Young Filmmakers and the Art of Storytelling

Geoff: 00:00:00

Hey there.

Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:02

I'm Geoff and I'm glad to be back with you today.

Geoff: 00:00:05

Our guest is Daniel Morrison.

Geoff: 00:00:07

Daniel is a composer, actor, and producer Primarily, though he's done lots of other jobs in the industry, he loves Jesus and he's passionate about

Geoff: 00:00:16

creating stories that create emotion, tell the truth, and bless individuals.

Geoff: 00:00:22

God has used stories and songs to bless and encourage him over the years, and he wants to create stories that bless others as he has been blessed.

Geoff: 00:00:30

Welcome Daniel.

Daniel: 00:00:31

It's good to be here.

Geoff: 00:00:32

Yeah, it's great to catch up.

Geoff: 00:00:34

I first got to know you guys at Christian Worldview Festival, uh, not this one past, but the year before.

Geoff: 00:00:41

And, uh, you and your brothers, the Morrison Brothers, uh, you actually won some awards.

Geoff: 00:00:47

Uh, tell us what that was about.

Daniel: 00:00:49

So, uh, I believe that was, uh, we won an award for our short film.

Daniel: 00:00:53

I heard the bells.

Daniel: 00:00:54

Um, it was a animated project.

Daniel: 00:00:56

It was kind of like our first big project we had done as a, as a studio together.

Daniel: 00:01:00

So, yeah, it was a, it's a crazy story how that all kind of, I. Came about, it was actually a short story that my brother wrote kind of before we had really started doing films like Intensely.

Daniel: 00:01:11

But he had just written this short story, I think during COVID and, um, at this point in time we had done like, messed around with like stop motion animation.

Daniel: 00:01:18

That's what the film was, was stop motion animation.

Daniel: 00:01:20

And we had messed around with it growing up, but then we kind of all started pursuing different paths kind of professionally.

Daniel: 00:01:26

And so I was, uh, doing wedding videography at the time.

Daniel: 00:01:29

And, uh, my old.

Daniel: 00:01:30

Older brother had been, uh, hired by a production company and was doing professional video editing.

Daniel: 00:01:35

And then Jonathan was actually still in high school.

Daniel: 00:01:37

And so it was kind of the thing of like, he wrote this story like, Hey, we used to do this as kids.

Daniel: 00:01:41

Um, what if we kind of, came together and applied all the technical.

Daniel: 00:01:47

Stuff we've been learning about filmmaking over the last four years or whatever.

Daniel: 00:01:50

And, uh, try to put that back into the stop motion and see what we can do, see what kind of story we can tell with the means we had our availability.

Daniel: 00:01:57

Um, so we did that and the, yeah, it was a three year process.

Daniel: 00:02:01

Stop motion animation

Daniel: 00:02:02

is very time consuming.

Daniel: 00:02:04

Jonathan basically worked on it full-time for a year.

Daniel: 00:02:06

It was really crazy how it all came together, came down to the wire.

Daniel: 00:02:10

It was amazing.

Geoff: 00:02:11

And what was the award that you won?

Daniel: 00:02:12

I believe we won best animation at C-W-V-F-F,

Daniel: 00:02:16

but the film's done really well and well, we won best animation and best film score.

Geoff: 00:02:20

So you did the scoring I think,

Daniel: 00:02:22

Yes, I wrote the film score, which I was really unexpected

Daniel: 00:02:24

because, you know, it it, it was one of those things I felt, um, God gives you little moments of encouragement.

Daniel: 00:02:29

little

Daniel: 00:02:29

blessings.

Daniel: 00:02:30

And I, I was sitting there in an audience and my good friend Aaron Fullan, and he had like four films.

Daniel: 00:02:35

He's a composer actor as well.

Daniel: 00:02:37

yes.

Daniel: 00:02:37

He's been on our podcast.

Daniel: 00:02:38

He had like four films in there and he's a very talented composer.

Daniel: 00:02:42

And so like I

Daniel: 00:02:42

was getting so ready just to cheer for him and like, I

Daniel: 00:02:45

don't, I didn't know which one it was gonna be, but I was like, ah, let's go Aaron.

Daniel: 00:02:49

And then it was, I heard the bells and I was just, I was just floored.

Daniel: 00:02:51

So it was a pretty special moment.

Geoff: 00:02:53

Yeah, I remember you, um, you guys were pretty excited.

Geoff: 00:02:57

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:02:57

So, uh, let's just step back a a little bit.

Geoff: 00:02:59

You already touched on how, the three of you came together.

Geoff: 00:03:03

Uh, when did you actually start working on film score related things?

Geoff: 00:03:08

How old are you now?

Geoff: 00:03:08

Let's start there.

Daniel: 00:03:09

I'm 21.

Daniel: 00:03:10

21, turning 22.

Daniel: 00:03:12

Um, so started film or film scoring.

Daniel: 00:03:15

It's kind of a little different.

Daniel: 00:03:16

Um, so as kids we had, I. The, I guess like the film collection from like the San Antonio Christian Film

Daniel: 00:03:23

Festival is, that was like the one before, like C-W-F-F-I think.

Daniel: 00:03:27

And there were stop motion animations on there.

Daniel: 00:03:29

And so we would watch those over and over and over again.

Daniel: 00:03:32

And then we just started doing it.

Daniel: 00:03:34

And then we also were inspired by, uh, Greg Toll, he's had a very good stop motion animations and so.

Daniel: 00:03:40

We did it as kids.

Daniel: 00:03:42

So I guess that's when like we started doing film.

Daniel: 00:03:44

so we did that kind of in middle school and then we kind of stopped doing it for a bit and we got, I was very into competitive livestock

Daniel: 00:03:50

showing, so four H and uh, animal raising and breeding and stuff.

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So I did that for most of high school.

Daniel: 00:03:56

And then kind of towards the end of high school I was kinda like, what am I gonna do with my life?

Daniel: 00:04:00

I don't know what I can do.

Daniel: 00:04:01

And, uh, my brother had worked at a wedding venue and so I kind of had an easy in there.

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So I started working there.

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I think.

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When I was 17 or 18, I had never held a camera before.

Daniel: 00:04:11

I just started doing it.

Daniel: 00:04:13

It was crazy.

Daniel: 00:04:13

Very high stress.

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Shooting weddings is very high stress, but I learned a lot.

Daniel: 00:04:18

It's very much I just learned on the fly.

Daniel: 00:04:20

I. On the go.

Daniel: 00:04:21

And, uh, so that's how I started doing film.

Daniel: 00:04:24

The music side of it, my family's, uh, super musical.

Daniel: 00:04:26

My dad served in the United States Navy band for 23 years, so I've always grown around music.

Daniel: 00:04:31

But growing up, I, I always loved musical theater music, and it's one of those things where it's like, there's not really a reason why you just, you just did.

Daniel: 00:04:40

growing up.

Daniel: 00:04:40

I had this idea in my head of what music should sound like.

Daniel: 00:04:43

When I took, piano lessons, I was not a very good student because I found the music incredibly boring.

Daniel: 00:04:49

And I was like, why did somebody wanna play ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Daniel: 00:04:53

I was like, this is, there's no emotion, there's no feeling, there's no, there's no passion behind it.

Daniel: 00:04:57

I was kind of on this quest to like find, I. Cool.

Daniel: 00:05:00

Good emotional music.

Daniel: 00:05:02

I guess growing up I got exposed to different stuff and one that was, uh, sight and sound theaters, and I was just very inspired by the music.

Daniel: 00:05:07

So as soon as I got my hands on a keyboard and a laptop, I started MIDI programming, and I've been doing that ever since.

Geoff: 00:05:13

Cool.

Geoff: 00:05:13

Now, I heard the bells.

Geoff: 00:05:15

Was your first project, award-winning, that's pretty amazing for, well, you would've, most of you been teenagers at that time.

Geoff: 00:05:22

You're, you're, are you the middle child?

Geoff: 00:05:23

Is that

Daniel: 00:05:23

Yeah.

Daniel: 00:05:24

of of us three, so, yeah.

Daniel: 00:05:25

Mm-hmm.

Daniel: 00:05:26

So.

Geoff: 00:05:27

Okay,

Daniel: 00:05:28

I think it was either 19 or 20.

Geoff: 00:05:29

cool.

Geoff: 00:05:29

Well, not when you started

Daniel: 00:05:30

Yeah.

Daniel: 00:05:31

Not when, not when we started it.

Geoff: 00:05:33

Quite young.

Geoff: 00:05:33

Um, and it won awards.

Geoff: 00:05:34

That's a great way to start.

Geoff: 00:05:36

Uh, tell me about what you guys are doing now and or upcoming.

Daniel: 00:05:41

So, um, basically it's really cool to look back and see.

Daniel: 00:05:45

How God, you know, no, we're storytellers and, and we're telling stories, but it's really cool to look back and see how God is telling our story and, um, he's telling

Daniel: 00:05:52

everyone's story and it's seemingly random This, the, the more I learn about God.

Daniel: 00:05:57

I just love to see how he loves to use the random, non-spiritual things and turn them into spiritual milestones, I guess.

Daniel: 00:06:06

And, and looking back, you can see that in the moment you can't.

Daniel: 00:06:08

And that, kind of gives me faith and helps me just to trust God in the moment by moment of like taking the next step.

Daniel: 00:06:15

'cause you don't always know how it's gonna turn out.

Daniel: 00:06:16

But so we had done, I heard the bells.

Daniel: 00:06:18

We growing up, we watched lots of old tv, 1940s war movies, all that stuff.

Daniel: 00:06:24

We didn't actually watch a lot of like the more modern stuff just because.

Daniel: 00:06:27

That's, uh, the way my parents wanted to raise us.

Daniel: 00:06:30

And so we are, we are big history buffs, so that's one of the reasons we did, uh, the World War II story.

Daniel: 00:06:35

After that, we had the opportunity to do a live immersive World War II experience.

Daniel: 00:06:42

We collaborated with, uh, our local theater company to put it on is called the Victory Swing.

Daniel: 00:06:47

It basically is an immersive show.

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So an audience comes and they see the story play out, but then they also get to interact with the characters and dance in like a 1940s

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ballroom in London during the blitz when, uh, it was being bombed.

Daniel: 00:06:59

So we did this event, but for the event, we were like, this is our shot.

Daniel: 00:07:03

We've got live actors from the show.

Daniel: 00:07:04

We've got a little bit of money, uh, not a lot, and a lot of friends, and we're like, we're gonna make.

Daniel: 00:07:10

A trailer and we're just gonna like full send it because it was like, why not?

Daniel: 00:07:13

there's nothing to lose.

Daniel: 00:07:14

And like, it, it is like kind of our dream project.

Daniel: 00:07:16

We kind of pulled out all the stops and we, uh, shot this trailer for it,

Geoff: 00:07:20

seen it.

Geoff: 00:07:20

It's, it's really good.

Daniel: 00:07:21

so it was pretty crazy and it was one of our first times really experiencing working with a team, because before that it had been just the three of us, but just seeing

Daniel: 00:07:29

like how much you can do when you have other people working with you.

Geoff: 00:07:34

Oh, yeah.

Daniel: 00:07:35

It was quite the learning experience and leadership and, uh, responsibility, which, uh, we learned a lot

Geoff: 00:07:39

Mm-hmm.

Daniel: 00:07:40

But we did that and, um, we created the trailer and after the event was January last year, so we did the event.

Daniel: 00:07:48

Then that's when we got connected to George Escobar because, uh, we had known Georgia a little bit.

Daniel: 00:07:55

Kind of before he went to work for Focus on the Family, but um, he was back in the area.

Daniel: 00:07:59

My brother showed him the trailer and he is like, this is, this is really cool.

Daniel: 00:08:02

We can turn this into a film.

Daniel: 00:08:03

And so we started collaborating with him to, uh, write a script and just turn that into a project.

Geoff: 00:08:08

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:08:09

And, uh, what stage is

Daniel: 00:08:11

So we're still in the development stage.

Daniel: 00:08:13

Um, as I learned more about the film industry, it moves, it, it like, it either moves really slow or really fast, I feel like.

Daniel: 00:08:19

Um, so yeah, we're still in the development, writing the script, um, where we have the script out to, uh, get review of some individuals and, uh, yeah.

Daniel: 00:08:26

So it's, uh, still in the development stage, but uh, still moving forward.

Geoff: 00:08:30

And it's, uh, really great that as young people you can dedicate.

Geoff: 00:08:34

Yourself with passion to making things move forward.

Geoff: 00:08:37

And yes, in the film industry, things don't generally move fast, but they do take that dedication and consistent effort to keep it moving forward.

Geoff: 00:08:46

So that's cool.

Geoff: 00:08:47

So I wanna ask you some questions.

Geoff: 00:08:50

your bio, I read things about your desire and passion for creating stories that create emotion and tell the truth.

Geoff: 00:08:58

Uh, tell me what.

Geoff: 00:08:59

You think as a young filmmaker, what is impactful storytelling

Daniel: 00:09:03

So this, this is something I love talking about.

Daniel: 00:09:05

Impactful storytelling.

Daniel: 00:09:07

I like to say, when the fiction of your story impacts the reality of your audience,

Daniel: 00:09:13

truly meaningful storytelling takes place.

Daniel: 00:09:15

And what I mean by that is when, when you take a step back and look at it like filmmaking or theater, I, I do theater and filmmaking.

Daniel: 00:09:22

Um.

Daniel: 00:09:23

it can get a little stupid, you know, if you think about these are grow men in pretend costumes, running around, pretending to be heroes, pretending to be in

Daniel: 00:09:30

love, pretending to do yada, yada, yada, pretending, and, and in some cases, like doing interesting stuff, like you wouldn't do it every day, like stunts or whatever.

Daniel: 00:09:38

It's like dangerous stuff.

Daniel: 00:09:38

And it was like, what's the point?

Daniel: 00:09:40

You know?

Daniel: 00:09:41

It's like the fiction, like, yes, it's entertaining, but.

Daniel: 00:09:44

What's the point?

Daniel: 00:09:45

But it is when your fiction, when the fiction of those characters pretending and telling those stories, when the truth of what they're pretending,

Daniel: 00:09:54

when that impacts the people sitting in those seats in the audience.

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And that truth comes from the screen, from the stage and into the hearts of those audience members.

Daniel: 00:10:03

And it changes the way they see the world.

Daniel: 00:10:05

It changes the way they see God because they didn't just hear a sermon about.

Daniel: 00:10:10

What God should be.

Daniel: 00:10:11

They didn't just hear someone saying, this is the way the world works.

Daniel: 00:10:14

They experienced something, they saw something they, they lived something.

Daniel: 00:10:18

They went on that journey with that character, and that gave them a new perspective.

Daniel: 00:10:22

That changed the way they are gonna live their life.

Daniel: 00:10:25

When they walk out of that theater, when they walk out of that movie, it changed the way they see the world.

Daniel: 00:10:31

When the fiction of your story impacts the reality of your audience, that's when storytelling becomes truly meaningful.

Geoff: 00:10:38

That may be a quote that we take.

Geoff: 00:10:39

I mean, we own that quote now.

Geoff: 00:10:40

It's on our podcast.

Geoff: 00:10:42

We've got the copyright.

Daniel: 00:10:44

Uh, just talk to my licensing people first.

Daniel: 00:10:47

I've got my team of lawyers.

Geoff: 00:10:49

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:10:49

so tell us about honesty and truth in storytelling.

Daniel: 00:10:53

Okay.

Daniel: 00:10:53

This is another thing I love talking about because as I, so I started out as doing film, um, as a wedding videographer and then got

Daniel: 00:10:59

into like narrative stuff.

Daniel: 00:11:01

Alongside that, I started composing and so I got into film scoring and songwriting.

Daniel: 00:11:05

I'm mostly focusing more on songwriting now, musical theater style, songwriting stuff.

Daniel: 00:11:10

But as part of that, I've also started my acting journey, which has been just an incredible whirlwind and really crazy and I've really enjoyed it.

Daniel: 00:11:17

It's, it's one of the things growing up I was kind of, acting was something I always thought was super cool, but it was like, you shouldn't be an actor.

Daniel: 00:11:22

You know, that's not the smart wise thing to do.

Daniel: 00:11:25

And it wasn't until after high school actually that I started acting when I could drive.

Daniel: 00:11:29

Um.

Daniel: 00:11:30

Drive myself to rehearsals and you know, I, I felt, I was kind of like, oh, I've missed so much time.

Daniel: 00:11:35

'cause I've always started late and like, this is, my future's gone.

Daniel: 00:11:38

But, um, it's been really cool just to see God just open up doors and just allow me to pursue this.

Daniel: 00:11:44

and, and the crazy thing is it's all connected.

Daniel: 00:11:46

You know, it's like, it, storytelling is storytelling, whether you're writing film scores, whether you're editing, whether you're

Daniel: 00:11:52

shooting, whether you're the actor on stage or in front of the camera.

Daniel: 00:11:55

It's all the same.

Daniel: 00:11:56

And for me, what it gets down to truth.

Daniel: 00:11:59

Authenticity because what acting is, what storytelling is.

Daniel: 00:12:04

It's recreating life.

Daniel: 00:12:06

That's all.

Daniel: 00:12:06

It's, and as an audience, that's what we wanna see.

Daniel: 00:12:09

We wanna see a story.

Daniel: 00:12:11

A character is faced with a challenge, and then they have to overcome it.

Daniel: 00:12:16

They learn

Daniel: 00:12:17

something through it.

Daniel: 00:12:18

We want to see what they have to go through.

Daniel: 00:12:20

I think people can get very complicated, like, oh, all the technical stuff, and, and like, oh, you have to do this and this how you deliver the line.

Daniel: 00:12:26

It's like, no, tell the story.

Daniel: 00:12:28

With truth and how it needs to be told.

Daniel: 00:12:32

And there's, there's a vulnerability there, which God has been showing me and teaching me of.

Daniel: 00:12:38

When you're acting, when, when you're telling a story it can be very easy to go into, oh, this is the way other people tell this story.

Daniel: 00:12:44

I'm gonna copy them.

Daniel: 00:12:45

I'm gonna do it this way.

Daniel: 00:12:46

Um, and there's great, there's great stuff we've learned by copying others, but there's also what I'm discovering is the importance and the power of.

Daniel: 00:12:55

Stepping up and being, this is the way I see the world.

Daniel: 00:12:58

This is the way I've experienced it.

Daniel: 00:13:00

I can share this story with you because I have felt these same emotions.

Daniel: 00:13:03

I've cried when I've lost a loved one.

Daniel: 00:13:05

I've, I've been frustrated when I don't understand what God's doing and I can't hear him.

Daniel: 00:13:09

And I, I felt that emotion and I.

Daniel: 00:13:12

I'm not gonna hide behind a, a shell of what I want you to see.

Daniel: 00:13:16

I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you the way it is and it was really cool.

Daniel: 00:13:19

I had the opportunity to do some acting down in, uh, South Carolina.

Daniel: 00:13:22

I got to, play a New York Gang member in the crossing the switch blade, which is a story of,

Daniel: 00:13:27

I don't know if you're familiar, David

Daniel: 00:13:28

Wilkerson going, to the gangs in New York City.

Daniel: 00:13:30

And I got to play this gang member and it was such an amazing experience to get to play this character.

Daniel: 00:13:35

And, uh.

Daniel: 00:13:36

Then to experience how he feels trapped and he, he, you know, he's stuck in, in the gangs and he wants to get out, but he knows that people despise him and

Daniel: 00:13:44

like there's no way out then to come to the place where he encounters Jesus.

Daniel: 00:13:48

And he just breaks down crying and just, you know, he is like, we're not perfect.

Daniel: 00:13:52

We do, I didn't land it every time, but to, but the nights when, like, I just felt the Holy Spirit there and just like.

Daniel: 00:13:58

Was able just to share that.

Daniel: 00:13:59

It was, it was, it was so cool.

Daniel: 00:14:01

And you know, you feel how it impacts the audience when you as an actor are willing to go there.

Daniel: 00:14:05

That's the place I feel that kind of, uh, truth and vulnerability plays in storytelling and acting.

Geoff: 00:14:12

You've got a a lot of different irons in the fire.

Geoff: 00:14:15

What's upcoming for acting for you?

Daniel: 00:14:17

So there's another, like I said, God writes your story.

Daniel: 00:14:20

So I've just had the opportunity to audition for the Sight and Sound Conservatory.

Daniel: 00:14:24

They're a biblical theater up in Lancaster and Branson.

Daniel: 00:14:27

I had the opportunity to audition for them and I have just been accepted.

Daniel: 00:14:30

So I'll be going up there to work with them and, uh, study acting for the next bit while still working with Morrison Brothers.

Daniel: 00:14:36

But it is really crazy just to see.

Daniel: 00:14:40

How God brought that about.

Daniel: 00:14:41

It's something, you know, it's like I grew up with her music.

Daniel: 00:14:43

Their music is like, the reason I started writing music and, and like being interested in storytelling.

Daniel: 00:14:48

I remember the, the first time I saw one of the shows and I was like, wait, the music, the music was telling a story and it allowed me to feel what the character was feeling.

Geoff: 00:14:56

Yeah, it has a purpose.

Daniel: 00:14:58

had a purpose.

Daniel: 00:14:58

I was like, that's insane.

Daniel: 00:15:00

But you know, growing up it's like you believe a lot of lies growing up, um, about yourself and I, I feel like God has just been lately just.

Daniel: 00:15:07

Untangling and they're like, no, you're seeing this wrong.

Daniel: 00:15:10

You believe you're saying this about yourself, which isn't true.

Daniel: 00:15:12

And for so long I was like, oh, I didn't start acting until I was 19.

Daniel: 00:15:15

There's no way I'd ever be good enough or, uh, be able to audition or get up there or do anything.

Daniel: 00:15:20

But God brought it around and, you know, I said no to it so many times.

Daniel: 00:15:24

It was crazy just to go from last December, like I just had conversations with people and like I wanted to do it, but thought there's absolutely no way I was good enough.

Daniel: 00:15:32

And then it's like, and like I surrendered it and I gave it to him, but he's like.

Daniel: 00:15:37

You say that, but it's like, you know, we're imperfect.

Daniel: 00:15:39

I picked it up and I fought about it and I complained about it, you know, but God, he, he just started doing stuff for me and, really working in

Daniel: 00:15:45

me this desire to just tell stories that are meaningful and glorify him.

Daniel: 00:15:49

And then it came up.

Daniel: 00:15:51

I finally, I was like, what's the hurt in auditioning?

Daniel: 00:15:53

I can't lose anything.

Daniel: 00:15:54

I had missed the deadline by a week, but I had the number of one of the guys.

Daniel: 00:15:58

So I texted him.

Daniel: 00:15:58

I was like, Hey, can I still audition?

Daniel: 00:16:00

I had two weeks to audition while I was in rehearsals for another show.

Daniel: 00:16:03

My voice was completely wrecked from being in the show so I could hardly speak or sing, but God just worked it out.

Daniel: 00:16:10

So many things fell into place and then I did it and I had a, a ton of fun and, uh, yeah, I got accepted and so I'm just really excited to see what he has up there.

Daniel: 00:16:18

It's gonna be an adventure.

Daniel: 00:16:19

It.

Geoff: 00:16:19

There's a lesson in there for everybody with regards to encouraging young people.

Geoff: 00:16:23

You mentioned that you had examples of people telling you you couldn't do it.

Geoff: 00:16:27

I think you also talked about God writing your story.

Geoff: 00:16:30

I think that's very significant thing for all of us to recognize the place that God has in writing our stories and as characters we get to respond.

Geoff: 00:16:39

We do have free will, but he puts things in our path to encourage us or to direct.

Geoff: 00:16:44

Us or to bring the outcome that he's looking for in our life, bring us where he wants us to go and to be so we can be thankful that he's doing that and we can choose to

Geoff: 00:16:54

respond positively to the things that he brings into our life to create his will.

Daniel: 00:16:59

One other thing I just wanna touch on on that is he's writing our story and he's the one who Sanct defies us.

Daniel: 00:17:05

He is the one who is building us up into the man, into the woman of God that he wants us to be.

Geoff: 00:17:10

Mm-hmm.

Daniel: 00:17:11

when, just looking back, even over the, like the last few months, I did so many things, which should have gummed up the works.

Daniel: 00:17:18

What I've been realizing is it's a lot more important to have faith in God.

Daniel: 00:17:22

Than to have faith in your ability to have faith in God.

Daniel: 00:17:26

Just the this, the fact that I messed up in the middle of the process, I was doubting God and I was complaining, and like, there's so many reasons why it shouldn't have happened.

Daniel: 00:17:34

You aren't blessed because you're a good Christian and you have the perfect faith.

Geoff: 00:17:37

Mm-hmm.

Daniel: 00:17:38

You do it all right?

Daniel: 00:17:39

It's not about what you do, it's about what God does.

Daniel: 00:17:42

And, you know, that's, that's a lesson I'm still learning and I'm, I look forward to just to see how God continues to work that in me, to where it becomes less and less about

Daniel: 00:17:51

me and what I'm doing for him and more about what he's doing and joining him in that.

Geoff: 00:17:56

Great lessons there.

Geoff: 00:17:57

This is the last of our short series with young filmmakers.

Geoff: 00:18:00

It's really cool to hear from young people who are passionate about what they do.

Geoff: 00:18:05

I can be such an inspiration for all of us, and so I thank you for that.

Geoff: 00:18:10

Can you tell me where you would like to send people to find out more about you or to connect with you to have some links that you'd like to give?

Daniel: 00:18:18

If you go to morrison bros.net, that is where you

Daniel: 00:18:22

can find all of Morrison Bros stuff.

Daniel: 00:18:24

If you wanna follow me on social media, my Instagram is Daniel Morrison Media, and then I'm also on Spotify with a few, um, soundtracks and songs and stuff.

Daniel: 00:18:33

If you wanna check those out, feel free.

Daniel: 00:18:35

Daniel Morrison is where you'll find it.

Geoff: 00:18:37

And is there anywhere people can watch?

Geoff: 00:18:39

I heard the bells at this point.

Daniel: 00:18:40

That is on our website as well.

Daniel: 00:18:43

It's on YouTube, but you can get to it through the website.

Geoff: 00:18:46

Morrison

Daniel: 00:18:47

Yep.

Geoff: 00:18:48

Before we go, what would you like to leave with other young filmmakers or aspiring young filmmakers?

Geoff: 00:18:54

We may have some listeners who are already in the thick of it, like you, or we may have some who are just kind of exploring, finding the podcast, uh, interested, don't know how to start.

Geoff: 00:19:05

What would be some words of encouragement or final words that you'd like to share?

Daniel: 00:19:09

I think I would say trust the process, enjoy the process, learn to love the process.

Daniel: 00:19:14

And, and this is, this is me preaching to myself really.

Daniel: 00:19:18

Uh, God has brought me a long way, but growing up I hated the process.

Daniel: 00:19:23

I absolutely hated the process.

Daniel: 00:19:25

I wanted the end result.

Geoff: 00:19:27

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:19:27

Yeah.

Daniel: 00:19:27

I. when I was practicing piano, like I didn't care about playing piano, I just wanted to play the cool

Daniel: 00:19:32

song.

Daniel: 00:19:33

But God has just been really showing me the process is where it's at.

Daniel: 00:19:37

The process

Daniel: 00:19:38

is the good part.

Daniel: 00:19:39

And, um, we hear stories, we love stories about heroes, and, uh, we have this hero and then he goes into the valley and then he struggles and he fights and then he comes out.

Daniel: 00:19:49

But the struggle, the fight, that's where we're most engaged.

Daniel: 00:19:52

That's where what's gonna happen.

Geoff: 00:19:53

That's where he becomes the

Daniel: 00:19:55

That's where he becomes the hero.

Daniel: 00:19:56

But in our life, we're all like, uh, I can't be out of here.

Daniel: 00:20:00

I, I just want, I just wanna go to the end.

Daniel: 00:20:02

I, I want the victory.

Daniel: 00:20:04

I don't

Daniel: 00:20:04

want to be here where, where the good stuff is happening.

Daniel: 00:20:08

And so I'm, I'm really just preaching to myself, but to, for everyone, enjoy the process.

Daniel: 00:20:12

Get in there.

Daniel: 00:20:13

Find people who are better than you.

Daniel: 00:20:15

Become their friends and learn as much as you can from them.

Daniel: 00:20:19

Spend as much as time as you can with them and just sit there and grow.

Daniel: 00:20:24

Growing up, I was so invested in change.

Daniel: 00:20:28

I wanted to change my circumstances.

Daniel: 00:20:30

I wanted to be someone else.

Daniel: 00:20:31

I wanted to do something else, but I hated

Daniel: 00:20:34

growing.

Daniel: 00:20:34

But growing is how the change happens.

Daniel: 00:20:37

If you're growing, change is inevitable.

Daniel: 00:20:39

If you're

Daniel: 00:20:40

always seeking change, you're never taking time to grow.

Daniel: 00:20:42

If that makes sense.

Daniel: 00:20:43

And then, yeah, just let God, let God do it.

Daniel: 00:20:47

And this is something, again, I'm preaching to myself more than anything is like, let God tell the story.

Daniel: 00:20:52

Chill out, let God do his thing and you are enough.

Daniel: 00:20:56

You know, there are so many reasons I. Why I should be a failure, why I should not be here.

Daniel: 00:21:02

I struggled with school.

Daniel: 00:21:04

I sucked at spelling.

Daniel: 00:21:05

I'm still not great at spelling.

Daniel: 00:21:07

And you know, it's like growing up it's like, oh, I can't, so why I'm 18 and I can't even, I can't even spell the symbol words on the whatever.

Daniel: 00:21:14

It's like my life is gonna end, you know?

Daniel: 00:21:16

There's so many reasons.

Daniel: 00:21:19

But God

Daniel: 00:21:20

and, God is gonna do it, and he's gonna do it in a way that he gets the

Daniel: 00:21:24

glory.

Daniel: 00:21:25

I'm just, I'm just excited to continue in that journey and to enjoy it.

Daniel: 00:21:30

You know, let the story happen.

Daniel: 00:21:32

The results will come, the results will be whatever,

Daniel: 00:21:34

but like, I wanna, I wanna be in there, I wanna be enjoying the story, you know, I just wanna give it away, you know?

Daniel: 00:21:39

It's like,

Daniel: 00:21:40

what do we think this life is about?

Daniel: 00:21:42

It's not about what we can get, it's about what we can give.

Geoff: 00:21:45

Mm-hmm.

Daniel: 00:21:45

I think the more you grow, the more you just realize that's where it's at.

Daniel: 00:21:48

It's like, what can I give to somebody else?

Geoff: 00:21:51

That's a really good perspective and really good advice.

Geoff: 00:21:53

I really appreciate your sharing today and we look forward to following your career.

Geoff: 00:21:59

Uh, it's gonna be

Daniel: 00:21:59

Yeah.

Daniel: 00:22:00

Sounds good.