We have a lot of people contributing to our Sunday and mid-week service times with scripture, prayer, testimonies and other content during this period of self-isolation. So here are some tips on how to create video and send it in to us at the church.
Basically any smart-phone will do a good job if it’s used correctly.
- We are producing at standard quality. So if your phone has an option to shoot at a lower quality, go ahead and set it to SD (720p or even 480p). This makes sharing the files faster and use less bandwidth than 2K or 4K files that some cameras default to.
- By using the front camera it will probably shoot at a lower quality anyway, plus you can see yourself.
- Make sure your camera is turned landscape (sideways, short and wide), not portrait (upright, tall and narrow)
- Any quiet, well-lit space is good. indoors or out. Think about what is behind you, we don’t want blank walls, but also nothing distracting.
- If it’s just a shot of you talking or praying, etc… then we generally want head-and shoulders. You should be framed from about the elbows or the bottom rib to a few inches over your head. Make sure the camera is at eye level, not looking up your nose. 😉
- Close your eyes for a moment before you begin and imagine the regular Sunday crowd is sitting in front of you. All the families you know and love and their friends too. Then speak to the camera making eye contact with it and talk to those lovely people!
- Give us 4 or 5 seconds of you smiling or pausing before you begin… and another 5 seconds of a pleasant pause after you finish. Also make the same welcoming and introductory comments on video that you would if you were just coming up on stage at church, say hello, and even introduce yourself. We use the pause at the beginning and end to fade you into and out of the other shots.
- You get to re-shoot, it’s not live, so go ahead and do a couple takes if you are not happy with your first one.
- Send us the video by Drop-box or Google drive or OneDrive or iCloud, whatever you have. (Or copy the video to your computer the same way you do photos, and then send it from your computer)
- Just be yourself. All of these tips are not to make you feel like you’re doing it wrong, or have to be someone you are not. They just provide continuity to our video clips. The number one thing is to be comfortable being you… that is what will come across the most and what everyone wants to see. We will all be a little better at this just in time to go back to church and never do it again, God willing!