An Issue From the Weekend

After church on Sundays, we take 1 of our 3 services and upload the worship and message to our website. We create 4 separate files. An audio file of the message, 2 video files of the message (1 for streaming, 1 for download), and 1 video file of the entire service including the worship.

This weekend, Pastor Tim was feeling ill. In between the Sunday services, he told me to be ready in case he wasn't able to be here for the last service. So I cued up the DVD from the 9:30 service to the beginning of his message. As it turned out, he was feeling better so we didn't need to run the DVD. As he came to stage, I called for the DVD to run as a backup just in case.

After the service I edited the 11am service for upload to the web. I left them exporting and went home. Everything was fine...or so I thought. Our receptionist, Alissa, uploads the files on Monday morning. Then, I access them from home and make them available on our site. Tuesday evening I received a call from Julie, Pastor Tim's assistant. She told me there was a problem with the audio on the message. As I listened to it online, I realized what had happened. When I called for the DVD to run, the channel it was on wasn't muted on the record feed. Our video director caught the error and brought it down, but not before about 25 seconds of Tim live and Tim recorded both ended up together on the recording.

When I got to work this morning, I double checked and found that was the case. So I took the opening from the 9:30 service, inserted it in front of the 11:00 service and exported and uploaded the new versions. All is fixed.

What I Do

Just one more day and the first decade of the 21st century is over. I came back to work today knowing that I have 2 days to get ready for the weekend as well as Tim's next series. But I also had a few volunteers coming in to get some projects finished up.

Projects for Wednesday included:
1. Set up scaffolding, take down stars hanging above stage, move to storage above offices
2. Change lighting fixtures covering back area of stage
3. Check Color Command with light out
4. Change lamps in auditorium projectors, clean filters
5. Check connections on projector in 45 Room, check feed from DVD and computer
6. Remove DVD/VCR units in Nursery, Install new units, Change TV settings
7. Re-aim Family Ministry light in Town Square
8. Finish tech schedule for 2010
9. Fix issue with audio on website from weekend
10. Create graphic design for weekend as well as new January series
11. Program lights for weekend...no Thursday rehearsal so they need to be checked with CD as close as possible

So, with the help of several volunteers, all projects complete. Now for Thursday, I just need to get Tim's message notes and finish his slides, create a new service countdown, create new pre-service walkins, fix MediaShout lyrics and cues, copy to new cue sheet, print all needed paperwork, programming meeting for January at 1:30 then go home and enjoy New Year's Eve.

I Froze My Face For Nothing

Well, the saying at Crossroads is "The only thing that never changes is change." When I showed Pastor Tim the rough cut you see in the video above, he liked the concept but wasn't thrilled with the background I shot while freezing my face off. So I came up with a few other ideas using some moving backgrounds I had in my collection. Below is the final version we used at the Christmas Eve service. It was a great way to start the service!



Christmas Eve was a blast! I had to finish some last minute shopping for a few items we forgot but still arrived at the church by 1pm. There were 2 other staff members there. I had to finish getting walkin slides edited and exported from FCP, then get files ready on both CG machines, check the HVAC and aim a camera I have in the ceiling above the stage. I finished up with time to spare and actually had a chance to enjoy the preservice time this year.

When the doors opened, the people poured into the auditorium...and they kept coming. I don't think we've had this many people for a single service ever. The Sleigh Ride instrumental started at the end of the countdown. There were 2 videos created as one started the song, then we showed the band live on the screens and ended the song with the second video and a thank you message from the staff at Crossroads.

Next up we had our Youth Pastor, Jesse, do a welcome and some announcements. Then came the first and really the only technical glitch in the service. We had a drama about putting up Christmas lights. A wireless mic on one of the two actors malfunctioned so the audience could only hear part of what her lines were. But Stephanie was very professional and simply talked a bit louder and leaned in towards Doug's mic. We have a wireless hand held mic onstage for use in just such an emergency! Our worship leader Dan, snuck up behind Stephanie and handed her the mic. Without missing a beat she kept right on with everyone able to hear. And just in time too! She had about a page of dialog where she was the only one on stage.

We usually have a sound assistant in the booth who could run up and diagnose the issue, but we were short handed on Christmas Eve. As this was all happening, I'm thinking I need to run up and take care of the problem. But that wouldn't work. The booth where I sit requires me to go all the way to the other end of the auditorium to get in. I could see that the door where I would have to come in had so many people sitting and standing that I wouldn't have made it to the stage before the end of the drama anyhow!

The only other glitch happened in the 2nd service...at the beginning of the drama again! Only this time it was my fault. The video control room said they couldn't get sound during the welcome/announcements. I had Jon, the sound guy bringing up an program that should have been on for them to hear. Meanwhile, Jesse finished up and was leaving the stage. I didn't realize he had wrapped up so quickly so I called for lights to go and a video to run...oops it wasn't time for the video yet! "Stop the video...go live, go live!" Meanwhile, the actors take the stage and begin their lines. But since I had Jon distracted, he hadn't brought up their mics. "Bring up the mics, bring up the mics." Luckily we only missed the first couple of lines and the rest of the service went well.

I was bushed by the time I got home and to bed. But all in all, a great service and a great Christmas.

The Karate Kid

When I got my first VCR back in the '80s, one of the movies I watched was "The Karate Kid" Now, a new version is coming out. At first I thought they can't be serious. The Karate Kid with Will Smith's son and Jackie Chan? But the trailer actually has me thinking it might be kinda cool.

My Favorite Ornament

When I was still working at Blockbuster Video, my employees would give me a new Star Trek ornament at Christmas. For years my mother would give my wife and and I a special Christmas ornament each year. This is a picture of what has become my favorite one. She took a picture of our house and then had it painted onto a bulb. We still collect ornaments and now give them to our children and grandchildren.

This year they all received ornaments I picked up while I was in Bethlehem, Israel last spring. The experience of having actually been in the town where my Savior was born really hit home as I watched my children and grandchildren opening them up this morning. As I looked over the wide variety of bulbs and ornaments on my tree this year, I thought about the memories I have of receiving them from my mother and of getting new ones for my family. My new ones for this year are genuine olivewood from Bethlehem. I will have a fond memory of this Christmas as I placed them on my tree for the first time. I still try to get a new Star Trek ornament each year and even put up a special tree in my office, but this one will always be my favorite.

The Best Christmas Practical Joke

I saw this on the news and just had to share it. I wish I had this kind of time to be able to pull this off. Friends gift wrapped this guy's entire apartment...towels, clock, even the food in his refrigerator.

News story

YouTube Video

12 Days of Christmas

Enjoy...

I Froze My Face

Today I worked on Christmas Eve services. One of the fun things we are doing is a video during an instrumental of the song "Sleigh Ride." Lori put staff faces on bodies from a Jib Jab picture and I went out with one of my fantastic volunteers, Dave, to shoot some b-roll to use with the video.
He has a truck with a sun roof so while he drove, I stood on the seat and shot footage driving down the road. Another opportunity to try out our new HVR-Z5U camera.

The temperature was around 30 degrees. Except when you have your upper body sticking out the top of a truck while driving at 35mph down the road. This is where you really find out what wind chill is! As Dave slowly accelerated, the temperature was bearable. I took the shots I had envisioned in my head moving the camera from one side of the road to the next, zooming in and out. But as he accelerated it got colder and colder. I took it as long as I could and then when my face was frozen, I ducked back into the truck. The funniest part was when Dave asked if I was thawed out yet...he had the heat cranked up and was beginning to sweat as I was just beginning to get the feeling back in my face!

I'll post the video once it's completed.

My Top Ten Christmas Shows

I'm sitting in my living room waiting for some friends to come over so we can watch "Christmas Vacation" on DVD. I love to watch specials and movies at Christmas.
Here are my top ten Christmas shows in no particular order:

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
An American Christmas Carol
Scrooged
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Story
How the Flintstones Saved Christmas (1964)(yeah, that's right, I love this show!)
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Miracle On 34th Street (the original)
The Polar Express

Christmas Eve

Less than a week until Christmas! I love the anticipation of Christmas even more than the opening of gifts on Christmas Day. But what I really love is our Christmas Eve service at Crossroads. We will have 2 services this year...7pm and 9pm. Both will be packed.

Pastor Tim asked me to record several people for a radio spot we are running. I ended up using my wife's voice. He also asked me to record the ending tag. Here are 2 versions I created. One he liked, the other he liked but didn't use. Guess which is which...


version 1


version 2

Snuggie

The Magnification staff at Crossroads consists of Lori Biddle, Dan Fleming, Milo Sgambellone, Bryan Summer and me. Lori is the boss, the creative force and the cheer leader. Dan and Milo are our worship leaders and Bryan is our sound guy. Every year she has us over for dinner to celebrate our accomplishments. And every year she gives us a gift with the Crossroads logo on it. Usually it is a shirt of some kind, but this year she decided to give us all Snuggies. When I got home, I decided to try mine out...did you know the remote control for DIRECTV will work through the Snuggie?

That's My Girl!

We're having a few friend over for a small Christmas gathering. I asked my daughter to vacuum the living room and when I looked over at her she was vacuuming, listening to her iPod and texting at the same time!

Funky continued...

Funky Winkerbean

I've got a secret habit...I like to read the funny pages in the newspaper. I have a weekend newspaper subscription so I really only catch the comics a few days a week. But I do follow 2 of them online...Crankshaft and Funky Winkerbean.

I've been a fan of these 2 strips for as long as I can remember. Part of the reason is that the setting for these strips is a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Crankshaft watches Indians and Browns games and goes through many of the "rituals" that we Ohioans are known for. Crankshaft is actually a spin off from Funky. They have had crossover stories and occasionally you can see a character from 1 strip in the background of the other. For instance, you might see Crankshaft visiting the mall and a character from Funky will show up as an extra in the background. Fun stuff.

The strips deal with many topical issues in a serial format. There have even been controversial subjects like teen pregnancy, suicide, cancer and alzheimer's disease.

Funky is actually my favorite. When I was in high school, the strip was about the characters in high school. In 1992, they jumped ahead to show the characters after they had graduated from college and had begun to start their own careers. Again in 2007, Funky jumped ahead to show the characters approaching middle age. I've been able to follow them as they go through areas of life that I also have experienced.

My daughter is ready to get her driver's permit. It has brought back memories of my own experiences as I began to drive. And of course, Funky Winkerbean had a short series on Les Moore's daughter getting her license...not that I actually had any accidents...





Look for the rest of this story line tomorrow!

Blessed

As I look back on this year, I've come to realize how blessed I really am.

How am I blessed?

My wife lost her job last January. We were struggling to make ends meet as it was, but now we had to really look at how we were spending our money and what expenses could we cut. Even though we had only one car, she decided to start her own business cleaning homes and businesses. We have cut expenses at Crossroads, yet I still have a job that I love and care about. We struggle financially, but we have never been happier in our marriage.

I have friends who have lost loved ones. I've not lost anyone close to me this year. In fact, I have become closer to an aging relative. I've always enjoyed seeing my cousin. Now that I have the opportunity to spend time with him and do things for him around his house, I find that I think about him and pray for him regularly.

I have friends who have lost jobs and income. Even though my wife and I have lost income, we continued to tithe and God has blessed us. My wife went to Costa Rica with her mom and sisters, I went to Israel, had someone I don't know pay for new eyeglasses and had someone give me a car.

We are in the most blessed time of the year. And soon a new year will be upon us. I resolve to become a better person. To look for areas where God has blessed me. And to do what I can to help others see where God is blessing them.

Your Financial Questions

This weekend we finished up a 9 week series titled "Answers." Wendell Anderson, our stewardship pastor, asked me to shoot an interview with Bill Hill, our announcement guy. He and his wife Cindy use the envelope system for taking care of their personal finances.

I had hoped to shoot this video at their home, but due to "yappy" dog, we didn't think that would be a good idea. I ended up using a corner of our office area here at the church. I had planned on using 2 lapel mics, but 1 of my mics isn't working. I used a lapel on Cindy and pointed a shotgun at Bill. It worked but it wasn't my favorite audio.

I shot 2 versions of the video. One had me asking Cindy the questions with her answering before Bill could get a word in. It had its comedic moments but I didn't think it fit the tone of the message. So the version I used had Bill interviewing Cindy.

As you watch the video, notice the cut-a-way shot with the money being put into the envelopes. I had shot some b-roll footage the night of this shoot but didn't like the way it looked so I shot it a second time. Since Cindy wasn't here, I asked Lynda Pounds, my admin assistant, to fill in as a "hand model" I liked the cut-a-way shots much more than the previous ones I used.

So Much To Say, So Little Time

I've got so many ideas of things I want to write about, but I just don't seem to have the time to gather them into a cohesive state. I'll have to work on that!

We finished band practice for the coming weekend. Wow! It is going to be a fantastic weekend. We've got our regular band plus a 6 piece brass section and they rocked tonight. Plus Milo and a few of the guys are doing a really cool ending to "Little Drummer Boy." I'm really looking forward to worship this weekend.

The video I shot last weekend is almost finished. It will play this weekend also. I'll have it up soon.

Here's a Post

My wife just yelled at me for not posting more often, so here's a post. This weekend our tree went up. We are in the process of putting up Christmas decorations. I finally bought a wireless router. I have now posted. :)