Busy Day

Yesterday was a really busy day for the Crossroads Media Dept. I got to work at 8:00 am, and began setting up for a shoot. We did a commercial for our Annual Church Business Meeting. We used a 1K in a light bank, two ARRI 300W Fresnels, and an ARRI 600W open face. We were lighting a conference table for the spot.

We began the shoot around 9:45 am and got done around 11:15. The spot will be around :60 long, but it will have four different endings, and I'll post them as they're done. We're using a different ending each weekend for four weekends. When we're completely done, we'll put three of them on Crossroads Creative, and possibly the other reseller sites (the fourth one won't be understood by anyone other then our own congregation).

After that shoot, my pastor and I drove over to a local park, where we shot a promo for his 5K jogging small group. We're doing a small groups expo the last weekend of the month, but he'll be on vacation, so he'll promote his group via video.

After that shoot, he and I headed back to his office to shoot opens and closes for our TV show, Crossroads. While we were on the 5K promo shoot, my assistant lit his office. We started around 1:00 pm, and we did opens and closes for four shows.

We got done about 1:45 pm or so, and we tore down and got ready for a meeting in his office for our 2009 Easter Production. The series we'll be in is called "Proof," and our production will center around a college professor who once was an atheist, but is now a Christ-follower.

OK, so the meeting was done around 3:30 pm or so, and I began capturing the opens & closes. I did a few file transfers, then called it quits at 4:45 pm.

Oh, yeah, and I didn't even stop to eat lunch. Some days are just that way.

What about you? do you have days that just move and move and move, with absolutely no dead time?

New Set at Crossroads

This past week, we put up a new set at Crossroads. New backdrop, new band setup, and new lighting setup. Pics will follow, but just in case you're wondering what our lighting gear is, here's a pretty comprehensive list:

Leprecon LP-X48 console

8 2K Fresnels (6 front, 2 rear)

10 PAR 64s (all front)

8 500W Fresnels (all rear)

5 Elation PowerSpot 575s (4 in front movable truss, 1 spare)

8 Elation PowerSpot 250s (4 on stage floor, 4 in various stages of malrepair)

DMX splitter

Elation UNI-BAR DMX switch/dimmer

Reel EFX DF-50 Hazer

OK, so that's how we achieve the "magic." Here are some pics taken yesterday morning. If they don't look great, blame the iPhone, not the lighting designer (me) or the photographer (me again).

We use a different light scheme/moving background video for each song. I try my best to make the two match, both in color and style. Here's the first worship song:

Second worship song:

Third worship song:

Fourth worship song:

 Special music (offertory, which we tape for the local TV broadcast as well as the website):

Finally, the sermon. We're in a series entitled "Inaugural Address," so I wanted to do a patriotic thing with the background.

I'll try to post the sermon intro for "Inaugural Address" sometime this week. Anyway, hope you like our new lighting. I got lots of great comments on it. A little inside story...I programmed all of these scenes Friday, while I was sick. I thought everything was great until I got a text from a friend, Preston Blair, who was sitting in the balcony during the 10:45 service. He told me that the red intels shining back into the crowd were blinding him and others in his section.

Sorry, Preston, a couple of burned retinas is a small price to pay.

(Actually, I moved the light immediately after that service).

Christmas is Over...

...and I'm back to business-as-usual. This week, we finish up our new sermon intro for our new series "Inaugural Address." I may post it once it's done.

We are also working on a new set design that will incorporate some other textures than the normal white-spandex-over-shapes. We'll have some corrugated semi-transparent plastic and some perforated metal panels. I should be able to light behind the plastic, and create some interesting effects. Maybe I'll put up some pics of that too.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great 2009!

More Accidental Progress...

OK, since our service from Hades last Friday, a couple of things have happened:

1. ProPresenter's update is out, with the fix for the problem we had with the videos.  Great job, guys!

2. We have a new lighting console on the way. We decided to get a new one after the following occurred:

The console that was (and still is) wigging out is actually a rental for our regular console that was having the same issues. During our staff meeting Tuesday, my pastor asked when I was taking the console out to be repaired, and when I informed him that it was out, and that the faulty one was actually the rental, he gave me a funny look. I then explained that I had just got the info for the return authorization, and that it should be all good once we had the board repaired. At that point, our youth pastor spoke up and said that even thought they had theirs repaired, it was still giving them issues (the same ones, BTW). With that bit of info out there, my pastor looked at me and simply said, "Let's just get a new one."

Fine with me, but here's the kicker:  he then says, "Turn something in for my board meeting tomorrow night."

OK, so, to say that I know nothing about lighting consoles is giving me too much credit! So, I sent out text messages, emails, and made some calls. I was surprised to get so many replies, but in a way, it made matters worse, since NO TWO PEOPLE had the same suggestion. The guy from whom we buy almost all of our gear gave me some suggestions, and I finally settled on a Lecprecon LP-X48. It's more than enough for what we need, and it'll be here soon.

BTW, the three wiggy consoles were all Zero88 FROG consoles. Ours are both FAT FROGs, and the rental is a Leap FROG (pictured).

0 for 3 from Zero88, which is a shame, because I've really enjoyed programming on our FAT FROG. It's kind of a sentimental thing, I guess. It's the first (and only) console I've ever done ANYTHING on. Hopefully whoever buys mine after it's repaired will have better luck, and I hope my Leprecon does the same for me (pun fully intended!).

I Saw the Light (kits)

Crossroads Creative does a lot of field production when producing its pieces for use at Crossroads Church, and to sell on our website. Well, it's been six years, almost to the day, since I purchased my two Lowell Elemental kits.

They've been faithful workhorses, but tomorrow, I order two ARRI kits. The first consists of 4 1Ks with stands, scrims, barn doors, and case.

The second one consists of 2 600s and 2 300s with all the aforementioned accessories.

Once I have the new ones in, we'll do a little refurbishing of the old ones, and they'll go to our youth ministry. I'll probably (cases permitting) make up two identical sets, both consisting of 2 1Ks, a 600, and a 300.

All in all, I'm pretty excited about this transition, for a couple of reasons. First, it's always great to get new gear, especially stuff that is as great as the products manufactured by good old Arnold & Richter. Secondly, it's quite fulfilling to have gotten so much mileage out of the Lowells, which are viewed by many to be nothing more than pro-sumer grade stuff. I've literally produced about 1000 short films/commercials/sermon intros/TV shows with these, and they've performed well.

During my tenure at Crossroads Church (and Crossroads Creative), I've done my best to take care of what I have, so that not only do we get great usage, but great usage for a long period of time. I view all o my purchases as pretty serious investments, knowing that I'm spending God's money, money entrusted to me by faithful tithers and givers. I certainly wouldn't want to ever do anything that would not only ruin the trust that's been placed in me and my position, but more importantly, I wouldn't want to do anything foolish with that which is considered to be holy.

So, it's progress as promised, with no regrets...