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Video/Lighting Resource | Previewing Lighting Cues

By • September 2, 2011 • Production • Leave a comment

Each week I program lighting steps for the upcoming weekend service on a ETC Congo Jr. And when I say that I program the steps, I actually program each and every cue in order for each song. On Wednesday nights our band rehearses and before they finish they record each song to a CD just like (or at least close) to how they will play it on Sunday.

I begin programming and try to finish 90% of the cues before Thursday morning. I then take the rehearsal CD and begin to clean up the lighting cues on Thursday morning. I spend time making sure that the timing is correct in regards to the builds and drops as well as how the dynamic effects feel actually in the room with the music through the PA. Once I finish with all the cues and add in the band lights of each step I set-up a camera to record the entire show.

I currently just simply record SD (720×480) out of a HPX-200 firewire out into my Macbook Pro into a program created for screen capture presentations called Screen Flow. Screen Flow is a great program that we also use to record our IMAG Commentary videos. It does not allow for HD video to import just yet because it is mainly used for screen capturing, but I still use it because it will capture the computer audio at the same time as video. This means I do not have to edit any audio with the video. I simply hit record and start the tracks from iTunes. Screen Flow captures both the wide shot from the camera as well as the iTunes audio and lines them up right there in the program.

Once I finish the export I upload it to our Vimeo page and password protect the video until after Sunday. I want to keep some things unknown for Sunday which is why the password. This is where our team heads over to www.pc3production.org on Thursday evenings and are able to watch the lighting cues. This is becoming a key resource for our Directors, AD’s, Camera Ops and Lighting Engineers.

In the past our Directors have written down ideas and notes before they arrive on Sunday, but each weekend up changing things once they see the lighting. Unfortunately even on Sunday they do not have time to just sit in the room and watch while taking notes. This is why we have began recording the cues ahead of time. This allows the team to watch the cues and take notes without having to leave their own home or coffee shop.

So far the team has loved it and we hope it continues to work. Below you can watch one of our previous weeks.


What do you guys do to help prepare your video teams or lighting teams prior to them showing up on Sunday?

DF-50 (oil) vs Unique 2.1 (water)

By • August 31, 2011 • Production • Leave a comment

You may have noticed over the last five weeks we have had a different type of haze filling the room. Other than the new hazer sitting on the floor now instead of two mounted in the air is the hang time and look of the new haze. We have purchased a used Reel EFX DF-50 Hazer to replace our two Unique 2 haze machines. There are some pros and cons to this change and we wanted to share those real quick with you guys.

PROS

  • 3+ Hour Hang Time – this means that we are able to fill up the room prior to the service beginning so we will not have to run the hazer during the service. This allows us to create a stage environment that does not have two large billows of smoke coming from the ceiling.
  • Lower Cost Fluid – our cost of fluid for keeping up with 2x Unique Hazer was rather expensive. We had to run the Unique’s roughly 6+ hours on Thursdays for programming, then roughly 4 hours on Sundays for two rehearsals & four services. We can supposedly run the DF-50 for around 35 hours on one single $60 bottle of fluid.
  • The Look – the haze created from the DF-50 sits very well throughout the entire room we see our lighting effects the same from all areas of the stage as well as beams to the back for the room

CONS

  • Oil Base – the DF-50′s major downfall is its oil base fluid instead of the water base fluid found in the Unique 2′s. This is the main reason we are able to keep such a clean, long hang time haze, but over time this oil base will create a film on our equipment.
  • More Cleaning – because of the above con we will have to up our cleaning maintenance of our projectors and moving lights and everything in the room that have fans. As long as we continue to clean our gear often this will not create to many problems. If not, we will see our projectors and lights get dimmer as time goes along.
  • Noise – the DF-50 is considerably louder the our old hazer. We will be trying a few things to cut down this noise soon.

DF-50


Unique 2


So that is the update on our new hazer. We hope to soon build a box to contain the DF-50 to cut down on the noise. But until then we will def. not be using it during any service Live.

This is an old post that I wrote on pc3production.org when we first purchased the DF-50. I thought I would share here. Soon I will write an update after we finish the next set-build and I have cleaned all of our gear.

 

The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family

By • August 20, 2011 • Personal • Leave a comment

Two years ago I purchased a new book titled The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family written by possibly my favorite author, Mr. Patrick Lencioni. I absolutely love how Lencioni writes by taking around three-fourths of the book and telling a “fable” and then taking the rest to layout the principles taught in the “fable”. The concept is only used by him from my personal knowledge and that is why I love it so much.

In this book Lencioni takes one foot out of his typical business book box and enters a new realm of investing in your most important organization… FAMILY. After picking up this book and reading it in one sitting I asked Kirsten to read it and develop a plan that is discussed within the book. The problem is that two days after reading it I left for Atlanta to shoot photography for Catalyst and ended up giving the book to a new friend there after we spent hours discussing the topic. We have sense bought a new copy and created our “Rally Cry” as of last night!

Here is a brief description of why Lenchioni wrote the book:

What is the most important organization in our lives? The companies where we work? The schools where our children learn? The churches where we worship? As important as all of these are, none compares to our families. It is the single most relevant, impactful and precious institution in society, and yet, as an organization it is largely ignored.

What I mean is that compared to the other organizations in our lives, we spend almost no time doing any formal planning or strategizing about how to run our families. Even those of us who take part in strategic planning at work or school or church somehow feel content to live our home lives in a reactive, unplanned way. Exceptions to this include our finances, where we spend time thinking about savings and investments and budgets. But when it comes to the management of our daily lives and activities and priorities, we tend to wing it, reacting to issues and problems as they come up without any context or plan.

And the cost of winging it is huge. Chaos, stress, regret, missed opportunities, frayed relationships. All of these are byproducts of lives lived without context and clarity.

Does that mean that families should, or can, completely eliminate stress and chaos from their lives? Absolutely not. Even if it were possible and it isn’t part of the fun of living in a family is the joy of the unknown. To run a family like a well-oiled machine would be to drain the passion and adventure out of it all. But there is plenty a family can do to drastically reduce unwanted chaos and live with greater context, clarity and purpose. In fact, there are three basic questions that every family needs to answer.

And here are the Three Big Questions we had to answer:

Question 1: What makes your family unique?

Question 2: What is your family’s top priority rallying cry right now?

Question #3: How are we going to talk about and use the answers to these questions?

And here is our worksheet below. I believe Kirsten and I will be recording a short little video on why we decided to do this whole concept and why we are so excited about it. The video will be much easier to explain without typing up another long post.

Our Rally Cry

August 2011 – December 2011

Resources:

Production Gear List Pt. 2 | Video

By • August 17, 2011 • Production • Leave a comment

Last week I posted Producer Gear List Pt. 1 | Lighting where I tried to answer a lot of questions that come in about the type of gear that we used specifically at Port City Community Church. Today I have put together an extensive list of our Video gear located in our main auditorium. This list does not include everything, but it does include the large pieces of our gear that helps us pull off each week at PC3.

Once again we have added a link to each piece of gear that will take you to its particular website. If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment on this post and we will try to answer any questions you may have.

Displays

  • Christie LX120 12,000 ANSI lumens LCD Projector (2)
  • 24-inch Broadcast Studio Monitor w/HDSDI DT-V24L1DU (2)
  • 20-inch Broadcast Studio Monitor w/HDSDI DT-V20L1DU (1)
  • Marshall V-R72DP-2C Reference Monitors (4)
  • JVC TM-1051DGU Monitor – Producer  (2)

Cameras

Lenses

  • 16:1 Fujinon

Tripods

Analog to SDI Converters

  • Ensemble Designs BrightEye 3 Analog to SDI w/TBC & Frame Sync (4)
  • Ensemble Designs BrightEye 40 SDI Reclocking Distribution Amplifier (3)
  • Ensemble Designs BrightEye 11 SD SDI to Analog Converter (3)

Switcher

Matrixes

Computer Graphics

Software

Clear Com (Intercom)

Main Stations & Accessories

  • Clear Com MS-704 – Producer (1)
  • Clear Com SB-704 – Director (1)
  • Clear Com KB-702 – Green Room (1)
  • Clear Com FL-7 Call Flasher (3)

Beltpacks & Headsets

  • Clear Com RS-602 Wired Beltpacks (16)
  • Clear Com CC-95 Single Ear Enclosed Headset (6)
  • Clear Com CC-260 Double Ear Enclosed Headset – Camera Ops (5)
  • Clear Com CC-26K Single Open Ear Headset – Video Control Room (8)
  • Clear Com CC-27 Single Ear Wrap Around Headset – Producer (during Message) (1)
  • Clear Com HS-6 Telephone Style Headset – Green Room, Audio (3)

Wireless Intercom

  • Telex BTR-80N Two Channel Main Station (1)
  • Telex TR-82N Two Channel Binaural Belpack (2)
  • Telex TR-80N Two Channel Synthesized Beltpack (2)

TV Distribution (UTP)

 

Production Gear List Pt. 1 | Lighting

By • August 15, 2011 • Production • Leave a comment

At PC3 we have the great privilege of working with some great production gear each week. And often we receive emails or phone calls asking about specific pieces of that gear. So I have started to compile a list of our current gear and decided to start with our lighting department. I have added a link to each piece of gear as well so that it will take you to its particular website.

Hazers

  • Reel EFX DF-50 (1)
  • Look Solutions Unique 2.1 (2) [currently not being used]

Intelligent Fixtures

Conventional Fixtures

Control & Dimming

Rigging

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