In light of the necessity for virtual worship, for $100, a local professional producer/videographer is offering congregations a sleek and professional production for worship this Sunday (and in future weeks, as necessary). This is ideal for those who may not yet be “virtual self-sufficient”. The final product can be embedded into your websites and on all social media platforms, allowing you to have broader reach, especially if you encourage parishioners to share the link. You can also be creative in thinking about other neighborhood app platforms in which to share. The head of congregation can include verbiage (Collect and Gospel, etc.), additional participants in the service- all from remote locations, in keeping with social distancing. In addition to readers, a soloist or organist can record from their own respective home(s) or remote location(s), and each send his/her file to the videographer.
He can seamlessly clip all of the files together (per your instruction), including an introduction with your church’s logo, information for your online giving platforms, announcements, and other information you would like to include. It would also include a professionally finished ending. It will be uploaded on the company’s subscription Vimeo platform, allowing you to place it wherever you wish (and not having to bear the Vimeo expense). On Sunday, you can post it at the appointed time set for your worship, and everyone can tune in and participate in the service. This is just one solution to consider. A completed “run-through” example can be found at the following link . Again, this is only one solution. He has included some simple tips below. If interested, contact Superior Video Productions at niles@svproductions.com or via telephone at 713.320.4250 and ask for Niles Dillard. For analytical purposes, viewer information can be captured for your Average Sunday Attendance tracking. You will need to provide your service times for that purpose.
TIPS for filming with an iPad/iPhone:
- Turn the iPad/iPhone horizontal before you start recording. Change camera settings to 1080p at 30 fps.
- Have someone else record/film the video for you. Use a tripod for the filming session – don’t zoom. Instead, move the iPad/iPhone in relation to your subject. Also try to adjust your tripod (or alternative stand) height so that the iPad/iPhone is at eye level and approx. 2-5 ft away with your subject.
- Select a nice light source, place your subject in close proximity with the source diagonally in front of the subject at an angle of 45 degrees and preferably above your subject. If your area has natural lighting, then that will suffice.
- The background should be clean, and try not to film with windows directly in the background as this could cause the camera to constantly try to adjust to the lighting.
- Start the recording well before the subject begins speaking – it’s better to fix the timing during the professional editing process, than it is to lose the beginning of the desired content. Eliminate any background noise such as tv/radio etc.
- Plug the iPad/iPhone into a computer, preferably a Mac, and use the program Image Capture to transfer the footage to the hard drive or thumb drive. Do not email directly from the iPad/iPhone or text as compression will occur and drastically reduce the quality of the video. You can use an FTP program like WeTransfer. It’s free to send files up to 2GB in size, and does not require you to create an account/login. https://wetransfer.com/ (Another similar program includes Transfer Big Files, but there are an array of other online solutions used to transfer large computer files.)
