November and December are magical months. The cold weather
in many parts of the world is warmed by our celebrations of
the birth of Christ. Another birth that I always mark on my
calendar is on December 23rd, the birth date of the
Prophet Joseph Smith.
Two years ago, in order to celebrate the 200th anniversary
of the Prophet’s birth, Maurine and I produced a feature-length
DVD on Joseph and the Restoration. You’ve been aware of this
on Meridian throughout
the year. This film came about as a result of twenty years
of giving a special fireside presentation to hundreds of stakes
and audiences around the United States.
Witness in Your Home
Let me be frank with you. I want you
to have the Witness of the
Light DVD in your home and show this to your
families. I have spent the majority of my life studying and
researching the Prophet Joseph and I love sharing my witness
of him. I can guarantee that as you watch this movie you will
learn things you’ve not known before, you will see things in
sequence and in context, you will be lifted and your testimony
will be strengthened. I have given this to scores of thousands
of teenagers, even they calm down and listen and watch the whole
thing. The two-hour-plus length of the film goes by all too
quickly.
Click on Photos
to Enlarge
Dr. Nathan Smith's Medical Bag that was very likely at the operation
of young Joseph Smith.
One brother wrote:
”After watching it three and a half times, thus far,
I noticed that the ‘running time’ is two hours and sixteen minutes!
Each time I have experienced the video, it has taken me three
or four hours, because I keep stopping and rewinding and savoring
and making notes of so many treasures of which I had been unaware
before!”
Kieth Merrill, Meridian’s film editor,
wrote: “In writing, producing and directing Legacy for
the Church, I thought I came to know and understand Joseph Smith,
the man, the prophet, his life and times. When I watched Witness of the
Light I was dazzled by how much I have never
known. What a thrill it was.”
One woman wrote:
“I can’t tell you how much I love the new Joseph Smith DVD.
My husband and I watched it way into the night where normally
we would have just turned it off and finished it later.”
One man at the Palmyra Premiere of Witness of the
Light said, “I feel like this movie is of
epic proportion. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Another said, “All the pieces of Church History have fallen
in place for me. I feel like I understand the story as
a whole now.” One other said, “You said you wanted every
person who ever sees this (no exceptions) to learn at least
five new things. I feel like I’ve learned at least twenty.
Many of those stories, well, I’ve just never heard them before.”
One woman said, “I completely forgot where I was. How
long was this anyway?” I said to her, “Over two hours.”
She said, “I could have sworn it was only an hour.”
[To order the Joseph Smith DVD, click
here]
Some of Kieth Merrill’s Comments
When we produced Witness of the
Light we sent a copy to Kieth
Merrill to review. He shared his feelings with us about the
experience:
”I just finished watching Witness of the
Light. As
well as I know this story, I was enthralled from beginning to
end. As much as I thought I knew about this story I was fascinated
by facts, reflections and anecdotes I've never known. Being
hopelessly right-brained and in love and spellbound by images,
I found myself awash in your marvelous photographs. Having created
Legacy ― and made an attempt to re-create portions
of the history with moving pictures ― I was yet astounded
by your juxtaposition of history with actual locations ―
and stories with artifacts and remnants. I found it in fact
remarkable that so much of it remains to be seen; undeveloped,
rural and much like it must have been. Thank you SOOO much for
making this such a personal exploration. Thank you taking
me and staying with me very step of the way. Your soothing voice
and utter confidence in telling the story are irresistible.
Your images of the Sacred Grove, the "Sacred Susquehanna,"
and extraordinary landscapes were all marvelous context for
the detailed close-ups in which your candid narrative enable
me to see the imprint and impression of the prophet. You have
created yet one more legacy of your own faith. Witness of
the Light is a unique exploration of the prophet Joseph
that draws much of its power from your own reverent testimony.
That you have walked in his world and come to know him and come
to love him with cause can not help but strengthen all who are
fortunate enough to go on this journey with you.”
Light and texture in the Newel K. Whitney Store in Kirtland, Ohio.
Kieth then continued
with other comments in a review he did of the film:
“Unlike other documentary examinations
of Joseph Smith, Scot makes this one very personal. The enthralling
DVD is a compilation from the thousands of photographs Scot
has taken over more than three decades. You have seen Scot’s
photo essays on Meridian so you know already that he has a marvelous
eye. The images selected for Witness of the Light capture the
places and textures both intimate and broad. But more than that,
the flow of pictures capture feelings and a “sense of the events”
difficult to describe and wholly remarkable considering they
are still photographs.”
”Let me assure you: Witness of the
Light is not static. It moves and it is moving.
It begins with an up close and personal conversation with Scot
and Maurine. Scot appears on select locations throughout
the DVD. It is like being there with him. Much of the music
is familiar (from Merrill Jenson) and I found myself augmenting
the experience from my own treasure trove of testimony.
“But it is not the images or music
alone that make Witness of the Light a must-see for
everyone wishing to understand more and know the prophet better.
It is Scot himself who narrates the DVD with a casual intimacy
that puts him on the couch beside you. I can almost promise
you that you will hear things and feel things about Joseph Smith
that you’ve not known or felt before. He told me that
his goal is for everyone, no exceptions, to come away from this
film and experience having learned at least five new things
about Joseph. I have no doubt his goal will be achieved.”
[To order the Joseph Smith DVD, click
here]
What’s so Unique About This
Movie?
So, why this movie and what’s so
unique about it? I always like to go to the very places
where the events of Church History took place. I like
to be in the very rooms (where possible) in which Joseph received
the sacred revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants.
I want to walk the actual dirt road that led from Nauvoo to
Carthage and climb
the actual stairs of that infamous Jail. And more importantly,
I have wanted to take all of you, our beloved Meridian readers,
to all those places as well.
Morning light washes over the giant moonstones of the Nauvoo
Temple.
The thing that is so unique about
this film — done in sort of a Ken Burns’ style — is that all
the places we see and visit (save a rare couple of exceptions)
are the actual sites, the rooms, the homes, the buildings, the
very fields where these events of the Restoration took place.
I do not make any attempts to shoot a similar looking period
village or a home that may have looked about the same as the
one I’m talking about in the narration. I call it truth
in art. I believe there is power in this — and I believe
you will feel that.
Susquehanna River just seventeen miles from Harmony, Pennsylvania.
Restoration of the Melchizedek
Priesthood
Let me give you an example.
There is very little known about the restoration of the Melchizedek
Priesthood except that it took place along the banks of the
Susquehanna River. Ah, but Addison Everett, an early member of
the Church, documented that Joseph told him that it took place
some 16 or 17 miles up river from Harmony. This makes
sense and goes right along with how Joseph describes it in the
128th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“The voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between
Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville,
Broome County, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves
as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation
of the fulness of times!” (D&C
128: 20). I spent a half a day just measuring the distances
on the Susquehanna River from Harmony and from Colesville<
(now Ninevah ), New
York. I photographed the whole area between 16 and 17
miles up river from Harmony (even giving some slack for small
changes in the river’s course over the past 176 years).
I think, as you see those pictures, the details of the sacred
and little-known story of the restoration of the Melchizedek
Priesthood will come alive for you.
West side of the Hill Cumorah, not far from the top on September 22nd.
Visits of Moroni and Joseph on the Hill Cumorah
Let me give you one more example
(you really have to see these things in the movie to appreciate
them). The visitations of the Angel Moronito the Prophet
Joseph are so significant to the whole scheme of the Restoration,
I wanted to be as accurate as I could be to make that part of
the story come alive. So, I went to the Hill Cumorah
on September 22nd (the date of the yearly visits
of Moroni to Joseph
on that Hill) and shot all my pictures to be used for
the film on that date. I was frankly surprised.
I would have thought that the fall colors would have been in
full splendor. I was wrong. The colors are a rich,
almost spring-like green. I went to the west side of the
hill, not far from the top (as Joseph described it) and shot
all my pictures in that vicinity. I also did one more
thing with those pictures — in some cases I gently and carefully
overexposed some of those frames so as to give the feeling of
a being of light in the vicinity. It really gives quite
a feeling to those particular exposures — all done "in
camera" and "on location" — the very location.
I think you’ll like that.
[To order the Joseph Smith DVD, click
here]
Added Features
To aid you and your families we’ve
authored a section in the title page of the DVD called “FHE
Stories.” We actually tagged 52 of my favorite stories
(one a week for a year for Family Home Evening if you like)
so that you can easily access them for a lesson aid or an inspirational
story for your family. You’ll be able to click on a box,
for example, and be taken right to the story of Sophronia’s (Joseph’s sister) near death from typhoid fever.
You’ll be able to click on another box and just hear the harrowing
story of the mobbing at Hiram,Ohio.
Click on another box and you’ll be taken to the story behind
the receiving of the Word of Wisdom on February 27, 1833.
Click on yet another of the 52 choices and you will hear the
moving and tender story of the Martyrdom. If you just
had these stories alone it would be worth the cost of the DVD.
And by the way, to keep the cost in the same historical context,
we have priced the DVD at eighteen dollars and thirty cents
(1830).
To Order the Joseph Smith DVD
To order the Witness of the
Light DVD, simply go to www.ldsmag.com/joseph
and click Order DVD or Order Now. You will also want to view
the movie trailer to get a feeling for the show.
