RichDrama - Blog #Short FilmsRichDrama - Blog #Short Filmshttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/tag/Short-FilmsFri, 17 Apr 2026 18:53:56 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[The First Great Awakening]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/TheFirstGreatAwakening I was blessed to perform the voices for two roles in the latest Star Spangled Adventures episode. The episode explores the First Great Aw ]]>

Star Spangled Adventures

I was blessed to perform the voices for two roles in the latest Star Spangled Adventures episode. The episode explores the First Great Awakening, which was key to the securing our liberties as a nation. As the Gospel message reached across denominational lines our people came together. As they found freedom in Christ, they yearned for freedom from tyrannical rule. 


It's my earnest prayer that this little animated film will have a part in the rise of the Third Great Awakening that we're seeing as thousands gather on secular universities to worship the Lord, and hundreds at a time are baptized in fountains, pickup beds, and wherever they find water. 


I play the pastor in the opening scene droning on through the genealogies. 

Then I play George Whitefield, one of the catalysts for the First Great Awakening. In this screenshot Whitefield (right) is talking with his friend, a young Benjamin Franklin:

You can watch it for free. It's Episode 37 at LittlePatriotsLearning.com. There you can find lessons based on the First Great Awakening written for students from kindergarten through fifth grade. 


Here's a trailer:

Screenshots used by permission. 


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I was blessed to play several voices at a Virginia studio for an upcoming Star Spangled Adventures film celebrating our nation's history for our SuperCentennial.

The nomination was for the series.

We appreciate your prayers for the team as they work to finish the film. 

]]>Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:43:19 -0500<![CDATA[14,000 Hours]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/14000HoursIf you haven't been following my series #ScriptureInTheNight  (on Facebook and Instagram ),  I've woken to a passage of Scripture every night s ]]>

Repairers of the Breach

If you haven't been following my series #ScriptureInTheNight (on Facebook and Instagram), I've woken to a passage of Scripture every night since Easter of 2023. You can read more about how this is an answer to prayer by clicking here, but in a nutshell, I'll wake, look at the clock, hear a book of the Bible, and look up that passage. Sometimes there is no such chapter or verse, so I carry the extra numbers into the next chapter. 


For the first two nights of 2025 I woke at exactly 2:40 a.m.:

I think it's funny that on the first night the lock screen said, "Try again." 


On New Year's Day morning I heard, "Nehemiah." Nehemiah 2 only has 20 verses, so I carried the extra numbers into the next chapter and arrived at Nehemiah 3:20:

On the first night of Hanukkah (which happened to be Christmas Day this year) I posted a photo of our candles. Then, starting on the 26th, my #ScriptureInTheNight has been something that has lent itself to using our candles as the backdrop. If you're not familiar with the Hanukkah candles, they're lit from the middle candle, and the other candles represent the eight days of Hanukkah, starting on the right. 


Anyway, tonight -- waking at the exact same time as last night -- I felt led to post the next verse: 

On New Year's Day, in the description of my post, I included a link to the video that sprang to mind when I read that night's #ScriptureInTheNight. It's about the importance of helping families who can't afford to get their children out of public schools, where they're being trained to be "God-hating secular humanists." I was blessed to play the narrator of a story about a Medieval village. The fable closes the video with an inspiring picture of the whole village rising up to defend their children from attackers. The reason the #ScriptureInTheNight reminded me of the video, is that the video reminded me of Isaiah 58:12: 


And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

 you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

 the restorer of streets to dwell in.


I sense that the reason the Lord woke me at the same time the first two nights of 2025 was to prompt me to share this important video more broadly: 

Let's do what we can this year to repair the breach, and protect our children. 


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Our year-end letter is at www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Christmas.

]]>Thu, 02 Jan 2025 04:24:51 -0500<![CDATA["I, Daniel"]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/IDanielThe preaching team at Westchester Chapel has been going through Ezekial 8 together, approaching it as if we're preparing to preach on that passage. Ezekiel's vision reminded me of a vision Evan Roberts had. Our "singing play" Songs of Revival shows how the Lord was calling Roberts...]]>

Voice of the Prophet

The preaching team at Westchester Chapel has been going through Ezekial 8 together, approaching it as if we're preparing to preach on that passage. Ezekiel's vision reminded me of a vision Evan Roberts had. Our "singing play" Songs of Revivalshows how the Lord was calling Roberts through a vision to preach to the young people in the church of his youth. His obedience sparked a broader movement of the Welsh Revival, which was already simmering. 


Later in Ezekiel 8 the prophet paints a sad picture of what people representing God to the world were doing. They thought they were doing good things, but the Lord showed Ezekiel their actions were an abomination. I wrote down, "Prophecy is declaring reality to a people who can't see clearly because of sin."


Tomorrow I was asked to do a dramatic reading from another prophet, Daniel. 


It reminded me that I did the voice of Daniel in a promotion for a preaching series on the Book of Daniel for Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, TN. Click the image below to watch it:

I got permission from the filmmakers at Evergreen Media Productions to share this, and at the end it advertises a sermon series that already happened at Trinity. At Westchester Chapel the Bible study will be online July 23 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Click here to us know if you'd like a link to join us. It will not be recorded.

I portray John the Baptist, a New Testament prophet, in a short piece called "The Lamb of God.” Before I wrote it for a performance at Africa Nazarene University I did a dramatization of that passage in the Jordan River near where it is believed that John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
]]>Sat, 22 Jul 2023 14:42:30 -0400<![CDATA[Beyond the Imagination]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/beyond-imagination
I submitted a short film to The Quarantine Film Festival with two minutes to spare! It's an adaptation from my one-man play The Acts.

I ended up reshooting it and it's now available to watch at home and for your church through www.RichDrama.com/Pentecost.

If your church is interested in showing it, please contact us through the contact form at the very bottom of this page.

I didn't have time to put credits in the film, so here they are:
Written, performed, filmed and edited by Rich Swingle
Concept: Through Fran Warren
Producers: Jim & Linda Warren
Dramaturgy: Jim and Linda Warren, James Masters, Joyce Swingle
Language Coaches: Adam Rudinsky (Hebrew), Tim Tsohantaridis (Greek), Wojtek Typrowicz (Latin) Warren Costume: Fran Warren
Acting coaches: Selah Cohen and Judy Dodd
Consultants: Micah Derksen, Ethan Hill, Jenny and Niklas Holmgren, Paula Kasica
Desert City by  Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source:  http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100564 Artist:  http://incompetech.com/
See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

]]>Fri, 01 May 2020 03:06:00 -0400<![CDATA[Return on Investment]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/return-on-investment
Students of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp study training videos before arriving, so once they're there we can jump straight into making a short film. This year's project was just posted, and you can see it below, or if you're reading this in an email, visit www.RichDrama.com/ReturnOnInvestment.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9oKvauiBhds



The dates have been set for the 2019 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp. Mark your calendars for June 23-29, and sign up to get the announcement that registration is open.
]]>Sat, 17 Nov 2018 18:15:00 -0500<![CDATA[RoboDad]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/robodad
I'm very excited to be working with Light Symphony Productions again on this very creative project! I play a scientist who has developed a robotic father, and I'll also play the voice of RoboDad! We had great fun!

It won the top prize for the Fatherhood CoMission film contest at the Christian Worldview Film Festival, 2018.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flightsym%2Fvideos%2F2072795699607532%2F&show_text=0&width=560

Here's a behind the scenes video:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Aj4WzfW_N8A

The last time I worked with this amazing team I was blessed to win "Best Actor in a Short Film" at the International Christian Film Festival.




I play a lead in  Providence, which  you can bring to your area.


]]>Thu, 14 Dec 2017 01:54:00 -0500<![CDATA[There]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/There
Joyce and I joined my former students William and Morgan Willer who directed and produced the short film, "There."

Joyce served on crew, and I played a father in search of his daughter during a storm who finds that he has to decide between getting her to safety and bringing a woman in labor to the hospital in his two-seat car.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/292505984
You Should Be THERE: A Short Film from William Willer on Vimeo.

Joyce played my character's wife while the cameras weren't rolling. It was a sociodrama to help get our 22nd screen daughter ready for an emotional phone call. We were all deeply moved by the experience, and hopefully you'll hear that in her performance.

It was an official selection at the Christian Worldview Film Festival and the International Christian Film and Music Festival, where I was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film.

They created this brilliant fundraising video for the project:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/243531200

William and Morgan attended the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in 2016. William was on the filmmaking side, and Morgan was one of my actors. Our film for that year, "Felicia's Pledge": www.RichDrama.com/FeliciasPledge. The next summer the siblings switched places and I got to work with William. Our short film that year was "Milk and Oranges": www.RichDrama.com/MilkAndOranges.

We also got to work with other  Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp alumni: Rebekah Stought, who plays the expectant mother, did both camps in the summer of 2015, when we offered two week-long camps back-to-back. Click here to see the film Rebekah directed and the two in which she performed.

Gwendelynn Martindale was a filmmaking student, and she wrote, produced and directed her own short film, " One Day."

Though RMCFC alumna Gabby Campana needed to be out of town during filming, she helped with pre and post-production. While we were there we got to see her in a really fun short she starred in with the Willers.

McKenzie set up a performance and
workshop for me in her church in
Albuquerque. Her brother, Matt,
also worked on "There."
While we were on set, RMCFC alumna McKenzie Harris got a call-back to play the lead in a Lamplighter Theatre production, of The Treasure of the Secret Cove. The production team listened to over 250 auditions without considering who the actors were. They were shocked to discover McKenzie was also an alumna of the Lamplighter Guild, where I got to teach this summer.

Of course, my own bride attended the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp as well. The short she directed (...for one scene, and she did cinematography, lighting and sound for other scenes) is now online: www.RichDrama.com/MilkAndOranges.

Here's a great review of "There":

https://www.youtube.com/embed/J-Io1BesinQ

Sign up for the announcement that registration is open for the next Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.
]]>Tue, 28 Nov 2017 21:11:00 -0500