An original music video created for the song “Into the Wild” from the band Manic Drive. Dream Painter Studios was responsible for everything you see on screen. From concept creation and story, to making all the props, costumes and set pieces, as well as the extensive visual effects, Dream Painter Studios really had its hand in every aspect of this project. It took a lot of time, energy, and hard work by many talented people to bring this idea to life. It really has been one of the most challenging but enjoyable projects we have had the privilege of working on and are proud of what we were able to accomplish.
The video tells the story of a 10 year old boy, (played by Hunter Geisel) who has gotten caught up in today’s digital culture. As such he has lost touch with the wonder and sense of adventure he had when he was younger. With the help of a magical book in his attic, he gets transported into the stories he loved to read as a child. He meets the creator and keeper of the world inside the book, called the Wayfinder (played by Manic Drive’s Michael Cavallo). He helps guide the boy as he navigates his way through the book’s many adventures. It really is a fun, action packed ride. So come along with us as we go into the wild.
Recapture the Wonder is a series of videos created for the Christmas message series for Cornerstone Church in 2017. The main inspiration for this idea was the question we posed ourselves. What would it look like to see God designing the universe before he actually set anything into motion? A tough problem to tackle for sure and obviously there was a lot of creative liberty being taken to even begin to put this into a context we could understand. But hopefully it at least sparks some ideas of what might have been all those thousands of years ago.
Andrew from Dream Painter Studios was responsible for everything you see on screen. He came up with the concept and fleshed out the story. All the props and set pieces were either made or found. He also did all the illustrations that the God character was making. The location is a full set, that was designed and built in the small garage at Cornerstone Church. Everything from the wood floor, to the custom painted tin ceiling, to the tree that begins to grow in the workshop had to be created and made to look real. Andrew had help from some staff members and volunteers at Cornerstone as well as a lot of help from his wonderful family.
Scott Wright and Eric Orive, were the talented actors that we had the pleasure of working with on this production. Both are members of the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company and were fantastic to work with.
This was one of the biggest and most rewarding projects we have worked on and will always hold a special place in our hearts.
The first part of the Recapture the Wonder series created for Cornerstone Church. We are introduced to God’s workshop and begin to see the beginnings of what would be the Earth. Scott Wright is the talented actor who played the role of God. He and the whole crew were fantastic to work with.
This is the second part of the Recapture the Wonder Series. In this video we watch as God begins to create life in the form of a tree.
In this, the third part of the series, we see God start to untangle the mystery that is human cognition and design the almost unfathomably complex network of neurons that make up the human brain.
“The Star” follows the creation of the cosmos. God breathes life into the first star and from that, sets the expanse of the universe into motion. This first start might have been the same one that marked the birth of the baby Jesus thousands of years later.
In this final installment of the Recapture the Wonder series, we see God wrestling with some of his hardest decisions. He has to choose to create, in spite of the heartache and pain he knew he would have to endure. He still thought that this would all be worth it, and even before he spoke anything into being, he came up with a plan to save us all. A sacrifice, he willingly made for every person he created. And that salvation is “The Gift” he freely offers to us all.
Original Music Video for the song “Haters” by Beacon Light. The concept was created in collaboration with the artist. Dream Painter Studios was responsible for designing and creating all the props, costumes and the extensive visual effects. This video won Music Video of the Year from the We Love Christian Music Awards, in 2016.
Award Winning music video for Beacon Light’s song “Haters.”
A quick look at the extensive visual effects that went into making this project come to life. From freezing time, to bullet holes, to big floating cubes, a lot of work was put into this project in post production, to make everything work on screen. As you will see, the finished product often looks nothing like it does straight out of the camera.
An original music video for the song “Lit” by the artist Beacon Light. Dream Painter Studios was in charge of everything you see on screen, from the props, costumes, locations and most of the visual effects. We partnered with another talented VFX artist James Grochowalski, to help get everything done in time. James helped work on the particle effects and compositing of the inner mind world.
This video is technically a continuation of the Haters video. It basically hints at a much bigger story that tied them both together. There was a lot of work that went into this video as well and ended up being a pretty fun one to work on.
In the Summer of 2017 Cornerstone Church did a message series called Assembly Required and the idea was proposed of having it be Lego themed. Andrew from Dream Painter Studios, being both a big fan of Legos, and a fan of the newer animated movies that had recently come out, jumped at this opportunity to do some animating. The series loosely follows the story of the prophet Elijah from the Old Testament. Andrew and his intern at the time Trevor Van Volkinburg were responsible for writing the scripts which really was a lot of fun for them. They found you could get away with a lot more jokes working in a Lego world. Andrew then did all the recording of the voice actors and actually played the role of God, and Batman. He then set to work on creating all the Lego character 3D models from scratch. He went to great lengths to get a sense of realism and believably, including dings and scratches, fingerprints and even the plastic mold lines. Unfortunately due to the extremely short deadlines they were working with, a lot of this detail was lost in the final renders, having to sacrifice a lot of quality just to get each video finished on time. So if you notice the images looking pretty noisy, and not super high quality, just know it was simply a lack of time, not skill or attention to detail.
Andrew also built all the digital sets and characters and did all the animation, lighting, rendering, compositing and sound design. His intern Trevor handled a majority of the facial animations for the characters.
This really was a huge undertaking, but was one of the most fun projects Andrew has worked on. His quirky sense of humor definitely shines through in the scripts and in the animations.
The first part of the Lego themed message series “Assembly Required”, produced for Cornerstone Church. This week follows the story of God first calling Elijah to do his work.
For week 2, we focus on Elijah’s encounter with the widow at the well. While, we were able to take a bit of our own spin on it, the basic ideas are the same as the real story.
Week 3 was by far the most involved segment in this series. This follows the story of Elijah facing off against the prophets of Baal. We decided to go with a more modern approach to the story, treating it like a big sporting event. This one is packed with inside jokes, and some subtle nods to famous sportscasting personalities and moments. And be sure to pay attention to all the advertisements on the field. We had a lot of fun with Lego puns. Perhaps too much fun…
Some time has passed in the story between this video and the previous one. We find Elijah in the desert after fleeing for his life. He is a broken man, or brick in this case, and it is God’s job to talk some sense into him, with the help of his very capable angels.
This is the final chapter in the Lego Elijah saga. We get to see Elijah passing the baton to Elisha and being carried off to Heaven in a chariot of fire. This one happens to be three and a cow horsepower and driven by Batman, but the sentiment is still the same.
This was part of a series of videos produced for Cornerstone Church’s Christmas series in 2016. Inspired by Tyler Perry’s “Passion”, we set out to take a Christian approach to a few secular songs putting our own visuals with them. Our idea was to take a modern twist on some of the classic Christmas story characters. This video follows the life of King Herod as he struggles with his inner demons. He is torn as the ruler of Israel, but with ambitions to be accepted by his Roman leaders. The conflict within him eventually becomes too great and he falls into darkness.
Chris Teller is the wonderful actor who stepped into the role of Herod. Chris is a good friend and is always a pleasure to work with.
An original video set to the song “Spirits” by the band The Strumbellas.
This was part of a series of videos produced for Cornerstone Church’s Christmas series in 2016. Inspired by Tyler Perry’s “Passion”, we set out to take a Christian approach to a few secular songs putting our own visuals with them. Our idea was to take a modern twist on some of the classic Christmas story characters.
This video follows a modern version of the wisemen as they follow the star, guiding them to their savior.
The set for the opening sequence was designed and built in Cornerstone’s garage. All the props and costumes were either custom made or found. There are even a few hidden easter eggs from previous projects thrown in.
Original music video created for Cornerstone Church. Set to the song “Wherever I Go”, by One Republic.
This was part of a series of videos produced for Cornerstone Church’s Christmas series in 2016. Inspired by Tyler Perry’s “Passion”, we set out to take a Christian approach to a few secular songs putting our own visuals with them. Our idea was to take a modern twist on some of the classic Christmas story characters.
This video follows the story of Mary, watching a young, innocent Jesus experience the world he created.
An original music video produced for Cornerstone Church. Set to the song “Better Place” by Rachel Platten.
This follows the a young dancer struggling to perfect a routine. She is driven to excellence but inside she is hurting. Every day she puts on the mask that she hides behind. Allowing no one in, no emotion to be shown. The mask starts to become the real her until she finds a new path.
Kamryn Casey is the talented dancer who brought this character to life. She has previously danced with the Grand Rapids Ballet Company, and was a pleasure to work with. This video was the promo for the message series “If I’m Honest” for Cornerstone Church.
This video tells the story of a young girl who is starting her first day of school in the US. She is from a refugee family starting a new life in this country. She feels alone and scared walking into this completely new situation. That’s when she encounters the West Michigan Refugee Education and Cultural Center. They serve as the friendly face and the helping hand to make children and their families feel welcomed, loved and supported as they make the transition to their new life.
A short video highlighting the West Michigan Refugee Education and Cultural Center.
This was a promo created for the message series “Hacked” for Cornerstone Church. It follows a character who has had an autocorrecting virus hack into his brain and makes his daily life more, well, interesting.
Matt and Sarah Allen played the main couple in the story. Lilly Teller played the daughter. Brett Christiansen played the role of Jam, I mean, Jim. And Chris Teller was featured as the doctor.
The year was 1738 and John Wesley is found wrestling with himself about his feelings and calling in life. He knows he is to serve God, and that salvation can only be found through Jesus. But he has never considered that that salvation is a gift that was given and we don’t have to earn anything.
This video was our attempt at telling a large story with a small amount of time, very little money and some creativity. Obviously we weren’t able to travel to 18th century England, nor could we stage a huge sailing vessel caught in a storm at sea. But we did have a green screen, a few costume pieces, some willing and not so willing Cornerstone Church staff members and some popsicle sticks. One afternoon, many members of the Cornerstone staff were brought into a room one by one, had a costume and sometimes wig put on them and then stood in front of a green screen. Then through the magic of visual effects they were all composited together into a crowd and some digital buildings and road and sky were dropped in behind them. All of the ship scenes were actually filmed with a miniature portion of a ship that was designed and made by Andrew from Dream Painter Studios. The popsicle sticks were used to make the hull walls and wood planks for the ship decks. It was filmed in a small shower room with black cloth rigged around the ship. Then a hose was rigged up to a basic sprayer handle with a misting nozzle and positioned over the ship. Then with the help of some lights,fans and a squirt bottle we suddenly had a pretty convincing ship in a storm.
There was a very short timeline for this project and ultimately the quality of some of the compositing could have used a lot more attention if the deadline had permitted. But it was still a really fun project and who doesn’t love building a model ship for work?
Brett Christiansen played the role of a young John Wesley. Tommy Dylan played the role of the preacher. Chris Teller played the German Preacher, and Andrew Smith did the voice over and played the older Wesley for the journal writing scenes. Cornerstone staff members comprised the rest of the crowd and other background roles.
Working for Cornerstone Church has many advantages and struggles, but one thing that makes it all worth it is being able to share people’s stories. We consider it an honor and a great responsibility to be entrusted with sharing stories of people at their best, their worst, and the complicated spaces in between. These “My Story” videos as we branded them, are powerful and full of complex emotions so you might want to get your tissue boxes ready.
Nate Zeigler’s life is truly a testament to God’s power for restoration and redemption. Living a good portion of his life for himself and his own destructive habits, God found a way into his story and completely changed its trajectory. As he said himself, “When you meet the Holy Spirit, it’s game over, man.” He has never been the same.
This video was produced for Cornerstone Church.
All seemed to be going well for Sharisse, until tragedy struck their family. Sharisse spent many years working through complex emotions of pain, loss, anger, and resentment and with God’s help has finally come to a land of peace once more. Although her loss was great, she found the love of her savior, even greater.
This video was produced for Cornerstone Church.
Faced with a life shattering diagnosis, Liz had a big decision to make. Was she going to slip into dark thoughts and self pity, or would she use this as a testimony for faith? Fortunately she chose the latter. This is a powerful story of trusting God no matter what life throws at you.
This video was produced for Cornerstone Church.
A troubled childhood. Struggling to find an identity. Faced with loss, and anger and some tough decisions, Allston finds himself in a “wake up” moment. Is he going to keep running from a God who is pursuing him, or will he stop and embrace the life he has been called to live?
This video was produced for Cornerstone Church.
What do you do when life throws you unexpected circumstances? For Becky, life seemed to do that quite often and change became the new norm. Forced into situations that were far less than ideal, her faith was tested again and again. And through it all she kept her eyes on the one who is our refuge in the storms of life.
This video was produced for Cornerstone Church.
A story of generosity, answered prayers and a God who works in mysterious, miraculous ways. Stephanie gets to witness first hand the power of prayer and having faith in a God who provides.
This video was produced for Cornerstone Church.
A short promo video for the message series If Only… for Cornerstone Church. The idea was following the roots of our discontentment in life. Sometimes it feels like we are stuck on the same path spinning around and around, but never actually getting to where we want to be. Dream Painter Studios designed, modeled, textured, lit and animated the whole sequence from scratch. It’s a short video, but it still was a lot of fun to create.
A fun take on the world of Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. This time we are on a quest to find Jesus. Have you ever wondered what it looked like to see Jesus walking on the water from a fish’s perspective? Well now you know.
Dream Painter Studios was in charge of all the modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging, animating and compositing for this short sequence. This was produced for the Finding Jesus message series at Cornerstone Church.
Prayer is a tricky thing. Or at least it seems like it is sometimes. Do you ever feel like you are only hearing one half of the conversation? This sketch takes a look at our prayer life and what it might sound like from God’s perspective.
This was an original concept written and produced for Cornerstone Church. Chris Teller and Matt Allen are the talented actors who brought these characters to life.
Something seems a little off in this character’s life. While overtly obvious to the audience, he can’t quite figure out what is missing. I feel that we can all relate.
Promo for the series “The Missing Pieces” produced for Cornerstone Church.
We are often fed lies about the power of prayer. We are led to believe that God isn’t listening, that he doesn’t care about us and our needs. Sometimes we just need to pick up our rock and break through those lies, shattering them into a million pieces.
This was a really fun project to work on. This was produced for Cornerstone Church. We were donated 5 panes of large glass. We hung them from a lift with some steel cable and some shower suction cup handles and threw rocks at them in the parking lot of the church at night. The cleaning up part wasn’t quite as fun the next day, but it was totally worth it in the end.
All the graphics and animations were created by Dream Painter Studios. This started as a simple lyric video for Beacon Light’s song Color Blind, but what we ended up with really tells a story and goes way beyond a traditional lyric video.
Have you ever read a story that was so captivating that it felt like the characters just leaped right off the page? Well what if they actually did, and what if that story was the story of the birth of our Savior found in the Bible? This video explores the magic found within the covers of the Bible and brings the stories to life in a new way. This goes way beyond your simple holiday pop up book.
Abby Westers is the talented young actress who played our curious character. Andrew from Dream Painters Studios actually did all the illustrations for the pop up characters. It was a fun blend of classical art mixed with modern visual effects.
A short animated commercial for a fantasy sports company called Sports Guiders. The company came up with the script and basic concept and Dream Painter Studios handled the rest. Everything from character creation to final animation, was made from scratch or close to it. This one was a fun unique challenge and was a lot of fun to work on.
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