Song Slides of the Future

Comment

Comment by Allan White on August 27, 2009 at 5:55pm

I agree with a lot of what Nate's saying here. While as a designer and lover of typography I'm fascinated (and have created) these approaches, for worship something's tugging me in the other direction.

If the goal is to communicate or add meaning (as the music video does - hilarious if you speak Spanish), then this approach is really useful for a performance. If the goal is participation through singing, I don't find this approach useful - it's hard to read (an obstacle), isn't 'early' enough for people to read, and is so busy as to be distracting.

I'm going to think on this more - great writeup and reference videos!

Comment by Nate Woodward on March 23, 2009 at 10:14pm

We need to be careful about trying to create a worship gathering that is engaging because we've got the most tricked-out presentation. If we have to animate text because we got bored with video backgrounds, what does that say about what is really the focuse of our gathering? Paul resolves not to come to the Corinthians with wise and persuasive words, but to know and preach only Christ, crucified. The truth is that we are not spectacular, professional and slick. We are amateur, clumsy, and half-hearted. God loves us anyway. That's the gospel.

Practically, most churches I've been too would do well just to have someone paying attention and flipping to the next powerpoint slide at the right time. Too many times, I've been singing along only to drop out because the right words didn't come up.

So obviously it matters in some sense whether we are good or bad at what we do. Bad projection can hinders worshi. So can bad music, poor planning, lackluster preaching.

I'm still working this out: what is the intersection of our calling toward creativity and our calling toward simplicity/humility?

Comment by stephen proctor on February 26, 2009 at 1:05am

i loved this blog!!!! i love that others are talking about this.
I have some friends that are doing some pretty cool work with "motion lyrics".

I blogged about it here.

http://worshipVJ.com/category/vj-content/motion-lyrics/

i'm already anticipating what's next...b/c one day we'll all be bored with 3D motion text. trust me.


Josh, have you ever gone to "Worship @ WorkPlay" in B'Ham? Jason Morant & Daniel Bashta lead it every 6 months or so.

Comment by Jonathan Smith on December 18, 2008 at 12:19pm

I completely agree, moderation is the key. We need to keep the media, graphics, etc. that we use meaningful, not gimmicky. So, for us, using them during a special or as our opening song works great, but every week isn't in the cards for us right now.

Comment by Josh Linman on December 18, 2008 at 10:25am

Thanks for those insights gentlemen...I will say we've only used these kind of videos a few times at Spirit of Joy...and maybe it's because we do them so rarely that I keep wanting more...but at the same time I do know it is a tough thing to get right and if you're not buying them premade...a time consuming thing.

Dan - your last thought sounds a lot like a conversation that followed a blog post by Cameron Ware at VisualWorshiper.com. Cameron was wondering if IMAG (image magnification - live video) added to the worship experience or was just cheesy...just a distraction and over stimulation. check it out here: http://visualworshiper.com/blog/?p=113

I think the key to it all is moderation...to be intentional about using different media and other creative elements and also NOT using them...

Comment by Dan Bracken on December 16, 2008 at 7:52pm

Song lyrics of the future have a high learning curve! I need to put on my animation pants on quick...

We've been doing a lot of song text over live video... just plop the song text real big right in the middle of the screen. Usually 2 lines of text, sometimes 3, and putting the advance transition on "0" in ProPresenter (cut). Looks good, and engaging.

You think there's such thing as over-stimulation when singin songs? Anyone ever find themselves craving a hymnal? I'm almost tired of the production.

Comment by Jonathan Smith on December 11, 2008 at 11:42pm

Integrity Worship has also jumped into this area with their Iworship Flexx series. I've also seen these used during Passion 2007 and at a Fee concert this summer.

We've used the Igniter Tracks with mixed success. Without using the click-track to keep the band in time these can be tricky (one way to overcome this in some instances is to use the pause button in your presentation software when the band gets behind). Also, the Igniter Tracks with our band accompanying seemed to work better for us as "special music" since the video tracks are so innovative and can be hard for a congregation to jump into at times.

I like them...a lot, but they are a lot of work for your band, especially if they don't have in ear monitors or a way to mix the click track with their own monitor mix.