The traditional megachurch phenomenon with its expansive sanctuary is waning, and distributed campuses, often utilizing former retail space and using video to deliver the sermon, is a growing trend. At the head of this technological transformation is LifeChurch.tv, a congregation based out of Edmond, Okla.
"LifeChurch.tv is a multi-site church that transcends metropolitan regions and reaches more than 30,000 attendees weekly," describes Sunny Thomas, project manager at LifeChurch.tv. "Utilizing the very latest media technologies to deliver the Gospel, our approach includes a satellite broadcast that enables all locations to be connected as one during the weekend experiences; an online campus that provides services featuring live interaction; a fully interactive 3D experience at SecondLife; and free online resources for other churches at open.lifechurch.tv."
To further support their high-tech approach to church, LifeChurch.tv recently expanded their technical capabilities with an additional studio, Studio B, enabling them to pre-produce weekend messages.
"We needed to create a secondary venue that allows our senior pastor, Craig Groeschel, and our other team teachers to record weekend messages ahead of time in front of a small audience," states Thomas. "Having this environment allows our leadership more flexibility. We are no longer limited to teaching in a live environment at our weekend experiences. This space also allows pastors from other churches to come in during the week and record a weekend message for our church and then return to their home church for the weekend." LifeChurch.tv's technical staff was able to design and implement the new video systems for Studio B in-house. Panasonic video equipment forms the core of the video system, with an AV-HS400A switcher providing control. Two Panasonic AK-HC3500 HD video cameras are the primary cameras, with a Panasonic AK-HC931B camera brought in on occasion when a three-camera shoot is desired. "We have been very pleased with video quality of the Panasonic AK-HC3500 cameras since we began using them in 2008," Thomas says.
You can't have good video without good lighting, however. Therefore, LifeChurch.tv wanted to ensure a quality lighting system would be designed for the space, with ease-of-use for their volunteer lighting operators a must. With past experience and reputation as a guide, the church's choice of a lighting designer for the project was straightforward.
"Landru Design's Andrew Dunning, a Nashville, Tenn.-based lighting designer, has assisted us with our lighting projects in the past," states Thomas, "and we have always been pleased with his design recommendations for us and the work that he has done for others."
The requirements for the lighting system were to provide even, broadcast-quality lighting across the entire studio stage; to provide scenic and architectural lighting in the studio; and all needed to be easy to control and configure by both the staff and volunteers.
As with all spaces, the Studio B project posed some challenges for Dunning. "There was limited power available for the space," states Dunning. "Although we started with a fairly ‘conventional' approach using fresnels, this limitation led us to using fluorescent fixtures. Though the fixtures we chose have incredible output for fixtures of their type, they are still not long-throw fixtures (meaning lower intensity at the distances we desired). Also, the nature of fluorescent sources is that they are quite diffuse, making controlling light spread pretty challenging."
Dunning chose Videssence Powerkey P110 and P220 fixtures to handle most of the stage lighting needs. These fluorescent fixtures worked with the power restrictions of the space, had the best lighting output of that type of fixture on the market at that time, and have zoom-able optics - "something unique for fluorescent fixtures," states Dunning.
An important part of lighting a space for video is dealing with color temperature, which essentially is the color content of the light being produced. Normal tungsten lighting (like the standard light bulbs used in your home) produce a light that's more yellow; daylight is more blue. Photographic and video cameras see light differently than the human eye (if you take a picture of your living room lit with tungsten light and get a window in the shot, the scene out the window will look very blue compared to the room), so getting light sources to put out light that's similar in color content will provide better video.
To get the color temperatures of the different light sources to work better together, Dunning did several things. "I warmed the tungsten proscenium arch lighting up a bit with Lee 152 gel to enhance some of the warmer coloration of the arch, which has a weathered-steel girder look. I left the tungsten lighting used for illuminating the graphics in the room open-white. And I ordered the fluorescent fixtures with 3,200-degree lamps (the color temperature of tungsten lighting), but corrected them up a little so that LED and arc color would read better.
"Though the fluorescent light characteristics are pretty different than other soft-edge sources (like fresnels), I've been pretty pleased with the outcome," Dunning adds.
For accent lighting on walls and the white sky drop, Dunning picked Martin Stagebar LED fixtures. The church was already using Stagebars in other locations, and their high output and color mixing abilities suited the space well.
For control, a Jands Vista S3 was installed with an external pen tablet for control. "Because of the graphical interface," Dunning adds, "Vistas are proving to be quite easy to use, regardless of a given user's ability to speak ‘lightingese.' This project required a lighting console that would be easy to teach and use by the volunteers. It also needed to be powerful enough for the current lighting setup, yet be upgradable to cope with the church's future needs and provide seamless control of conventional, LED and intelligent fixtures. The Vista fit that bill."
Dunning continues, "I was very impressed with the console's relatively shallow learning curve. I could also appreciate how quickly a non-lighting professional could easily control even intricate lighting systems. Also, I believe that the church should be a place where all are empowered to serve, not just those who are paid production staff. The Vista supports this idea by enabling users of all experience levels to create lighting looks quickly and easily. In addition, members from other disciplines, such as a video director, can easily control the lighting."
Thomas agrees. "The Vista console was easy to set up and is very easy to use. After the Studio B project, we made the Vista console our standard lighting console for all new campuses we launch. We also have been very pleased with the Martin Stagebar 54. This is now a standard piece of equipment installed in every new campus we launch as well. In addition to the great support that Martin Lighting provides to us, we are very pleased with the color this LED fixture produces."
With the addition of Studio B, LifeChurch.tv is well positioned to produce content that reaches people for Christ.
