For the morning service we had only 2 people for each service so we showed video of the previous services during the 9:30 and 11:00 services. We record each service directly to a mac. I edited each of the baptisms, adding a graphic explaining which service they were from and then exported them directly to our video playback. The audience responded as if the baptisms were live. It was very moving to see all the baptisms in the same service at our final service of the day.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
3 Identical Services
We have 3 services at Crossroads. Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 9:30 & 11:00. This weekend was baptism. We've done baptism outdoors in a pond and in a swimming pool and indoors in a swimming pool and on our stage in a baptismal. This weekend was an awesome time of worship and teaching culminating with baptism on stage at the end of each service.
For the morning service we had only 2 people for each service so we showed video of the previous services during the 9:30 and 11:00 services. We record each service directly to a mac. I edited each of the baptisms, adding a graphic explaining which service they were from and then exported them directly to our video playback. The audience responded as if the baptisms were live. It was very moving to see all the baptisms in the same service at our final service of the day.
For the morning service we had only 2 people for each service so we showed video of the previous services during the 9:30 and 11:00 services. We record each service directly to a mac. I edited each of the baptisms, adding a graphic explaining which service they were from and then exported them directly to our video playback. The audience responded as if the baptisms were live. It was very moving to see all the baptisms in the same service at our final service of the day.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Firefox and Friends
Back in June I posted some information about Firefox and Xmarks. Firefox is a web browser from Mozilla. Xmarks is an add-on that allows you to sync your bookmarks (favorites for those of you on Internet Explorer) and passwords. You can check out my original post by clicking here.
Several other staff members look at me kind of weird when they see my computer syncing bookmarks and passwords. As I mentioned in my post, Xmarks will allow you to access all of your bookmarks on any computer. Now, if you don't want to switch to firefox, no problem. You can also get Xmarks for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari. Just click on the link for Xmarks and check it out!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Shoe Fetish
On Thursday afternoons, our Magnification team meets to program our upcoming services. We meet in my office. It is set up with the ability to play videos from my Mac or PC as well as look at stage layouts, cue sheets and other documents relating to the upcoming services.
Tim, our senior pastor, likes to try out new styles of shoes. He has had a lot of cool shoes over the years. Today he had me look up a website, www.vibramfivefingers.com, so he could show us a new pair he wants to get. After seeing these ones, I told him I was worried about his shoe fetish! Does anyone else out there have a pastor like this?
Tim, our senior pastor, likes to try out new styles of shoes. He has had a lot of cool shoes over the years. Today he had me look up a website, www.vibramfivefingers.com, so he could show us a new pair he wants to get. After seeing these ones, I told him I was worried about his shoe fetish! Does anyone else out there have a pastor like this?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
This Is Too Cool
Click on this link. In Bb 2.0
20 videos on one page. Start them playing and listen to the music!
20 videos on one page. Start them playing and listen to the music!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Deering Dyer is a Funny, Funny Guy!
Wednesdays at Crossroads means a short study time for the staff. At 11:30am, we meet to go over a short bible study and take some prayer requests. We meet at tables in the main office area. After the study, the tables and chairs are removed and put away.
Today, I asked Deering and Jesse (our Sr. High Youth Pastor) to leave a stack of chairs in my office since I was doing a camera training seminar this evening. I then left for a lunch meeting. When I got back, this is what I found!
I sent an email to the staff letting them know just how funny Deering is...Deering immediately replied that he didn't do it. Then Jesse came by my office and with a smirk on his face (you'd have to know Jesse to fully comprehend the look I'm referring to), innocently asked how my stack of chairs was. He then immediately claimed he tried to talk Deering out of it.
It became obvious right away whose idea it was. But I know Deering well enough to know that he helped. Deering Dyer (and Jesse Rider) is a funny, funny guy!
Today, I asked Deering and Jesse (our Sr. High Youth Pastor) to leave a stack of chairs in my office since I was doing a camera training seminar this evening. I then left for a lunch meeting. When I got back, this is what I found!
I sent an email to the staff letting them know just how funny Deering is...Deering immediately replied that he didn't do it. Then Jesse came by my office and with a smirk on his face (you'd have to know Jesse to fully comprehend the look I'm referring to), innocently asked how my stack of chairs was. He then immediately claimed he tried to talk Deering out of it.
It became obvious right away whose idea it was. But I know Deering well enough to know that he helped. Deering Dyer (and Jesse Rider) is a funny, funny guy!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Anatomy of a Music Video
So by now, most of you have probably seen the video we played this weekend prior to Tim's new message series based on Ephesians. My recent post gave a glimpse into the creation of the video.
I added up how much time I have invested in this video...12 hours. This includes preplanning the shots, locations and props plus shooting on Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Wednesday afternoon, as well as editing on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I finished the video on Thursday and the band rehearsed with it that evening. The song is very fast paced and the band had some trouble doing it at the tempo of the original. So, I recorded our band performing the song and did a few minor editing changes on Friday.
On Saturday afternoon, the band played Suzy's Diet...I mean Deering's Diet as the first song in their rehearsal. We played the newly edited version and they nailed it! The tech team had one more chance to practice it and it matched up perfectly.
A few notes about the video...first, we kind of got busted at Kroger. We went there to get the props we needed and shoot a few scenes. We got most of the shots we needed when we heard a code 179 or something like that come over the intercom. Deering mentioned we were probably busted and sure enough, a minute later the store manager and asst. manager asked us to stop shooting. You need corporate approval to video tape inside the store so we apologized, finished our shopping and left.
On Wednesday afternoon, we shot the scenes at Burger King. The manager came out and told us we couldn't shoot on their property either. No problem. I shot from the sidewalk! I actually laughed out loud when Dan did the last scene. I showed him what I wanted and he did a fantastic job!
I was not happy with some of the lighting. I should have recruited some help so I could have concentrated on directing the video and had someone else moving the equipment around. By the end of the day on Monday, I was running out of time and had to rush some of the shots. You'll notice more shadows and darker shots on Deering's face during these shots.
Watch the scene in the kitchen when Deering gets the milk out. I totally missed the fact that the light stand was in the background...and so was I! I placed the camera in the fridge and checked the viewfinder a couple of times to be sure I was getting the angle I wanted. What I missed was the fact that when I moved out of the way, I was still in the shot! Luckily I was able to blow the clip up to about 120% of the original and crop me out. You won't see me but if you look quickly you can see the light stand.
Also, notice the TV dinner. Milo changed the lyric to "Tim's Chicked Fried Steak" so I changed the box as well. I took this shot, saved it as a jpeg and then edited it in Photoshop. But in the next shot you can still see the "T" from the original box.
When Deering is eating the donuts and you see the closeup on his face, he has a 5 o'clock shadow. This scene was shot a few hours after the scenes in the break room...where he looks clean shaven. I guess Deering must be able to grow a pretty good beard!
Lastly, when Dan takes the bag out of the trash can, he actually had it hidden on him and pretends to reach into the can. I think this scene got the biggest laugh when it was shown in the 3 services!
I added up how much time I have invested in this video...12 hours. This includes preplanning the shots, locations and props plus shooting on Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Wednesday afternoon, as well as editing on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I finished the video on Thursday and the band rehearsed with it that evening. The song is very fast paced and the band had some trouble doing it at the tempo of the original. So, I recorded our band performing the song and did a few minor editing changes on Friday.
On Saturday afternoon, the band played Suzy's Diet...I mean Deering's Diet as the first song in their rehearsal. We played the newly edited version and they nailed it! The tech team had one more chance to practice it and it matched up perfectly.
Deering's Diet from Steve Browning on Vimeo.
A few notes about the video...first, we kind of got busted at Kroger. We went there to get the props we needed and shoot a few scenes. We got most of the shots we needed when we heard a code 179 or something like that come over the intercom. Deering mentioned we were probably busted and sure enough, a minute later the store manager and asst. manager asked us to stop shooting. You need corporate approval to video tape inside the store so we apologized, finished our shopping and left.
On Wednesday afternoon, we shot the scenes at Burger King. The manager came out and told us we couldn't shoot on their property either. No problem. I shot from the sidewalk! I actually laughed out loud when Dan did the last scene. I showed him what I wanted and he did a fantastic job!
I was not happy with some of the lighting. I should have recruited some help so I could have concentrated on directing the video and had someone else moving the equipment around. By the end of the day on Monday, I was running out of time and had to rush some of the shots. You'll notice more shadows and darker shots on Deering's face during these shots.
Watch the scene in the kitchen when Deering gets the milk out. I totally missed the fact that the light stand was in the background...and so was I! I placed the camera in the fridge and checked the viewfinder a couple of times to be sure I was getting the angle I wanted. What I missed was the fact that when I moved out of the way, I was still in the shot! Luckily I was able to blow the clip up to about 120% of the original and crop me out. You won't see me but if you look quickly you can see the light stand.
Also, notice the TV dinner. Milo changed the lyric to "Tim's Chicked Fried Steak" so I changed the box as well. I took this shot, saved it as a jpeg and then edited it in Photoshop. But in the next shot you can still see the "T" from the original box.
When Deering is eating the donuts and you see the closeup on his face, he has a 5 o'clock shadow. This scene was shot a few hours after the scenes in the break room...where he looks clean shaven. I guess Deering must be able to grow a pretty good beard!
Lastly, when Dan takes the bag out of the trash can, he actually had it hidden on him and pretends to reach into the can. I think this scene got the biggest laugh when it was shown in the 3 services!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Star Trek Phaser
My son and I have been big Star Trek fans for as long as I can remember. He just sent me this video of a working phaser from the original Star Trek series. If there are any evil alien balloons out there, this will come in very handy!
Monday, January 11, 2010
My Day Off
My day off this week consisted of working. Pastor Tim begins a new series this weekend so we decided to perform a song by "EverybodyDuck" called Suzy's Diet. We haven't done a video to go with a performance song for awhile so we decided to make this into a music video. We discussed several concepts including using a guy dressed in a fat suit as a woman. Ultimately, we decided to use one of our staff members as himself. Even though the song is "Suzy's Diet" we decided to make a minor change and call it Deering's Diet, using Deering Dyer, our small groups pastor.
The first week of a new series is a very time consuming week for me. I have to create a new template for message slides, walkin slides, countdown and lighting design. This is in addition to the normal prep time for a weekend. Coming off the holidays as well as 2 stand alone messages, I knew I wouldn't have time to shoot and edit a video during normal work hours. So Deering graciously agreed to come in on his day off as well.
Prep work for the video included making a detailed shot sheet, prop list and possible locations to shoot. After listening to the lyrics a couple of times I came up with a concept. I settled on a video that sticks closely to the lyrics. I was originally going to try to match the lyrics exactly. But since the song will be performed live and the shots will be fast cuts, I knew it would be better to just have some fun and not worry about matching up exactly.
One of the shots that will be in the video is Deering's weight. It will continue to get higher as the video progresses.
In order to show the weight increasing, I needed to have Deering hold items of increasing weight.
I gave him a weight, a drawer full of power supplies and even added the camera tripod wheels! I also needed to get a reaction shot when he looks down and sees how much his weight is. In order to light his face I need to reflect some light up. Turns out my shirt worked to reflect it so I didn't need to get a white board reflector.
After shooting 20 minutes of footage at the church, we headed to my house for some shots in my kitchen. I chose my kitchen since it is open enough to set up lights and have room to move around.
Poor Deering. He had to eat. And eat. And eat. He had to drink 2 Slim Fast shakes, Funyuns, Swiss Cake Rolls, Oreos, candy bars, Chicken Fried Steak, donuts, and more. As I was shooting the last shot, he said he didn't think he could eat any more. Too many takes, I guess.
The first week of a new series is a very time consuming week for me. I have to create a new template for message slides, walkin slides, countdown and lighting design. This is in addition to the normal prep time for a weekend. Coming off the holidays as well as 2 stand alone messages, I knew I wouldn't have time to shoot and edit a video during normal work hours. So Deering graciously agreed to come in on his day off as well.
Prep work for the video included making a detailed shot sheet, prop list and possible locations to shoot. After listening to the lyrics a couple of times I came up with a concept. I settled on a video that sticks closely to the lyrics. I was originally going to try to match the lyrics exactly. But since the song will be performed live and the shots will be fast cuts, I knew it would be better to just have some fun and not worry about matching up exactly.
One of the shots that will be in the video is Deering's weight. It will continue to get higher as the video progresses.In order to show the weight increasing, I needed to have Deering hold items of increasing weight.
I gave him a weight, a drawer full of power supplies and even added the camera tripod wheels! I also needed to get a reaction shot when he looks down and sees how much his weight is. In order to light his face I need to reflect some light up. Turns out my shirt worked to reflect it so I didn't need to get a white board reflector.
After shooting 20 minutes of footage at the church, we headed to my house for some shots in my kitchen. I chose my kitchen since it is open enough to set up lights and have room to move around.
Poor Deering. He had to eat. And eat. And eat. He had to drink 2 Slim Fast shakes, Funyuns, Swiss Cake Rolls, Oreos, candy bars, Chicken Fried Steak, donuts, and more. As I was shooting the last shot, he said he didn't think he could eat any more. Too many takes, I guess.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Sitting Here
I'm sitting on my couch watching the BCS National Championship game and surfing the net. Today, most of the staff left early due to a winter weather advisory. We have about 3 inches of new snow on the ground with 3 - 6 inches more predicted. I have a full can of fresh gas for the snowblower and am loving all this new snow.
I was somewhat concerned about my wife working in Ashland today so I gave her the 4 wheel drive Blazer. She loved it! Just in case the weather is too bad to work Friday, I copied some files onto my laptop so I can work from home if necessary.
I was somewhat concerned about my wife working in Ashland today so I gave her the 4 wheel drive Blazer. She loved it! Just in case the weather is too bad to work Friday, I copied some files onto my laptop so I can work from home if necessary.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
My Day Off
I managed to take 2 days off again this week! What a refreshingly novel concept...unless you get sick. Then it's just another day. OK, I didn't actually get sick. I've been feeling a little under the weather, weak and tired. But I did manage to get a few things done.
Monday afternoon, I had a few inches of snow in the driveway so I fired up the snow blower and got to it. I have a Craftsman 5hp 24 inch Dual Stage Free-Wheeling Track with electric start. This baby has 6 speeds plus 2 in reverse. You might ask, "why do you need 2 speeds in reverse?" Well, as I'm backing it out of my garage through the side door, I use the slower speed. If I'm backing up my driveway for another run, I use the faster speed. I need a powerful snow blower like this. I have a shared driveway so all the snow has to be moved to one end or the other and then off to the side my house is on. My neighbors love it too. I clear the sidewalks up and down my block with no problem.
I then took my Blazer in to get some wheel bearings replaced and have the radiator flushed and cleaned. By the time I got home I was wiped out and ready for bed. Except it was only 6pm. I ended up on the couch in my snuggie and watching television and dozing for a few hours, then went to bed. I also started taking Zicam.
Good stuff, than Zicam! I slept most of the night and woke up around 8:15. By 10am I was on the computer checking blogs and facebooking. By noon I had hit the driveway and sidewalks again (2 more inches of snow) and was bringing tubs from the attic to begin taking down Christmas decorations. In the afternoon, I caught up on bills (I absolutely love KeyBank online banking) and removed my DVD burner from my home entertainment system. Gotta send it in for repair. :(
Tomorrow it's back to work. Two services to prepare for (First Wednesday and the weekend), a music video to storyboard, and I've gotta get our storage area organized. It's gonna be a busy week.
Monday afternoon, I had a few inches of snow in the driveway so I fired up the snow blower and got to it. I have a Craftsman 5hp 24 inch Dual Stage Free-Wheeling Track with electric start. This baby has 6 speeds plus 2 in reverse. You might ask, "why do you need 2 speeds in reverse?" Well, as I'm backing it out of my garage through the side door, I use the slower speed. If I'm backing up my driveway for another run, I use the faster speed. I need a powerful snow blower like this. I have a shared driveway so all the snow has to be moved to one end or the other and then off to the side my house is on. My neighbors love it too. I clear the sidewalks up and down my block with no problem. I then took my Blazer in to get some wheel bearings replaced and have the radiator flushed and cleaned. By the time I got home I was wiped out and ready for bed. Except it was only 6pm. I ended up on the couch in my snuggie and watching television and dozing for a few hours, then went to bed. I also started taking Zicam.
Good stuff, than Zicam! I slept most of the night and woke up around 8:15. By 10am I was on the computer checking blogs and facebooking. By noon I had hit the driveway and sidewalks again (2 more inches of snow) and was bringing tubs from the attic to begin taking down Christmas decorations. In the afternoon, I caught up on bills (I absolutely love KeyBank online banking) and removed my DVD burner from my home entertainment system. Gotta send it in for repair. :(
Tomorrow it's back to work. Two services to prepare for (First Wednesday and the weekend), a music video to storyboard, and I've gotta get our storage area organized. It's gonna be a busy week.
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