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Last year, the leadership at Evangel Christian Center in Long Island City, N.Y., embarked on a project to upgrade the church's 1,350-seat sanctuary. They replaced traditional pews with theater seating, and, once that was completed, turned their attention to the facility's production systems. What could the church do visually to engage its younger members without alienating its elderly congregants? The answer: environmental projection.
“We had some money available, and it was either put it into [environmental projection] or put it into a lighting rig,” explains Andrew Marko, Evangel Christian's director of visual arts. “We decided we could do a lot more with the money [if we went] this route rather than with a lighting rig.”
Evangel Christian procured seven Hitachi projectors: five CP-X8170 for its main environmental projection system, and two CP-WX8265 projectors for left and right words overlay, as well as for showing movies. While the church sources scenes from TripleWide Media, which offers stock media for environmental projection, Andrew Marko also creates his own photography and videos for use during services. “Sometimes in the winter we have these really cool winter scenes that we put up. When it's spring or fall, we have really beautiful scenes, too,” says Carolyn Marko, executive pastor at Evangel Christian. “It's nice, because in the city all you see is concrete. There's no trees—there's nothing. [With these nature scenes] you feel like you're actually there. We [project onto] the side walls and the ceiling, so you literally feel like you're sitting right in it.”
Evangel Christian worked with Camron Ware, founder of Visual Worshiper, a lighting and environmental consulting and design firm based in Dallas. Ware, who specializes in serving houses of worship, believes that when done right, environmental projection isn't something that's consumed passively by those present in the space. “It's not just a backdrop or a background or a thing to sit and look at and watch,” he says. “[Environmental projection] has its heart based around being truly engaging to a congregation, surrounding them not just physically with imagery, but also, hopefully, [they're] experiencing it emotionally, letting them be in something that's different than their existing space.”
"[Environmental projection] has its heart based around being truly engaging to a congregation, surrounding them not just physically with imagery, but also, experiencing it emotionally…. "
Camron Ware
Founder, Visual Worshiper.
To achieve this, Ware emphasizes that churches must have a clear vision of what they wish to achieve with this technology. They must also understand what environmental projection (EP) is—and isn't—capable of. “If a church comes to me and says, ‘We want to do environmental projection so that we can grow our church,' I say, ‘That's not really what EP's for, that's not what it's going to do,'” he illustrates. What environmental projection can do, he says, is enhance worship. But this means that somebody has to be in charge of keeping it fresh.
“You definitely have to have an artist type of person on staff, or a volunteer, that's really going to own it. They're going to be part of the worship planning meeting,” Ware notes. Oftentimes, it's the worship pastor—at least in the beginning—since they're generally charged with selecting music, and environmental projection should be in alignment with the songs that are featured during the service. “You've got to have a vision, and you've got to have a person to own it, and then a person to operate it,” Ware says. “Those two things, the artist and the operator, could be the same person, [or] it could be several different people.”
The Cost Factor
While the Markos decided that their church would get a better immediate return on investment from environmental projection rather than a new lighting rig, is EP less expensive than traditional scenic elements? Zachary Borovay, a visual storyteller and production designer who has worked on Broadway productions, Las Vegas shows, and operas, as well as having created projections for circuses, concerts, theme parks, museums, art installations, and corporate events, says it depends. “It can end up being as expensive, or more expensive,” he says. “The reality is, for building scenery, you only have to pay for that once. Typically with projections, it becomes a rental thing because some venues rent equipment. Or even if they own it, there's maintenance and upkeep of the equipment and the staff that knows how to maintain it.”
It's also necessary to consider whether or not the latest and greatest projection technology is really necessary for your application. “I know that a lot of people will say that they see resolution—like 2K, 4K, maybe 8K—as being a big deal, and while I'm certainly all for that, especially with certain kinds of displays, I think in the world of projectors … you also have to think about the surface you're projecting onto,” Borovay says. If, for example, you're projecting onto a red, textured brick wall, “the difference between 2K and 4K is not really going to read because the image is already going to get a little bit of distortion from that surface, and so it may not be worth it to spend the extra money if you don't have to—especially if you're looking to purchase.” At the same time, Borovay concedes that a more significant upfront investment may pay off for some organizations. “I know there's also this thought that you want to future-proof it, so depending on what your budget is it may be worth it to go further forward if you can afford it,” he says.
Goal-definition
In weighing these factors, Borovay counsels potential buyers to focus on what the purpose environmental projection is supposed to serve. He relays that many times, clients will start the conversation by asking him what equipment he recommends, when the better approach is to define the goals they want it to achieve. “What's the story that you're trying to tell here? Am I telling a story about two people sitting on a couch? Am I telling a story about a woman who's running for president? How am I going to support that with imagery and make sure that while I'm creating a picture that's fully thought out, that I don't distract from whatever the main part of the story is?” he illustrates. “Sometimes there's a point in the story where the projections are the story and you do want to be that big, overwhelming thing. But understand what story you're trying to tell … [and] make sure that you don't let the tools design the show for you.”
