Will Thomas Talks About the Future of Cinema
Will Thomas is a truly remarkable director. He recently sat down with Trackstarz for an interview. This will be quite interesting because you get a look inside how this director works. You’ll get answers as to how he operates, his vision, as well as other topics.
He is based out of Atlanta Georgia. He has directed numerous Christian hip-hop videos and won awards for his work. He has a style that is wholly unique and recognizable. His work is definitely worthy of the praise it receives.
During this episode of Trackstarz, there were different topics covered. The first one discussed was the upcoming projects that Will Thomas would be working on. He mentioned that he would be responsible for several different music videos that would be debuting in the upcoming weeks.
More importantly, he mentioned his own filmmaking project, which was an upcoming short film dealing with racial tension that would be having a screening in Atlanta sometime in February. The name of the short film is called Pride and it talks about different racial tensions that have been experienced in the world in the past few years. It talks about finding a solution for both sides so that way these matters can be resolved peaceably. Mr. Thomas was very passionate about that project in his interview. He was also very proud of it, which he should be. That is a difficult topic for anyone to cover. If anyone could handle this material in a film it would be him.
In this interview, Mr. Thomas also talks about his love for the Christian hip-hop music genre. He Compares it to the secular hip-hop genre as well. He talks about how he fell in love with this type of music later on in life when he found it and decided to give up traditional hip-hop music so to speak.
He talks about liking this genre because of these certain styles that Christian artists have to make them sound similar to traditional hip-hop artists. To be honest that is what a lot of listeners like as well because, that is the sound that they relate to, it’s the lyrics that have the Christian qualities and positive messages that we seek out.
Mr. Thomas opened up about a lot of things. There’s one thing that sets him apart from other directors out there and that is his mention of God giving him a calling or putting something into his heart. He says that what God gave him the desire to do is to be able to help people, especially those struggling hip-hop artists who are unable to put their music out there or get funding for it. Thomas admits that he doesn’t have a lot of funding to be able to create videos for everyone but, he certainly does his best. That does not dim his desire to help all of these artists because they all have a voice and deserve to be heard, especially with the positive and uplifting spiritual messages that they are trying to preach.
He speaks very passionately about how he produces his videos and how it has always been his goal to put that positive spiritual message into his music. He talks very honestly about how at the end, when it’s all said and done, the music people want to hear, the music God wants to hear isn’t the worldly music that’s out there. He wants to hear the music about his word about his message, and it is very touching an admirable of this director to be so adamant that that is what he will put into his music videos.
One of the last things that he talks about in this interview is the evolution of Cinema as well. He points out how with each new generation of directors, things keep evolving. He talks about the younger directors being more in tune with popular culture, what’s going on, and how they’re developing a style that more people will be able to relate to today. These directors are taking things a step further and will be able to introduce a whole new generation of people to these incredible music videos.
He also expresses the importance of how he likes to create music videos that people can relate to. It’s important to show the real side of life but to do so in a cinematic way that will engage the audience as well as convey the message that he wants. This would be the message of the Gospel of Jesus and of God and of the importance of them in our lives. He’s also very honest with his own personal struggles, his own testimony, and how he found God and is still continuing to bring God into his life every day.
He also talked about the importance of having your voice heard. Ge mentioned that the most impactful moment for him was when he watched the movie The Passion of the Christ because he did not know that Christians could do big-budget movies like that. That movie had a profound impact on many people as well as him. He stresses the importance of being able to do these different projects for a variety of reasons.
He talks about the importance of everyone’s project being out there, and their voice being heard, especially those of the African-American Community, which is a real hot-button issue right now. But it is one that needs to be talked about and is very important because everyone needs to get their equal share. Hopefully, that is one of the things that he can achieve with his videos and his projects.
There is something that is more important than color and race to him, and that is the importance of being a Christian. He is very adamant about displaying Christian qualities before anything else. Many people will agree with that. When you become a Christian that is what you should display for everyone to see. Everyone should be able to identify you as a Christian first and foremost. He talks about displaying those biblical qualities in everything you do.
His projects always put Christ as well as biblical topics first. He does talk about topics that are prevalent to society today, but he brings a Christian approach to them. He asks himself that question that most Christians do, ‘What would Jesus do, or what would Jesus think or say about this?’ That is a unique aspect to take and definitely makes his projects stand out.
Toward the end of this interview, he talks about something that is extremely important, which is the relatability of videos and movies, and visual projects. He is definitely right about the money when he talks about that. Most videos that you see in this genre are not that relatable today. He talks about how it is important to identify your audience, your target members, who you would want to see this video, and how they would perceive it. You need to show your story in a way that the audience can say ‘hey that is just like me, or I’m going through something similar.’ They will relate to your movie or your video, and it will resonate with them and the message that you leave behind in your videos will imprint on them and stick with them.
This was a very eye-opening interview. It shed a lot of light on Christian filmmaking and video making. This director showed his passions, his projects as well as his different viewpoints and how Cinema has progressed. He also noted the inclusion of Christian filmmaking and Christian video making as well.
Author: Liv Hernandez
Related Radio Show: Trackstarz