It’s coming…
i get the honor to VJ for travis once again, and this time it’s going to recorded live to CD & DVD!
if you’re in the area, join us for this awesome night of worship!
Entries Tagged as 'VJ-ing'
Gloria Christmas Tour
the week after i got back from Indonesia, i jumped on a tour bus with Travis Cottrell, Cindy Morgan & Shaun Groves for Compassion’s Gloria Tour!
The last two weeks have been awesome getting to VJ Christmas media for their incredible songs. Brandon Horner did the first leg for me (as there was a good chance i could have missed a flight in between Bali and Atlanta + the fact that jet lag kicked my butt this go around)….but i met up with Travis and the gang in Houston for Living Proof Ministries‘ CONVERGE event. We flew to Amarillo, then drove to Petal, MS, then to Jacksonville, FL. This weekend we hit Camp Hill, PA - Hickory, NC & Kingsport, TN.
Some of the churches had HUGE screens…like movie theatre sized canvases. It was obviously a lot of fun getting to “paint” them with visuals throughout the night. i’ve got to say that the most moving part of the evening was when Cindy Morgan sat at the piano and led us in “Praise the King”. And if that wasn’t enough, Travis followed it with “Jesus Saves” and “In Christ Alone”. Every night ended on a high note and with all fingers pointing to Jesus!
opening of “Ring the Bells” sung by Travis Cottrell
Cross-dissolving Africans during “Ring the Bells”
“Christmastime is Here” sung by Cindy Morgan
“Beautiful Bird” w/ music video, sung by Cindy Morgan
Cross-dissolving manger scenes with framed swirls for “Joy” sung by Cindy Morgan
Shaun Groves
Shaun Groves singing “Kingdom Coming”
“Praise the King” ProPresenter screen
New England Nights
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!
More shots from Integrity Live/s4w
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.
seminars4worship video staging
PVP + rat’s nest @ 12:15am = whoa…we actually pulled it off.
VJ-ing @ Living Proof Live
Rich Kalonick snapped this pic in Billings, MT at Living Proof Live.
( Yes…sometimes I have to stand up when I VJ. )
Thanks, Rich!
The Art of VJ-ing [ DIGGING ]
There’s a documentary out called “SCRATCH” that I saw; it let’s you in on the underground culture of the hip-hop DJ world. And there was a section on “digging” and how DJs dig for good music & loops to spin.
Digging is basically search & discovery. It’s going out and finding your media (images, loops, movie clips, etc.) One time while growing up in Arkansas, my dad took me on one of the coolest trips ever (and we went everywhere, we did it ALL – and we still do!). But on this trip, we went to the southern part of Arkansas…to the diamond fields. We dug around in the dirt for most of the day, sifting through sand, mud, rocks and water in the heat of the summer, just to try and find a small glimmering rock. We never found one, but we saw many pictures in the visitor’s center that had lucked out.
Searching for media is very much the same, though chances of great discoveries are much more likely and sometimes more rewarding than finding a some shiny rock. All of this to say, it may take some sifting through some dirt and not-so-valuable resources, but that’s usually how you can find some great media for your worship gathering. A great place to start is online. If you don’t have the time to sift through a lot of material to find those amazing pieces, there are a few place that have already sifted everything for you.
Here are two sites that I frequent: VideoForWorship, WorshipHouse Media & the Shoutable Store ; I also recommend subscribing to COLLIDE Magazine …a great new magazine focusing on media & the Church.
What places do you go to dig for media? What’s your process of finding good visual imagery?
- proctor
The Art of VJ-ing [ INTRO ]
Today I thought I’d start a series of postings on the art of VJ-ing and the various components that go along with the territory. Most of these postings will be taken from a few articles that I’ve written back in the day for Worship Leader Magazine and EDIROL’s ENGAGE newsletter, but slightly updated and refreshed. Today’s posting will serve as the intro section. Enjoy!
The term “VJ” stands for “video jockey” or “visual jockey”, and sometimes has been known as “video DJ”.
The idea behind the worship VJ is not so emerging, if you think about it. You’ve seen this in forms of visual artists in the Church. But in the context of digital media & newer technologies, the role of the VJ is relatively new. It has emerged from the position of the “powerpoint guy”; you know, the volunteer running the slides on Sunday mornings.
It’s the guy we all turn around and look at when there’s a misspelled word on the screen, or when the slides are behind, or when the video doesn’t start on time, or when…i’m getting depressed.
Being a worship VJ means taking that role to the next level…intentionally & artistically. It shifts from being a spot on the tech team to someone engaging with the worship band. You aren’t just hitting an arrow button and “doing your job”; you are now carrying the mantle of “visual worship leader”. Because whether you like it or not, anything visual during corporate worship is going to affect the Body. It could be meaningless and wasted space, not to mention boring and misrepresenting the glory of God, or worse…distracting; or it could be inspiring, convicting, and truly engaging…leading and pushing the Body to worship the Living God. It’s given that we are affected by what we see, so why not take great care and responsibility with that knowledge?
Many have started to integrate visuals into our gatherings, usually in the form of lyric backgrounds. Video Staging has become the next logical step in the evolution of visual media. And any and every type of visual image (and format) are at our fingertips b/c of the internet. It seems that life for the VJ is better than ever now! But the battle to keep the focus in the right place is stronger than ever. It’s so easy (at least for me) to lose balance and make the “experience” about the technology/creativity. I heard Louie Giglio confess his own struggle with this at one of the Passion conferences; it was very convicting for me.
So have we reached the summit in our climb to overcome the obstacles of doing media well? Can we as VJs do anything else that might enhance our worship and keep the focus on Jesus? Where do you think the journey is going from here?
All for now…. - proctor
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(the above image is from packaging of Highway Video’s “Elements” - a great resource for the worship VJ.)
VJ Wazungu must be a visual prophet
Magnetosphere revisited (audio by Tosca) from flight404 on Vimeo.
our friend and fellow VJ Allan White (aka “Wazungu”) has made what could be a very exciting discovery that has gotten some major media attention in the world of Mac.
he has blogged about & VJ’d some “trippy visuals” from Magnetosphere, and has proclaimed that this could be the new visualizer in iTunes 8, scheduled to release next week at Apple’s Sept 9th event.
MacRumors.com recently had posted a quote from an Apple Exec saying that “the new iTunes 8.0 visualizations are really trippy - there is one with planet like objects wrapping around each other w/stars/light streams”
VJ Wazungu decided to do a little more research…and it resulted in his find being published on MacRumors.com today!
to read more about Allan’s “visual prophecy” check out his blog. He’s a great VJ that I met on the road a few years back when VJ-ing for the Luis Palau Festival in DC, and he is currently working for the Luis Palau organization now. He was one of the first guys to ever comment on this blog and has been a huge encouragement in launching the worship VJ blog. I follow him on Twitter and so can you!
and to be mesmerized by this amazing visualization and soon to be VJ tool of mine, watch this video!
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