Cool Projection Ideas

[Adam Ogden]

hey guys-

So video content and projection technology is infiltrating the church market faster than some of us expected it to I think, which is good....it's a great way to communicate God Word. My question is, are any of you doing anything out-of-the-ordinary (meaning, beside the side screens for lyrics and the pastors notes) with video projection? maybe using a center screen on stage for moving images, or using projection for dramas, or musical effect, or something like that?

If you have done something with projection, and it worked well for it, I'm sure there are other who would love to borrow the idea. Share you work here!

[treynolds3]

The last church I was at, we did a 10' x 50' screen for background images/video. It was displayed by using 3 projectors which ran through a video processor. Turnedout really cool. Link below has some pics of it.

I'm now trying to figure out how to project an oval or circular image - like you see in roadshows and such. I'm not sure if a processor is the best way to go or just simply masking the projected image with a "gobo" on the front of the lens. If you any ideas or know of any resources that might help, it would be appreciated.

http://cid-c3b168b26200a553.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!C3B168B26200A553!107

[garyhodges]

Check this out for some inspiration...

http://www.visualworshipper.com/index.html

[russhutto]

we're getting ready to implement some sort of moveable lighting truss with a rear-projection screen stretched across it into our mobile set-up.

It will be the backdrop for our stage (singers/speaker). We'll project the lyrics/notes on the BIG screen behind it (movie theater).

I'm curious though on implementation. What material (if any) can be purchased to custom make a rear projection solution (screen) that we can setup and tear down weekly?

[treynolds3]

what are you using to achieve that?

[russhutto]

"moveable"

by moveable I meant moving it in and out of the space each week, not moveable as in uber cool rock show moveable!!

[treynolds3]

we're getting ready to implement some sort of moveable lighting truss with a rear-projection screen stretched across it into our mobile set-up.

It will be the backdrop for our stage (singers/speaker). We'll project the lyrics/notes on the BIG screen behind it (movie theater).

I'm curious though on implementation. What material (if any) can be purchased to custom make a rear projection solution (screen) that we can setup and tear down weekly?

We used a Dalite Fast Fold portable screen while we were in a temp location (setup and tear down weekly). You can get them in large sizes too. Our 10'x13' was in the $1200 range. It was very easy.

I have also made rear projection screens out of fabric and a wood frame. I forget wat material it was but i went to a fabric store and got several samples and tested them before i bought enough to make the screen. This cost less than $100 but was not good for portable application. A factory made screen will give a better image.

http://www.dalite.com/products/index.php?cID=11

[amprodirect]

Hey Adam,
We do indeed. We use a 65' x 16' screen suspended on trussing w/motors. Our projectors are 10k also mounted on a movable batten. It is rear projected which is not the best way to go for edge blending with currently we are using a Folsom BlendPro. We use Catalyst Media servers controlled through a Whole Hog III lighting console. All of the content is custom created in house.

I have some recent photos from Easter I could post once I get up to the church.

David Cherry
Shoreline
Austin

[yod1948]

I have a touring worship group. We generally play the same catalogue of about 50 songs and it seemed that we were always having problems with volunteers doing the powerpoint who didn't know the songs or couldn't flow with us when we'd change the set mid-stream.

We were also running into the problem of different churches using different software programs for projecting lyrics.

And besides all that, some songs have a "pay-off" lyric in them that was usually given away in advance because the entire verses were projected at the top of the verse...so I came up with a solution to all of that.




Beginning with Windows XP there is a free program called "Windows Movie Maker". We make a track using a simple percussion loop or an instrumental track that compliments what we're doing onstage and that becomes the basic audio track for a "movie"

Then, we can add text to that movie which will flow with us one line at a time using creative fonts and it's always perfectly synchronized to the track.

We can also put visual images (Photos, bible verses, looping video scenes, even music video, pages of a bible, etc) behind that.

We save each song as a separate movie and will make a playlist/set of 3 to 6 "movies" to play in a row. We can even program the length of space between songs (and put crass anouncements, URL addresses, scriptural references, etc) or simply pause them to speak between songs.

We'll do several songs like this, then we will break it up by mixing in a few songs completely acoustically when we want a more free-flowing ministry time. The percussion player runs the program on ITunes from a MacBoook onstage and it goes straight to the projector, which gives us completely control over the visual as well as the music. If I want to change the songs even while we're in the middle of a set, I simply whisper that to the percussionist player and he make those changes in about 3 seconds.

It's simple to make these movies once you get past the learning curve and it helps us visually teach biblical concepts (or make announcements) while doing nothing but singing. I can now also program the length of a concert/worship set to the exact second if necessary.

We use our own PA system (Bose PS1) and carry 2 projectors with us for both sides of the stage and/or we have 135 feet of VGA cabling to hook into an existing projection system.


The only disadvantage is that every song will be played using the exact same arrangeement every time. For someone who likes to be spontaneous (like me) that could cause some problems at first...but most groups play songs the same way every time and this might also solve other issues of meter, etc.

To counter the "predictable" aspect of this method we do no more than 20 minutes of this in a row before doing something acoustically without it.

This works much more effectively and dramatically than powerpoint or easy worship