[Written by Alicia Monroe]
There is a lamp that sits on stage behind Greg Hartley at church. Have you noticed it? Noticing that lamp threw me back to the summer I met William and how I was introduced to “Bumping the lamp.” William and I met at Pine Cove Summer camp in the summer of 2007. We were to be a part of the staff working at the family camp called Bluffs. To have any staff role during the summer, a week of orientation and training is required. During that week we learned important duties for our positions but also what expectations Pine Cove has for all its members of staff.
Orientation was held in a large auditorium so that all staff could be in attendance. The centerpiece on stage at orientation was a floor lamp. No other furniture, decor, or props. Just a lit floor lamp. The week began with all lights being turned off except that floor lamp and then a video began to play behind it on the projector. A minute-long clip of Who Framed Roger Rabbit plays. In the clip, Eddie is trying to be free of Roger while they are handcuffed together. It takes place in the secret back room in the diner. In this room is a hanging lamp and as Eddie, Roger and Delores have a lengthy conversation and walk back and forth in the room to saw off the handcuff connection, this said lamp is bumped several times and sent wildly swaying back and forth throughout this scene. Said scene ends and the director of Pine Cove walks out. He proceeds to tell us that when this scene was first produced the scene played out with no movement of the lamp and it felt long-winded and dragged out. Producers then asked for the scene to be modified with a lamp bump. Well, they were gifted not only with what they requested but animators worked hard to add in multiple lamp bumps that livened up the scene and added drama effect with light and shadow. This was a lot of work, with the light being in constant motion and having an animated character with a moving shadow that had to be created with each swing of the lamp.
The attention to detail and the drive of the animation team to go above and beyond the call was impressive and something to make a model of. So much so that Disney, while working on the movie, coined the phrase “Bumping the Lamp.” They use it in their own training process for team members to go “above and beyond what is expected, to create something genuinely great.” Our director finished with this, as Disney and other well-run companies have adopted this as a way for working and to be in pursuit of the best of the best experience so should we as Pine Cove staffers create that kind of atmosphere but more Christ-minded. Christ goes above and beyond the call, He died for my sin so that I might live. He continues to bless us beyond imagination. How too can we heed the call to go above and beyond what is expected of us in our everyday in order to create something great for His name and His glory? How can you bump the lamp today?
