As churches embrace technology we see many of them making the move to include a variety of technologies in their weekend services. Recently, we have seen a dramatic increase in user-friendly technologies that make some technology additions semi-painless. It is now in the price range and budget of most churches to be able to capture their weekend message and have it available on the web in some form or fashion.
The workflow could be as simple as a consumer camera, owned by a volunteer, who is uploading it to the web. Advances in video, specifically, have made projectors cheap enough that most churches can afford to have one for lyric projection during service. If your church is simply projecting song lyrics and sermon notes, how far is it from there to doing Image Magnification (IMAG)? However, your church should also be asking, “If we can do IMAG, should we?”
The better question may be, “When do we need to be doing IMAG?” Followed by “How do we want to do it?” The answer you will get from most tech people in bigger churches on when is “not until you have to.” The common consensus is that it is better not to do IMAG than to do it poorly. Typically the need for IMAG is dictated by the size of crowd and layout of the room. The best test to determine if you need IMAG is to gauge the experience in the back of the room. If you sit in the back row and you can see the worship leader or pastor just fine, if you can make out facial expressions, then IMAG may not be necessary. That said, even if your room is large enough to warrant IMAG there are still a few things that really need to be in place before you can truly start talking about introducing IMAG to a church.
It's important to make sure your technology complements your church's culture; the down side of this is there are churches whose culture doesn't really include technology. Mike Ozburn, the COO at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, N.C., defines a group's culture as “the behaviors that are celebrated.” It might be expanded to “and removal of behaviors that are not.” If you are at a church where the congregation is constantly praying to “get rid of that projector,” IMAG is not going to be an option for you, regardless of how big your room. Hopefully, most of you are laughing at just how ludicrous that remark is, but just so you know—this does happen. I have some firsthand experience in this area. If your church doesn't have a culture of fostering technology, then no tech guy is going to change that. Embrace your culture; don't battle it.
Second on the list above is buy-in from the leadership. This requires that your leaders not only agree philosophically, but also are willing to budget accordingly. Your leadership may think IMAG is a good idea, but if there is not budget for it, then it will not be an option. The inverse is also true; the size of your budget doesn't matter if your leadership is not onboard with doing IMAG. In defense of that, there are some very good reasons not to do IMAG, including “we don't want to be ‘that' church.” Again, I can't stress the importance of understanding your church's culture. If hesitations or concerns exist, then IMAG may not be a good option for you.
The last consideration is budget. In most churches, the tech guy is going to be a front-of-house (FOH) guy, mainly because the need for sound reinforcement is one of the first technological milestones in the life of a church. If this is you, and your experience is mostly audio, then you have a long education in front of you if your church wants to move to IMAG. Your church needs to be prepared to pay for that education, pay for the system, and pay to upkeep the system and your continued education regarding it. At the same time, you need to be prepared to do the research, talk with people, and make sure the church is making a good investment. Just a little research into what it takes to do IMAG well will give you enough information to realize you could make some very expensive initial mistakes—to say nothing about mistakes resulting from a lack of future-proofing your system, and then having to make an expensive end-to-end replacement right after your initial purchase.
It is at this point that the “how” becomes the important question. There are a number of different ways IMAG can be done. The simplest approach, and the one many churches use, is to do IMAG only for the message, and only use one camera. This is a really good first step into the world of IMAG. It gives you the option to make the shift gradually—for instance, maybe rent a few more cameras and use IMAG for special occasions. This way the precedent is set, so that when you permanently add cameras it's not something completely out of left field.
BEWARE OF THESE PITFALLS
One of the biggest pitfalls with IMAG is that the church doesn't make the huge investment to set up a simple IMAG system. The issue is that simple IMAG systems don't really lend themselves to be incrementally improved upon as the church's needs increase. If your church introduced its IMAG system with a small 4x1 presentation switcher/scaler with one computer and one consumer camera, then chances are good most of this initial system will not be able to be repurposed in a larger system. This system will function on its own, but let's say your teaching pastor moves around a lot on stage and a second camera becomes necessary. If you had used professional cameras with genlock, a black burst generator, this wouldn't be a problem for you. However, the consumer camera doesn't have genlock and going multi-cam without a reference is going to net some poor results.
All churches want to minimize spending, and let's face it, when money needs to be saved, tech is typically a big target. So when planning your IMAG system, make sure you are keeping future needs in mind. Scalability is important. Making a system that can be upgraded by just adding the next piece is just as important as making a system that works in the first place. A perfect example of this is if you currently have 4x3 aspect ratio projectors, when you go looking for IMAG cameras choose cameras that have SD and HD capabilities. This way, the cameras function on the current projectors, and when you are ready to go HD all you do is change a setting in the camera. The initial purchase of these cameras might be higher than the SD-only cameras, but if you make the move to those same HD cameras in three years, you will have to purchase all new cameras. In most cases, buying two cameras in three years will be more expensive than buying the right camera the first time.
This philosophy can also be expanded to cabling. When you run the cable for your SD cameras, use higher-grade cable that can handle HD SDI. This way, the cable is in place for your future cameras. It is easier to change the connector on a cable that is in place than to re-run a new one. It's always better to design for what you will need in five years instead of what you need today, especially if it will work with little or no change in both scenarios. In just the cable example, future-proofing will save you from buying all new cable and, more importantly, save you the hassle of re-installing all new cable.
Basic IMAG systems are not that sophisticated, but they can become very complex really fast. If you are getting ready to make the jump to IMAG, then make sure your leadership and you both have a clear understanding of what is necessary to do the job right. There are so many mistakes that can be averted by making sure that you remember to do your homework, do your research, and do your best to future-proof whatever you are going to do.
