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JOSHUA ENCK, the director of A GREAT AWAKENING, explores history, sound, and storytelling in bringing George Whitefield to life.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a particular kind of electricity that runs through A GREAT AWAKENING\u2014and it\u2019s not just the familiar image of Benjamin Franklin\u2019s kite catching lightning in a storm. It\u2019s something more elusive. More human. More spiritual. A current that, as director and co-writer JOSHUA ENCK reveals, was as present behind the camera as it is within the story itself.<\/p>\n
Speaking with me about the film, Enck is quick to emphasize that authenticity\u2014historical, emotional, and spiritual\u2014was never negotiable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to phone anything in,\u201d he says, recalling the painstaking efforts to recreate Independence Hall down to its famously specific paint colors. \u201cThat beautiful, sacred place\u2026we wanted to stay true to what we know.\u201d\u00a0 Same with building and recreating Market Street of 1739.<\/p>\n
That commitment extended beyond aesthetics. At one point, Enck\u2019s production designer called with an unexpected detail: the flooring order for their reconstructed Independence Hall set came to exactly 1,776 square feet.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018You\u2019re kidding me,\u2019 I said,\u201d Enck laughs. \u201cHe showed me the receipt. There were moments like that all along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Divine intervention? Perhaps. At the very least, it\u2019s a fitting anecdote for a film rooted in what Enck describes as inspiration rather than invention.<\/p>\n
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Telling the Story Through Memory\u2014and a Grandson Named \u201cLightning Rod Jr.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n From the outset, A GREAT AWAKENING distinguishes itself structurally. Rather than a straightforward historical recounting, the film unfolds through the recollections of Benjamin Franklin in 1787, as he grapples with the discord of the Constitutional Convention.<\/p>\n The key to unlocking that narrative, however, came from an unexpected source: Franklin\u2019s grandson.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I learned his grandson\u2019s name was \u2018Lightning Rod Jr.\u2019 and that Franklin built him a print shop right in front of his house just before the Convention\u2014I said, \u2018This is gold,\u2019\u201d Enck recalls. \u201cWho better to hear this story than his grandson? He becomes the surrogate for the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n That framing device\u2014Franklin recounting the past to a curious younger generation\u2014anchors the film\u2019s non-linear design while allowing it to transition fluidly into the true heart of the story: Reverend George Whitefield.<\/p>\n Finding Whitefield\u2019s Voice\u2014Literally<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n If the film feels grounded in history, it\u2019s because much of it quite literally is.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of Whitefield\u2019s sermons in the film are original,\u201d Enck explains. \u201cWe have them because Franklin printed them.\u201d<\/p>\n The production leaned heavily on primary sources\u2014sermons, journals, and letters exchanged between Whitefield and Franklin\u2014resulting in a screenplay where, by Enck\u2019s estimate, \u201cabout 90% is based on fact and truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Actor and co-writer Jonathan Blair was given free rein to immerse himself in those texts.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him, \u2018Find a sermon about liberty. Find one about relationship versus religion,\u2019\u201d Enck says. \u201cHe memorized them. When we shot, they were long takes\u2014real performances.\u201d<\/p>\n The result is a film where rhetoric isn\u2019t stylized\u2014it\u2019s experienced. Where preaching becomes performance in the most cinematic sense.<\/p>\n Visual Grammar: Matching Scope to a Voice That Reached 30,000<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n For Enck and cinematographer Steve Buckwalter, the challenge wasn\u2019t simply how to depict history\u2014it was how to match the scale of Whitefield\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n \u201cWe kept asking, how can the visuals match a man whose voice could reach 30,000 people?\u201d Enck says.<\/p>\n The answer lies in the film\u2019s sweeping visual design\u2014anamorphic lenses, expansive compositions, and a deliberate embrace of cinematic scale rooted in both Sight & Sound\u2019s theatrical DNA and the influence of 80s and 90s epics.<\/p>\n \u201cWe grew up on films like Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>,\u201d he notes. \u201cWe wanted it to feel like a feast for the eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n But scale alone wasn\u2019t the goal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to impress people with detail\u2014we wanted it to serve the story.\u201d<\/p>\n That philosophy is evident in everything from the bustling recreation of colonial Philadelphia\u2014its brickwork and color palettes meticulously matched\u2014to the intimacy of quieter moments, where light and framing draw us inward rather than overwhelm.<\/p>\n Editing Time Without Losing the Audience<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Non-linear storytelling can easily fracture a narrative. Enck was determined that wouldn\u2019t happen here.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t ever want an audience member to say, \u2018Wait\u2014who is that? Where are we?\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cThat drives me crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Working with editor Jordan Graff, Enck focused on transitions that were not just seamless, but motivated. A knock at one door becomes another in a different time. A visual gesture carries across decades. Even elements like water\u2014clear turning to coal-black\u2014become connective tissue between scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe movie gets made three times,\u201d Enck notes. \u201cIn the script, on set, and in the edit. This is where it all comes together.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/awake11.png\")
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