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What is "multimedia worship" and why do I need it? "Multimedia Worship" is any form of worship that involves more than one form of media. A sunrise service is certainly multimedia worship: the visuals of the sun lighting up the early morning sky while the choir sings Hallelujah. Another term used to describe this is "multisensory" because it involves more than one of our five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell). Obviously this is not a new concept, for centuries the church has used stain glass windows, pipe organs, incense, etc. to draw people spirituality closer to God. Now what does this historic flashback have to do with technology and church today? Nothing. . .except to demonstrate the newfangled "multimedia worship" is really a tried and true method that has deep roots in the church. The focus of this website is how to use the available technology to communicate with people more effectively.
If spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ is your mission, shouldn't you use the best methods available to you? Okay, so now I see the value of "multimedia worship", how do you do it? "Multimedia Worship" is generally accepted at this time to mean "video screen". If you spend enough time at this site you'll see that video is only part of it. Video itself is a vague term relative to "multimedia worship". For some it means showing short segments from a prerecorded video. An example of this would be a scene from "The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy and her friends are searching for the wizard because they have a belief that there is someone with the power to help them. Hmmm, what scripture could that scene be used to illustrate? For others it means showing a video produced by the worship team. This may be the youth group working at a homeless shelter or a "man-in-the-street" interview about a specific topic. Probably the most widely used method of "video" is computer generated text and graphics using presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint. The computer presentation is one of the easiest forms of "video" you can do and by far the most flexible. Okay, I want to do "video" in the worship service, what do I need? You need a screen and projector (or a large television). Most video projectors will allow you to use both computer input and standard analog video such as a household VCR or camcorder. Computer input is referred to as data projection. The projector effectively becomes a giant computer monitor. Whatever you see on the computer screen will be projected on the big screen. When the projector is used as a video projector it becomes a big screen TV. You can even watch television shows by using the TV tuner on a VCR. The projectors range in price from $1500 for small, portable models on up to $100,000 for monster units that are being tested for movie theaters. The biggest difference is the lumens rating. Lumens are a measure of brightness. Generally the brighter the projector the more you pay. I recommend you buy the brightest projector you can afford. Be warned that lumen ratings are dependent on several factors, see this article "Just how bright is it?". A projector is too expensive, how do I use a regular television? Some churches use a single TV instead of a projector. As the price of televisions plummet (in anticipation of HDTV) they can be an affordable alternative. If the congregation is too large for a single TV consider using multiple TVs from the front of the room to the rear. If you use a TV in place of a data projector you will not be able to show computer presentations unless you have a converter device for the computer. The device converts the digital computer video signal to an analog signal for the TV. These devices cost between $100 and $300. I've seen (and used) several of the cheaper converters. They are adequate but the quality does not compare to a projector. Some computer video cards have a TV video out connection that will work. Tell me how all this equipment connects A typical projector has standard 15-pin VGA connection for video input from the computer. Some projectors have another VGA connection for out to the computer monitor and others use a Y-cable to split the signal to monitor. The projector will have one or more methods of connecting analog video: RCA plugs (most modern VCRs have RCA jacks for input/output), S-video, and some still have a coax cable connection. Most projectors have an audio port that will accept a plug from the computer sound card and the VCR. Keep in mind the speaker on the projector is about the equivalent of TV. Works okay in the family room but woefully underpowered for a large hall. If you are in a large room or sanctuary you should connect the audio to the sound system. See this article for an idea on controlling the audio. Tell me how I make my own videos This question is worthy of a separate website, if you know of any good sites that explain video production in layman terms please send me the URL and I'll add a link to it. If you have an unlimited budget you can buy lots of expensive editing equipment (and maybe hire a techie to run it) and become the next Cecil B. Demills with a sequel to "The Ten Commandments". For the rest of us living in the real world there are three main methods:
Tell me how I create a computer presentation This question is also worthy of a website, so worthy in fact that I created this site. Prepare yourself for information overload and then see this article "creating a computer presentation" I already know the basics of creating a computer presentation, teach me some advanced tricks. |
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