The Monster Church 2
BTW… the term is not derogatory 
Dave Cooke, chief video engineer and friend of ours at Renewed Vision, has a site worth visiting, www.monsterchurch.com. There you can learn more about why Willow is appropriately named a monster church by their tech crew that has the monster task of keeping up with everything there.
One thing I think they do really well and better than most is staging with soft goods. I know, this is the worship VJ blog, and we’re supposed to focus on all things video. Well, I wanted one of my first posts here to help clear the air–video is not the end all be all. My home church had all video sets for a year, then basically hung up the VJ shoes for 6 months to make sure they were not wearing out a good thing.
We were up at the Arts Conference last month, and their set did a great job of adding depth and using lighting and soft goods. They have a challenge there just due to the sheer size of their stage. We have helped with some sets at North Point that the guys at Willow would need to triple just to make it look larger than a postage stamp on their stage.
Here are a few images–please excuse my camera phone quality.
How are you using soft goods to enhance your environments?
as the co-author, I second greg’s statement that video and VJ-ing is NOT the end-all solution to using visuals in worship. less is always more, in my opinion…and it also makes the “more” moments that much more special and appreciated (in the right moments, of course).
a VJ works with more than just video….sometimes I define it as the “visual jockey”…I’ve even heard of an “EJ” - “experience jockey”.
I really appreciate soft goods on stage….the last time I was at North Point (a few weeks ago) they had no video elements on stage at all. (this is greg’s home church he was referring to…NPCC, or buckhead…one of those at least)….and it was very refreshing and engaging.
i love the idea of projecting on soft goods, instead of screens and LED units. has anyone ever tried this?