A human video is a form of theater combining music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, Modern Dance

Modern dance

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...

 and drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, along with interpretive dance

Interpretive dance

Interpretive dance is a family of dance styles that seeks to translates particular feelings and emotions, human conditions, situations, or fantasies into movement and dramatic expression combined...

, American Sign Language

American Sign Language

American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...

, pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

, and classic mime. A human video consists of a song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 or medley

Medley (music)

In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks...

 played over loudspeakers while actors use rhythmic physical movement (gestures and other movements of the limbs and body) to communicate emotions to a given audience.

The performance is presented in a form similar to a music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

. It presents a story that illuminates a particular artistic intent through spatial relationships

Proxemics

Proxemics is the study of measurable distances between people as they interact. The term was introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1966...

, meaningful gestures

Gesture

A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body...

, and artistic movement

Kinesics

Kinesics is the interpretation of body language such as facial expressions and gestures — or, more formally, non-verbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body or the body as a whole.-Birdwhistell's work:...

. Human videos often contain a variety of communicative art forms, such as: interpretive dance

Interpretive dance

Interpretive dance is a family of dance styles that seeks to translates particular feelings and emotions, human conditions, situations, or fantasies into movement and dramatic expression combined...

, American Sign Language

American Sign Language

American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...

, pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

, and classic mime.

The story told within the video can be either implicit in the words of the song or a story written independently of the original artist's meaning.

Just as more "traditional" forms of theater can be situated on different types of stages, so too can these dramatic acts. This particular form of drama can perform the same text in many different venues without disrupting its meaning. Because it typically has no set

Set construction

Set construction is the process by which a set designer works in collaboration with the director of a production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production...

 and limited costume

Costume

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

s, it can be performed in nearly any location.

Props

Theatrical property

A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...

 are sometimes used, but are forbidden in some competitive venues. In this instance, props are restricted in an effort to force creativity-- because in the ideal Human Video, all actors on stage should be used to represent objects like crosses

Crucifix

A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....

, thrones, trees or giants. Actors movements demonstrate a story

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

 and the theme

Theme (literature)

A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...

 of the song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 being played.

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, one example of how human videos have permeated the culture

Culture of the United States

The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...

 is the inclusion of human videos in Fine Arts Festivals (Assemblies of God

Assemblies of God

The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...

, Pentecostal Holiness Church, Church of God

Church of God

Church of God is a name used by numerous, mostly unrelated Christian denominational bodies, most of which descend from either Pentecostal/Holiness or Adventist traditions.-Pentecostal Movement:*Church of God...

, etc.) and church ministry groups in a variety of Protestant denominations

Christian denomination

A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...

. The Fine Arts Festival in the Assemblies of God denomination is the largest and most intense of all competitions and categories. Churches spend many months and countless hours practicing in order to receive recognition at the National Fine Arts Festival.

History

The name "human video" was coined by Randy Phillips. He is reported to have performed the first "human video" in a chapel service at Central Bible College, with several elements used from the then quite popular Deaf Ministry Team. It was used more formally in the early 1990s at Phoenix First Assembly of God led by Pastor Tommy Barnett.

Although elements of the form have existed in theatre for centuries and no one can actually claim to have invented it, Mr. Phillips began to use it as a ministry tool first at church services and then for outreach and missions with the help of Pastor Lloyd Ziegler [1] and the ministry training program called Master's Commission [2].

Human Video Example

Solo Human Video Performed at NFAF

Human Video Performed at a Church

Human Video Using Sticks

Human Video performed at a Christian Event

Human Videos Website