5 Easy Ways to Enhance Video for Sunday Worship

There is so much to do with new sermon topics, new music and events that it gets very easy to overlook some basic elements like slide design on Sunday morning. By seeing the same video enhancements every Sunday morning congregations can become desensitized to the information or message.  Here are 5 easy ways to enhance video for Sunday Worship that will keep the service fresh and the congregation engaged.

1. Upgrade your Pre-Service Bulletins

Spice up your intro announcements! If you are using slides to display church happenings and information, add in some fun graphics that will immediately draw attention to the screen. This will make attendees more likely to pay attention to the announcements, which may increase involvement numbers.  Here are some solutions for that.

Another option is to use live talent similar to The Way Church in Miami, however if you don’t have a great live talent or a great backdrop to film then you might want to forgo that option for fear of it being too “cheesy”.

2. Final Countdown

Another way to enhance video for Sunday worship is to throw an outrageously gigantic clock up on your church’s projection screen to count down to the start of worship. This will get your congregation excited for service to begin, and also alert them to start to make their way from the lobby or other mingling spots to their seats.

3. Add Lower Thirds

Use lower third graphic overlays on your presentations and video content to include current series title, church logos, scripture readings, verse citations, twitter handles of guest speakers and any other relevant labels or links. Lower thirds can also be used to identify names of songs being performed, and display lyrics to sing along.  If you don’t currently have this capability then I suggest you consider building the gear for this into your budget.  This will be a game changer for you.

There are various resources that provide lower third templates to be integrated into your church’s current system. Create your own Free lower third templates are available for download on this site SALTCommunity as well as others like Motion Array, RocketStock, and editorsdepot.

4. Transition, Transition, Transition!

Though you may not realize it, the flow of your church’s service is critical to the takeaway of the messages and content of the lesson. Transitions, such as video elements, will improve audiences’ overall experience and the quality of the service. Use transitions to switch from high energy to slower songs, introduce speakers, set up sermons, and establish the tone you are wanting to illustrate. Transitions also are a great way to distract audience members while stage sets are being changed and key speakers are moving into position.

Here is a great post on some of the best transitions and sermon bumpers from the past year.

5. Add Video to Worship Performances

The last tip I have to enhance video for Sunday worship is to display video while the worship band is performing. This can add value to the overall experience of your congregation. You can accomplish this in several ways, including:

• “Soft Roll” Footage: This is film that runs without any timing involved. The video and any of its transitions do not have to match the lyrics or tempo of the song playing.
• “FLEXX Files”: These are video files that are compiled to match all aspects or transitions of the song. An example of this would be one file for the first verse, one file for the chorus, one file for the bridge, etc.
• Click Track:  As a motion designer and as a service producer, the best use of a song support video is to execute it with a click track (at least in my opinion). The video is built with one side of the audio having a click track, the other having nothing or added instruments you may not have live. The click side goes to the ears of your band, the other side goes to the house.

Incorporating any (or all) of these tips into your worship service routine will boost your audience’s overall engagement and experience, as well as your own. Be sure to change up these elements every series to spice up your message!