All posts tagged screen

5 Ways To Improve Your On-Screen Content

by Kendall Conner on May 23, 2013 in How-To with No comments
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It’s 2013 and media is everywhere. When guests walk into your church, it’s no longer impressive that you have a screen on the wall. Down the street, McDonalds has six of them trying to convince you that McCafe is just as tasty as Starbucks. The Church has the greatest message on Earth and it deserves to be presented in a way that outshines all the other clutter fighting for our attention.

You might not have the equipment, software, or staff that you’d need to turn your creative vision into reality. However, there is one area that you can pour into that will make a huge difference no matter what budget you’re working with—content. I’ve visited numerous churches who didn’t have a tremendous budget for their video equipment, but was pleasantly surprised by their excellent use of content. So whether it’s countdowns, backgrounds, sermon slideshows, or mini-movies—it’s important to make sure they make a good impression and communicate the message well.

Read my “5 Ways To Improve Your On-Screen Content” on Echo Hub

Sunday’s Visual Setlist (5/19)

by Kendall Conner on May 20, 2013 in How-To with 2 Comments
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One of my favorite parts of the week is choosing which motions, stills, and countdown I’ll use for Sunday morning. This week, I used the “Color Filter” collection from Shift Worship. Following their lead, I used a free font called Nexa for my announcement and scripture slides, but I’ve been on a Myriad Pro kick for worship lyrics lately. Overall, it was a great set at our movie theater campus, but our normal shadowed-white text didn’t show up quite as well over these light bg’s at our traditional campus. (However, that’s definitely more of a projector in a bright environment problem. Future post coming soon for a projector replacement I’ve been working on.)

Color Filter Countdown  Color Filter Clouds  Color Filter Large  Color Filter Blank  Color Filter  Color Filter Corner

What content did you use on Sunday?

Join Me At The Echo Conference (+Promo Code)

by Kendall Conner on May 10, 2013 in Articles with 3 Comments
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This July, I’ll be headed to Dallas for my first time attending the Echo Conference—a church conference for artists, geeks, and storytellers. For several years, I have admired this conference from afar and really appreciated what these guys are doing for the Church. (And let’s be honest…I kind of fit all three criteria for their target audience.) Since I live in Baltimore, it’s not exactly an easy or inexpensive trip for me, but I made up my mind that I would raise the money this year for my wife and I to attend. We’re really expecting to learn a lot and we are super-stoked about the keynote and breakout speakers. My inner geek is also really giddy about getting some inspiration for media, lighting, stage design, and every other tiny detail in each session. But more than anything else, I’m looking forward to meeting people. My biggest hope is to finally connect with all of the people that I recognize best by a Twitter handle. I can only imagine how awesome it’s going to be to gather in one place with so many people with the same heart and drive as us.

I would love to have the opportunity to meet you there! I’m confident that it’s totally going to be worth the investment, but here’s a little something to help lighten the load a bit. Be sure to use the code “CR8IVEPR” to save 15% off of your registration price!

Find out more on the official Echo Conference page.

Free Motion of the Month – May ’13

by Kendall Conner on May 6, 2013 in Freebies with No comments
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This month, we’ve teamed up with Centerline New Media  and they’re hooking you up with an awesome motion that will work perfect in your services this Spring/Summer. It comes from their nature-meets-geometry service pack called “Creation’s Wonder” that’s been a favorite around our church.

This download includes HD and SD versions for PC & Mac, as well as JPEG stills.
This motion is free to download, but please do not redistribute. (Please link back to this page.)

To get this free motion, simply subscribe to receive our blog posts via email. You’ll receive your download link via email within the hour.

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Using Still Images To Create Focus

by Kendall Conner on April 30, 2013 in How-To with 2 Comments
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This past Sunday, I had the privilege of visiting Church of the Highlands for one of their many incredible weekend services. If there was one word that I could use to describe their approach to ministry, it would definitely be excellence.  It was almost dumbfounding to see the level of attention that their staff and volunteers gave to making every single detail radiate quality. Needless to say, I took a few notes. Here’s a quick snapshot that I grabbed with my phone, but it comes nowhere close to portraying the wow-factor that came with stepping foot inside the auditorium.

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There’s no question that COTH’s excellence rolled right over into their weekend media, as well. I was on the lookout for any budget-friendly techniques that I would be able to take home and apply in our church. I ended up picking up an idea from a very unexpected area, though. In between their first and second songs, while their campus pastor took the platform to welcome the congregation, I noticed that their motion background transitioned into a still graphic version of the same background. This immediately caught my attention because it did a fantastic job of adjusting the tone of the stage to better accommodate speaking rather than music. (Motion without music quickly becomes distracting rather than beneficial. Using a still image leads the crowd’s eyes to the talent.) Later in the service, I noticed that they would use this technique anytime that their worship leader exhorted (especially in the transitions between songs). Since my media team has been simply fading to our church logo during these moments for years, I was a little surprised by this method, but I quickly became a fan. I’m looking forward to trying it out this Sunday!

***Note: It’s important to point out that they did not merely press the pause button on the motion causing an abrupt halt. Instead, they faded (5 sec) into a still version of the same motion. This made for a smooth transition that was practically unnoticeable to the crowd.

Have you ever tried this method? Why not give it a try this weekend?

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