At some point, a church will take its first step into the world of video projection in the sanctuary or auditorium. If you are about to venture into this new territory for the first time, or have taken that first step but are struggling, then this article is for you.
PROJECTION SCREENS—WHERE TO PLACE THEM AND HOW TO USE THEM
“The selection of screen correlates to the budget, aesthetic considerations and how the screens will be used in the service,” says Ameen Kadri, a consultant with Portable Church Industries in Troy, Mich. “Do you desire to use the screens simply as a communication tool that’s off to the side of the stage, or do you want to use the screens as part of your stage design, such as a backdrop to the stage?”
Screens used to simply communicate lyrics or sermon notes don’t need to be as large as one being used for a backdrop and are usually positioned away from the lighting of the stage. A screen used as a backdrop will need to be larger, and require brighter projectors because it will likely be competing with stage lighting.
Another question is rear projection vs. front projection. One screen cannot be used in both situations, since rear projection screens are designed to pass light through the screen material, and front projection screens are designed to reflect the light off its surface.
“Whether to use front or rear projection is largely dictated by the configuration of the room,” says Kadri. “It's a matter of how large the stage is and where the church wants to locate the screens. If you want the screen located on stage, you usually have to go rear projection because the objects on stage would block the light from a front projection system. Your venue needs to have a deep enough stage to lose 10 feet to rear projection. For side screens, rear is nice so the projector isn't out in the house seating area, and you don’t have as many sightline issues to deal with. If there’s no space for rear projection, you’ll need to mount a projector from the ceiling where there’s a clear sight-line to the screen.”
While ceiling-mounted projectors are usually doable in a permanent installation, it can be a challenge for a portable church situation. For a portable church, a table placed out in front of the screen in a location where people will not walk between the projector and screen may have to do.
For a smaller church, a 10-foot-wide screen can work well. “Once you get above a 16-foot screen,” comments Kadri, “the costs of a projector bright enough to light it well start to go up significantly. And by now, people are accustomed to a widescreen image, so there’s not often a request for a 4:3 aspect ratio screen unless space constraints require it.”
PROJECTORS & PRACTICALITIES
The size of projector you need will be dictated largely by your ambient lighting levels—the amount of light in the room near the screens at the normal time you have your services.
“Let’s consider a 14-foot screen, which is a common size for portable and smaller churches,” comments Kadri. “In a room with no windows, a 4,500-6,500 lumen projector should work well. In a bright room with windows, we usually suggest a 6,500-8,000 lumen projector as a minimum. Brighter is certainly better, especially if you can’t control the ambient light that’s hitting the screen. If you're not over 6,500 lumens you're not going to overcome uncontrolled ambient lighting. And if you're not willing to spend about $20,000 on a projector, you're not going to overcome strong ambient lighting.”
Most modern projectors include connectors for the most commonly used video cabling and formats, but you should pay attention to this and make sure you’re buying a projector that provides the connections you anticipate needing.
"For text to be readable no matter what the background image is, it is wise to use drop shadows or outlines around the letters."
Jeff Taylor
Owner, Softouch Development, Primary Developer of EasyWorship.
And while new LED and laser light source projectors are now available that reduce maintenance costs and energy usage, Kadri says the cost of the projector itself can outweigh its advantages—especially for small and portable churches. “Typically, we're still selling the standard arc-source lamps with LCD and DLP imager technologies. On the lower budget side, we're selling a lot of LCD. If you can get into DLP technology, you'll get a richer, fuller color. I find when you put them side by side, most people prefer the DLP look.”
And Kadri adds that, if possible, look for a projector that uses two lamps. “With two lamps, if one goes out, at least you will still have an image projected. If you have a single-lamp projector, if the lamp dies, you’re done.”
Most projectors these days use a standard HD video resolution, which most computers can work with and give results that are familiar to attendees. 1,280x720 is quite common; 1,920x1,080 is a full HD resolution but tends to cost more, and at the viewing distance of the typical church, would not likely be a noticeable upgrade.
MEDIA PRESENTATION
Once you have a projector and screen, you next need a way to get information onto that screen. While a commonly available program like Microsoft’s PowerPoint can work fine, several companies make software designed specifically for houses of worship. Two of the more popular are Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter and Softouch Development’s EasyWorship, which include access to bibles for easy scripture references and are designed for ease of lyric presentation. However, even software designed for the needs of churches needs to be used appropriately for the best results.
“There are lots of implications when you are putting text on the screen,” says Jeff Taylor, owner of Softouch Development and primary developer of EasyWorship. “Some churches don't put a lot of thought into it and obtain poor results. For text to be readable no matter what the background image is, it is wise to use drop shadows or outlines around the letters.
Programs designed for the church usually make it easy to use motion background video clips behind your text to add visual appeal. However, care should be taken when selecting videos to use as backgrounds.
“I love motion graphics as much as the next person,” Taylor says, “but when I'm worshipping, I like subtlety. Don't use really flashy videos that will distract. If possible, keep the motion areas away from the text. If the motion clip varies radically in color and brightness, you may find that unless you add drop shadows or outlines to your text, the text will be unreadable at times on that background clip. Adding a black rectangle that’s semi-transparent behind the text can greatly aid in making a light-colored text readable.”
Taylor continues, “The best rule of thumb when using projection in the church, however, is to focus on what’s readable for your entire audience. Young kids can read small or low-contrast text a lot easier; older people have a harder time reading lower contrast text and smaller or more decorative fonts.”
These programs also aid in media playback, letting you add video clips into your service schedule from either a DVD or a video file you copy to your computer. While these programs frequently support playing back a clip from a DVD, it can be problematic, and it’s always better if you can have the video clip as a file on your computer. Depending on the copy protection settings of the DVD and the copyright permissions, you may be able to use a freeware DVD ripper program to extract the video from the DVD into a video file and use that instead.
THE HUMAN FACTOR
"I love motion graphics as much as the next person. But when I'm worshipping, I like subtlety."
Jeff Taylor
Owner, Softouch Development, Primary Developer of EasyWorship.
Setting up equipment for projection, however, is only part of the road to success. The final mile on that path is more intangible: coordinating between those on stage and the person running the media program.
First, it’s important that the media operator understand that their role is as a worship leader, not a worship follower. The congregation needs to see the next verse on the screen shortly before they should start singing it. By the time they congregation is singing the last word on the current slide, the media should transition to the next slide so that the congregation has time to process it.
With that being said, there still can be confusion on when slides need to change, and for more spirit-led times of worship, what it needs to change to.
“We all have the ongoing issue of the media operator knowing when to go to the next slide in a worship song or during the pastor’s sermon,” states Pam Mintari, digital media artist at Salem Ministries in Tomball, Texas. There are several things that can be done to help make the media presentation more seamless; one of these is planning and communication.
“Our staff meets on Tuesday for a service flow meeting,” describes Jeff Duncan, tech lead at The Fellowship in Round Rock, Texas. “This is where the pastor gives us an outline of his sermon, and the two worship leaders go over songs. I try to get an idea of song transitions or lyric changes at this point.”
Body language cues also play into this, which comes through observation and experience.
“Since I am normally on the worship team as a vocalist,” Mintari describes, “I cue the operator by lifting my mic to my mouth a couple of beats prior to the words needing to be on the screen.” Most worship leaders have something they do with their bodies that will indicate when singing will resume—it’s a matter of being observant and noting these actions that the worship leader themselves might not even be aware of.
And for worship times that are less pre-planned, some verbal cues can also help. Many worship leaders will speak the first few words of the verse they are about to go to in order to clue in the media person that they are about to deviate.
“As far as the speakers go, we like to have either written or typed notes indicating verbal cues from their talk that will trigger a screen change,” Mintari says. “They don’t always get the cue in exact words, but it’s very close.”
While organized notes are great, many pastors work too last minute on their messages to provide this level of communication. In that case, verbal cues can help here as well.
“We implemented a small thing that has really made bringing up the correct verses seem invisible,” says Duncan. “When the pastor is ready for a slide to come up he simply says, ‘turn with me to John 3:16’, and as everyone is turning the pages the slide appears.”
When properly coordinated and designed, adding the visual reinforcement of a projection system can be a great enhancement to your church services. And executing the media presentation as seamlessly as possible can enhance them even further.
