Same holds true for our churches.

Drums/no drums? Choir/no choir? Regular/Decaf? Pews/Chairs? NIV/KJV/ESV?

Good/bad, right/wrong - I don't know - but I just can't help but laugh at us (the Church) when I see 4 churches on a street corner (literally sharing parking lots - I've seen it) that all look/sound/smell/act the same, and the only difference is the color of carpet. Or the Bible translation. Or the use of technology...etc...

I'm being silly; but it's true! I know of many churches who split, hired the same architect, and wanted to make a copy of the church they grew up in BUT wanted to change one thing...all in the name of making it just what they want.

So, at first glance you (and myself) might think that we are just plain silly in our American Country Club churches, and if you look at any other church around the world you'll see just how blessed (spoiled) we are.

But my wife and I were talking about this yesterday, and just had to ask: Is going to a Burger King church really so bad?
We couldn't come up with an answer; just thoughts:
(These are in context of a Believer who is searching for a new church community to call home)

If you're like most people, you have music, teaching, vibe, and other taste preferences when it comes to corporate worship gatherings.

So, if you go a church where the music style is NOT what you like, do you call that a distraction? Can it be? Possibly.

What if the teaching is amazing, and REALLY speaks to you? Do you stay? Do you "SUFFER" through the music for the teaching? (I can't believe I used that word: suffer)

What if you LOVE the music, but don't get anything out of the teaching? Do you worship corporately at that church but listen to another pastor online? (We did; and I bet a lot reading do too.)

What if you have kids? The Children's Church at this church is the best in the area; but the rest of the "church" is bland to you...

So, can you/do you strive to find the "perfect" church?
(Ha...yeah, there is no such thing. But I am saying that in our country, it's likely that you are able to find a church home that "fits" your preferences.)

The bottom line questions to ask are is:
Do you worship "better" (whatever that means) in a church that fits your preferences? If you do, is that...wrong?

Are we so conditioned in our country to not stop looking/wanting until we find the "perfect fit", that we are never satisfied with the simple act of worshiping Christ?

Thoughts?

The Digital Age is the band on Planet Wisdom, a student conference tour put on by Youth Specialties.  Before we started the tour, the band gave me a set list of songs which I listened to for weeks to get them engrained in my head and heart.  Because of that, I don't necessarily have to have every cue programmed out - there is something raw and human about being able to follow exactly what the band is doing AND the energy of the room. 

What is pre-programmed:  Movement effects and static positions.

What I am manually clicking/pushing: color and gobo choices, strobes, blinders, and of course manually riding the intensity faders for all groups of lights. (Now, the color and gobo pallets are pre-built, but I'm changing rotation, color fades...etc..all live)

So, if you watch those videos on YouTube; just watch how my wife and I coordinating projection media and lighting.  Also, watch how the lighting is changed to match each moment of the worship song.

If you watch all of "After All (Holy)", it's probably my favorite example of matching our lighting and projection.  We pick a visual theme to match the song, and know the song well enough to feel out the movement and the flow.

 Nope.  My wife and I attend a church plant in north Texas, where a couple hundred people share a building with a Korean church, sit in pews, have no lighting, and where their media consists of white text on a black background.

What a refresher. Why?

My wife and I go there to worship together, through song/scripture/communion/hearing the word.  While my wife and I also worship together when RUNNING media/lighting together for events/other churches, this church community is different, and we need it.

We both come from church backgrounds (heavily involved in churches growing up) so to always be "serving" or "working" in a church isn't necessarily a healthy thing. I'm in 2-3 churches a week helping them with projection and lighting, so coming home and NOT having to think about that on a Sunday is quite nice at times.

Sometimes we need our space and a refresher, where we can simply worship without having to push a button on a computer or light console.

I always respond with: "Are you in the worship planning meetings?"

If you are, then it's a lot easier.  Hopefully if you are in the meetings with the senior pastor and worship pastor, you are able to listen to where they are going with the service, what the vibe is, what the message is, and pick visuals/lighting accordingly.

If not - then both you and your leadership have some homework.  It's so important to have communication between tech and pastors, but sometimes it's just not possible to have the tech person in those meetings. 

So, (worship pastors, I'm mainly talking to YOU); it's up to you to give the tech people and the visual worship leaders direction, when/if needed.  This might mean making notes on the order of worship, shooting them an email of what you're expecting, and giving them some general guidelines on what visuals/lighting to pick. 

Here are some simply suggestions on how to guide visually:

ORDER OF WORSHIP

1.  Walk-in.  (Brighter house lights; Announcement loop on screen)

2. "Song" - It's upbeat, think high-energy yellow. The song talks about Christ is risen from the grave, so something joyful. No grunge imagery - think; clean.

3. "Song" - Medium tempo - maybe a blue or dark purple image.  The song talks about how Christ lifted us up out of darkness.  Would be great to fade from blue/dark purple to yellow on the bridge when we get louder.

4. "Song"  - Slow tempo - red crosses.  The song talks about how Christ died for our sins.  It's more somber, but prepares us for the message, so something still, red, and a cross/crown of thorns...etc.

 Get the idea? Good! Now go try it. :-)

Usually they are talking about some piece of technology - a lighting rig, projection display, audio system...etc.  There isn't anything wrong with saying that - I say it myself! :)

But where I have the issue is when we start saying "That was an awesome _______ at that conference, and I am leaving this conference wishing I had THAT."  OR more simply: "If I only had _______ just like the conference/event had, we could be more effective in our services."

I know that technology can enhance worship and help share the message; I'm not talking about that.  I talking about the mentality that might creep in that says "We can't be effective without all of THAT technology."

Remember that the particular event/conference that you attended crafted those experiences MONTHS ago, and even if you HAD all the same technology, it might not fit YOUR CONTEXT.  It worked for the conference, but maybe not for your church community.

So I want to encourage you - next time you leave some big event/conference with all the production value, remember that God placed you in your church and your church in a community for a reason.  He also has given you skills and talent to use the technology currently at your disposal to help spread the gospel.  So be thankful. :-)  

Technology doesn't replace anything - it only enhances what's already there.

There isn't anything wrong with modern churches, but I often feel like we are building our church meeting space based on a mold that originated from Starbucks. And while it's cool and vibey; but I sometimes feel like that look is void of reverence and uniqueness.

Granted, it's all within context and sometimes looking like a Starbucks is what's needed. However, this isn't always the case and now you change the look to match the theme/message/story of your church.

Environmental Projection allows us to do that - that's my goal with EP; it's not a show or the latest video fad.  I truly believe EP can transform churches not only visually, but help bring the reverence back into worship.

It's great to be able to take a shot like this from a cathedral:

Go into a church like this: 

And transform it into this: 

 You might be familiar with their content - it's all over our pictures of Environmental Projection setups on the website, with great worship imagery as this:

Why?

As always, there is a BIG 'why' as to why we acquired Awake Images, and it's this:

We want to bring sacred imagery back into worship. 

I feel like our church services are so saturated with watered-down imagery, and while the media might be interesting to look at, I feel like there is a depth we (the Church) are missing. This imagery that we have available now is beautiful, relevant, engaging, and reverent. 

I hope this change helps churches look at their imagery in a deeper sense, and not just a bunch of pictures.

How is this going to work?

In the short run, we will have content rolling out on third-party-sites (WorshipHouseMedia and TripleWideMedia)

In the long run, we will be offering:

-Content to churches who have had us design Environmental Projection.

-Packages of content.

-Subscriptions for fresh content delivered to you.

-Motion versions of current content.

We're giving away two Chauvet COLORADO Tri-Tour LED PARs!  Get the specs here.

Here's how to enter:

***1. Follow Visual Worshiper on Twitter.   (http://twitter.com/VisualWorshiper)
(If you are already a follower, there is no need to un-follow and re-follow. Doing so will get you disqualified from the contest, just retweet.)

***2. Tweet the message you see here:

RT: Spread some joy! Win a pair of Chauvet LED PARs from @VisualWorshiper! Follow & Re-Tweet to enter! Info: http://tinyurl.com/d6mde2n

Copy, Paste, Tweet - that simple.
(There is no advantage to tweeting more than once. There is also no penalty for tweeting more than once, but it doesn't increase your chances of winning.)

We will use a randomly pick a winner based on retweet logs and announce the winner on Twitter on Sunday December 16th. We will even pay for shipping anywhere in the continental US! (If you are outside the US, we ask that you take care of any applicable taxes/import fees because they vary so much between countries.)

We hope to be able to bless someone in time for Christmas, so tweet away and tell your friends! Anyone can enter!

Official Rules:
1. You must be following Visual Worshiper on Twitter: (http://twitter.com/VisualWorshiper)
2. You must send the Tweet EXACTLY as it appears above. Literally all you have to do is copy, paste, Tweet.
3. You may not create multiple Twitter accounts in order to gain more entries. If you do so, you will be disqualified from the contest.
4. You do not have be part of a church in order to win.
5. We will announce the winner on Sunday December 16th and ship that week.

TIMPIKEmedia.com

He explains what he did below:

As we've added more Environmental Projection (EP) and multi-screen content to the Planet Wisdom tour in recent years, we've been trying establish the rules of iMag in our context. We wanted to allow iMag to maintain its place as an anchor in our production and not forsake its function, but we didn’t want it to become distracting or superfluous in the overall experience. Part of the consideration in this strategy was what the iMag screens should show in the intimate or reflective worship times.

The Problem

Traditionally in intimate worship sets we would forgo the display of personalities and employ the use of full screen graphics on our side screens. When we added EP and multiscreen content to the program the questions became: Should the side screens match? Accent? Would the same video be too repetitive? How do we nail the transitions with lighting and room content in the swells/falls? What if the worship leader changes songs? Could we rework everything on the fly?

For a brief time, our answer to is was to go simple. Black screen, white text. This actually worked pretty well for many times. It helped maintain the proper presence of the iMag screens and didn’t compete too much with the colors, rhythms, and energy of the immersive room content. It was stable and simple. To a fault in fact.

As the room’s energy would rise and fall, the iMag screens stayed solid and flat. It felt like a missed opportunity.

The Solution

We decided that shooting “bokeh” (out of focus) could enhance the experience by taking elements of the room’s character (colors, shapes, rhythms, etc) and re-injecting them into the room. To add some uniqueness to this presence and solve the practical problem of graphical separation (helping the words pop out), we also added subtle video overlays to break up the patterns of realism and essentially create our own live motion backgrounds.

The beauty of these backgrounds is that they always match the room as well as add a new, unique element to the environment.

Here’s an example:

Video Overlay Demo from Tim Pike on Vimeo.

The Method

In order to do this, you need to have some means of using alpha channels with your iMag feed. We use Renewed Vision’s Alpha Module for ProPresenter, but any alpha keying solution should work. It should also work if you route your iMag (camera) feed through ProPresenter (using the Live Video internal keying solution) before it goes to the projector(s).

I pulled together a few abstract patterns in After Effects and looped them to repeat every 5-10 seconds. Next, I completely desaturated these looping patterns, leaving them black, white and shades of gray.

Create a new black solid and use one of the patterns as the Luma Matte (in the Track Matte settings) for the black solid. This will ensure that you won’t have any color mixing in your overlay. You can add a Levels or Curves adjustment to the pattern loop to find a good level of opacity difference.

I found it particularly useful to add a super feathered, black ellipse to the area where my lyrics would go to help the words pop out more. In this set, I just planned to put the lyrics in the center, so I created what amounts to a reverse vignette.

Here are some examples of my textures:

Render these videos with embedded alpha channels (Apple's ProRes 444 works really well). Import them as backgrounds to your CG program. And you're ready to go.

Let your imagination and experimentation be your guide. I have also gotten good results with particles at key swell moments. Also try using white or other shades of gray.

We set out to prove that those are not true, and if you're wanting to run a certain type of cable just because your Blu-Ray player uses it, you're probably wasting the church's money.

We have observed that...

...the quality of cable matters.  Identical signal run via 150' of $2/ft VGA VS. pennies/ft equals DRAMATIC difference.  Ghosting and fuzziness occurs with cheap cable, test becomes hart to read.

...sending 1024 x 768 into native XGA projector via 3' VGA or 3' DVI-D (digital only) looks NO different.

...sending 1024 x 768 into native XGA projector via 3' VGA or 3' HDMI looks NO different.

...sending 1024 x 768 into native XGA projector via 150' of high-quality VGA looks NO different than the 3' DVI or the 3' HDMI.

...sending 1080i and 1080p into native XGA projector via HDMI looks WORSE actually because the projector isn't capable of using all the resolution.

...the type of connection and resolution is of little importance compared to quality of cable and native resolution of projector, as well as the internal quality of the projector panels and chips/guts.

...it doesn't matter what resolution you send out of the computer, the native resolution of a projector is going to be the highest it can project and utilize.  Using a different cable so you can send a higher resolution is of no benefit.

Interesting find #1:  When you use a DVI-D cable (digital only) out of the computer to the projector, the projector/display device will typically send a signal to the computer telling the computer what the native resolution is, and the name of the device, in this case, the name of the brand of projector.  I actually didn't like this, because it limited my computer to what resolution I could send to the projector.  Not terribly relevant to the overall test, but interesting.

Interesting find #2:  One specific manufacturer's projector with a 1024 x 768 input looks WAY BETTER than another.  It was less-jagged around text.  Company A uses a .6 LCD panel and Company B uses a .8 LCD panel.

Interesting find #3:  Did you know that a VGA cable can send up to 2K resolution?  Now...'by the book' only says up to 25', but from our observations, we believe it could go much longer.

Our future tests will use a native, full-HD-projector, but we don't have a lot of those just laying around in the professional series so that will come ASAP.

Let me attempt to address objections in advance:

For MOST churches, they do NOT need anything different than high-quality (high-bandwidth) VGA cable.

What about a native WXGA (720p) projector?  It would have no impact because WXGA isn't necessarily "higher" resolution, it's only WIDER resolution.

What about a native WUXGA (1080p) projector?  Same answer; the bandwidth of the right high-quality cable can handle up to 1920 x 1200, and guess what...that's a VGA cable.

High-rez pics:

We do this via video conferencing, so you can see just how your new idea, set design, or lighting upgrade will look.

-See and more around YOUR worship space in 3D!
-Accurately see how your current lighting looks.
-See how new gobos, colors, angles, and real-world lighting fixtures will look in your worship space.
-Visualize haze, moving lights, LED fixtures, and even pyro! (I don’t think we’ll be doing much pyro…)
-Explore upgrade possibilities with new lighting fixtures – all real-world, or we can build whatever we need, right within the software, live.

Process:

-You send me pictures of your worship space. (Upload here)
-I send back a quote for the remote design and consulting – it will vary a little based on size of room and modeling detail.
-I then model your worship space and mimic your existing lighting setup using real-world fixtures, colors, gobos, textures and patterns.
-We schedule a video conference call where I share my screen with the 3D software activated, and I walk you through (in real-time and step-by-step) how you could maximize your current lighting by simply adjusting your current lighting.
-We then can add any lighting fixtures we want to see what future upgrades you might want to look into.
-Following the video conference call, I send you screenshots and any details we talked about so you can have a practical guide to adjusting your lights and maximizing their use in your service.

At the end of the day, you see real-world examples in YOUR worship space and gain practical steps to simply re-adjust your current lighting, or what to upgrade in order to bring your lighting, set design, and/or projection to the next level.

It’s super fun and VERY cool!

This weekend I got to be a part of an incredible church with an incredible ministry.  A local church (in Dallas) is quite literally in the inner city and helps people transform their lives away from addiction, poverty and crime into a life led by Christ.

They were remodeling their worship space and wanted to have me in to add an Environmental Projection system, and all the physical work (electrical, mounting, cable pulls) were going to be done by the guys in the program.  I have never met a more dedicated, professional, kind, and passionate group of guys.  Thanks to Tony, Demond, Justin, Will and Tobi, and especially Ken - great job guys!

Seeing them work was refreshing - they paid attention to every little detail and put all of their heart and energy into their work, as into the Lord.

I hope you'll check out the ministry that these people are a part of - CareCenter Dallas.  Oh yeah, and the projection turned out great!

I do a lot of live events and there are times when things are crazy and I'm stressed because I'm trying to get something technical working before doors open, and I still haven't programmed any visuals/lighting because I'm coming in blind for a one-off event and haven't even met the other people on the crew yet and we don't even have a set list.  WHEW!

I've found that when I don't take the time to pause...and breathe...and pray...and be thankful...none of that cool technology or visuals or "moments" really matter.  When I DON'T pause...the worship time stops being worship, and starts being a chore.

You need to ask yourself where you are in your heart before you start leading others in worship (musically...visually...etc.).  Are you dealing with anger or frustration?  Do you REALLY want to be here doing this?  I've been in that place many times...and it stinks.  I don't want to be here because X, Y, Z is happening at home, or in my heart, and I almost stop caring what I show, which can be dangerous.

I've also been on the other side and seen leaders be downright mean and rude to crew/band members while setting up or backstage, but then get ON stage in front of the congregation and sing about love.  It just irks me either way.

So, as we get into Christmas and all the craziness starts happening, I just think it's important to pause.  Check your heart.  Check your motives.  God doesn't NEED any of this STUFF we're trying to project or light or mic anyway, so don't stain your relationships or your home life or your heart for it.  I think God cares more about that first...

This is from Rosco, describing their Permacolor dichroic glass:

"Dichroic filters are durable glass color filters that transmit only certain wavelengths of light, reflecting the rest of the spectrum, rather than absorbing it.  Since virtually no energy is absorbed by the filter, light transmission is significantly higher than traditional gels and will never burn out or fade.  Rosco Permacolor filters are made with the highest quality coatings, designed not to fade or shift color.  In addition, Rosco's sophisticated manufacturing process allows for precise color consistency batch to batch to a degree that is unprecedented in other dichroic coatings.  Permacolor filters are manufactured in five standard sizes on durable borafloat glass 1.75mm (.069") thick or can be custom cut in any size up to 13.5" in diameter."

So, in short:  Gel ABSORBS all other wavelengths of light, which glass REFLECTS.  This means more light output and longer life of the color media.  To me, it's the best accessory to add to your conventional lighting fixtures to get the most bang for buck out of them.  Instead of using 4-8 1000 watt PAR64 with blue gel, you can use 2-4 575 watt ETC PARs with blue dichroic glass, and it would look close to the same, if not better!

Of my top three worship colors (red, blue, amber), I actually only use glass for the blue; the red and amber are intense enough that the glass didn't make THAT much of a difference.  Plus, you factor in that the warm color temperature of the lamp (HPL, in a Source4 leko) is warm to begin with, so the red and amber gel works fine.  Blue, however, as you know, is a cool color, so the warm color of the naked lamp just eats up the blue gel.

I like Rosco Permacolor R80 - it's primary blue, but what I've found is that as the light is left on, the deeper the color gets.  It starts off clean, primary blue, but eventually shifts to a deep saturated blue.

Intelligent lights/moving heads use dichroic glass inside the fixture to create color because of the intense, focused light coming through that housing would literally burn through any kind of gel within seconds.  It's a great way to get better color, intensity and life out of your conventional color fixtures!

RED

Good Friday   Passion, blood, sacrament, love, and even a metaphor for sin.

I'll pick on Rosco for a bit.  In their standard gel color list, they only offer about four shades of RED.  Gam and Lee, on the other hand, have a lot more shades.  If you're using Rosco, I like Rosco 26 (R26), but it can sometimes be the tiniest bit pink when used with something like a 1000w PAR64.

BLUE

Christmas Night   Calm, serenity, peacefulness, and in some contests, cold, solitude.

Contrary to "reds" in gel-world, these are about a million shades and hues of blue, which I like because I'm a huge fan of using blues because there are lots of subtle emotions within the color blue itself.  I like a deep saturated blue normally, but a cyan can be a little more fun while a pale blue can be cold and brittle.  I like R83 for a rich blue, but it's so dark that light just gets sucked up resulting in very little light output even from a 1000 watt PAR.  I recommend using dichroic glass for at least any blue colors you use, like Rosco's Permacolor, and use R80.  The glass won't burn through and you'll get a VERY significant increase in light output from your light fixture when using this.

AMBER

Easter Morning   Joyful, fun, celebration.

To be more precise, amber/yellow.  I tend to use yellow for Easter, and amber for a candlelight mood in the room.  Usually you can get both from a light/medium amber though; run the light at 100% for more "yellow" and dim the light for more of an "amber" color.  I like R16 for a light amber and R321 for a medium amber.

Also with these three colors, you get purple/magenta (blue+red) and a deep orange (red+amber).  I love using blue and orange for a sunset look; and again, you've only sued three colors.

You can use all gel if you want, but I highly recommend using the dichroic glass for the blue color - you just need to tell your lighting company (Barbizon...Norcostco) what fixture you're using it in, and be sure to get the safety grid if you're putting the glass out in front of the fixture.  (For a PAR64 example, you have to have the glass out in front.  But, for a ETC Source 4 leko, you can get a smaller-sized glass that fits in the gobo slot, which is safer to me having the glass inside the housing.)

Packages include:

Projectors (Standard throw or ultra-short throw, 3000-5000 lumens)

Cable (VGA)

Matrox Grphic Modules (TripleHead2Go or DualHead2Go)

Computer (MacBookPro)

Software (ProPresenter4)

Content

...you don't need anything else but some blank walls or screens to project on!

Add-on Services:

Visuals/Media playlist building (I will help you build your visual and media playlists for your service/event)

On-site Setup (I will come out and set up the gear, mask/pixel-block the projection, and conduct an in-depth training session)

Because every event and worship space is different, we will put together a custom package for you based on your needs, so email Camron for a quote!  And yes, we will ship gear anywhere in the United States.

Make sure you are including your visual/media/lighting team in the planning process; they can add a lot of ideas and creativity!  If they aren't part of your staff day-to-day and work a full-time job elsewhere, grab coffee with them one evening after your meetings and let them start thinking and dreaming up ways to be visually creative in your space.

So many times I see churches who simply tell their media people what to show, what to light, or what to present, but I just want to challenge and encourage you as leaders to let others voice their thoughts and creativity, and within reason, allow them to follow through with those plans when it's appropriate.

I was allowed the freedom to do that at my church, and it was an incredible blessing to get to experiment and try new things visually, but within the boundaries set by my leaders.  Often times I would fail in one way or another, and that's OK - actually, I encourage it - but make that happen during the week when you're only prepping for Sunday, not during an actual service where something can be a distraction.  With that said, I think failing at something pushes you past the fear of "messing up" and towards more and better creativity.

Your visual media person/team is just as important as someone on stage and they should be treated as such!  Take them to lunch or buy them coffee, listen to them, and when you can, let them do something.

This runs on your Windows computer.  This plugs into your lights.  And go!

You could go get a full-sized High End/Barco Road Hog/Full Board for $10-13K, or...you can do this for under $1,000.

Now if you know me, I need physical faders because I run most of my events and lighting shows semi-on-the-fly; I build palletes and moves and things like that and "build" each look and transition with each song/worship element.  In those cases, I want a physical console, and/or fader playback wings that simply plug in via USB.

So is this setup right for your church?  Maybe.  The first thing to ask yourself is "are we using moving lights?"  If you're just using conventionals and LED fixtures right now, you don't need this.  Just get a real console.

However, once you jump into moving light world, the game changes with consoles.  The Wholehog software is really good at moving lights (as are other higher-end consoles - Martin's, GrandMA...etc.), so this could be a cheap option for you IF...you are actually taking the time to program out your services and/or you're doing very very simple scene changes.

Pretty snazzy!

Oh, and if you want to know my favorite site to get cool lighting gear:  LightBroker

Check out the promo video and see if we're coming to a city near you...I would love to connect.

Madison - Oct. 4

St. Louis - Oct 5

Twin Cities, MN - Oct 6

Cleveland - Oct 17

Pittsburgh - Oct 18

Grapevine - Oct 25

Little Rock - Oct 26

Denver - Nov 2

One of the fixtures they sent was the COLORado Batten 144 and I thought it would be good to share my thoughts on it and how it can affect how you use LED in your church.

I could simply copy and paste the tech specs from Chauvet's website; but I feel like that's so typical and I want to give you some real-world scenarios.  The biggest fast-fact to know is that the COLORado Batten 144 has the typical Red, Green, Blue LED configuration, but also has Amber and White.  This gives the ability to do incredibly smooth and nice pastels, warm ambers, and cool magentas and blues that otherwise just aren't that pretty with typical RGB.

I took the COLORado Batten 144 to a local church where I knew they were using conventional ground-cyc washes, with 3-cells/colors; red, blue and amber, to wash their back and side walls of the sanctuary.  This was the church I used to be on staff at, and so I knew the setup very well and knew what it took to accomplish a nice, even color wash.

Let's look at the conventional cyc lights first - each fixture has 3 sections, each with a 500watt lamp.  There are eight, 3-cell 500watt fixtures on the ground, and four, 3-cell 1000watt fixtures in the air because the 8 on the ground just can't quite get to the top of the wall behind the band.  If you're counting, that's 24,000 watts of lamp juice required when they are all on at full.  Now true, it might be rare that you would have every lamp on at one time, but my point is that you have to have the capability to do so, which can be expensive infrastructure.  Also, think of the gel cost, lamp cost, and time to replace all the gels and lamps, and of course the limited color choice when using gel.

I started by simply comparing the colors in the existing cyc fixtures to the LED batten, starting with amber.  The first thing I noticed is that the COLORado Batten 144 didn't wash as wide, but remember that the conventional cyc fixtures have a reflector that's designed to wash up and out - the LED has a little bit of that, but to match the cyc fixture more, I would recommend using a clear cyc silk (Rosco #160 for example) to make the light from the Chauvet wash wider.  I tried it with a simple frost and it worked great!

This color is created with the amber LEDs at full with some red as well.  The beauty is that with the amber LEDs you can create any warm color so accurately, that it really does replace the need for gel.

When it comes to brightness, the COLORado Batten 144 wins every time!  My favorite color is a deep, rich blue, but the conventional cyc fixtures just can't output enough light through gel to give me the color I want, mainly because the blue gel is fighting against a warm color-temperature lamp.  The Chauvet 144 was so bright, it actually blew out my camera and I had to turn the exposure down so you can get a good reference.  You can also see how the COLORado Batten 144 streaks way farther up than the conventional cyc lights, making the top conventional fixtures unnecessary!

I figured out that ONE Chauvet COLORado Batten 144 could replace TWO of these conventional cyc lights.  Add that in with the power, lamp, and gel savings; and you really have an amazing solution to color wash your walls.

Red can be a subjective color - I personally like a deep, blood-red (Rosco 27 for example), but the Chauvet 144 was a tinge orange compared to these conventional cyc lights, plus my camera affects it a little bit when looking at these photos.  Overall, again, I was super impressed by the intensity and coverage of the LED!

The church also has white "sails" around the sides of the room to help with acoustic noise, and on the ground in front of the sails (every 5'-7') they have a group of three, 300watt small cyc lights with the same matching colors: red, blue, and amber.  There are 78 of these fixtures in the entire room; each pulling 300 watts, so that's almost another 24,000 watts of electricity that is needed to power them.  I put the COLORado Batten 144 where the first blue cyc light was, and the result was incredible.  Not only did it blow out my camera again, but it streaked high enough to reach the higher cyc lights that are hanging on the balcony edge, keeping brightness and color bright and true.  

For this scenario in this church, I figured out that instead of having 78 fixtures that only gave us three colors on the white sails, we could use 16 fixtures and have any color we wanted.  Factor in the cost-saving of not having to run all those dimmers and electrical, but instead put 8 on a single 20amp circuit.

Aside from washing walls with the COLORado Batten 144, you could do some really interesting visual effects by controlling each "block" of LEDs, giving you some really cool chase effects.  Also, in rooms with lower ceilings, these would be great as a way to wash your entire stage!  A youth room could use 2-4 of these to color the stage; instead of using lots of conventional PARs.

Overall, the Chauvet COLORado Batten 144 is a GREAT solution to washing cyc's, wall, ceilings, and even your stage.  If you're looking at starting to add lighting or upgrading, I would ask a local dealer for a demo in your space so you can really get a feel for how it looks. 

Who has heard of EP?  Who is using it?  What has been YOUR experience?

My story

Show history of visual in the Church

Visual worship

Gear:  Projectors (lumens, contract, DLP vs LCD, HD/resolution/pixel density), where to mount, mounting hardware, cable, computers, Matrox

How wide should you go"  How wide can you go"  1,2,3 setups, and what it takes to do anything past 3.

Software

Masking

Content

Design vs operation

How to use it for your service

How to ease congregation into using EP

Hopefully this helps get a glimpse of what we will be talking about!  It will be interactive of course, and I'll be brining some gear to play with.

Where are you in using lighting?  white lights, using some color, using LED/moving lights

Why use lighting - focus, mood, emotion, movement, texture, light vs dark...video?

Natural light - windows and candles

Lekos - spots, textures, breakups, crates focus instead of washing everything, shutters

Pars/Fresnels - beam angles, fills area, lamp options

Cyc washes - washes up, color fill

LED - advantages; replacing fixtures

Moving lights - placement (menu faces away), purpose, maintenance, cost, reasons to use them:  logistical and artistic

Brands - Elation/Martin/Chauvet/Robe/Cosemar/High End/Vari-lite.  Talk about reliability, life, maintenance, features

Accessories - dichroic glass, gobos/holders, rotators, barn doors, lamp choices, color scrollers

Haze/fog - difference, why and when to use it

Truss - what should you look for, ratings

Power, dimming - how to make it all work, safety and limits

Safety - don't take lens tubes to get wider angle out of lekos, no tape or zip ties.  Color code lamps

Control - consoles (physical and software), DMX

Programming - how do you run service?  On-the-fly or programmed?

Timing/temp for transitions - moving lights sweeps and movements, color changes

Who designs and who creates?

Colors - meaning and what colors I like to use in worship.  Western vs Eastern cultures.  All about context.

Philosophy - Talking  to worship/senior pastor about turning lights down when appropriate - house lighting levels - history of lighting in the Church

Where to find stuff - Cheap house lighting instead of fluorescent lighting, alternatives, eBay, old lighting fixtures, lamps

Even if media isn't your thing in the Church, come for the food.  I love food.  Three words:  Ice Cream Truck.

No, seriously; this isn't just a collection of nerds hanging out.  This is about dialoguing, helping, asking, telling, and serving each other with stories and ideas to help you do what you do...better!  Or...to get started!  I love sitting at a random table during lunch (Chick-Fil-A maybe??) and meeting 8 new people from churches who have questions about media or lighting and getting to share thoughts, learn what they do, and eat awesome chicken.

In addition to simply hanging out, I'll be there doing three breakouts:  

Beyond the Standard Presentation - Myself and Trent Armstrong from Igniter Media are excited to show you how to go beyond the standard white text with an outline and a drop shadow plopped on a loop.  You'll get tips to help you design a presentation that will compliment the imagery and mood of your backgrounds and draw your congregation into worship.

Worship Lighting - Coming out of a large church as the lighting director into live concert and worship events has opened me up to so many options in the world of lighting.  I hope to share this passion and all the practical tips we can handle.

We will cover everything from candles to PAR Can lighting to LED to moving lights; and how it doesn't really matter what you are using; just how and why you are using it.  We will discuss what colors mean in worship lighting, how to create emotion and transitions, and talk about what's practical for YOU.  (Moving lights are not always the answer).

There might even be a chance to play with gear and we'll be as hands-on as possible, depending on class size.  I encourage attendees to bring pictures of their worship space, and/or a list of current lighting gear in their church.

Understanding Environmental Projection in Worship - It's all the rage these days, but there are so many dangers and ways to do Environmental Projection poorly.  Let's show and tell about how to do it well, how to not break the bank, and why it's not simply shining a projector on the wall.  My heart is to make it tangible for everyone, and as the leader in helping churches with EP in their space, I want this class to be encouraging and exciting as you begin to think of your worship space as a blank canvas to paint on.

I encourage attendees to bring pictures of their worship space so we can go over the possibilities one-on-one during the class and conference.

There is a whole bunch of stuff about the design and typography of fonts...but honestly, I'm not that smart.  When I first started dwelling in this visual worship conversation and doing visual media at my home church, the font was always Bold, Arial, Center.  Nothing wrong with this, but I think it can be better.  I feel that if we're looking at the same font for every song, every Sunday, things can get a little...blurry.  I think it's wise to have carefully selected different fonts that differentiate each song text.  Every song doesn't sound the same, and you probably don't use the exact same background EVERY Sunday, so why are fonts any different?  Check out the examples:

Same backgrounds, but I simply paid attention to what the song felt like and chose a font that (I think) better fit the emotion and spirit of the song. The first (introspective) is like I'm writing a letter to God as I'm singing it. I wanted the next one (nature) to have a more organic feel to it, while the last one (sacred) has a reverent/ornate look and feel.

Notice how I also moved the text so it complemented the image and on the background with the candle, and I even colored the text slightly amber to match the color of the candle. I will make the font white for 99% of the lyrics, but sometimes you have a warm-coloredd background for a quiet response song, that white text can scream out a bit too loud. By simply warming the color of the text, I think it blends better as a visual worship element.

Of course, you want the congregation to be able to read everything - I feel like that's a given. I made this font guide for myself a while back, and while I know there are fonts that should be on here, I hope this gets you started.

Font Guide Download

My good friend Nicholas Rivero, along with the help of AJ Morgan and Jason Norris, recently had a project that really impacts people doing Environmental Projection and those wanting to expand past 1, 2, or 3 projectors from a single computer.  There are a lot of reasons why most churches shouldn't go any wider with their EP, but when necessary, this is a cool solution.  (Nick is a creative and tech genius, the video director for Chris Tomlin and Toby mac, and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.  You should take him to lunch.)

Got a cool project that some friends and I had been working on......

A church outside of Birmingham, AL previously installed a 3x3 monitor wall put into their lobby for doing digital signage.d  They had one solution installed for playing back content across 9displays but it was fairly clunky and not too user friendly for a novice tech person.  After doing quite a bit of research over the past 5 months, a friend built a custom computer that is capable of driving 10 displays: 9 outputs for the 3x3 video wall, and 1 control display to fit their need.

What does this all mean?  It means that we are able to run ProPresenter across 9 displays but, to the end user, it acts like just one display.  We can also have a much higher output across all 9 displays than if we had just taken a single output and split it across the 9 (which is what a lot of people do in scenarios like this).  In this case it was 1280 x 720 per display, so 2160 x 3840 total (that's almost 8.3 million pixels total, fyi).

In doing some research, we hit some limitations that we had to research.  The list of things we had to figure out were:

1.  Having enough physical outputs to cover 10 displays.

2.  Having enough physical outputs on one graphics card (there's a reason for one card).

3.  Software that could allow us to span an image across multiple outputs.

So we landed on a custom built PC to do this.  Why a PC?  Because all of these limitations were achievable on the PC.

Number of outputs/on one graphics card:  The reason for one graphics card, in short, is because when you use multiple graphics cards they have a hard time talking to each other.  This problem is much harder on the Mac, and there are some ways around it on the PC, like DirectX, but I won't get into full detail as to why 1 vs 2 cards.  We'll just leave it that we used 1 =) As you can probably guess, we used 3 Triple Head to Gos to make it all come together.  Each horizontal row of LCDs had a Triple Head, so the system was really connected to 4x outputs, 3 THs and 1 Control Display.

Software limitations:  ProPresenter, and a lot of other presentation apps, can only send their output to 1 display.  So, if you're system sees, in this case 4, independent displays attached, the software can only send it's output to 1 of these 4.  That's a problem when you're trying to span 3 Triple Head outputs.  How do you work around this?  Something called "display groups".  You can group displays together to act as one single output.  Our 3x3 monitor wall appears to the computer as a single 2160x3840 display, while it is in fact 3 separate outputs running 720x3840 per TH.

What's cool is the future.  Technology is changing daily and even since the building of this box new graphics cards and software solutions are appearing everywhere.  New 27" iMac's now support dual display output, meaning that in theory, you could do two TH's on one iMac!

This also has other applications outside of the digital signage world.  Think about being able to do EP with 9 projectors instead of just 3?  Or, doing a video staging concept with 6 or 9 displays but just having one computer to load content to and manage it all from?  The possibilities are endless!

I've heard both sides - we should NOT because of what the Bible says - do not make an image of God.  Some people say that "Well Jesus was a man, people saw him, and artists have interpreted that."  I can agree with that.  Other people refer to when the Israelites made a golden calf to REPRESENT God while Moses was up on the mountain.  They weren't replacing God, they just wanted something visible to worship.  All very interesting points, and a great conversation to have in person!

I'll say this - some pictures of Jesus work better than others...when projecting it 20' wide.  Take a look at some different examples and see for yourself...(Most of these are courtesy of Awake Images - I encourage you to check them out!)

Color in worship lighting is one of the most over-looked and misunderstood visual worship elements.  I literally cringe when I see 17 different colors in a room during worship.  Just like each instrument has a part to play and has a specific tone, and just how every word of the song or prayer or sermon is chosen because it has a specific meaning, COLORS have their own meaning in worship, and we would be wise to be aware of what each one means.

You might have more words to describe each color, but here are some starters:

Red - blood, passion, war, anger...intensity...Good Friday

Blue - peaceful, night, calming, serene...Christmas night

Purple/Magenta - joy royal, majestic

Amber - candlelight, warmth, intimacy, stillness

Yellow - bright, happy, loud...Easter

White - cleanliness, holiness

Black - silence

Why no green?  I don't use green lighting in worship because it's so closely associated in our culture with aliens, the Matrix...and other things that are just...weird.  (Granted, I love the Matrix and alien sci-fi, but not during worship.)  Now, green DOES also communicate life, growth, abundance...so if I want to show green imagery around the room of creation, I'll use amber lighting to represent the sunlight.

I recommend only 2-3 colors at a time...from the SAME FAMILY.  So:  blues...reds...ambers...NOT red over here on the keyboard, blue on the guitar, and amber in the Environmental Projection.  Bleh.  That's basically 3 different emotions going on there.  Now, you CAN get really creative with using color to show contrasting emotions; just be aware that you're doing it - during a drama or special music perhaps.  I'm talking about generally, in corporate worship, be wise with your lighting color choices.

I would slowly fade the Environmental Projection, the main screens, AND the lighting...very slowly WITH the music.  Remember, you are in control of visual instruments; so play with the band!  Try these ideas:

Blur the first image; then fade into the in-focus image during the chorus, for example...Fade from black and white into the color version of the same image.

Fade from color to color!  Use appropriately!  Color communicates so strongly.  If doing Environmental Projection, use only a portion of your walls to fade in the imagery, then fade in the rest of the image as the song or element progresses.  Again, use appropriately!  This is dependent on your room and EP setup.

These are all things I've done during services that enhance the moments so much, but only using still imagery.  Hope it helps!

(I think these were from different Sundays' but you get the idea...)

I borrowed this from Simon Sinek and he calls it the Golden Circle, but it applies directly to how I approach visual worship, Environmental Projection, and worship lighting.  I thought it was a great visual to share.

When it comes to ‘doing’ visual worship, or anything related to it (EP, mini-movies, lighting, candles, drama…etc) it doesn’t start with HOW or even WHAT.  It starts with WHY.  So many times after a live worship night doing visuals and lighting; people will come up and ask me “How do you do that?!”   Usually they are talking about those ‘visual moments’ in worship that they can’t even articulate how it affected them; but they know how they FELT in their heart and spirit.  Asking “How did you do that?” is the best way they can verbalize it!   I say “this is how I worship”…it’s a natural outpouring of my passion.  That’s WHY I do it…the HOW is technical – they really don’t care about that part (usually), but they want to know why something as simple as lighting and projection can be used to create powerful/subtle/beautiful worship moments.

I’ve spoken on this many times; but I hope this visual is something that you can take with you.  Make a list of every little thing you are doing visually in your worship service, right down to the color of the carpet, and ask yourself WHY are we doing it like that?  Maybe your reason will be because someone else told you so…maybe it’s because you really want it that way…maybe you have no idea.  But, I challenge you to write it all down and see how you can have a more cohesive worship environment.

When I come out to your church, I bring projectors so we can see just how Environmental Projection will look in your worship space.  I also meet with you and and your staff to talk about your current projection, lighting, and anything else in your room that involves creating an environment conducive to worship.   It’s a fun and eye-opening day!  After everyone has a chance to see the Environmental Projection, I do a technical design where I look at dozens of variables that can only be seen while in the room.  Lighting, angles and colors of walls, shadow issues, lensing, cabling, mounting options…etc.

It’s not something I take lightly and it is not simply shining projectors on a wall.  On a spiritual level; it is something deeper that has to be shown properly in the ACTUAL worship space and FELT and EXPERIENCED by your leadership.   I take pride and care in helping churches use Environmental Projection well and tastefully, and my agenda isn’t to sell you gear.  I don’t sell gear.  I don’t push Projector A over Projector B because I simply do not make commission.  My goal is to find the right gear that fits your room, worship style, PEOPLE, and budget.

After that design session day; I go to the dealer that is one of the nation’s leaders in providing churches with video systems, and give you a detailed quote for EVERYTHING you will need for an Environmental Projection system.  Once your church purchases the gear, I provide an oversight of the installation (done by the dealer) to make sure it’s just how we want it to be, as well as setup all the software and masks that are custom to your room.  Following installation I spend an evening with your team going over how it works technically, but more importantly how to best use it for your service the next Sunday.  I give you several gigabytes of content to get started; and help plan for your service.

My goal is to help you use lighting and projection for visual worship…better.  That looks different for every church community but the conversation I have with pastors and tech people are the same in every church:  What is your church wanting to say visually? What are you passionate about? What are your frustrations? From those conversations we are able to help YOU and your community do visual worship…better, and become better visual worshipers.