Recording Your Church Service

Video recording your service with just 1 camera?

No one is watching, and here's why:

I often have a customer tell me that someone donated an old camcorder and the tech guys installed it on a tripod in the balcony so the church could record and/or stream their worship service. If this describes your situation, I dare you -- no, I double dog dare you -- to get online, find another church recording their service with just one camera, and see how long you can suffer through the broadcast. I'm guessing it won't be long. Here’s why:

• Using multiple cameras is more common.

Nothing you watch on professional production TV is shot with one camera. Even something simple like the Late Show With David Letterman uses at least 4 cameras, while an NFL broadcast can use over 60 cameras.

• Using multiple cameras is less stressful on the viewer.

                Our brains think in 3D, not a flat dimension like on a TV screen. When we watch a broadcast our brains are taking in all the different    

                angles and perspectives to “stitch” together what the room really looks like. If you are shooting your service with just one camera, you 

                are not giving your screen audience the different angles and perspectives their brains are longing for. Consequently, it's stressful and 

                boring for the viewer.

• Using multiple cameras gives you an out.

Unless you are marking a box on the stage and demanding that your pastor not step out of it (this will never work, by the way), you are inevitably going to end up with a surprise step out of frame. Having multiple cameras lets you cut to a wider shot and not broadcast 5 seconds of an empty stage.