There’s this guy you need to know about named Joel.

Joel Smith is the creative genius behind Thr-ve, a production company providing motion backgrounds, TripleWide loops, and mini-movies for worship. He has made some really quality stuff, like this, that, and this other thing . If you haven’t already checked him out, you really should do so now!

But one day, Joel got bored. And he saw a need…both for his creative expressions & for great art in the Church. So he went and started something new, and it’s called “SimpleBacks”.

SimpleBacks are collections of very simple, artistic & tasteful still images. And what does he use to take them? His iPhone! Yep. Everything you see on his site (www.simplebacks.com) was shot on his iPhone. Kind of makes you consider why you spent $1800 last month on that 7D, doesn’t it? ;)

He says he blames AT&T, but personally, I blame Apple. By golly, who wouldn’t? Apple made a little device terrible at making calls (thanks to AT&T), but wonderful at doing everything else, like taking photos!

I was pretty impressed when I saw them for the first time. The quality is pretty stunning! Now that the iPhone 4 is out, there’s no telling what kind of pictures we’ll be able to take on-the-fly. I can’t wait to see what Joel comes up with!

Speaking of the new iPhone 4, have you seen this new short film shot and edited entirely on the new gadget?

On the site, Joel talks about how he started SimpleBacks. The kicker? He “took pictures.” It’s such a simple idea. He just went out and did it. SimpleBacks is the result of that innovative effort. It’s awesome to see the pictures of buildings and cars and stuff that you have no idea what it is because its from a fresh perspective. His art really shows that it’s not the camera, the equipment, or machine, but rather it’s the person behind the camera/computer/brush/instrument that makes the art what it is. SimpleBacks proves that you can make great art with simple equipment. So what are you doing with yours? Quit making excuses that “I can’t do this, that, or the other” and START DOING. The best thing you can do is just DO.

So go do!

Oh, and one more little detail about SimpleBacks:

THEY’RE ALL FREE!

Nathaniel is Proctor’s awesome summer intern at Grateful Inconvenience. He does it all: somersaults, push-ups, and spit balls. Be careful: if you see him in the wild, he may walk up to you and give you a high five. Go ahead and follow him: @nathanielks.

Zach Fonville is one of the few media producers that “gets it”. He creates stunning, creative visuals to use in the church that aren’t distracting. I was SO happy when I heard Brad Zimmerman at CMDtv talk about Zach because it changed my church’s Sunday morning. Before RedFerrisWheel, we were using some cool loops, but it just wasn’t “there”. But after hearing about RFW (and USING them), it just wasn’t the same.

Why do I say he “gets it”? I think that Zach understands that it isn’t the visual that matters, but rather the emotion and message in the song and in the worship that matters. His visuals just reinforce that emotion and message. His use of color and visual simplicity is fantastic. He forsakes a focused image for blur and abstraction. I love that because even though the worshiper is watching a video, there’s nothing to attract your eye to the video, but rather focus on the words and the worship, while also being able to take in the color and the visual. I LOVE that.

One of the defining characteristics of Zach’s pieces are their use of color. They are usually pretty simple, kept to 1 or 2 colors, but some offer more a variety in hue. One of the greatest things that you can do with ProPresenter 4 or ProVideoPlayer is change the hue of the video. So even though his original piece was blue, you can change the hue to green or yellow to match the environment you’re setting as one of the worship leaders! (If you haven’t heard of “color theory”, I highly recommend reading the first part of Smashing Magazine’s mini-series HERE.)

If you lead worship, you need to understand how color and visuals both aid and detract from worship. As Stephen pointed out in his “3D Worship” post, worship is for GOD and not for us. Yes, God gives us an awesome gift in being able to enjoy worship, but we need to remember it’s for his glory and not our own. Our worship needs to reflect this in every aspect, even down to the visuals we use. Are the videos you use during your services aiding worship or detracting from worship? I challenge you to ask yourself this question:

Why are you using it?

Do you have an answer? If not, you need to be careful. The point of using visuals in worship is not just to do it. God doesn’t JUST put trees in the ground to look pretty. He also put trees in the ground so that they can grow, get big and develop leaves that produce oxygen for us to breathe. God has a reason and purpose for EVERYTHING he does. Do you?

Like I said before, I love Fonville’s work because of its simplicity. In many cases, his work aids my congregation in worship. I highly recommend checking him out and taking his stuff for a spin. =]

Zach’s website is RedFerrisWheel.com – he offers all of his visual creations on his site for FREE…there’s a lot of motions on there, as well as bundles of stills. So knock yourself out, and spread the word! You can also follow Zach on Twitter: @redferriswheel

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Nathaniel is Proctor’s awesome summer intern at Grateful Inconvenience. He does it all: somersaults, push-ups, and spit balls. Be careful: if you see him in the wild, he may walk up to you and give you a high five.

Some time ago, I wrote a post called “Which Format Is Best?”, which walked you through my process of converting video files for more “VJ-friendly” playback. I should say right off the bat that this conversation only applies for Mac users. The short version is, when you download content (mini-movies, motions, etc), you are receiving a QuickTime movie that has been encoded with the H.264 codec (the industry’s standard right now). However, when pulling more advanced playback stunts like on-the-fly speed control & quick sporatic dissolves, this codec seems to struggle, resulting in choppy playback at the time of adjustment. And since I like my playback to be as smooth & seamless as possible, I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. So in that post, I highlight another codec that I’ve been using called “PhotoJPEG”; when exported at 50-75% quality (don’t ask), it results in a balanced combination of smooth playback, file size, & quality. #VICTORY

Last week, all of that changed.

When we were in the final stages of producing the Playback Drive, I asked the team the question, “Are we going to give people H.264 like everybody else, or are we going to go the extra mile and convert them all to PhotoJPEG?” The beauty of working together on a team is that there are other people more knowledgeable than you could ever imagine being yourself. Some liked the idea, and some didn’t. Why? Because they were never satisfied with PhotoJPEG to begin with. You see, PhotoJPEG compromises a fraction of quality when compared to H.264. The difference is marginal (even I cannot tell sometimes.) But to the professionally trained eye, you can tell.

So which is more important when VJ-ing? Pristine quality? Or seamless playback?

We thought about offering both codecs with a “read me” file explaining which format was for which situation. We didn’t want to compromise the quality of our loops, not even a fraction. But one of the guys on the team (Jason Norris, who’s been working w/ Nick Rivero on all sorts of crazy cool ideas) did a little research and experimentation.

What he discovered is this: if you export a video to QuickTime using H.264 but choose the option to KEY ALL FRAMES, it will result in seamless playback, just like PhotoJPEG…except that you’ve not compromised any quality! Here’s a snapshot of the advanced settings when exporting via QuickTime 7 (this should apply to other programs as well):

So…I have officially abandoned PhotoJPEG as my VJ codec of choice. From now on, it’s H.264 all the way (keying every frame along the way, of course.)

So what? What does this mean for you?

- if you’ve gone through all the work of converting all your loops to PhotoJPEG, then welcome to my camp. But I’m not that worried or frustrated honestly, b/c remember, the difference in marginal. Just select this compression type & setting for new loops that you’ve created or downloaded. Don’t re-export your PhotoJPEG videos back to H.264…it won’t help you regain that little bit quality. If it bugs you that you have lost that extra margin of quality…sorry…again, welcome to my camp. If you downloaded content from WorshipHouse Media, you can always re-download it in it’s original format via their new “My Media” feature.

- if you are new to all this, just know that this is for more advanced VJ playback & getting rid of the little things that most people won’t really notice. But if you still want to follow my lead, then whenever you download a loop/motion from a website, simply convert it to H.264 with the settings I described above.  (FYI: it’s already in H.264, but not with the “key all frames” option.) Also, this practice does not apply to “mini-movies” or any kind of video that you aren’t scratching/jogging/speeding up/slowing down/etc. To learn more about batch conversion, read my previous post and watch the video. Compressor works great, but for those without Final Cut Studio, I recommend Stomp.

A note of warning: when keying all frames using “Best” on compression quality, it will result in a much larger file size, about 4-5 times the size of a file using the default settings of H.264. For example, a 90MB video will now be around 400MB. The day after I posted this, Joel Smith of Thr_ve tested this compression method himself and found that if you use “High” instead of “Best”, you will find a much more conservative file size without compromising the quality. But in any case, you are going to be dealing with a larger file size, which is totally worth it to me. So if you’re thinking of getting a Playback Drive, you might want to consider the 2TB model! ;)   — And yes, the Playback Drive already has everything converted with these new settings. (the amount of content equals 33GB.)

It’s all about excellence. Even in the details. Thanks, Jason, Nick & Joel for working hard to find a better way for all of us!

Since our announcement, we have gotten an overwhelming response of positive feedback about the Playback Drive! We knew a few people out there might dig it, but to see how well it’s been accepted and to read the articles that have been written about it…we are humbled & blown away!

Through the process, we’ve asked potential users of the Playback Drive what they like & dislike about what they’ve seen so far. After all, we are almost a week away from our shipping date and want to make sure we refine this thing as much as possible to fit everyone’s needs. The biggest request we’ve received is to have a closer in-depth look at what exactly comes on the Playback Drive (beyond the promo-video and the thumbnails on the site).

Well, you spoke…and we listened. Here is a Guided Tour of the Playback Drive:

If you would like a more detailed overview of the Playback Drive and have 42 minutes to spare, then knock yourself out.

Here are some things to consider when deciding if the Playback Drive is for you:

- there is a vast array of artistic styles in the content…from animated CG loops to nature/creation scenes to abstract, sacred looking textures. You might not use all of the content in one venue; PBHD is a great multi-venue resource. Some content will work better for the adult service on Sunday morning while other content will work better in student/children environments.

- it’s always good to have a dedicated external hard drive for playback and media storage. It’s not the best idea to clutter and clog your internal hard drive full of media, as this can slow down performance over time. You are already going to spend $100+ for a 500GB hard drive (well, on one that is stable & reliable at least). So, you are only spending an extra $149 for over 320 images/clips.

- if you are an organization that is just starting to use visual media…or if you are entering into a new chapter of using visual media in your events, the Playback Drive is for you! Starting a new, fresh library of content can often be overwhelming and intimidating…there is a LOT of content out there, but sometimes one can get stuck on knowing where to start. Also, media is a hard-to-budget-for-item b/c there is always new content to buy. This is a way to get a good library with an affordable & fixed price-tag that you can go to the “higher ups” for approval.

- we all need more content. This is another way to help fuel your next experience.

- multi-screen video staging, Environmental Projection®, panoramic edge-blended canvases, etc…. if you are in the “Triplewide conversation” or are thinking of implementing a Triplewide setup in your event, then the Playback Drive is a great resource for Triplewide content.

I hope all of this serves you well, and whether or not you will ever own a Playback Drive, may all “this” be an encouragement to you & know that there is a community of visual artists who care about you and the direction the Church is taking.

Every time I VJ, I get the golden question. “Where do you get all your backgrounds?” If you’ve been around me long enough, you’ll know there are many answers to that question. Much of what I use I download from sites like WorshipHouse Media, and some have even come from 20-year-old DVDs that I’ve discovered across the years. But more and more, the content I VJ is being created by friends of mine or even myself. Time and time again, I point to a shiny silver box sitting next to my MacBook Pro and explain, “This is my external hard drive. It contains all the videos & images I could ever need.” I get varied responses, from “Is that for sale?” to “You better not walk away b/c I might steal that!” (jokingly, of course…I think.)

Well, what if you COULD walk away with a hard drive loaded with content?

Now you can!

For a long time, a few buddies of mine and I have sat around dreaming. This usually takes place over a burning fire-pit, a stack of pancakes, or chips & salsa after loading out an event. We dream about everything from high-end technology that doesn’t exist (or isn’t affordable and user-friendly) to our philosophies on visual worship to the direction the Church is headed and what we love/hate about it.

One of those dreams was to start creating more content…a fresh wind of creativity that would sweep the Church and cause a shift in thinking in how we approach visual media for worship. And another dream of ours was to see all of this packaged onto a hard drive…a “one stop” solution that we could share with the Church at large. And not just a heaping pile of random clips…but media we could actually see ourselves using! A carefully curated collection of our prized gems.

This is way more than a product. It’s our expression of community & relationships. This project is a collaboration between Orange Thread Media, Visual Worshiper & worshipVJ. Those are our business names & brands…but most of you know us by our real names…Luke McElroy, Camron Ware, Nicholas Rivero, Nate Griffin, Jason Norris & Stephen Proctor. And many of you in our community have spoken into our lives and helped shape the way we think.

We hope that the Playback Drive will be a simple & effective solution that will empower you as you journey on this road of “visual worship”. Because no matter what software you are using, how big your HD screens are, or how simple or complex your approach may be, at the end of the day, you’ve got to have good content. The type of content loaded ranges from artistic & abstract to film-based images & realistic. There’s also a good selection of fast & vibrant loops for more energetic contexts, as well as slow & reflective imagery for more contemplative times. We wanted to make sure that there is a wide variety that suits every situation!

More importantly, we hope that this will be a tool that creates community and edifies the Church at large. To read more about why we are doing this & the community behind it all, read what Luke McElroy has to say.

And for those of you on Twitter wondering what the heck “#pbhd” means (that is, if you haven’t already figured it out), it stands for “Playback Hard Drive”. :)

Pre-orders begins TODAY! We will begin shipping on April 30th, 2010. If you pre-order before April 28th, we guarantee to have you drive shipped on April 30th.

Oh, and there is just one more thing…

…all Playback Drive Users will receive a new clip every month for FREE!

What started as just another social media outlet has turned into a rapidly growing resource of VJ content…and the best part is, it’s FREE!

Various group members (such as SECCWorshipTech, Thr-ve & Everett Bowes) have started submitting their own visual media to the group and allowing it to be downloaded freely for others to use. And these are quality loops…I’m approving each one individually. No cheap crosses drawn in Microsoft Paint here. :) Thr-ve has even submitted Triple-Wide versions of their loops available on WorshipHouseMedia.com)…these loops are great for multi-screen VJ-ing as well as Environmental Projection.

Head on over to the worshipVJ Vimeo Group, and if you don’t know how to download the videos, just read “How to Download Videos on Vimeo” in the Forum.

ENJOY!

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• If you’d like to support us and keep things like the Vimeo Group and worshipVJ blog going, then you can support us a few ways:
  1) Buy our content that’s for sale at WorshipHouseMedia.com

  as well as playlist.worshipVJ.com.

• 
  2) If you are looking to purchase ProPresenter, ProVideoPlayer or upgrade to ProPresenter 4, then please go through us to get it. By doing so, we will be able to hook you up with more FREE VJ content! Go to gi-inc.org/store to find out more.
  

• 3) Spread the word!
  

• Thanks!

The last thing we want to do is badger or guilt people into giving us money. I hope you know our hearts. We want you to know what God is doing in other parts of the world…we want to tell that story well…we are still learning how to be good storytellers as well as live good stories. We want you to be a part of what God is doing in Asia…. so that when you hear about the amazing things He is doing in other parts of the world, you can say “Sweet! I got to have a hand in that!”

To be honest, financial support has been trickling in, and we are nowhere near the goal we need to meet. So I thought about making this a little more interesting. It’s time to up the ante.

The reality is…we need some dough to go. And your reality is…you need some fresh new loops for Sunday. So, here’s the deal. You give …and we’ll give back! Whether you have been inspired, challenged, encouraged, frustrated, or bored-to-tears by our blogs/tweets/sessions/content/conversations/friendship/etc, we are asking that you give at least $20 towards our trip. And if you can give more, we won’t complain! ;) If you can do this, I will send you a link to some new, free visual media!

The media bundle will include:

- three brand new loops created from our past trip to Thailand (edited by the amazing Nick Rivero) … they are part of an new media product that we’re releasing this year.

- three Names of God loops by Visual Worshiper – one is his most popular title, and the others are two triple-wide formats of his Names of God loops, which have never been released other than personally thru his consulting gigs.

- there might be a few other surprises in there, too…but you’ll have to pay up to find out. :)

*they are in a QuickTime format (no MPEGs rendered yet) but please don’t let that be a reason not to go through with this.

Here’s how to give:

1) go to ELIC’s website (elic.org/orgdonate)

2) fill out the form & put “ATC” at the bottom where it says “Any additional notes regarding the processing of this gift.” YOU HAVE TO PUT “ATC” in the additional notes…DON’T FORGET!!!

We have about $1700 each to raise. The way ELIC has it set up, when you give, it goes into one bucket for the three of us going. And yes, your gift is tax-deductible!

After you have given, email me at proctor@worshipVJ.com & I will send you a link for the media loops. If you don’t have the dough personally, then technically you can make this a church/media deal since you’ll be getting content that your whole church will benefit from! :)

again, at least $20… and more if you can swing it. You guys rock!

Here are thumbnails of some of the media included:

MPEG-1, WMV, MOV, M4V, AVI…the list goes on. Remember the good ole days when everything thing was on VHS? (And then LaserDisc came out…man, that was exciting.) There’s so many file formats to choose from. And while they all technically/supposedly/are-rumored-to playback in most presentation softwares, which is the best format for VJ-ing?

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UPDATE!

Since this was posted, I have discovered a better codec for the best VJ playback experience. Instead of going with PhotoJPEG, use H.264 …except you want to KEY ALL FRAMES! Read more about this here.

For those of you using Stomp to batch export, here is a screen-shot of the new settings.

this seems to be the train of thought amongst a few of us in this “visual worship conversation”. However, could simple loops with nothing but textures, colors and particles ever have a home in our churches? Does your visual media ALWAYS have to have a clear meaning & message? Does the visual impact always have to be an obvious revelation of theological truth?

I have the privilege of attending the Dirt Conference this week, and i’ve been meeting some of the coolest people who are also asking the question “why?” & pressing in to find out how to be better visual worship leaders. One of them is Katie Strandlund. Check out this blog post she wrote today, where she breaks down our conversation about the proper place of “simple colored loops”.

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I have been living in the world of visual worship for six years now. God has taught me a thing or two along the way. I’ve used a variety of tools, changed my “best practices” countless times, and my philosophy probably as many. But through all of that I had one question I couldn’t get a good answer for: why use simple colored backgrounds, backgrounds that are visually less saturated?

I mean, I have visited several churches and by far the majority of them use colors 90% of the time. Sure, they look neat and can be all flashy, but for me they do very little to enhance worship. Not only do churches use them but video companies have produced them in mass and continue to do so. I couldn’t help but think there was something magical abut these backgrounds that I was missing.

Well today, I had a brief conversation with Stephen Proctor and the lightbulb came on. His answer to that question made complete sense and made me think “aha, I get it!” In short, his answer was not only can we use colors to create certain moods, but perhaps more importantly we can use less visually saturated backgrounds to great an ebb an flow that is necessary in visual worship. You see we need highs and lows in order to have either. You can’t get to the mountaintop unless you start from the bottom. And the mountaintop isn’t nearly as sweet if you stay there all of the time. In visual worship terms: you use visual simplicity to create space where you prepare people for something more. But if it’s more all of the time it becomes too much. The opposite is also true however. If it’s all colors all of the time you are missing out on the essence and power of visual worship.

Seems so simple, doesn’t it? But then, I guess most “lightbulb moments” do. What was the last “lightbulb moment” you had?

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Check out Katie’s blog here.

Thanks, Katie, for asking me a question that no one’s ever asked me before…our conversation led me to a deeper understanding of the impact visual media can have during worship, even in the abstaining of “high impact” visual moments. wow.

we are collaborating with the amazing folks over at RT Creative Group (WorshipHouse Media) on a few projects to help get visual content into the hands of the local church in creative ways. One of these projects has just gone live… The worshipVJ Playlist.

at every event, i get THE QUESTION: “Where did you get all of those backgrounds?” … and lately, the questions have been very specific, down to the video. The Playlist is a collection of media that i have VJ’d for artists such as Travis Cottrell, Paul Baloche, Desperation Band/New Life Worship, Chris Tomlin, & many more. It’s a good representation of my favorite media available on WorshipHouse.

Explore. Experiment. And engage your congregation with the same media that is serving some of today’s leading worship songwriters and recording artists.

Thanks to Dale, Mo, Beth, Jeff & Rob at WorshipHouse/RT for your support & excitement. These guys have impressed me beyond my expectations and I can truly & authentically say that their main priority is serving the local Church.

It’s been a very long journey. and if you know me well, this has been a dream i’ve had for a long time. You see, i’ve spent years and years VJ-ing the content of other producers….but i’ve rarely created and shared my own. I joke around at conferences that “I just push the play button.” But one of the downfalls of ONLY being a VJ is that you can only be as creative as others’ softwares and content allow you to be. thank goodness we live in a day where there’s great resources for both. Still, it’s been very frustrating being in a place where i wasn’t creating and releasing my own media content.

The best part of this is that it’s not all “my” content. You see, i’ve been privileged enough to be surrounded by a creative team of friends who are telling amazing stories and creating unique content…most of which i use all the time when i VJ. i get the question all the time: “where do you get all of your backgrounds?” Well, about 25% of my “most played” content are loops & clips that hasn’t been available anywhere online (at least not publicly, or easy to find). So now…it’s public…and it’s easy to find!

We (Grateful Inconvenience …aka, the design/media company nate & I started) are not only creating ourselves but we have also partnered with a few friends. And these friends just happen to run non-profit organizations that are doing amazing work and vision-casting around the world. So here’s the deal: when you purchase content linked with a non-profit, part of the proceeds (aka your money) is going back into that organization. It’s “media with a missional purpose”!

So far, our partners include New Tribes Mission & Daniel Bashta’s organization, Go Motion Worldwide.

We are still in the process of uploading and approving content, so our offering is quite small right now. But it’s growing, and it’s coming down the pipeline fast! Soon, we will release two more mini-movies: “Confessions” (a humorous video highlighting the tension between music & tech teams), & “Changed” (our first NTMfilm that promotes INTERFACE , which is being re-edited to have a broader message/call-to-missions).

So, if you’re looking for some new content to VJ & great stories to tell, then please head on over and check out what we have to offer. I welcome as much feedback as you’d like to give, as we truly want to create visual content that helps you not only leads your congregation into deeper, more meaningful worship, but instigates a lifestyle of putting your worship into motion outside the four walls of the church building.

Tenth Avenue North, who shortly after performing won New Artist of the Year … Daniel Bashta (GO MOTION) is on the screen. He shot this clip called “Hope” that is one of my all-time favorite clips to VJ. we’re working together to make it available to the masses soon.

Chris Tomlin leading worship with “I Will Rise” – content on main screen is “night sky loop” from IgniterBacks 05, and the triple-wide video towers are using the “plus” version of the same clip.

Steven Curtis Chapman singing “Cinderella”…one of the most emotional moments in my career. the main screen was his music video of him dancing with his daughter. the strength that God has given him and his family this year is unbelievable. He is mysterious and glorious and sovereign over all storms in this life.

@ Rehearsal the day of…the Dottie Rambo tribute w/ sandi patty, ronnie milsap, kim hopper, the rambos, larnelle harris, and a bunch of others. Clip used on screen is “Acts 2″, a vibe from Highway Video.

Natalie Grant accepting the award for “Female Vocalist of the Year”. During the times when no one was singing, we put a spinning Dove Award on the video towers. Went back and forth with the orientation and tiling settings in PVP to make that happen. Nate was a rock star VJ at doing that flawlessly throughout the night.

Third Day singing ‘Revelation’. We played a music video that was created for the song…featuring “salvation mountain” which you’ve probably seen in some mini-movies and documentaries throughout the years. we also played the video on the video towers (highly technical process of pushing both mouse buttons at the same time)…but we grid mapped the towers in PVP to only show the center portion so that it didn’t look squished.

The big finale. Blind Boys of Alabama, Mandisa, Mac Powell, a choir of amazing artists…and oh yeah, Edwin Hawkins (who wrote “Oh Happy Day” 40 years ago). VJ’d is a couple of loops from IgniterBacks 05, manually blended in PVP.

That’s a wrap. the end of the show….”oh happy day” continuing…. Dove Awards logo blended with an Igniter loop.