Sunday, January 9, 2011

HD Upgrade FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions – re: HD Upgrade

What is up with Robocams?

Robocams position is going away, but will be replaced by a 3rd floor camera role. So if you run robos, you haven’t lost your job, we’ll just move you to a floor camera.

Where are the new cameras going to be placed?

The new camera configuration will include 3 floor cameras. 2 cameras will be moved to the back of the auditorium with one near the center aisle and the other one possibly at the end of one of the other side aisles, and the 3rd floor camera is yet to be determined, but I think it maybe a side angle of the stage, perhaps by the baptistery, but that still needs to be finalized.

There will be a 4th camera for the stage, which can be either locked down or handheld. Also we asked CSG to wire for extra camera positions. (Including one or two in the balcony) That way we can have a lot of flexibility which will allow us to either move an existing camera or rent extra camera (s) for specials like plays, SOS or Christmas Show.

What is happening with Tape Op?

Tape Op will evolve into an Engineering type position.
Recording on DVD, and to Webstream, monitoring and adjusting audio levels will stay the main responsibilities.
However, rolling videos into the celebration may move to the PowerPoint Op, but we will add adjusting iris and ‘painting’ cameras to the tape op’s responsibilities. We’ll probably rename the tape op position to something like camera shader or engineer or something.

Are we still using PowerPoint?

We will begin to use a program called ProPresenter for songs. It is very easy to learn, and it gives us some flexibility for songs that we like. We may use it for message as well, but it doesn’t do any animation. So we may still use PowerPoint for the message. It is very easy to toggle back and forth from ProPresenter to PowerPoint.

Are we getting a new intercom system?

No, our current intercom system will not change, except that we’ll re-route some cables to match the new camera locations.

When are we training on the new stuff?
We’ll try to do training on Friday, February 11th and/or Saturday, February 12th. Team 2 will be the first team to use the new stuff so I really want to make sure that we get everyone from that team in for training early as possible. I know some folks may not be able to come to the 11th or 12th training, if so we’ll try to set up a training session at another time.
What are we doing with the old stuff?
I don’t know. Good answer, right? I do know that on Sunday Feb. 6th, when we’re disassembling the video booth we will take all of the old equipment to the barn, which is out on the south side of the atrium, for the immediate future.



Other notable notes worth noting:

• We will experiment with IMAG-ING worship and if received well it may become our standard operating procedure.

• We will experiment to find the best position to key lyrics because of the wide screen format. So maybe instead of lower third, maybe the left third, but we’ll see how that looks.

• The new switcher has an excellent chroma keyer, so I could see us eventually doing lower third scripture slides. (Our current switcher can’t chroma key, which makes lower thirds virtually impossible. Bottom line, this new switcher will open a lot of creative doors for us. (We’ll have to make sure we don’t over-do it☺)

Saturday, January 8, 2011