Inside the Sojourn

Identity Theft Promo Video

Here's the promotional video for our Identity Theft series.  We studied the Citibank examples closely to match the look, feel and sound. Not bad if I do say so myself.  Rachael Condley did the voice over and our own Ryan Bennett was the on screen talent.

Recording the services - plans for improvement

In an earlier blog entry I alluded to the situation we currently have with getting a good live recording of the worship set (music).  It's one of the toughest things the audio team does every week.  Our goal is to give the listener the feel of being in the service when listening to the recording.  It's more an art than a science, and our guys that work the audio board do a good job given the constraints they work under. 

With the current system, the recording engineer shares the tiny space behind the audio desk in the elevated booth at the back of the sanctuary floor.  He plugs in headphones to try and hear what's going onto the CD, reaching over the house sound engineer to manage the little bit of control he's given on the shared mixing console.  It's far less than ideal and makes it incredibly challenging to produce an excellent recording.  Still, the guys get a decent result under the circumstances.

The balcony remodeling project will change everything once completed.  When we move in, the recording engineer will have a dedicated space, acoustically isolated from the sanctuary.  We will have a mixing console, studio monitors (speakers) and supporting gear to enable the engineer to have complete control over the mix that goes onto the CD every week (except for the quality of the performances, of course!).  Since we don't have the necessary equipment in the budget this year, it's likely to be 2008 before we can implement.  Though we'd love to do it sooner, it gives us something to look forward to in the near future.

The result should be a more inspiring recording of the musical portion of our services each week.  Hallelujah!

jumping through hoops...

The creative arts ministry includes musicians (singing and playing instruments), drama (acting, writing, directing, set design), and technical team (projection, sound, lighting).  It has a limited number of slots available in which to serve (e.g. 2 bass players is ideal, 4 would be too many).  A role that puts an individual in front of everyone or that exerts control over the experience of everyone that attends requires that the individual meet a lot of criteria. Those who serve as instrumentalists, singers, actors and technical team members have important "hoops" to jump through ("standards to meet") to be part of the team. So here's my set of hoops for your consideration.

1. Attitude.  Worship team members should live a life that makes it easy to see a meaningful relationship with Jesus.  Given their visibility, confidence balanced with humility is a must.  I have asked all the worship team members to stay prepared to lay down their participation if asked.  When holding a mic or guitar is viewed as an entitlement, it's time to find somewhere else to serve.

2. Skill.  Every aspect of the worship ministry requires a particular skill - not everyone can operate projection software and video equipment in lock step with a quickly moving event.  Musicians must play their instrument well, understand how to fit in stylistically with the band, read charts and lead sheets, and learn arrangements quickly.  Singers must have a good ear, sing dead on pitch, learn parts quickly, know how to blend their voice, memorize words so they don't end up staring at the projection, and present themselves well in front of a crowd.  Actors must memorize lines quickly, "get" the character, articulate well and know how to flow through a scene.

3. Availability.  We all have choices to make in 21st century Stillwater, America.  To be a contributor in the creative arts ministry, participants must practice, study, attend rehearsals, and be on time for services (which means arriving early).  Volunteers in this ministry must make it a high priority in their life.  We can't afford half-hearted commitment due to the amount of group preparation required.  As an example, we spend around 3 hours of group preparation time for 20 minutes on the platform each Sunday.

4. Heart.  Like any ongoing ministry of service, worship team members must have a heart for the role.  They must love worshiping God through creative arts and have a deep desire to be part of the team.

5. Timing.  We all have seasons in our life when it's time to do or not do certain things.  Even when all the above are just right, the time might not be.  Though I consider it unusual, it might not be the right time for someone who meets the first four criteria.

I get to work with a wonderful group of volunteers that have the attitude, skill, availability, heart and calling to do what they do week after week.  Please pray for the entire team regularly.  We work together to do our best to inspire our fellowship to worship God and follow Jesus' way of life more closely.

Sneak preview - upcoming video teaser

Here's the teaser video we'll show on September 2 and 9.  Enjoy...

Video - putting it together

You've probably noticed more use of video in the Sunday services over the last 12 months.  We started by producing teasers to show the two weeks prior to the start of a new series.  The first was for the Genesis series last year.  I just finished the latest installment that will show on Sep 2 and 9 for "The Architect - more than walls" (Nehemiah). 

Creating a short promotional video is an intense process that starts with a discussion of the concepts and issues highlighted in the next series.  We generate a story outline and then one of the team members drafts a script.  We review and edit the script for the video format (short, punchy statements rather than a narrative) and search for just the right photos or video footage to tell the story.  Jim and I discuss the type of music we want and I hit the studio to start composing and producing what's called the music bed (that's right ya'll, the music is all custom done in house).  Next, we recruit the voice talent (from Sunnybrook, of course) and record the narration. 

At this point, I start assembling the video using two different Mac systems.  With my Mac at home, I generate text graphics and clips that require special processing because I have the software required on that system.  Once the video is assembled, I load it into a relatively sophisticated recording system that sychronizes the video with the music and narration.  Timing of the narration is adjusted to perfectly match the visual images and everything is transferred to my MacBook pro laptop for final assembly of the video, music and narration.  The video is then exported to a format we can show on Sunday.

When it's all added up, a 2 minute video can easily exceed 10 man hours to produce, and that's working fast!  We invest the time because we believe the impact of a well done video is worth it.  We think we've struck a good balance with respect to the frequency of showing short videos (one for communion every 6 weeks or so, one promoting each upcoming sermon series).  Overuse of video would make it too mundane for the viewer, thus the impact would be reduced, and it would probably stretch me to the breaking point to produce much more than we currently do! 

We hope you like the way we're employing our creative skills with video.  If you have any suggestions for its use to improve effectiveness, let us know.  We're always thinking about how to improve our game.