Biblical Artist Series: Jon Collins from BibleProject

Dr. Dru Johnson and Celina Durgin talk with Jon Collins, Co-Founder of BibleProject, about using animated videos to teach viewers how to read the Bible. BibleProject is a nonprofit animation studio with the goal of helping people become students of biblical literature through short explainer-style videos. In this episode, Jon provides a window into their creative process, from background research, to designing the images, to creating soundscapes.

Along the way, they discuss the broader role of art in helping us understand Scripture. Jon describes the difficulties of presenting a complex and difficult idea in a fun and interesting way, and how to solve these difficulties with certain artistic choices, such as a dialogue script and accurate representation of biblical characters. They also explore the "Prince of Egypt problem," how BibleProject seeks to unify the church, and even Gilmore Girls.

Show notes:

• 0:00 Understanding biblical themes
• 3:43 Researching a BibleProject video
• 7:09 How art can help us understand Scripture
• 10:47 Stylistic inspirations for BibleProject
• 15:18 Avoiding the "Prince of Egypt problem"
• 21:52 Using dialogue in explainer videos
• 24:57 Sound editing
• 27:08 The greatest contributions of BibleProject
• 29:38 Creating students of biblical literature

Videos mentioned in the episode:

• The Wisdom Series (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job)
• The Test
• Biblical Themes Series

Show notes by Micah Long.

Credits for the music used in this episode can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.