One of the questions I often see posted from Church Tech people, particularly regarding new video camera purchases or recommendations is, “I am thinking about getting new I-Mag or sermon capture cameras for my church auditorium. Will the (insert: large sensor camera model du jour) work well in this application?” I guess the first question is, how are we defining “a large sensor camera?” For the sake of this article I am defining a large sensor camera as any camera…
This week’s “Things I Like” is a book, The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (Unabridged), authored by Tim Wu. Wu, trained as an Attorney has held positions as a Columbia Law School professor, contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, Obama administration Senior Advisor to the Federal Trade Commission and National Economic Council member. Most notably, Wu coined the phrase “net neutrality.” Tim Wu takes us through the history of United States communications; from telegraph and…
Twenty five years ago America was obsessed with the most publicized criminal trial in United States history. On trial was the former Heisman Trophy honoree and running back for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, #32, O.J. Simpson. “OJ” was accused of the double-murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. With warrant in hand the police searched for OJ and his vehicle, a white 1993 Ford Bronco. Businessmen, housewives and school-kids were all on the…
Many years ago I was video engineering a corporate presentation at the Sheraton New York Grand Ballroom. Though-out my career I’ve probably done a hundred shows at this location. This job was a piece of cake, we could do it in our sleep. After I completed setting up the video carrypack, cameras and doing a preliminary white balance & shading on the cameras with my chip light and chip chart I turned the cameras and framed them up onto the…
Ever wished you could be a fly on the wall, listen in and watch a large scale religious broadcast being shot? Jon Swearingen, the Director of Broadcast Media at Lakewood Church / Joel Osteen Ministries was kind enough to allow a GoPro camera to be put in the control room as well as a recordings of a multi-viewer with PL sound track. [Note: Multi-viewer audio is split track. Director is louder on right channel. Use right-channel ear buds if having…
This installment of Things I Like: LEAD . . . For God’s Sake! A parable for finding the heart of leadership (Unabridged) by Todd G. Gongwer To be honest with you, I am not typically a fan of “leadership books” and as a result have not spent much time reading in this genre, however I heard someone I deeply respect (my son) make mention of this book and decided to look into it. LEAD . . . For God’s Sake!…
Last week I posted step-by-step instructions on how to build a rock solid semi-permanent camera and/or operator platform out of wood. This week as promised, here are instructions on how to build a portable or temporary version of the same. In last week’s blog post I included a lot of information explaining why camera and operator platforms should be a particular width, depth and height as well as how to mitigate camera shake. Rather than reprint all that preliminary information…
I am pleased to welcome Robert Orlando to controlbooth.tv. Mr. Orlando is a filmmaker, producer and director. His projects range in scope from major biopic documentaries – with distribution under Sony Pictures – to shorts, commercials and other select projects for businesses and organizations including Princeton University, Harley Davidson and L’Oreal. He also is the President and Executive Director of Nexus Media LLC a film/video/web production company with headquarters and studio facilities in Princeton, New Jersey. [TD] Rob, thank you for…
In this blog post, I (a person admittedly without carpentry skills) will offer step-by-step DIY instructions on how you can build a rock solid (semi-permanent) camera platform out of wood, even if you (like me) have only rudimentary skills and tools available to you. In a future post I’ll cover how to build a temporary/portable camera platform. Before we get started, there are a few things to keep in mind when building camera & operator platforms. They are … A)…
An often discussed topic among church video tech people is the matter of shot composition. How much headroom is appropriate? Do the Rule of Thirds apply for all shots in all situations? Is shot composition solely a matter of individually and aesthetically pleasing shots strung together sequentially … or should the production team be cognizant and therefore make composition decisions contingent on shots directly preceding or setting up those shots which will follow? How much nose room is appropriate? How…