Producer
Spotlight
Focus
on TOD
BUTTERFIELD 
Perhaps
more than any other group,
people of faith have used
community media as a vehicle
to send their message
to the local population.
Recordings of church services
have been a staple of
community media programming
throughout the United
States since its inception
in the early 1980s.
Tod
Butterfield, an MCM community
producer, is clearly part
of this tradition but
he delivers his message
with a different beat.
Tod is the producer of
JCVH-1, a youth oriented
Christian music video
program. JCVH-1 has been
showcasing the latest
in contemporary Christian
music on MCM and CCTV
(in Salem) for 10 years.
Wow!
Tod
agreed to share his community
media story with us.
How
did you get started with
your show, JCVH-1?
Almost
10 yrs ago I was doing
some local things with
the public access here
in town on 3rd Street.
Ruben Contreras (then
AT & T Community Access
Director) and I were talking
about ways to use public
access and how broad a
medium it is, how far
reaching.
The
only message I really
want to give is the Gospel,
the Good News. Ruben and
I talked about Christian
music video shows and
it was Ruben’s idea
that I start one. He was
goofing around with me
and he named the show.
Instead of VH-1, he suggested
JCVH-1 and I thought it
was a good idea. I mulled
it over for a few months
and decided I really wanted
to do it.
I was commuting to Salem
as a teacher and I took
some production classes
at CCTV in Salem. Liz
was my teacher for camera
and editing and I got
fired up and started having
fun shooting skaters in
Keizer. I used that footage
in between songs. It took
me about a year to find
a way to get the music
companies to send the
videos directly to me.
How
did you do that?
At
first I though I would
just call the record companies.
Eventually I found two
or three companies that
were exclusively focused
on sending music videos
out to shows like mine
– some are on broadcast
TV, some are on public
access. I filled out all
their paperwork and they
started sending me videos.
The first chunk I got
was a box full of VHS
and Beta tapes. McMinnville
Access moved up to Newberg,
so I would go up there
to do some of my editing
and transfer the tapes
into a format that I could
use. Now I work with two
main companies, one in
Nashville and one in New
Jersey. That keeps me
in all the videos I could
ever need.
Sometimes
on your show you are at
a concert or interviewing
performers. How do you
get access to the shows
and the performers?
There’s
an annual event in George,
Washington called Creation
Festival West. There are
usually about 40,000 campers
there. Every name in mainstream
Christian music is there
as well as those performing
punk, hard core, metal
and rap. The fringe sounds
have their own stage which
is often simultaneous
with the mainstream bands.
There’s a worship
tent with artists doing
the latest worship things.
It’s a huge venue.
There is one on the East
Coast, too.
All
the names in Christian
music are playing there
and most of them will
come through the press
tent. Most of them will
agree to have a camera
set up. I usually set
up next to their speaker
so I can get good sound.
And if I’m lucky
enough, they will call
on me and I’ll ask
a question so they’re
looking right at my camera,
so it looks like I’m
interviewing this top
star.
In
between the music videos,
you deliver your Gospel
message to what you imagine
is a youth audience. Why
are you doing this in
a music video context?
To
me, the music is the hook.
I am very interested in
well made music videos
and I am very interested
in Christian music. My
belief is that music was
originally designed to
give God glory and that’s
what it’s best used
for. Many, many times
I’ve had people
who have watched the show
because the video grabs
their attention. Then
there’s a one or
two minute message that’s
just long enough to give
them some truth that perks
their interest in Jesus.
Again, the original idea
came from Ruben. He thought
that a show like this
would reach more people
on a regular basis than
any youth pastor could
ever hope to reach, even
if he had a 200-300 person
youth group. The odds
are that the show would
reach a lot more than
that, people who don’t
necessarily go to church.
That was very exciting
to me – to get to
the folks who have heard
the Good News presented
to them in a simple way.
Do
you receive contact from
your viewers thru the
email and website addresses
you mention on the show?
Yes.
Over the years I’ve
had contact every time
I solicit it directly.
I get emails off and on,
people who want to say
thanks for putting the
show on. When I have giveaways
I get a lot of attention.—the
record companies give
me stuff to give away,
and that’s usually
the most effective.
Do
people send tell you about
their spiritual experiences?
Mostly
I hear from Christians
who are happy to see the
message out there and
think it’s great
to see a show that has
a good message.
Why
the special mission to
reach out to youth?
Having
been a teacher since 1988
and having been a rebellious
youth myself at one time,
I just have a heart for
people who think in an
alternative way. There
are enough alternative
videos to meet their needs.
Not very long ago I worked
with at risk teens in
the classroom. I was really
thinking of them every
time I put the show together
because I knew what was
appealing to them. It
was the same style of
music but it was music
with a really bad message.
I knew what the message
was because they would
sit there in class and
say it! And it was horrible
– you know, killing
cops, cussing and all
kinds of crazy stuff.
I wanted to show them
that they could have the
same kind of awesome,
grabby sound with a message
that could change their
lives.
Having
a series on community
TV for 10 years –
you’ve seen a lot
of technical changes –
from VHS to DVD, from
editing on analog, linear
decks to editing at home
on your computer –
what has that been like?
My
pastor’s dad had
a VHS camera and it was
great, I was on the cutting
edge!
But I’ll never forget,
one day I was going thru
CCTV and I saw a staff
member editing in a different
format – non linear
– so as soon as
I could get my hands on
one of their new cameras,
I was out there using
that. It took a long time
to get my computer to
be able to capture the
video, edit and send it
back to tape, and now,
DVD. But the software
has become so universal.
Just watch YouTube and
GodTube -- so many folks
are making videos, and
that’s made the
technology much smoother
working. Now I get Videomaker
magazine and I see that
the HD cameras are coming
down in price…I
get excited about all
the toys and gizmos that
come with the new technologies.
You
work independently –
have you ever considered
taking on a partner?
I
would love to share the
show with others. I did
have a helper once for
a little while, he was
great! He took my camera
to Creation Festival and
got all kinds of footage
– he did some hosting
of the show, he was a
natural. He shot video
at his high school and
got all kinds of great
natural school footage
and funny bits. He was
great. But when he and
my daughter broke up,
he went was no longer
available…!
What do you think is the
future of Christian music?
Christian
artists often copy the
style that’s popular
in “the world”
but sometimes they are
the ones that initiate
the sound that others
copy. There are artists
that everyone knows about
but may not know that
they are Christians.
For
example, Switchfoot, http://www.switchfoot.com/
POD, http://www.payableondeath.com/
and
many other well known
artists.
I
am seeing a surge in the
popularity of worship
music – live worship
services.
That genre is getting
popular with young people.
There is new music coming
out that gets kids excited
about worship –
an hour or two in a huge
auditorium with lights
and smoke and it’s
just a time to praise
the Lord. And the kids
love it. They feel that
that’s where they
should be.
The
worship music genre started
in the 80s with Delirious?
http://www.delirious.co.uk/html/
in England, intense rock
worship. Now worship music
is becoming more and more
widespread in churches
that have a contemporary
band; it’s becoming
more accepted.
What
are your future plans?
I’d
like to mentor others
who want to get a message
out. And I want to add
comedy and fake news to
JCVH-1, maybe cover local
news in one minute.
Thanks,
superTod!
You
can watch JCVH-1 every
Tuesday and Thursday at
5 PM and Saturday at 2:30
PM on Comcast Channel
11 and Verizon Channel
29.
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