Photo courtesy of Faith Church, West Palm Beach, Fla.
The best pre-planning starts by understanding what you are good at and where you might need help.
Do you like how I snuck the word BIG in the title? I did that on purpose because we all know from experience that there is no such thing as a “little production”! As we all get ready for Easter, I was reminded of a wonderful Christmas production I was invited to attend a few years back. When I say wonderful, I mean it was over the top. Very moving and extremely well done. But two parts of the program really made me stop and think about how good pre-planning made the whole thing work. The first was simple enough when the shepherds walked livestock (emphasis on live) down to the manger by the stage. That scene went as smooth as silk because it was all planned out well in advance. But if I remember correctly, at some point the little kids were holding their noses saying the sheep smelled like poop. I love kids.
The second thing that happened in the next scene was when the lead performer’s mic cut out halfway into proclaiming the birth of Christ. Ahhh, the joy of live productions. Without missing a beat there was an A2 (audio assistant) popping out of nowhere, gliding across the stage and handing off a wireless mic to the lead like it was an Olympic relay and then gliding back off. It was even at the correct volume. Like that stuff always happens for live performances, right?
Things like scripts, graphics, lighting, prerecorded elements, audio... Absolutely nothing is too small to include on your timeline.
I know, you are asking how do you plan for that? Here is the answer: The production team was ready for the possibility of a mic failure, and that tells me they thought of all the contingencies ahead of time. I was duly impressed, to say the least.
Now, I tell my Christmas program story because I view it as a success for that production team. So let's talk about your upcoming big productions because Easter is right around the corner and Christmas is only 200-some days away.
Get Started by Pre-Visualizing
Previsualization, or preViz, is seeing and thinking about how you want to go about doing the actual production and seeing it unfold, shot by shot, in your head before you plan anything. To do that well, you need to be a great listener. In my opinion, one of the hardest parts of being a worship production leader, production lead, or director, is to be still and to be quiet. You need to put your phone away, listen hard, and take some good notes. What is the big picture and how are you going to bring that vision to life? Sit down with your pastor and others and after a good amount of time listening, ask some questions. Don’t be surprised if you don’t get all your answers at once. Are all those production ideas swirling around in your head now? That's ok, you can always fill in the details later. Just remember, the big picture, and content is king.
Building Blocks
Now that you have some basics down on paper, the real production thinking can begin. I get all my best people together and then break things down into manageable parts. I start by making a working timeline, monthly, weekly, and daily if needed. Then go backward from when you need each element of the production to be completed, then write that date down. Things like scripts, graphics, lighting, prerecorded elements, audio, and rehearsals. Absolutely nothing is too small to include on your timeline. What action needs to happen and when do you and the production team need it to happen. So if December 15th is your due date, you now have a total of 200-some days until showtime. So realistically, you want all of your elements by December 1st or sooner. But how do you and I get there?
Delegate
The best pre-planning starts by understanding what you are good at and where you might need help. My production team and I go over the timeline elements as often as possible to make sure everything we need is on there and that we are staying on schedule. For my part, I love directing and doing lighting, so I can schedule that part. But when it comes to advanced audio I am calling in my go-to experts in that area. I try my best to explain what we are trying to do and then I let them do their audio thing, mics, placements, and the like, then including them in building out their part of the timeline. Why should you or I struggle when the audio gurus can do big tech setups in their sleep? The same goes for graphics and editing. Gotta know what you are good at, right? Remember, you are the big-picture person so you need to stay above the fray. But a word of caution: If you have mostly volunteers working with you, make sure you make yourself available—and get them involved early. Then make sure you have two primaries for each major area of the production in case an unforeseen issue makes one person unavailable.
The Good Part!
Good planning on the part of you and your worship production team can help you produce an excellent production. You can add or subtract to your timeline as you see fit. It doesn’t matter if you are doing a live performance or something else. The basic premise is the same, and I have included a sample of some timeline elements below. As the saying goes, when you have all your ducks in a row, and you and your production team know what needs to be done, having that production all fall into place is truly a great experience.
Example of Major Timeline Elements:
- Scripts and Revisions
- Production Lead Assignments
- Graphics
- Prerecorded Elements
- Audio
- Editing
- Rehearsals
- Performances
- Streaming
- Distribution
- Sheep Wrangling?
