Media » Technology

Let’s Build a Bridge

Matt — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:47:29 +0000

If you didn’t know the North Point Campus is building a bridge to relieve our traffic problems… and it ain’t your GrandMama’s bridge either. As a part of the campaign it has been Media’s job to keep people aware of progress. We tag our videos with the web link to connect people from video to web. You can see more videos at http://www.letsbuildabridge.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s our latest update. Bridge Timelapse.
We had an interesting dilemma getting power to a camera where there is no power and let it run for 48 hours without dying.
Our Solution:
1)Outdoor Marine/RV battery
2)Power Inverter that connected to battery
3)SLR camera/tripod with remote switch to take pics every 30 secs.

Special Thanks to Matt Clark for helping make this happen.

Vimeo Timelapse Finds

Matt — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:00:50 +0000

Here is an amazing timelapse video of the Iceland volcano using Canon 5d mkII. Video by Sean Stiegemeier

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s how he created this video using a motorized dolly by www.dynamicperception.com (not available yet). Incredible shots with this thing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“TED” iphone app

Brad — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:20:27 +0000

In case you have not heard of the “TED” talks go here. What many people may not know is that TED has an iphone, ipod, app that you can download here. It’s free and it gives you the ability to listen and watch a lot of the talks throughout the years. TED stands for TECHNOLOGY, ENTERTAINMENT and DESIGN. Founded in 1984, the first conference was held in 1990. Each speaker gets 18 minutes to present a “wish to change the world”. Enjoy this little gem!

“Adagio for Strings” communion video download

Brad — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:35:43 +0000

Last Thursday night during our Night of Worship we played a video during communion. It is a VERY simple video that paraphrased scripture while the underscore of “Adagio for Strings” rolled underneath. The video is around 7:38 so we did edit the song a bit. The long version for “Adagio for Strings” song can be found here. This is also the same video we used at Drive this past spring. Here is the link - DOWNLOAD

A Quick Media Tour

Matt — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:09:03 +0000

Hey everyone. Thought you might like to see a quick photo tour of where we work.
Let me first say, our Media Department is EXTREMELY BLESSED with technology and workspace at North Point. We’re blessed with geniuses like Brendon Petty, who designed our space, along with Micah Stevens & Ryan Clevenger, who maintain our systems so we can work day-to-day.
We haven’t been in this space forever, it’s only 1 year old. We started with 1 edit suite & Adobe Premiere. It took years of growing pains to finally see the need for an expanded area for Media to live & grow. From Baptism Testimonies to Web Streams to TenBefore to Title Packages to Resources to TV shows, we have a growing responsibility to support our campuses, partners, & TV networks to help lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through various mediums.
The space you are about to see helps us do our jobs with EXCELLENCE everyday we walk in the door.

North Point Online Promo 2

Heather — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:13:19 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

We created this promo for North Point Online as a follow-up to the teaser video that Brad crafted as the kick-off for the entire campaign. I produced and directed this video with some amazing help from Brad, David Robertson, Adam and our freelance DP Josh McKague. Since this was the second promotional video we created for North Point Online, we really wanted it to direct viewers to the website. Also, we wanted to give details and incorporate awareness around connectivity. We developed the tagline “Different faces. Different places. Same church.” This pretty much embodies the theme and message of the video. Check it out!

Oh and if you don’t know what North Point Online is, it’s an amazing new venture being launched on August 16. Basically, our weekly worship gathering will be streamed live Sunday nights from Buckhead Church, where we are broadcasting our 6:00 p.m. service LIVE for viewers all over the world to log-on and watch. Check out www.northpointonline.tv for more details.

Sunday Morning Export

Ryan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:54:26 +0000

My work week is a little different from the other guys on Media (they are Monday-Friday, I am Sunday-Thursday), so I thought I would give you a look into my world on the first day of the week. Since my biggest responsilbilities include capturing the messages and seeing them through to our website, getting partnership churches the video content that they need (both HD and SD), and authoring DVDs of our series, it only makes sense that it all starts on Sunday mornings for me.

I capture live HD (center screen) and SD (imag screens) from my edit suite, for every service preached on Sunday. To back up the live captures, I also roll tapes for every service. D5’s for HD, DVCProXL for SD, and DVCPro for our isolated cameras (usually camera 3–the “scripture camera”–and the Jib camera). We also have a third backup, which is captured to the servers from the production side of things.

My job is to be very critical of lighting, supers (name slides), lower thirds, and anything that “dates” the speaker (such as mentioning holidays or actual dates). I make notes of these things and after all the services have been preached, I wait to hear which service the speaker wants to use as the “master” (we have 3 services each Sunday and the strongest one is chosen for product). If minor changes need to be made, like a mis-spelling in scripture or a super, I correct those in post and then export that sequence out of FCP for the web. After it’s exported, I compress that file to flash with Sorenson Squeeze. While that file is compressing, I sync up both HD and SD for partnership churches before heading home. By the time I get in on Monday morning, the web compression file is ready and I simply pass it along to the guys in the web department.

While at times it feels like just a day filled with capturing, exporting, and compressing, it’s ultimately an opportunity to make sure our services live on well beyond the date that they occur. The production guys focus on making the service happen on Sunday, and the export department makes sure that the service is recorded so that people far outside of Alpharetta GA can experience what our attendees get to experience on a weekly basis. It’s exciting that technology allows us to do this and I’m grateful to be a part of it here!

Pre-Service “ads”

Brad — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:44:18 +0000

If you use image mag, or have any type of screen in your service, then chances are you are running an application that displays your different ministry opportunities throughout your church. We use keynote and up until recently we have sucked the life out of every possible keynote animation there is to make these pre-roll graphics come to life. You know what I’m talking about. These animations or stills loop. Then they loop some more. And then, they loop again. Turn off your cell phones, welcome to our church, come to this, come to that type of information. Some churches call it “pre-roll”, for us we call it “the quips”.
Recently, our team has been talking and discussing a lot about the design direction around these pre-service graphics. The requests can be last minute and they often time involve lots and lots of information, not enough information, or not a lot of direction. Then it dawned on me, there has never been a design strategy for the pre-roll graphics. We have just been relying on designers to make, well, great designs that have all the info needed without any filters.
Here are the questions we are asking:
1 - Bulletin = information. Pre-roll graphic = identity. How can we help people connect the two for a specific ministry?
2 - How can we design more ads? Campaigns? Think billboards. (ex: Got Milk?)
3 - Can the pre-roll graphics be non-animated? People should not have to wait for information.
4 - Great designs add value to the event and/or ministry. Poor designs = don’t care. Are we putting enough time into making these great designs?
5 - What information is critical? Where is the one place we want them to go? What is their next step? Is it even needed in some designs?
6 - Create designs people connect with. It’s not just about putting a logo on the screen and sending them somewhere. What is compelling them to act?

We would love to know, what is your strategy?

“The Waiting Room” - Parts 1 & 2 (AND NOW…3!)

Wiggy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:14:14 +0000

These are the title package intros for the first two of a 3-part message series by Jeff Henderson (check out the messages here). Josh Peters from Buckhead Church was instrumental in helping drive these pieces from beginning to end. Part 3 title package coming soon. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.
Click here to view the embedded video.

****************EDIT 8/25/09: Here is Part 3 (FINALLY) for those of you who asked–I totally blanked and forgot to post it as a follow up to this post last month. Since we are SO late in the game posting for this series, I am editing this old post directly with the new video addition. Sorry for leaving you guys in “the waiting room” for this video! Hope you enjoy this little hidden blog nugget ****************

Click here to view the embedded video.

Creative Director: Josh Peters
Producer: David Blakeslee
Writer: Adam Dukes
Director: Adam Dukes & Josh Peters
Editor: Josh Peters
Sound Design: Lane Johnson
Casting: Heather Breslin
Camera (DP): Josh McKague
Key Grip/Audio: Brian Little
Video Assistant/ Grip: Nathan Boyd

Cinema 4D

David — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:36:12 +0000

This year we decided to jump into the 3D world by adding Maxon’s Cinema 4D to our motion graphics tool shed. Although we’d already been able to dabble with Zaxwerks‘ 3D Invigorator & ProAnimator plugins for After Effects, we had been a little frustrated with their limitations. Now six months after getting a hold of Cinema 4D, along with its MoGraph and Net Render modules (addons), we’re very excited about what it has done for us. But it hasn’t been without its challenges. Here are a few things we’ve had to learn, and some things we really love about it.

It’s not compositing. No layers or effect filters, just creating things that could exist in real life. You don’t have to fake anything – we’ve enjoyed the way realistic shadows, shines and gradients just naturally appear as we design a scene. But it’s certainly a whole new way of thinking that takes some getting used to.

Integration. It’s been fairly simple to render out a single frame with an alpha channel and use it for a print project, but we’re still learning the best workflow for using it in conjunction with After Effects and Final Cut. While the results are often pleasing, it involves some very time-consuming renders, and it’s hard to match the 3D look with any 2D elements we would add with any other program. Animating to music is also very challenging in C4D, but we’ve really enjoyed using it to design end tags and transition graphics.

Rendering. Don’t plan on using your Macbook Pro unless you enjoy getting 2nd degree burns as it threatens to fly off your lap. My Mac Pro even sweats pretty hard. In order to really see what you’re making, you have to constantly be rendering previews. For our current sermon series, Solomon Says, I built words to look like they were made out of stone. Each single-frame render took about 10 minutes at 72 dpi, and 30 minutes at 300 dpi. Making constant corrections and tweaks to the lighting and materials required constant rendering, which ate up my time fairly quickly. The NET Render module allows us to farm out all our computers for rendering, but it’s only useful with animations.

Learning Curve. Although C4D is a sleek and efficient program for 3D, it’s still like walking into the cockpit of a 747. I went through all the training on Lynda.com and explored some Creative Cow tutorials, but after all that I really had to spend some serious hours tinkering around with it myself before I could do anything useful. It has been a very rewarding application to learn, and I haven’t regretted a single minute I’ve spent drudging through the previously alien-looking interface. You might be surprised how quickly you can get on your feet and start impressing some folks.