Love Is Loops
So right now I like theming the visuals (graphics & lights) to match the sermon graphics. I posted last week showing the sermon bumper and mentioned the loops I made. Well here they are:
If you checked out my last set of loops for the previous series you’ll see a common animation technique: wiggle loop from Dan Ebbert. I need to learn some new techniques for animating the artwork I get for sermon graphics.
Video Announcement Update (1 Month Down)
So we’ve been doing video announcements for a little over a month now (5 weeks to be exact). As with any change there is usually some resistance but we’ve received mostly positive feedback from the congregation.
The last video I posted was our very first go but we’ve polished the production a little more. Right now it takes me about 2 hours of post production to finish the spot. Here’s the most recent video but you can view all of LakeShore’s video announcements and videos on LakeShore’s YouTube Channel.
We started shooting inside against an overexposed white background. This helped with our audio quality. We try to get the script to our talent at least the day before. When we shoot we also write key words on a board besides the camera to cue her. The quality jumped up again when our light kit came in. I was only using 2 lights at first but now I use 5.
My next big change is going to be a new graphics package. The eye candy was nice but it’s way too long for this short of a piece. I need to keep the pace moving. I’m thinking of a 3-5 second transition instead. I just finished a busy season at work and it looks like things should be settling down for a little while.
Eventually we want to add more hosts into the rotation. But I wanted to control the variables as we tweaked the production workflow. I’d really like to find a good duo that can add humor to the announcements without being cheesy. Just to share here are a few churches who I think do great video announcements:
New Life Church: I think the duo has good chemistry. The graphics are clean and consistent (the mouse click graphic is a template I saw at revostock.com).
ShireLive : I really like the cinematography that goes into their shoots. Guess their location doesn’t hurt. And their accents just sound cool. But it’s a good variety of talent.
Love Is Sermon Bumper
Last weekend we started a new sermon series called “Love Is”. The series is based on 1 Cor 13 and we wanted a summer vibe with a 70s feeling. Here’s the graphic I was given:
It’s our senior pastor’s family in the van so there is some inside humor going on.
Here’s the bumper I created for it:
I took some ideas from Brad Zimmerman at ChurchMediaDesign.tv and his podcast episode 70. The idea is using a basic piece of animation and repeating it over and over. Check out this tutorial at Greyscalegorilla.com
From the graphic I was given I had to basically recreate the lines in a way that I could animate. I could have animated the stroke of several concentric paths but I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted this to turn out. So the building block of this animation is 1 comp with 7 masks that stagger in their animation. This pre-comp was distorted using the warp tool. I used Andrew Kramer’s SureTarget presets for my camera moves. It’s a great preset for quickly animating a camera in 3D space but I loose some of the flexibility. One option would be to use the sure target presets to get my rough animation. Then apply keyframes to my camera and then unparent it from the null and tweak the animation.
To round out the video package I also made 2 loops and a countdown. I need to figure out some more creative ways of making loops that echo the theme of the GFX than just using a looping wiggle expression.
LakeShore Architectural Projection
One of the areas I’m enjoying being creative is with the lighting and visuals we use in our services at LakeShore. Here’s some of the tools we have to create an atmosphere in the sanctuary:
– 16:9 Center Screen: We use this for video playback (preservice countdown, video announcements, bumpers, etc…, visual themes during worship, main sermon points
– Two 4:3 Side Screens: We use these for announcement loops before service, lyrics during worship, scripture passages during the sermon
– Three Architectural Projectors: They are the same feed off the same computer. I’d like to add a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go in the future. We don’t use the center screen as the sight lines blind the band and singers
– 12 Par Can lights with color scrollers
These are a lot of elements to change during a service. But I like simplicity and themes. So when this last sermon series started I wanted to create visuals and lighting that echoed the sermon graphics.
Here’s the sermon graphics that the children’s church pastor/ graphic design handed off to me:
I took the wave elements and created:
-Wall Graphics
-Lyric Loops
-Center Eye Candy Loop (no lyrics)
-Countdown
I then used the lights and used the blue, yellow and green color palette. Here’s how it ended up looking:
It’s a lot of work at the beginning of a series but then we kept this look throughout the series. I have to say I really like it. It’s using the media with a purpose. It’s not just random images/ loops but setting a tone for a season.
If you want to see some of the HD elements in motion you can check out LakeShore’s YouTube Channel.
Here are the various elements embeded (RSS Readers will have to check the original post)
Bumper:
Countdown:
16:9 Loop No Lyrics:
4:3 Loop:
16:9 Loop:
Creative Church Media 