people think about you. You'll just forget yourself & your self-consciousness & only be conscious of Christ & His Message & His love & your love for those out there that you're speaking or singing to.
27. THANK GOD THAT YOU CAN LOSE THAT SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS & JUST BE CHRIST-CONSCIOUS & lose that shyness for the Lord & be liberated from bashfulness & shyness & completely delivered, free for Jesus! PTL! Hallelujah! I think that has a lot to do also with some women's fear of being nude, about being naked before others.
28. I'LL NEVER FORGET HOW WHEN I FIRST MARRIED MAMA EVE HOW MANY CLOTHES SHE WORE TO BED during those first few days & almost into the years! I felt the place for a nightgown was on the foot of the bed! When two people get into bed who love each other, you like to be free & completely as close together as you can with nothing between. Hallelujah! Jesus can give you freedom from fear & the fear of man & the fear of the stage, the mike, the camera, & of even being naked!
29. MASTER OF CEREMONIES: I WISH THAT YOU WOULD INTRODUCE EACH PERSON & tell us a little bit about them before you introduce them, give us a little idea of who they are, what they are, what they do, where they are, & then turn us over to them & let them speak for themselves. Those introductions are very important, even if you have to dub'm in later through the audio key or somehow. Of course the best way to do is personally introduce'm, yourself. Even if you're there alone, if you've got your mike on a tripod you can turn it on & walk into the picture, introduce them, & then while they're still talking, you walk back to your camera & keep it working. So please give us some intros.!--Thanks!
30. AS YOU'VE GOT THE PEOPLE ON CAMERA & YOU'RE ABOUT TO LET THEM TALK, you can speak into the microphone first & introduce them & tell us who they are even from behind the camera or wherever you are, off camera. You could introduce them & tell us who they are & what they do, where they are, something about them before you hand them the microphone & continue the shot. Amen? PTL!
31. SO DON'T FORGET TO INTRODUCE YOUR FOLKS AS THEY COME ON CAMERA, & we like to see you too. We'd love to have you in the picture talking to them & interviewing them & asking them questions, etc. But particularly don't forget to tell us who they are. You should encourage the people being interviewed to look more at the camera than even the interviewer. Smile once in a while, GBY! Look happy! You guys are supposed to be happy! Be good samples! And I wish you musicians would introduce your numbers & tell us whose they are or something about them. We need to give a little credit if it's deserved.
32. INTERVIEWERS SHOULD BE CAREFUL NOT TO INTERRUPT THE STORIES OF THE INTERVIEWED & not to rush their stories when they're telling something interesting & exciting. Even if it's starting to get long, it might merit it if it's interesting enough, so it's better to let them tell it at their own speed, unless it starts slowing down & they don't have anything else to say. That's a good idea when you're introducing a couple to put them on still.
33. INTRODUCING CHILDREN: THAT WAS A REAL GOOD INTRODUCTION THERE, introducing each one of them with their name & age. I think it would be even more interesting on each of those introductions of those various groups if we could hear the names & the ages & perhaps Mamas & Daddies' names too, if they know their Mamas' or Daddies' names, so we could identify them.
34. MAYBE THE OLDEST COULD TELL US WHO THEIR MAMAS & DADDIES ARE AS YOU GO ALONG. After they've given their name & their age you could say, "Well, they're of Job & Charran or Jeremy & Fiona, etc." I'm sure it's as difficult for most of your viewing audience to remember who's who & who's whose as it is for us to even remember all of you. We love you very dearly & we try to keep track of you the best we can, but we can't always remember everybody, & once in a while somebody slips through & we wonder who it is or who's it is!
35. TRANSLATIONS: WHEN YOU'RE SINGING SONGS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, if you first could give us a little idea what they're about we'd really appreciate it. We can see the sincerity & we can feel the meaning of it & we hear the beautiful music, but it would have even more meaning for us if you could translate it a little bit & introduce it with a little translation. Remember, you guys are making these tapes for us too & we're not always as smart as you are & we don't know as many languages, GBY! At least we don't know'm as well as you do.
36. I WISH THAT YOU WOULD INTRODUCE THOSE SONGS & tell us what the names are & what they're about so that we could appreciate them a little more. Our English-speakers would be able to imagine the words if you could tell us the themes of the songs in English, maybe even quote a verse, translate it. As you introduce them say, "This is a song called so-&-so, it's about so-&-so, the words go something like this," & then we could really appreciate them more even if you're singing in Italian.
37. TESTIMONIES, RESPONSES & REQUESTS ADD SPICE: AH, THAT WAS SWEET & BEAUTIFUL & WELL-READ, GBY, RIGHT FROM THE HEART! I think those personal testimonies & responses & write-in requests, etc., really add spice & interest to the show, as well as showing how widespread your show & ministry are around the World. It makes you sound like something pretty important & pretty big!--And you are! God bless you! Hallelujah!--The best & the biggest & the most important in the whole World! PTL? Amen! Because you're Jesus' show! Hallelujah?
38. WE'VE JUST GOT TO GO TO VIDEO, YOU ALL ARE SO BEAUTIFUL & SO GORGEOUS on video, we have got to go to video! We have got to do to vi-de-o! Praise God!--To share your beauty with the World as well as your gorgeous music! PTL! All of you, boys & girls. I'm sure the Family would just love it! (Now we have & we do!)
39. CAMERA COSTUMES--BE NATURAL!: I would suggest that unless it's because of awfully cold weather or something, that the girls don't wear panties underneath their leotards or their pantyhose, whatever they are. They look a little bit awkward & cumbersome & spoil the lines of their pretty little legs. If you'll notice ballet dancers, they seldom wear a pair of panties underneath their leotards or they would ruin the symmetry & the beauty of their own little forms.
40. LET'S FOR THE SAKE OF BEAUTY & YOUR PRETTY LITTLE CURVES leave off the bulky underpants after this, OK? GBY! And to prove this is not just my masculine chauvinism, here's Maria. (Maria: I agree. They're beautiful dancers, they really did well on that, but they should take off their panties!) Their underpanties, we're talking about, the ones that look kind of bulky & bulgy & sticking through their little leotards. Those are pretty little outfits you had on, especially the colours that Heidi is wearing. If they could have been dressed in the same outfits & the same colours it might have been a little more symmetrical, but it's pretty, & you're pretty, lovely, & I love you! XXX!
41. AND PLEASE NOT ONLY LEAVE OFF THE UNDERPANTS, BUT PULL UP THOSE TIGHTS so that they conform to your natural beautiful curves! Yours look great on this one & look like you, the real you, & the natural beauty that God made you! The other girl should have not only had the underpants off, but the tights pulled up tighter so that, well, let's face it, the more naked you look, the more beautiful you are, the way God made you!
42. SO IF YOU'RE GOING TO WEAR REAL LEOTARDS, PANTYHOSE, TIGHTS OR WHATEVER, the clothing should conform to your natural curves & lines just the way they are without necessarily any concealment. Remember, this is what I've always advocated ever since one of the earliest Letters, "Revolutionary Women": Small girls, tiny girls should wear very tight clothing. Big girls, fat girls should wear very loose clothing, it makes you look smaller. And a small girl, tight clothing makes you look bigger as well as accentuating the cute little curves that you already have. GBY! You're beautiful! XXX! ILY!
43. I'M TALKING OF COURSE ABOUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO WEAR A TYPE OF CLOTHING THAT SHOULD BE TIGHT, such as tights. Of course if you're going to wear something filmy & drapey & flowing & floating, such as a see-through nightie or something, then it will follow the natural curves of your body without necessarily being tight. It just depends on what type of costume you would choose or is chosen for you, & in this case it's tights, so the tights should be tight! GBY!
44. WE ALSO THINK THAT YOU SHOULD DRESS YOUR PERFORMERS A LITTLE MORE DRESSY & not quite so casually. That casual style is the in thing today, but so is hard rock the in thing, & we don't think dressing in an ugly manner or too casually adds to the show. We want to show people beauty, not only in our music & our faces but also in our dress, in everything. If he'd had a really nice sports shirt on with that vest it would have been all right, but it just looks like an old unbuttoned work shirt. I think turtlenecks are beautiful & would have been beautiful with those vests.--Amen? So keep tryin'!--You're gettin' better all the time!--GBAKY rollin' for Jesus!--In Jesus' name, amen!--See you on Video!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
