Church AVL during COVID-19
5 Ideas for More Effective Ministry Right Now
This is an unprecedented time for the Church.
Just a few weeks ago, it was church-as-usual. Everyone came to our buildings, sat in our seats and worshipped together.
But now, many churches have been suddenly thrown into hosting their services online. And others, who had online services up-and-running, are finding that what worked with a packed auditorium no longer works for broadcasting.
Below are 5 pro tips for leveling-up your online services whether you've done this for years or are just starting.
1. Know your (new) audience.
Pastors and Presenters
Now that you don't have a room full of people that you're speaking to, make sure you look at the camera while you speak.
Additionally, if you have multiple cameras and no tally lights, make sure you have a system set up by your team, so that you know where you should be looking.
Watch your pacing. We understand it's very different to speak to an empty room, but we encourage you to take a deep breath and slow down. If you're finding that hard, consider having some of your team members sit in the audience while you speak. When you want the virtual “congregation” to speak with you, make sure you pace like you normally would in worship.
Keep in mind that everyone is sitting at home with their families. Kids are running around, distractions abound. Try not to become part of the noise by talking or praying like it's an auction.
Lastly, consider your global impact. How are you talking to people outside of your congregation? Your church became an international ministry overnight! Think of what an incredible opportunity it is that you now get to inspire hope in people all around the globe!
Worship Leaders
Consider the length and number of songs. Because you're not responding to a live audience, you may not need to repeat that tag or bridge a fifth time. Consider shortening songs or reshaping them for the families sitting at home with their children.
2. Use some type of external mic.
You don’t mean to do anything that turns people away, but sometimes people don’t tune in simply because the broadcast sounds distorted or just plain awful.
Here’s the deal: smartphones, tablets and laptops are wonderful, but they're not known for their high-quality microphones.
Consider using some type of external mic like this one from Zoom for your smartphone.
Don't Google search "best microphones for streaming church services online"—go to the experts that have been doing this forever: podcasters and vloggers. They’ve learned how to do it well with any budget.
3. Remember: you are mixing for broadcast, not for the room.
It's a whole new world. Without the forgiveness of the room's ambient sound, you'll need to consider switching up how you mix. Start here:
Shut off your main speaker amplifiers so you can increase your levels.
Bring your master up to dip into the yellow or orange. Yellow is a good signal for broadcast.
Set microphones in the room to capture the room's ambiance (optional for an added sense of "being there").
“Dry” mics don’t always sound too pleasant, so it’s important to add reverb and switch up the mix as if you are mixing for a recording—because you are!
4. Lighting.
In addition to mixing for broadcast, you're also lighting for broadcast. Consider some of the following tips to help level up your lighting:
Flatten-out your lights.
Have the speaker or a team member walk back-and-forth to determine the areas where you have lowlights and highlights.
In-person, our eyes can flatten the lighting naturally, but on camera, they become really bright or really dark.
Get rid of “floating heads” syndrome.
Light the speaker's hair and shoulders from behind to separate them from the background.
White-balance your cameras.
Color temperatures for incandescent bulbs range from roughly 2900-3800 degrees Kelvin (K), while LED lights are around 5600 K. When you mix those live, it doesn't make a big difference. On camera, this can make everything look slightly orange.
Set up a piece of paper or white substrate on stage and adjust your lights to match. The substrate should appear in the same temperature lighting on camera.
Your cameras should be able to read the stage light temperature in degrees Kelvin. Dial-in your desired temperature in K and make all of the cameras match.
Here’s a great video on how to white-balance your cameras:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNKlu54LSAM
5. Think about camera angles.
Have you ever watched the Emmys, Grammys, or America's Got Talent and wondered why everything felt so professional? Well, beyond the lighting and the flashy sets, they're using a simple rule that levels up any shot: the Rule of Thirds.
Rule of Thirds basics:
If the speaker is looking straight at the camera, you can place them in the center of the shot.
If they're looking to the right, their body should be in the left third of the shot. This is called "looking room".
Conversely, if they're looking to the left, their body should be in the right third of the shot.
Your camera might even have guidelines you can turn on for added precision.
This video is a fantastic primer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpEuYp4_iSg
Additional tips:
You also don't want too much room above the speaker's head or their head to be too close to the top.
Always look for the speaker's eyes: they should be on the top third of the frame.
Become a student of watching TV and mimic how they frame shots.
For shooting video at home:
The camera/phone should be at eye-level — even if you have to duck-tape your phone to a broom handle. Nostrils and ceiling fans aren't very great to look at.
Think about what's behind you - can you minimize what's in the background somehow?
Consider how you can light the speaker and not the background.
Sit further away from the wall than you normally would, so the background goes out of focus.
Smartphones these days can look really good. You may just need to research how to use them to their full extent.
These ideas will set you up for success now and when all of this is over.
What’s your next step?
Have you considered how you'll move forward after the pandemic? Are you managing your expectations for what it will be like? How will you maintain the audience you've gained online and the quality of your broadcasts? Have you considered the technical hoops you'll have to jump through to make it all work once everyone's back?
We're here to help. We can help you obtain those transitional products and services to keep your online presence going strong once all of this ends.
We can handle all of the technical details, gizmos and gadgets. If we know your goals, we can make it happen.
We love discovering how we can help churches like yours achieve their goals. If you want to talk with Inspirmedia Productions CEO, Phil Grimpo, click here.
