THE CHURCH MEDIA PODCAST Transcipt

THE CHURCH MEDIA PODCAST Episode 008: The Cutting Room Floor Transcript Teaser: The Church Media Podcast, Episode #8: The Cutting Room Floor. Let's do it. INTRODUCTION: Hey and welcome to Episode #8 of The Church Media Podcast. I’m Carl Barnhill, your host. This is the definitive podcast for helping you create dynamic experiences and build solid media production teams at your church. We talk about video, audio, lighting, stage design, how to build your volunteer culture, and more. It’s my goal to give you the tools and confidence you need to use media at your church or through your ministry where people meet Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him. This week we are going take a look at how sometimes our projects and designs would be better if we didn't leave everything in. Sometimes, the best thing we can do, is leave stuff on the Cutting Room Floor. Remember, you can find the show notes for this episode at twelvethirtymedia.com/podcast There you're going to get the show notes for this episode, and I'll also give you a link to download a PDF of the content of this episode that you can take and share with your volunteers. You can also listen to past episodes of the show and more - Again that address is twelvethirtymedia.com/podcast Alright, we are going to get right to the content of this episode, but first, I want to let you know about how you can get media content custom designed for your church or ministry. Sermon Bumpers, Promo Videos, Song Support Videos, Countdowns, and more. Check this out, I’ll be right back.

THE CHURCH MEDIA PODCAST Transcipt

CONTENT SEGMENT: We have a blast at creating custom media for churches. It’s really a lot of fun. You can get get started today at twelvethirtymedia.com. Alright, this week's content comes from an article I was asked to write for SundayMag, which is an online magazine put together by my friend Jonathan Malm. The articles are written by Church Media Directors, Designers, and Creatives. They are on topics of creativity, leadership, and creative process among others. Check it out at SundayMag.tv. With any project, it can be much more powerful to leave things out rather than keep everything in. Let's think about some of the most recognizable brands in our culture today. Brands like FedEx, Nike, and Apple keep their designs extremely clean and simple. In these designs, what isn't there is just as important as what is. Without the 'negative space' in these designs, they would not be the recognizable brands they are today. Think about it - the Nike swoosh and the Apple icon is all you need to see to know these brands - the design doesn't even need the 'Nike' or 'Apple' name on it for us to know what the company is and what they stand for. Sometimes 'negative space' can actually help your design be simpler, cleaner and more effective. This can be true for any creative art form - graphic design, video, motion graphics, audio, lighting, or even stage design. When designing your next project, consider these three filters: 1. Just because you got it, doesn't mean you should use it. We all know that just because your software comes loaded with tons of 'bells and whistles', doesn't mean you need to use them. I started my career over 10 years ago editing a television program on an Avid system. I've also produced projects using Final Cut and all Adobe Products. I live in AfterEffects and a few other programs everyday. I literally do not use 50% of the effects, transitions, and other tools that are built-in to these programs. It’s not because I don’t know what they are or what they do, its because my projects would not benefit from their use. The same is true for your lighting, audio, stage design, and video projects - just because your gear has a tool, doesn't necessarily mean you should use it. So how do you know which tools to use and or not to use? Most of this comes with experience. The longer you're in your field, the more you know if an aspect of design is an industry standard or a trend. As you learn, watch other designers. Watch network television. Look at the designs of top professionals in your field. Look, not only at their designs, but their process and the tools they are using to create their project.

THE CHURCH MEDIA PODCAST Transcipt

Every tool in your toolbox doesn't necessarily need to be used. Your designs can be more powerful without them. 2. The simpler the design, the more application it can have. If you're design is filled with thin lines or image heavy elements, its effectiveness on promotional materials, clothing, and other applications can be limited. For example, if your design is going to be used on apparel, you want to consider the number of colors in your design and what that will mean in printing costs. Or if you’re design is going to be seen primarily on screens and devices, you want to be mindful of thin lines or colors you use as they may appear different on your monitor than other screens or devices. If you keep your designs simple, the more application it can have. 3. It can take more creativity to be simple than complex. There can be a misconception that more is better - more shots, more effects, more sequences must make us look more professional or more creative. I've learned over the years that it can take more creativity to be simple than complex. I've produced countless testimonial videos where one of the biggest challenges was to cut stories down to under two minutes. The easier route would've been to let the piece be longer and leave blocks of the interview in. The real creativity happened under the B-Roll - where I had to have the story not only make sense, but remain compelling. Let me give you a trick here that I used that may be helpful to you in editing - I would take what I would call "bridge" words from other parts of the interview and slice them in to make sentences make sense. For instance, I would try to cut out a lot of "um's" in someone's speech, but if I needed to get from one thought in their story to another, I might be an "um" or an "and" or another word that could bridge the gap of thoughts in their story. Be careful here- make sure the audio flows very smoothly - you don't want to hear... "Then I accepted Christ UM and he changed my life". You want to use this trick for the purpose of making your audio flow well, where people won't notice that there is an edit there. Then you'd cover that audio edit with B-Roll. It may be a hot mess under the B-Roll, but the power of editing is that you can control how you want a story to be told. Obviously in church world we don't want to manipulate anyone's story, but in a way you are so that you can shorten it and make it more powerful for your service. Your pruning it so that the story moves people. I’ve learned it can be better for the project to leave stuff out rather than keep everything in. I love watching the deleted scenes from movies. Especially when there is a Director’s commentary. You can find out some insight into why particular scenes didn't make it into the movie. I remember one scene that a Director was explaining that the crew spent all day getting a particular shot, that it was one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie and his favorite. Yet, here it was in the deleted scenes. The Director explained that in the end, the scene just didn’t move the story forward. The movie was better without it.

THE CHURCH MEDIA PODCAST Transcipt

Did you know its common for a Motion Picture to have about a 20:1 ratio - for one minute of footage there can be 20 minutes or more of unused footage? So, for every sixty seconds of footage you see in movies, there is 20 minutes of footage you don’t see - that end up on the cutting room floor. Sometimes your production, your project, your design would be better if you left some stuff out. Design your project, then ask yourself what is necessary and what is not. Use the ‘negative space’ in your designs. Cut stuff out. Your project may be more compelling without it. CLOSING SEGMENT: I want to thank you for joining me this week on The Church Media Podcast. My hope and prayer is that we can learn from each other how to create experiences at our churches where people meet Jesus and take their next step with Him. Let me know what you think. You can leave a review of this podcast in iTunes or shoot me an e-mail directly at carl@twelvethirtymedia.com. Also, remember, you can grab the show notes for this episode at twelvethirtymedia.com/podcast I want to thank my producer for this episode, the legend himself, David Michael Hyde. David is a Contemporary composer and music producer for film and digital media. You can find more about David and even have him compose some music for you and your projects. You can Check him out at davidmichaelhyde.com. Thanks again for joining me this week. Go out there and create some incredible experiences this Sunday. I’ll catch you next week.