Lighting can be a problem when churches or organizations use video production for image magnification or broadcast. We could write a book about lighting but here are a few simple things you can do to create a better presentation of your worship service or conference.
If you do church video and you don’t have Phil Cooke’s blog and Web site in your bookmarks, you need to add it. He always has fresh and irreverent (in the sense that they go against a traditional grain) suggestions and ideas. Here’s an excerpt from a recent blog post entitled, 14 Things Every Media Director Needs to Know—numbers 13 and 14.
Are you using email marketing for your church newsletters? Many churches are encouraging members of their congregation to receive church newsletters via email to help keep postage costs down. Two great resources to use inexpensively are Constant Contact and Mail Chimp. Read on for a brief summary and video link on each…
More than ever churches are utilizing colorful stage design to accompany contemporary worship services. However, the price to construct such a setting can be outrageous, and access to budget-friendly do-it-yourself (DIY) ideas are desperately needed. Below are a few sources for ideas on how you can accomplish this. Please join the conversation and post links, ideas and other ways stage design can be inexpensively executed.
What happens when it’s time to shoot an interview, it starts raining and you don’t have any lighting gear? I recently found myself in that situation while filming in India. When it became evident we’d have to shoot the interview indoors, I had to make it work.
Let’s face it, we have all seen the not so beautiful church Website. Maybe we are even guilty of creating one that we weren’t crazy about, but was our only option. Well no more! You will LOVE all the options available with Clover. You don’t have to be skilled in design or programming, in fact the company says their services were “made for people, not programmers.”
After finishing up school, I felt that I had more creative potential than I could express with my current knowledge of software, specifically within the Adobe Creative Suite. One great resource for me and other creative minded people, is the company Creative Techs. They are a Seattle based IT group, and a few years ago they started teaching classes and sending out tips for Creative professionals.
Here in the Creative Team, we have the pleasure of having as a resource our technical guru Jim Laing. Jim keeps us straight on everything you can imagine regarding computer upgrades, software, camera and other equipment purchases and anything else techie that you can think of. He calls himself a technical media industry consultant. We just say, “We love us some Jim!” Jim keeps us honest on our software licenses and regulations that we might not pay close enough attention to. This is one example: You might not have heard that some of those wireless mics that you’re using for video or for your church services, are now outlawed. Jim explains….
The Baptist State Convention recently held a video workshop. Cameras ranged from Mini DV to a Red 1, Sony EX1R and a 5D Mark II complete with rails, follow focus and external mic. Some attendees worried they weren’t using the newest technology, that without the latest gadgets they wouldn’t be able to produce quality products.
In the past I have had the opportunity to serve in my home church by providing graphics for outreach events. It is awesome to see how something so seemingly insignificant as a nice graphic impacts others. For example, last year we offered an outdoor drive-in movie as a outreach community event. I began by creating a “look” for the event as a means of branding the event. I won’t go off on a rabbit trail about the importance of branding until a later time, but just know that a consistent look throughout (or brand) throughout is VERY important in promoting any event, in this case an outreach community event.
This past weekend, we had a great time at the Videomakers Workshop which the BSCNC Creative Team sponsored and which Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh was a valuable partner. One of the highlights was the opportunity for people to see and get a demonstration of the Canon 5D Mark II camera, one of the hottest new tools for its niche out there today. Randy Durham with Credence Pictures showcased his 5D Mark II and stayed around for hours answer questions and explaining how the camera works. Today, he wrote a blog post entitled, Why I Bought a Canon 5D Mark II. Here’s an excerpt:
