5/5/2006 1:46:56 PM

Just curious, what do you display on the screen during special music such as solos, etc. I usually display a video loop such as running water or something to that effect but sometimes I feel like it is distracting since there is no need to display lyrics. Back in the day when I was new at all of this I would display a background with the artists' name. After a while I realized that was too cheesy. We are a medium size church and we don't have a need for IMAG.



Joe

5/5/2006 3:14:58 PM

We usually pick a graphic that supports the song. We generally don't put up the words, unless the artist requests it.

5/5/2006 4:03:48 PM

5/5/2006 6:44:33 PM

If possible, I try to show a graphic to match the song.  If not, then I just use another graphic I have used for in between the songs during the service.  I would be afraid a video file would be distracting and would take away from the song.

5/5/2006 7:03:02 PM

Yeah. If I didn't know what the song was, I'd tied the graphic graphically to whatever is on the screen before and after the song.

Hopefully the special music is also about what's before and after the song, but we don't need to get into that discussion here.

5/5/2006 7:20:35 PM

Ha, have you ever had this happen?  You plan all the graphics perfectly, but . . . nobody ever tells you the offertory has changed and happens to be a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the graphic you picked.  If I'm in the booth, I can pick something else but if I am not then I feel kind of silly watching a graphic that has nothing to do with the song.  Of course, I'm probably the only one who ever notices that too.

5/5/2006 10:30:14 PM

Another option is to pick a grapihic that matches the "lighting look" (for those using lightng).
and go with colours etc..

again hard if you dont get any pre productin time..

But some nice abstract colours like blue greens, working with a similar lighting look can be nice..

Rod

5/5/2006 11:34:04 PM

No. That's never happened here.

And if you believe that one, I've got a bridge I can sell you.

5/6/2006 6:06:40 AM

Hi Rod,

I never thought of that one!  I think I'll try it!  That way it wouldn't really matter what the song was. 

5/6/2006 8:25:56 AM

I always like to instruct my lighting guy to Take his "look" from the AV background used..

I see the two working hand in hand (AV + Lighting)

I have a few pics I could post to give you an idea if you want??

Rod

5/6/2006 12:51:14 PM

Rod,
I would like to see the pictures. Unfortunately the AV+Lighting option does not apply to my church at this time. We only have ambient white light with a few dimmer switches and chandeliers. I am working on that one. We are in a region of the U.S. (small-town, deep-south) that doesn't have many churches of my denomination that are quite that contemporary (yet). I am making every effort to bring ours up to date in technology while our new music minister is incorporating new music and instruments into the worship service. The attitude in our church so far has been once we make one step towards advancement we stop and savor it until it's obsolete before we make a move on something else. It's something we just accept and pray that God will keep opening hearts and minds to what reaches the lost in this technologically saturated world. Most are coming around. We have made some achievements such as adding a projection screen and SSP three years ago. Once the younger adults start getting more involved and their opinions are heard we will be able to see more changes.

Joe

5/6/2006 6:38:38 PM

It's not a crime to go to a black screen. That is better than displaying the wrong thing. If you routinely use black in the service then no one will notice when you use it because you don't have the right thing.

5/6/2006 8:07:37 PM

We never use a black screen so that in itself would be distracting. 

5/7/2006 8:56:39 AM

These photo's are from a conference called "Unlimited" hope they show the idea of lighting and background.. "Unlimited's" colour for the conference is Green.. I will throw in some other photo's from some of our regular gig's..

5/7/2006 8:59:18 AM

Another one of our "Fuel youth events", Notice some custom made backgrounds / logo's

5/7/2006 9:01:16 AM

This is from one of our "Fuel youth events"

5/7/2006 9:02:44 AM

This is another Youth event called "love that" nothing really to do with backgrounds and colours but thought I would ad it anyway.

5/7/2006 9:05:48 AM

These are from a recent youth event.. Notice the colours of the lighting and the backgrounds..

5/7/2006 10:09:56 AM

Rod,
Thank you for the pictures. I'm sure everyone will enjoy those as much as I have. You guys have it together. I look forward to being able to serve in an atmosphere like that someday.

Joe

5/7/2006 12:28:33 PM

Wow!!!  Now, that is just waaaaaaaaaaay too cool!  Awesome!  Thanks for posting your photos.  We have some cone things too.  How do you light yours?  It almost looks like you are projecting an image onto them?  Do you use special lighting to match your backgrounds during your regular church services?

5/8/2006 9:14:47 AM

We don't either. Our equivalent of a black screen is a particular motion-background cross.

5/8/2006 9:21:22 AM

Rod - great photos. Questions:

1. You said the photos were of a conference. Will your church also do something similar during a service?
2. On one of the photos I enlarged the talent's heads protruded above, and blocked, some words. Perhaps the projection should have been a bit higher.

5/8/2006 4:44:28 PM

Karen,

These are just backlit by two Par 56's, and a Robocolour in each. You can then use the moving lights to also light from above, with things like gobos and colours etc.

Rod

5/8/2006 4:55:56 PM

This is a yes and a no..

about 18mths ago, I moved to a new church, It's a small church (about 200 people). This was quite a change after running a tech crew within a large church for the last 16 years, with all the bells and whistles.

Our current church, doesnt have a lighting system. But I own some lighting gear that we do now use for all our youth services and our Sunday arvo church service that we run once a month.

We are about to enter a rebuilding phase due to the fact we have outgrown our current buildings. In the initial meeting to discuss the rebuilding, a lighting system is on the to do list.

5/8/2006 5:26:46 PM

Alot of the events we support, are done on very low or no budget's.. I have a team of volenteers that we put together from many different churches to do these events. so its a ministry thing we all do, on top of our regular jobs and own church..

The photo's I posted are from these events, and from four different venues. So most times we use the main projectors etc that are already installed in the churches. We bump in our own control equipment, and side projectors.  So often things arnt always as you would want.

Without saying anything to offend those churches. It is Interesting to see how the different AV systems have been set up, and in most cases what professional AV installers have advised for there set ups. In relation to the projector you are talking about in the picture, this church normally runs there worship team off stage to the left side,. so only the preacher will stand in that spot. Not what I would want, but they are happy with that .

In saying that we also do some big events with large budgets, where we have the freedom to do more.

Then again in some venues you just have no choice due to things like ceiling height, stage depth, Fly points etc. The "Love That" event in the marquee is a good example. If people stand up they couldnt see the bottom of the screen, so we just had to display the lyrics on the top half of the screen, at least SSP makes that very easy to do..

Rod

5/9/2006 5:30:30 AM

It sounds like you get to do an awful lot of fun things!!!