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Gateway Church is using the new Sony HDC-F5500 cameras for new and innovative shots that involve camera movement, interesting camera angles and depth of field. The goal is to create, "...an immersive, engaging experience where the online audience feels like they are in the room and that they're part of the church, that we’re connected,” says Noah Gravell, the church's Executive Director of Live Production. The Sony F5500 camera shown here is fitted with a Fujinon Cabrio 25-300 lens.
Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, was already planning to replace its 10-year-old video system when Covid hit. Then, like nearly all churches, Gateway abruptly stopped in-person services for a time in 2020. This pause gave church leaders a reason to reconsider their strategy for the audience viewing services through broadcast and live stream, and to consider a new, more immersive, and inclusive experience for online viewers.
Noah Gravell, executive director of live production at Gateway, describes the church’s pre-Covid broadcast and live-streamed services as taking a more traditional TV approach, with camera shots primarily focused on the person speaking, peppered with occasional wide shots of the congregation.
In order to move its viewers from spectators to central participants in the worship experience, Gravell and his team decided to take a cinematic approach instead, offering a more visceral, in-person type of experience.
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The new Sony XVS-9000 XVS-9000 4/ME 4K switcher addresses the requirements of advanced 4K, HD, and High Dynamic Range (HDR) productions at Gateway Church.
Creating the Experience
To achieve the desired cinematic look—in 4K—Gravell and the Gateway leadership team sought the input and guidance of Adrian Lopez (the church’s former director of live production) at local Thunderhead Enterprises to create a completely new, IP-based infrastructure that included the upgrade to 4K cameras along with the acquisition of a new video switcher. In the process, Gateway Church became one of the first production facilities in the country to order the new Sony 4K Super 35mm HDC-F5500 cameras. The HDC-F5500, along with HDC-3500 cameras that the church also ordered, include global shutter technology to eliminate rolling shutter distortion and flash band. In addition, both cameras support a wide color gamut and offer various frame rates while providing a 60p output, making them ideal for live production. The cameras’ high sensitivity and low noise along with High Dynamic Range (HDR) also prove helpful in contending with the alternating bright and dark environments of the standard worship service.
For the HDC-F5500, the team utilizes a mix of Fujinon 85-300mm, Fujinon 25-300mm, and Fujinon 20-120mm Cabrio cinema zoom lenses to enhance the depth of field. In addition, they use the HDC-3500 with a mix of Fujinon UA70x, Fujinon UA13x4.5, and Fujinon UA24x box and portable zoom lenses that deliver complementary matching of colorimetry and operational controls.
Additionally, as part of the upgrade, the church installed the new Sony XVS-9000 4/ME 4K switcher as the heart and soul of the team’s multi-camera production. The XVS-9000 addresses the requirements of advanced 4K, HD, and High Dynamic Range (HDR) productions, also offering the ability to work in HD or 4K formats. This flexibility makes the switcher a super production tool to deliver a variety of high-quality images at the director’s discretion, Gateway’s team reports.
The Sony XVS-9000 4/ME 4K switcher also provides the ability for team members to work remotely using a separate optional control panel. With many locations like Gateway, the director could be on a different campus altogether and direct the entire service from there, if needed. To aid that operation, the church also purchased a new Sony XVS-G1 switcher for their Dallas campus.
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For longer shots, Gateway uses Sony HDC-3500 cameras with a variety of Fujinon lenses. The Fujinon UA70x box lenses (shown here) are used for longer throw shots.
A Deeper Look at Gateway’s Planning
As many churches do, Gateway faced numerous challenges over the course of the project. The first was to take a step back and really think about not only the equipment they wanted, but how it was going to all work together.
“The full scope was looking at not only the recording side of the cameras, but [planning] the system holistically,” says Gravell. “So, it included cameras, lenses, camera movements, as well as the switcher. One of the main goals was getting the capability to go to 4K. And so it was really kind of those three parts: the switcher cameras, lenses, and then the server to record it all. Then how all of that is connected, because we also went from Triax to fiber.”
As Gateway moved away from its original broadcast look to a more cinematic look and feel, the team had to decide how to take full advantage of the new Sony F5500, with its cinema camera capabilities but with its form factor of a traditional studio camera. Lopez describes the artistic and technical decisions that were made to go with Sony’s HDC-5500 cameras, saying, “We added a dolly [shot] that brings in a different angle from a lower perspective. So, you feel like you're part of the audience … part of the congregation during the service. The new Sony F5500 cinema camera helps us do that by taking advantage of some depth of field and giving the video a different look and perspective.”
The next challenge was to embrace the change. Gateway leadership had to acknowledge that they wanted to overhaul their production philosophies and decide how to best deliver their message. As Gravell states, “To me, the whole goal of live production is to steward the atmosphere. And for us, what happened is the room changed. So we were no longer in person in
Brandon Marx
this room and in this venue. We were now in living rooms and on cell phones. And so, there was this mass migration, whether by force or necessity, to where it was all online. And so pre-2020, the majority of our audience was in person. And so, we really looked at the broadcast as an extension of what was happening in the room. It always encouraged the viewer towards in-person church attendance … that's what our history is. That's where we've had success in seeing people saved, healed, set free, discipled, equipped, empowered, and serving. And for us, when we lost that ability, it was like, okay, now how do we, again, take production as a means to the end of connecting people with Jesus and meet them where they are?”
Now that the transition is underway, Gravell describes Gateway Church’s new approach as a work in progress. “Where we're at today, our goal is to have an experience where you are part of the congregation in worship and when the word is being preached,” he says. “So, a lot of that has to do with camera movement, camera angles, depth of field. We have changed a lot to where it seems like you're in the room now. We're not there yet, but that is our passion. What we're chasing is how [to] make this an immersive, engaging experience to where the online audience feels like they are in the room and that they're part of the church, that we’re connected.”
