There are times when we get into preparations for a new series at Seacoast Church that the metaphors come very easily; so was the case as we ramped up for our next teaching series, White Flag; based on the premise that to truly find victory in Christ, we must surrender our own will and ways to his.
From the time that we were able to confirm that this series would start just two weeks after Easter, we knew that our leadership wanted to be able to promote the series during the Easter weekend services when we would be likely to have many visitors.
I love it when we have the margin to create a good ‘teaser video’ and when the focal point is so simple… a white flag of surrender.
Here’s a peek at what we came up with and also a look behind the scenes from our shoot day:
I recently checked my stats and was surprised to find out how many people land here looking for information about doing church video announcements. I’m kind of a student of this medium and I watch a lot of other church’s work. So, getting back to my intent for this to be a resource for other church media producers, I submit the following video announcement tips:
Keep them short – It seems that no matter when you do announcements, they are a bit of a buzz-kill, so keep them short and to the point.
Keep your ‘open’ short – I’ve seen some examples of video announcements where the opening sequence is as long as the announcements themselves. Give the piece a quick pop of branding and get to the important stuff.
Make them matter – You can’t read the entire bulletin in that time (or at least you shouldn’t), so use the medium for the most important bits of information. I’m a believer that people don’t retain more than 2-3 items any way.
Use good talent – Find someone who is comfortable in front of the camera and can communicate well. Even better, find 2 or 3 good people and do more of a rotation so that things don’t get predictable or monotonous.
Use text to back up what is being said – In every crowd, you will have a certain amount of people that are visual learners; simple text graphics that backs up important dates and times can really help people remember what is coming up.
Good audio – This means investing in a good microphone so that your talent and the script can be understood, and also a good mix of music in the edit process.
Action steps – Give your viewers something to act on. “Sign up in the lobby”, “Register for the seminar on our website”, etc. I have found that the more that you encourage people to get involved, they will.
Visuals and B-roll – Don’t just move a talking head from the stage to the screen, tell a story! Use video and pictures to help get the point across. Visuals make anything much more ‘watchable’.
50% – One of the criteria that we use to determine if an item gets in to the video is that it should effect at least half of your congregation.
Celebrate – Don’t just use the time for calendar fodder, shoot video of a big church event and put together a short highlight reel to use during your announcements. This is a great way to show people what the life of the church looks like beyond the weekend. (this will also give you great footage to use for promoting the event the next time it rolls around)
Plan ahead – Get out in front of the calendar as best you can so that you can properly plan to promote or celebrate things well. I’ve seen great ideas become mediocre executions simply because there wasn’t enough time to really knock things out of the park.
COMMUNICATE – Sorry for the bold caps, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves with what I see other churches do; all too often it seems that video announcements become the poorly produced, missed attempt at church comedy, and nothing really gets communicated. Think about how a first-time visitor will learn about your church, consider what really needs to be said for people to retain the information, and don’t waste time. It takes time to produce good video and it takes up time in your church service – Do your best to communicate WELL.
This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, just some guidelines to help folks use the medium better. Do you have one to add here? (Questions are welcome too!)
As we (Seacoast Church) were just about ready to make the jump to DSLR, we found out about the new Sony NEX-FS-100. While I had only limited experience working with DSLRs, everything that I read and saw about the Sony made beautiful sense; Take all of what makes a DSLR amazing and actually incorporate them into a real video camera. Rather then me blathering on about all of the technical points, this video will do much better:
The sad thing is that we ordered a pair, they arrived, and I assembled one… and it sat on my desk for the better part of two weeks. I had just found out that I was being sent to Uganda and had way-too-much to get done prior to my departure. Oh, and did I mention that I would be taking this new machinery with me? I finally had to block out a couple of hours just days before I left to familiarize myself with the camera.
It was love at first sight.
While it won’t win any beauty contests, there is so much to love about this camera:
I love the view-finder screen; so much flexibility and beautifully clear.
The ‘kit’ lens that comes with it is a little slow, but still does really well. I’m curious to see it’s capabilities once we add some good Canon glass (coming soon!).
1080/24p – Just GORGEOUS!
Real XLR inputs – and it sounds really good! (One knock I’ve had on the HVX200 that we have been using for 3 years is that things sound one way while recording, but can end up clipping when you get things in the edit environment. Both the included shot-gun and my wireless lavs sound really clean)
The image stabilizer is so good! Shooting hand-held stuff at the end of the 80-200 lens looks really nice. This was especially great while in Uganda where I chose not to drag a tripod around.
I shot a lot of footage in Uganda and I will eventually post some of that, but this is a quick (literally, shot and edited in one day) project that I had to knock out upon my return to the states. It was used as a ‘table setter’ for a message by Greg Surratt about hell:
A quick shoot and a little coloring help from Magic Bullet on this video
While I’m still getting familiar with all that this camera offers, I’m really glad that we chose to go this route!
The following article is re-posted with permission from Tim Allen. Tim has spent several years creating media and motion graphics in the local church. He owns Tribal Iris, a post-production and finishing company. He lives in AZ with his wife and son. Find other great articles like this at www.shrinkthechurch.com.
I have said for a while now that media and ministry have a hard time working together. That is not to say that they can’t, or that they shouldn’t. It’s just difficult.
On one hand, ministry can be very spontaneous and last minute. God can move just before a gathering or event, and it’s off on another direction. I think that’s great, even ideal in some cases.
Media on the other hand is not last minute. A designer might be able to slam a logo together, but then there’s formatting, and printing and any kind of supplemental content that goes along with that. Then you bring video in the mix: scheduling, equipment needs, shooting, and the post work. Rendering can take hours – or days – all by itself. A recipe for disaster.
There’s not a lot you can do avoid certain circumstances, but there are ways to lessen the toll they may take to those involved.
Here is what I will say to the pastors out there:
Please, please say what’s on your heart. Don’t think you’re going to hurt our feelings because you’re not going to use our work. The roll of a creative team is to provide support and supplemental content to your message. So the message comes first. But here’s what I will ask. Respect our time, our families and our talents. If you walk in on Thursday (assuming your work week is Sunday – Thursday) and change everything, that is fine. Just don’t expect your team to be to produce the same caliber of material – if by then they can produce anything at all – that is custom-tailored for that message. If the media was that important to the message, I think God might have told you sooner, or spoken directly to the creative team as well.
I realize there are moments in every ministry where sometimes a sacrifice is asked of us, and we have to go above and beyond. That’s cool. But it can’t be the norm. You can’t play the “ministry” card every time you want to change your mind. Respect your creatives’ time, and give them room to breathe. Then when you really, really do need to ask them to go the extra mile it won’t feel like such an unreasonable ask.
To all you creatives out there:
Don’t get frustrated that the content has changed. Be grateful that you have a leader who is sensitive to what God wants to say in that moment. It are moments like these that amazing things often happen, and you should be able to provide what support you can.
Here is a possible solution: create a couple different design packages around your church identity. Make sure these elements are fully produced in the event of a “Thursday Bomb”. This is especially helpful for you video + motion graphics guys. Have something on standby that can fill in that gap and allows for consistency without you having to kill yourself every time these things happen. Pastors and leaders, give your team the time they need (in addition to their normal weekly tasks) to put these backup, standardized media kits together. It may not seem important right now, but trust me the day will come when you will be glad you have – or wish you had – these elements on standby.
Media and ministry have a tough relationship. However, if we take the time to understand each perspective – and respect what is involved on both sides – the process to get through the tough moments will no longer be stressful, but could prove to birth some of the most powerful moments in your ministry. Pastors will not longer get frustrated with missed expectations or a lack of consistency, but will value their creative team’s preparedness and the support they provide. Creatives will no longer be frustrated with unrealistic expectations and feeling like their time is not valued, but will grow to respect their pastor’s spontaneity and sensitivity toward what God is trying to accomplish in their ministry.
I’ve been working full-time in church environments for 5 years now and one of the things that I have come to love doing is sharing resources with other churches. I’ve seen/heard different conversations about whether or not churches should sell their various forms of media once they’ve been used, and I come out on the side of giving it all away.
Bottom line: Once a church has finished a sermon series, why not let any other church use it? Sure beats locking it away in an archive somewhere! I realize that it’s not an easy thing to set up an open source like Lifechurch has done (where you can download and use just about everything that they have ever produced), but there are ways of getting files to the churches that can put them to good use. Consider the smaller churches that just don’t have the people or resources but desire to do high-quality presentations of the Gospel.
Display your work! Graphic designers can utilize a flickr account to show the series/sermon graphics that they have. Video producers can use vimeo to show what they’ve done; Vimeo is a great site because you can make your videos available for download with a simple mouse click. Either way, make sure that you set up a good profile at sites like these so that people at other churches can contact you and make good connections with people. Networking works! I truly believe that this is an application of Acts 2:44-45 where believers are supposed to share what we have for the good of the (big C) church.
If you are looking for church resources and find something that another church has done that would work, please be sure to contact the original producer… It is such an honor for me whenever I hear from a church that wants to use something I have produced. I got an email today from a church in Lynden, Washington that wants to use a video that I did over a year ago because they said that it would fit so well with what their pastor is talking about. That is awesome; I don’t even give it a second thought! They get a video that can enhance a message and I make a new friend!
It all belongs to God; why not let His church use it?
[side note: At Seacoast Church, we will gladly let other churches use our various forms of media; you can see some of the video projects on our vimeo page]
I’ve posted before about bad church video announcements… I get on these kicks when I look around youtube and see stuff that I just can’t imagine playing in churches… ANY churches! Bottom line: Video is a GREAT way to inform your congregation about the events and other things going on at your church… when done with thought and intent. At the risk of offending the churches represented in the following not-so-good-examples, here are a few things to be mindful of:
1. Don’t shoot the video in your worship center; It’s where your people already are! If you’re going to have some one stand and simply READ the announcements from the pulpit on video, it’s no different than having that same person come up and do it live and you’re wasting valuable time shooting and editing…
2. Don’t let your high-schoolers do your main service announcements. If you have a group of teens that enjoy doing it, let them go crazy with their own age group. My intent for this rule is not to squash their zeal or energy, but to always be mindful of the first time visitor; Your announcements don’t have to look like the evening news, but they should look a little better than what most teens are capable of.
3. KISS Principle: Keep it simple, stupid! Stopping your service flow for announcements can be a huge momentum killer! If your church feels the need to spend any amount of time in a service for announcements, get to the main things and be done. Assess your announcements, choose the top 3-4 items and give them the time and attention necessary. You can’t give EVERY single item from the bulletin the prime-time spot. Keep the announcements short and to the point, and leave them wanting more. Give just enough information to make people want to seek out the rest on their own in the bulletin or on the church’s website. People don’t come to church to find out about your next bake sale, they come to encounter God… make sure that your announcements aren’t eating into that time.
IDEA – If you have 5+ minutes worth of content on a consistent basis, do your announcements in a 5 minute countdown prior to your service. This alleviates the need to give up any real time IN the service for announcements and, as an added bonus, encourages your people to get into their seats early, or at least ON TIME!
4. Green screens are for the Weather Channel! This is a technology that still just fascinates some people… and I just don’t get it. The thing about green screen is that doing it WELL is a skill that few have mastered so it usually comes off looking weird. If you’re committed to doing your announcements on video, you can shoot ANYWHERE! Are you doing a beach baptism? Shoot the video at the beach! Doing a service project with Habitat for Humanity? Shoot the video on at a job site! These visual reminders along with the critical dates/times will help people remember and want to get involved.
5.Skip the cheesy dialog! I don’t care of your church is in Wisconsin, no one needs that much cheese! Keep your points short and to the point. Communications can be entertaining, but when the “entertainment” isn’t entertaining, no one will remember your message.
(embedded video: )
6.Sound Matters! Many of the most common cameras have an audio input these days. Buy (or borrow) a mic so that it doesn’t sound like you shot your announcements in the bathroom.
7. Don’t try to knock-off pop culture. Do you know why the Sonic commercials are good? Because they spend a ga-zillion dollars on them, they have great actors, and they only last 30 seconds! I’m sorry, but this is an area where you will just look silly. Be creative! Blaze your own trail! Make your own stuff!
8. Count the cost! Communicating well is the whole reason that any church does any kind of announcements at all! Video announcements are costing some one a great deal of time, whether they are a volunteer or on staff… it takes time to plan, it takes time to shoot, it takes time to edit… When you communicate poorly, you waste everyone’s time and likely doom the event you’re promoting.
If your video was used here, I mean you no harm… I just have a passion for improving communications in the church! I’d love for this post to be a forum; please feel free to leave a comment with your ideas about video announcements… let’s have a dialog about making them better and hopefully help video producers and churches communicate better. Is there another rule you would add to this list?
We’ll call this a follow-up to my previous post about series promos; A bumper (also called a ‘roll-in”) is a short video piece that rolls just before the pastor comes up to speak.
A well done bumper uses visual elements and content that work in conjunction with what has been established as a look or theme for a given sermon series.
A good bumper should convey just enough information about what your congregation is about to experience… maybe a key verse of scripture and something visually compelling that draws your people in so that the pastor doesn’t have to give a big explanation about the series or sermon and can dive right into the message. Bumpers also have a very practical purpose in that they can give you 30-60 seconds to get the band off the stage and the pastor on (or make other staging changes) without having to do it in full view of the congregation.
Here’s a few examples:
Liar, Lunatic, or Lord was a really cool series based on some of the teachings of Jesus where his actions caused those around him to question who he really was. You don’t need a fancy set or paid actors; I shot this in downtown Charleston, SC with using one of our worship team’s drummers.
Switched was a series based on a handful of chapters in the Gospel of Luke where we saw that Jesus was telling stories that gave great examples of how, when we believe in Him, things in our life get “switched”. This was a unique series of bumpers, in that we came up with a different one each of the four weeks; each shot using a different person and dialog, but always on a shot on a set of train tracks to keep that theme as our constant.
Found was used in a four-week series that lead up to Easter this year (’09). This one was a bit of a challenge in that our graphic artist had come up with a great looking bulletin cover, depicting a message in a bottle washed up on the beach…This did not make a smooth transition to how we would translate that into video. After hitting 3 different specialty stores, I finally found (see what I did there?) an old-looking bottle, complete with a cork! You might imagine the looks that I got at the beach that day while shooting a bottle sloshing around in the surf! For music on this one, I recorded Martin Chalk, one of our worship leaders, singing Amazing Grace outside of our offices so that it had a similar “outside” sound to go with the footage.
In the spirit of the Dirt Conference, I’m going to start posting things here that that would be of value for churches in the way of free (or cheap) media (videos, motion backgrounds, stills, etc).
A great resource, if only because they make several pieces available for FREE each month) is Floodgate Productions. Cool thing is, once you sign in to take advantage of the free stuff, they will email you to let you know about other new resources. This is a great site to check regularly for your sermon or series needs and you’ll rarely pay more than $20 for a quality video. They have some cool pieces available right now to help churches with their Christmas media needs. Check them out!
I’m sure that there are those who would lump all Christian conferences into the same category… I used to be one of them. After two days in Little Rock, Arkansas, I can’t say that anymore. This conference was an amazing gathering of people who are passionate about media, methods and the madness that sometimes drives us to do what we do. While many may have thought that this would be a great opportunity to hear about new technologies and techniques, for me the biggest surprise was just how deep we were drawn in spiritually.
Wait a minute… you were surprised by the depth of spirituality at a Christian conference?
Yes… I knew that it would be a chance to meet great people and to talk about what we all do and how we do it, but the corporate worship and main sessions just blew me away! On day 2, the early labs were nearly interrupted by the extended time of communion and worship. We were privy to teaching from Rick Bezet, Neil Greathouse, Anne Jackson, and Dino Rizzo that was challenging at a level that I think most people were taken back by. They all hit us right in the heart..
Don’t lose the confidence of your calling
God wants us to experience HIM for ourselves
God wants your heart so much more than he wants your talent
Don’t let the potential for many keep you from your passion for one
Bottom line: None of us gets a free pass into God’s presence simply because we work or volunteer for churches!
I made amazing connections with some incredibly talented people… I had my head rocked by some innovative thinking… but nothing compared to the reconnection I had with my God, the One who gave me the desire to make videos and tell stories in the first place. For me, at the core of Dirt was a call to not rely on our talents but to always press deeper into God.
I’m sure that the top minds at Dirt are still evaluating all that happened in this inaugural event, but if they choose to do it again, get your whole creative team there… you won’t be sorry.
I’m heading out for Little Rock, AR this morning… time for the Dirt Conference! While there is much to be discussed in the way of technology and methodolgy, I’m most looking forward to the connections with others who do what I do! I’ll be posting updates as I am able. If you’re attending, track me down… I’d love to meet you! Watch for twitter updates with the hashtag: #Dirt09
The following article is re-posted with permission from 
I’ve been working full-time in church environments for 5 years now and one of the things that I have come to love doing is sharing resources with other churches. I’ve seen/heard different conversations about whether or not churches should sell their various forms of media once they’ve been used, and I come out on the side of giving it all away.
I’m sure that there are those who would lump all Christian conferences into the same category… I used to be one of them. After two days in Little Rock, Arkansas, I can’t say that anymore. This conference was an amazing gathering of people who are passionate about media, methods and the madness that sometimes drives us to do what we do. While many may have thought that this would be a great opportunity to hear about new technologies and techniques, for me the biggest surprise was just how deep we were drawn in spiritually.
