New friend and fellow VJ, Camron Ware, is the owner of VisualWorshiper.com and has an incredible blog. I check it every day and am inspired by his work. What he’s accomplished with what he has termed “architectural projection” is jaw-dropping. He also just bought his first Mac (one of the new 15″ MacBook Pros)…so let’s throw a party and welcome him to the Mac community!

Camron just posted an article on his blog that was very intriguing…concerning the use of iMAG (image magnification/live video) during worship gatherings. This was something i thought about blogging about at some point, but he did the topic great justice. so go check it out!

Tags: CREATIVITY, Hardware, STYLE, VISUAL WORSHIP, VJ COMMUNITY, apple, iMAG by proctor
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i’m pretty much OCD and type-A when it comes to how the lyrics are formatted on the screen. like most creative people i’ve met, i like the lyrics on the screen to be clean and simple…having no more than 2 or 3 lines of text on one slide using a new contemporary font.

i hate it when the first word of every line is capitalized, like it’s a new sentence or something. i don’t get it. i’m also never a fan of lots of punctuation. if this was a report for my english class, it would be different. i also never capitalize anything except the names of God…even the word “i”.

i’ve gotten a lot of great comments and feedback over the years on this, except for one lady at a recent conference.

The names of those involved have been changed to protect both the innocent & the guilty. “Mr. Ren” is the conference coordinator i work with. “Ms. Stimpy” is the person who wrote the complaint.

Enjoy!

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Dear Mr. Ren,

I want to apprise you of a concern I have. The issue is regarding an aspect of the music during the conference.

When the words to the praise songs are displayed on the screen, someone neglected to edit them; The pronoun “I” is ALWAYS capitalized. However, the pronoun appeared in the lower case consistently throughout all the songs.

Would you please advise those who are responsible for the words that are superimposed on the screen of this grievous English error? A lot of issues in America are under attack, not the least of which is the proper King’s English!

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Ms. Stimpy

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excerpt from my response:

Actually, the ‘I’ is purposefully uncapitalized throughout all the songs….the only word ever capitalized is the names of God and the pronouns referring to Him.
This is a sign of reverence and also a reminder that ‘i am small and He is the Great I AM’.

Also, the proper grammar rules are kind of thrown out the window when it comes to displaying lyrics on the screens…its just understood.

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Dear Mr. Ren,
Thank you for your prompt response. Yes, you are right; it doesn’t change my feelings, and I don’t know who says grammar is “thrown out the window.” If that is so, why capitalize the beginning of a new sentence, or put any punctuation in? There were a NUMBER of people who noticed the incorrect proper pronoun; I just happen to be the one to write. However, others did put it in their comments on the evaluation form.
I thank you for responding. May I have the email of the creative folk who make such decisions? As a teacher, I have to deal with students who never capitalize the proper pronoun - even in middle school. Now, I am seeing a sub culture that is PROMOTING that! I hate to think that it is a Christian mindset that is passing on such “stinkin’ thinkin’ “! Christians are to above reporach and to not be offensive.
In every church I have ever attended (including the great mega churches), I have NEVER seen the proper pronoun put as lower case. I disagree that “grammar rules are thrown out the window and it is just understood.” Instead, it appears this is someone from your conference who has unilaterally decided to do it this way.

Somcerely,(????)

Ms. Stimpy

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wow. thoughts?

Tags: CREATIVITY, STYLE by proctor
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Well, so much for posting from Catalyst. We had 4 great, but very long days. Day 1 was load in and setting up the 26 LCD screens we had going around the stage. Day 2 was teching problems and rehearsal, and days 3 and 4 were the actual event. We had 9 main sessions in those 2 days, so it was a total whirlwind.

The conference itself was great…featuring a short bus, live elephant , worship by the Fee band , Kristian Stanfill , and Eddie Kirkland –excellent hosts Lanny Donoho and Reggie Joiner , and great teaching from Jim Collins , Dave Ramsey , Andy Stanley , Steven Furtick , Seth Godin , and many more.

The set was in the round due to the sell out crowd of 12,400. There was a cylinder LED with MiStrip ‘icicles’ below it. Above and surrounding that were the 4 main IMAG screens. The stage resembled the Chevy logo with thrusts going off into each area of the floor–the stage was framed with 22 50" LED screens, and the drum sub was wrapped with 8 50" LED screens. The cylnder and MiStrips could raise up and go down via motor control,and the opener featured a cool reveal of the drummer who was on the drum riser inside of the cylinder and strips.

Our tech set up was pretty intense–I had 3 PVP machines in front of me at FOH, and did my best of keeping everything straight. I had a machine running to the MiStrips, a main playback for the cylider LED and screens, and a master for the 26 LCDs that surrounded the stage. With me in the pit was Brad Weston running screen control through the Big Stuf Indigo, and Sarah running lyrics on ProPresenter.

I think the thing that amazes me most about that event is the depth of talent at every position. I don’t think we could come close to pulling it off with the talented people in every department. We get to work a lot with the guys from Majestic Productions, and they always do a great job getting everything in the air on time, and keeping it up and running. Kudos to Brian Pirkle at Big Stuf who produced the event and managed to keep us on task and not melt down during some pretty stressful moments. Jeff , Brian, and Brad at Catalyst have an almost impossible task of improving this conference every year, but continue to raise the bar.

Below are some pics…the bad ones are from my cell phone, the good ones are courtesy of Michael Henson from Majestic Productions.

Any of you make it to Catalyst?

Tags: CREATIVITY, EVENTS, GENERAL, ProVideoPlayer, TRAVEL, VJ GEAR, backgrounds, catalyst, conferences, video staging by gregdolezal
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this week i’m on tour VJ-ing for LifeWay’s New England Nights tour…where we’re taking the Living Proof Live events to the small yet historic States of the Northeast. each night features beth moore bringing the message & travis cottrell (and team) leading worship.

last night we were in Vermont…tonight we’re in New Hampshire….tomorrow is a day off in NYC…then Thursday we go to Delware. what’s special about this week is that on friday night, in connecticut, LPL celebrates it’s 100th event & it’s 50th State…spanning 10 years in ministry! it’s unbelievable to me that i’m along for the ride…God is WAY too good to me, it really blows my mind. i can’t put into words the experiences we’ve had and the things i’ve seen God do.

i thought i’d let you all in on my world here. the day before (and of) is typically spent customizing the intro video to cater to the city we are in…as well as preparing a motion text video that plays as a transition between travis & beth, featuring the scripture that beth is teaching on that session. and when the house lights go black and the screens are fired up, i VJ. here are some screenshots taken from PVP of some of the songs travis & the team leads.

"Shackles" - loops from Highway Elements & Vibes + a few random loops from various places.

"You Are Good" - loops from iWorship Flexx , ArtBeats , & scenes from Baraka .

"Made Me Glad" - motion lyrics from iWorship Flexx & loops from Radiate Films .

"Lord, You’re Holy" - video from ArtBeats + motion lyrics for each attribute of God made in LiveType .

"In the First Light" - video from ArtBeats , WorshipFilms , StarGaze & IgniterBacks .

"Jesus Saves" - video from VJ Wazungu , WorshipFilms , ArtBeats , GO Motion , Highway & Red Canvas Media .

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take some screenshots of your software and show us what you’re VJ-ing!

Tags: EVENTS, ProVideoPlayer, Software, TRAVEL, VJ-ing, backgrounds, conferences, living proof live, loops by proctor
3 Comments »

Here’s some more pics from Integrity Live’s seminars4worship in Grand Rapids.

that would be Paul Baloche. “what-a you lookin’ at???”

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These 2 below are from the first night for the Songs & the Stories.

Mia Fieldes: one of the great worship songwriters of our time.

Tags: CREATIVITY, EVENTS, TRAVEL, VJ-ing, conferences, integrity live, seminars4worship, video staging by proctor
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PVP + rat’s nest @ 12:15am = whoa…we actually pulled it off.

Tags: CREATIVITY, Hardware, Software, TRAVEL, VJ-ing, video staging by proctor
5 Comments »

I was flying to LA this past weekend to spend some time with a tech team at a church wanting to move towards being a “visual worship team”. As I was flying, I was catching up on some reading in COLLIDE Magazine…a magazine I HIGHLY recommend any one interested in media, worship, and pop culture subscribe to. These are some notes and quotes that I wrote down that I thought were very timely. ———————————-
- don’t let technology INTERRUPT or ENTERTAIN
- Technology should enhance community rather than replace it. It should increase interaction, not decrease it.
- “The Church has really been postured to be an enemy of the creative process b/c you can’t control it and b/c the message isn’t always as linear. The irony is that we wonder why there are no artisans in our church.” - Erwin McManus
- Don’t react & respond to culture, we should be creating culture.
- See beyond the media to the message.
- “Excellence is when media becomes a transparent aspect of the service & not the focal point.” - Mike Apple
- “The greatest failure of media artisans occurs when many people ‘look on and admire without understanding.’” (Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 33)
- Visual media should focus our people towards the One True God.

- “Ultimately, our motivation for excellence in artistic expression supersedes philosophy, is grounded in theology, and is expressed as worship.” - Scott McClellan

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On a side note, I just added a great blog to the blogroll. Already Been Chewed is a design blog by the designer for COLLIDE Magazine.

Tags: VISUAL WORSHIP by proctor
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