Brainstorm with a team. Set out some refreshments, and then invite some movie-goer friends together to discuss possible scenes from films that could illustrate the heart of your message. Besides drawing on the experiences and memories of someone other than just you, the exercise can be a lot of fun!
Do-it-yourself. If you have the right person and equipment to help, occasionally you will find the best way to make your point is to make your own video. For example, when trying to stress what a lost world thinks about a particular Christian belief, a series of man-on-the-street interviews will make your point.
Observe the Copyright Requirements
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Before showing a video to a public audience, like a church, you must ask yourself the question “who owns the copyright?” The Copyright Act of 1976 expressly forbids the public performance (viewing) of copyrighted media outside the home, even it the viewing is free and you have purchased the video for the church. For videos that you did not create, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder, or violate the law (U.S. Copyright Office www.loc.gov/copyright).
Purchase videos with “public performance rights”. Some videos, like the ones sold at SermonSpice.com or WorshipHouseMedia.com, include “public performance rights” with any purchase of the video. This means that the copyright holder extends to you the right to show the video in a public setting.
Purchase an annual site license. Christian Video Licensing International (CVLI, www.cvli.org) offers an annual site license for your church to show videos produced by most of the major studios in Hollywood. A site license, as the name implies, is good only at a single physical address. The purchase price is based on the average size of your viewing audience. The performance of the video must be in its original format (VHS, DVD etc.). In other words, the CVLI site license does not grant you the right to record or store a portion of the video on your computer.
Contact the copyright holder for permission to show the video. If the copyright owner does not participate in the CVLI consortium, contact them in writing to request permission to show the video. Offer as much information as you can, explaining the context (i.e., a worship service, a retreat setting, etc.), the approximate size of the audience, and the expected date of the viewing. Do not show the video until you have received written permission to do so.
Show It without Blowing It
You’ve done the hard work of choosing the best video illustration. You are excited at the opportunity to powerfully illustrate the heart of your message. You can hardly wait. You begin the sermon, then the time comes to show the video clip . . . and something goes wrong.