I work with secular bands and my church's worship band. When I am working outside the church, my focus is on the performance. That's what the band wants to showcase. Their focus is their skill and getting the audience attention to please them. That's all they have. The applause is their reward. When at church my focus is on creating an atmosphere of worship. I don't do the same things as I would do with secular bands that would distract from worship. I keep my online viewers in mind, connecting them and not overwhelming them. I keep it simple; no razzle-dazzle and they appreciate it. Let's focus on Jesus and not razzle-dazzle.
Thx I just started operating a camera for my church a little over a month ago. I've done it long enough now I know I really enjoy it and want to keep doing it. I appreciate the tips!!
Churches like this are more worried about looking like MTV rockstars than the reverent worship of a Holy GOD. As one who has directed video in church for the past 30 years, I can assure anyone that the depth and maturity of the music and lyrics has a direct impact on the ease of videography. Most "MTV churches" gravitate toward this sensationalism to entertain and call it worship.
As a Pastor with a lot of experience in filmmaking and church broadcast directing, I think it’s easy to look at what someone else is doing and be cynical about their motives. But motives are important in this context. For me, my team and I love using our gifts to worship God and help others to worship Him as well. Just like a singer uses the language and principles of music theory and performance (like David in the Psalms as well as the Temple Musicians he employed to help the people of God to worship), videographers can use their knowledge of visual storytelling to help the people that attend online for various reasons to worship God without distractions and engage those who may be having a rough morning or full of questions and help them lower their guard. You can look at it cynically but I choose to view cinematic broadcast as my way to use my gifts and every communication strategy possible to worship God and draw people to Him.
