Hey Folks,
Extra reader points to anyone who can tell me where we are in this picture :)
That's right...We are standing inside dear, quirky Matthew's tax booth from the popular TV series, the Chosen!
As huge Chosen fans, getting to tour the set from Seasons 1 & 2 (and a few scenes in 3) was incredible, but there's more to Capernaum Studios than just that particular set.
Our first stop on the tour was at the special effects building, where the lady who runs the building (forgot her name) makes everything from resin weapons to yak hair wigs to prosthetic body parts/wounds (using silicon and pigment). The quality of her work is stunning. She showed pictures of some of her wound projects and it all looked painfully realistic.
Next stop was the pre-apocolyptic and post-apocolyptic sets. From what I understood, they haven't been used in any movies yet, but are used every year during a walk-through play they do. I forgot to take pictures, but it was pretty cool. The pre-apocolyptic set looked like a normal, cute little town with a coffee shop, church, and couple other buildings. In the middle was a gazebo, which our tour guide had us all crowd into. He then pressed a button and the loudspeaker system began broadcasting chaotic sounds, screams, crashing, etc... Then, much to our surprise (and the dogs' terror) the gazebo floor began bouncing, tilting, and shaking. It was really neat, and set the mood for viewing the post-apocolyptic set. This featured the exact same town, but in shambles. The coffee shop was missing it's sign, store porches were collapsed, and everything was slanted, creating a visual illusion of chaos. The only thing untouched by the 'apocalypse' was the church building, standing tall and beautiful in the midst of the destroyed town. The symbolism of this was remarkable, and brought back memories of driving around Marshalltown, IA several years ago after a severe tornado devastated the town. As we drove through, we were surprised and touched to see that almost none of the many churches in that town had suffered major, if any damage. I think the most we saw was a broken window and a fallen tree, even when nearby home and building were destroyed. (I'll leave you to come up with your own explanations for this phenomena.)
Moving on, the next stop was the set seen in the movie Washington's Armor. We have not seen this movie, but after hearing about it here, our interest was piqued and we hope to watch it soon. The movie, based on factual accounts, follows young George Washington approximately 20-years prior to the Revolutionary War during his time serving as an officer in the British army leading up to the French and Indian War.
Next up was a stop in their staging building that featured state-of-the-art technology by a name that my non-techie self cannot remember. This technology is an extremely expensive system that has been used by Hollywood, but Capernaum Studios is one of the first to begin making it available to faith-based private filmmakers. One of the young men in charge of running the system showed us a short trailer they created using this system and then gave us a live demonstration of it's various capabilities, along with how it can make the filming process more efficient.
Last, but certainly not least, we finally got to tour the Capernaum set where Chosen Seasons 1 & 2, along with certain scenes from 3, were filmed. Immediately upon entering, we saw the location of one of my favorite Chosen scenes...when Jesus calls Mary by name out of her shame-filled life.
And then there's the outside of Simon Peter's house, where Eden crushes grapes while he tells her that Jesus has called him to be a fisher of men. (Funnily enough, the inside of Simon Peter's house is actually across the village square in a separate building.)
And, of course, Matthew's iconic tax booth! This lovably-awkward, former tax-collecter has somehow managed to become a family favorite when watching this TV show :) It felt a little unreal to step inside his booth.
Across the way from the booth is the location of Jesus' birth, which is also, quite ironically, also used for the scenes of John the Baptist's imprisonment.
Y'all might recognize this place by the hole in the roof...
This brick wall and fountain is where a confused and heartbroken Nicodemus watches as Jesus and the disciples set off for Samaria.
A few more random photos...
We were very surprised by just how small the set actually is compared to how it appears on camera in Chosen. The finished product feels like filming must have been happening in a legit city-sized set, but this set was so small you could stand in the center and see everything at once. It really displays how skilled filmmakers have to be in order to produce realistic, high-quality movies.
If you aren't familiar with the Chosen series, directed by Dallas Jenkins, I would highly recommend you check it out. Seasons 1, 2, & 3 are available for free on Angel Studios, and many episodes can be found on YouTube. Season 4 is set to premiere on February 1 and all episodes will be showing in theaters as well as available for free online. To get you started, here's Episodes 1 & 2 of Season 1 (Ep1 happens to contain the beautiful scene I mentioned above when Jesus calls Mary by name).
Until next time, God bless!
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