Wednesday afternoon I had the opportunity to hang out with Todd Breiner, CFPB Middle School Pastor - along with several volunteers and students in the CF Students Middle School Venue. I was blown away...
Several of their volunteers approached me about using our old Standard Definition video equipment. "Sure, why not. We may still sell it. I may take it back, but have fun until then." Well, evidently these guys have turned a 200 person Middle School venue and turned it into a living, breathing production facility using scraps from all over CFPB. Unbelievable.
What are they doing? Five cameras. Some manned. Some static. Plus Alpha/Chroma keying lyrics/notes on top of camera... all this for middle school students. And they are still pushing to do more. Incredible.
How do they run this? Who makes all this happen? Evidently the CFPB Middle School Ministry has 40+ media volunteers every week. I'm hoping to swing by a worship service this weekend. Can't wait to see the creativity of these kids realized.
If Middle School wanted to go High Def, they could not afford five cameras. They could not afford a HD Switcher/Scaler... or the cabling involved... Instead of limping into HD and putting together a weak production, Middle School decided they were going to be KING of STANDARD DEFINITION and go overkill with old equipment that still functions.
Lesson Learned: Sometimes, quantity trumps quality. And there's nothing wrong with resurrecting old gear! CFStudents Middle School, way to go!
Ya, it's OVERKILL. I don't even think they're recording the messages yet. They really should and vodcast it. Personally, I think Greg has been really bored. Better to keep him focused on video it keeps him off of MY interwebs.
Posted by: Jorriss | 2008.12.11 at 06:47 AM
I gave them the gear to start vodcasting. Ironically, it was sitting in my office not being used. Hopefully they'll be up in a couple weeks.
Posted by: Jeff Reed | 2008.12.11 at 07:11 PM
I think you made a really interesting point Jeff. Rather than doing a poor job at HD, they used available resources to do a bang up job in standard definition. Because of the size of the screens, the quality of the scaler they use now, and the distance from the students to the screens, even the standard def video looks top notch. The biggest challenge they seem to face is the angles and the lighting of the shots. HD is cool, but it's not necessary for all churches/venues, and in some situations, it may even be poor stewardship to invest in HD when SD is more than adequate.
As a side note, I do think some of the middle school media ministry is a product of Crisler's boredom, but the size of the production does open up opportunities for middle schoolers to serve in places other than Way Station and Anchor Harbor. This has really drawn in a bunch of students that weren't serving at all before.
And Jorriss, the interwebs belong to Al Gore.
Posted by: Z$ | 2008.12.17 at 08:59 AM