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May 2008

Print Article     Email Article by Michael Parks

Nestled in the back corner of the sanctuary of Hilltop Community Church is a perfectly nondescript door leading to a room that is re-markably active. Every Sunday morning, technicians and camera operators move quickly from this room to their positions moments before the start of the service. And then during the week, video editors labor into the night, often completely unnoticed. In fact, there have been times where the motion-sensitive alarm set by the seemingly last person out has been tripped simply when the forgotten editor reaches for their cup of coffee.

Hilltop Community Church, located in Richmond, California, has a congregation of about 1,800. It has the distinction of keeping its video department busy with a number of seasonal presentations and concerts throughout the year. In addition to a spectacular Singing Christmas Tree production and Easter musical, there are choir concerts, youth events, and an evening finale to Vacation Bible School. The latter is of particular significance for the video department, as the children’s ministry sends the DVD of the event to all those who attended as a means of inviting them back. With the additional call for videos connected to camps, ministry reports, and video announcements, the video department is kept quite active.

Video Ministry at Hilltop
The leadership of Hilltop Community Church has always recognized the need for quality video production. While the drama and music ministries strive to produce top-notch presentations, the goal of the video ministry is to produce professional-quality DVDs. These DVDs serve as more than a way of generating revenue. They are outreach ministry tools as they are given to those who are unable to attend a service or special presentation. Hilltop broadcasts these events, striving for the quality a viewer expects from televised video productions.

At times, we can’t help but gaze enviously at larger churches with massive video departments that receive million-dollar donations. Their gleaming studio cameras and high-definition screens leave us salivating and at least trying to avoid breaking that last commandment, which, if given today, would probably include something about coveting other church’s electronics. But it has been the philosophy of the department to do the best we can with what we have. The three Canon XL1s camcorders we use in the sanctuary give us clean, matching images, and although the company that made our Trinity video switcher was bought out years ago, the fact that it hasn’t crashed during a service in all that time is worthy of note.

As a team, we look for new ways to improve the end product. So while we are normally limited to the three cameras we have patched into our switcher, the quality of our final videos took a major step forward when we developed a way to use additional camera setups. We would even blend recordings of more than one performance. This has lead to final edits that incorporate six or more camera angles at any one time, and quite simply made for more visually dynamic video productions.

To accomplish this, the additional camera operators would be seated as unobtrusively as possible in the front row. The challenge here is that these cameras are not patched into the switcher, and the camera operator is not in communication with the director. We deal with this by having these camera operators maintain their shots as long as possible. This enables the editor to cut to their camera’s shot and stay with it as long as desired. If the camera operator is getting four- or five-second shots before abruptly changing it, the editor will rarely be able to seamlessly incorporate them.

Church-to-Church Suggestions
It can be very useful to have a camera with a wide angle on the entire platform as a “panic cam,” giving us a shot to use to cover errors. Unfortunately, these locked-down cameras tend to have weak composition and produce unusable video. With a platform as wide as ours, the shot needs to be just as wide. So the center of attention is frequently off to the side or too small in frame to see. For best results, there needs to be a camera operator on every camera to sometimes just tweak the angle enough to keep the action centered.

We like to incorporate shots from even the dress rehearsal in our final edit. The main advantage to the dress rehearsal is that a camera operator can move around and get shots they couldn’t possibly get during a performance. Since there is no audience, they can get right up on the platform in front of the action. We have gotten some especially dramatic hand-held shots from the dress rehearsal that spice up the final edit. There can be some problems with the footage, though. Frequently there are costume and blocking changes between the rehearsal and the performances, creating continuity problems. In addition, camera angles shot from behind or from the side accidentally include the empty seats or the director still directing just off stage. But once in a while you get a gem of a shot that makes the extra shoot worthwhile.

Whenever possible, it is always best to shoot more than one performance of a production. The first recording can be a practice run for the crew. After seeing the show once through, decisions can be made concerning which camera gets the best angle during a particular scene. Camera operators can have a pretty good sense of when they can hold on close-ups and when they need to be ready to catch an entrance. Even in musical productions where musicians and singers generally stay put, the crew has a second chance to shoot songs in a style that best suits the tempo.

But when dealing with a single performance of an event, it is best to find out as much as possible about stage movement and lighting from the production crew. Camera work should be conservative, keeping wide on drama so as not to be caught off-guard by a sudden entrance or piece of action. The base recording from the switcher should be clean and safe. The additional camera operators can then go in for the risky close-ups.

Sync’ing Audio and Editing Video
Then there is the task of capturing and synchronizing the video for editing. When it is necessary to record at LP, be sure to capture using the camera with which the video was recorded. This will reduce the risk of breaks in the timecode. Synchronizing the video tracks can be tricky. Still-camera flashes can work, but since the flash is faster than the video’s shutter speed, it is common for one or more cameras to miss the flash. The most consistently successful method of cueing is with audio. I like to find a hard hit or the first strong note of a music cue to sync everything up I have often found that if I can find a good sync in the middle of a program, there is little or no drift during the program. If there is drift, it is necessary to resynchronize the video periodically throughout the production.

Once all the tracks are in sync, the editing itself is fairly easy. Editing the shots from the additional cameras is usually fast and easy with the multi-camera editing feature in editing programs like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. This powerful tool enables us to quickly and easily edit additional camera angles into the mixed video produced with the switcher. It also can be used to switch between shots taken at different performances. The editor makes a rough pass at the production, making the cuts in real time as though operating a live switcher. Then the individual edits are refined and transitions and effects are added. We’ve had considerable success blending multiple performances when the staging is consistent. Just watch for jump-cuts when performers gesture with different hands or even slightly alter their costumes.

Presentation is everything, so we give plenty of attention to menus, chapter selection, and an appealing DVD case. The addition of bonus features, which have come to be expected on DVDs, is also a must. Behind-the-scenes featurettes and montages from previous productions will spice up the final product.

Hilltop Community Church is building a new sanctuary that will be considerably more video-friendly than the present one. We will be able to have cameras set up wherever we need them, so there won’t be as much of a need for additional remote camera angles. But there is always a need to find new ways to improve the end product and improve the overall quality of our work. This can involve better delegation of tasks so that an editor has more time to fine-tune their work. It has to do with keeping up on available equipment and current trends, from the best tripod for the job to the upgrade to high-definition video. Ultimately, the goal is to create videos that inspire the viewers and serve as effective ministry tools.