Tuesday, September 28, 2010

turning hatred into charity...

"What would happen if hate came to your town?"
Simply question, that now has a great solution.


While this falls outside of my normal posts on stage designs, I definitely believe this falls under my life mission statement of "love God, love others, it's simple"...
Pennies in Protest explains their success story and how it can be duplicated by anyone anywhere. Fourteen easy steps show how to start a charity for kindness against hate.
You are even able to link to wbc's picket schedule.
This is how I found out they will be picketing at the Murat Theatre at Old National Centre in Indianapolis, IN (October 3, 2010 7:15 PM - 8:00 PM) and at a local funeral for a local fallen soldier; both at his memorial service and his burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA (October 4, 2010 12:15 PM - 1:00 PM).
It may be a little late to do something this time (since this is this coming weekend), I will be watching and waiting and planning.
Anyone else care to join with me?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

holograms, seriously...

I recognize that where I go in my mind with stage designs and experiential elements for worship is off the chain. That being said, seriously, holograms in the worship experience is one small step closer to being a reality.

With not an ounce of technical ability; I am a dreamer, a visionary, the “vicar of vibe”. I see things, a simple image or video clip and I instantly start extrapolating it into how it could be utilized in the worship experience. Trust me, I find it just as odd and unusual as I am sure other people do. I seriously don’t believe it is me. I strongly believe that God has this ability see things in new ways.

So, simply put, I see these visions for the future, I pray for specifics (people with the needed talents and skills) and “Pow” He provides. Honestly I don’t really get it; I just keep stepping out in faith. I don’t know where this journey will lead.

Last Thursday I had a meeting with Nick (the large scale projections guy) and David, most awesome media guy. It was a “getting to know you” session. Nick works with a local company that specializes in providing full-service audiovisual rental, staging and production services, with a specialty in HD widescreen projection and keynote development. Read: Large Scale Projections. Woo Hoo!
In the course of our conversation, I mentioned the fact that I have dreamed for utilizing holograms in a worship environment for several years now.
His company probably something along this scale of holographic imaging (click to watch the first video showreel image).
If you continue down, you can watch the Radiometer Free Format™ Case. This is more along the line of what I have been thinking about.
Large scale, free format, holographic imaging. Probably in the open air space above the auditorium seating. There are several links in this post cheoptics on the brain.

This is the video that prompted the idea of using holograms in worship in my brain about 4 years ago


Next step…I believe it is to continue to pray for someone with grant writing experience.
So hear I go…

recreating space: part 2

Still thinking and trying to work out the physical layout/space for our tech area.
We are trying to eliminate placing the projector where we have always had (to free up more seating).
There are still issues, but we are working out various arrangement of the tech equipment.
This is the second layout we tried. There are still serious issues that need to be dealt with in regards to egress from the auditorium. This week we will have Nick (the large scale projection dude) take a look at it and see if he can come up with a different solution.

If you have any thoughts, please feel free to let me know.

Friday, September 10, 2010

recreating space…

We got a new piece of equipment. It is a case to house our sound equipment and it is ginormous.

So now we are trying to decide how to configure the space where are set up our tech/production area in the limited space in the auditorium where we meet.
Issues:
Need to keep the doors accessible for egress.
We have light tech, sound tech, media tech and producer set up in this space.
Would like to moved the projector back
So simply thinking about the options…
Thoughts?

dealing with tragedy...

In light of a recent passing of a beloved family member of CrossCurrent, the Chris' (our pastors) felt God's leading to speak to dealing with tragedy. Welcome to our living room.
Dealing With Tragedy (Sunday, August 29, 2010)
In loving memory of Patrick Dzor (May 23, 1991- August 25, 2010)

Monday, September 6, 2010

cheoptics on the brain...

Back in the day when we used overhead projectors, black words on white backgrounds (about 15 years ago); I started playing with the thought concept of using holograms in a worship experience. Studying technological advancements that have occurred over the last 15 years, I still strongly believe that the next plateau will be cheoptics in worship.
This use of technology is not insanely new. Gorillaz have used it in their live performances. Diesel utilized this concept in their fashion show in 2007.
For the Diesel fashion show they utilized a combination of cutting edge digital art and performance CGI visual effects and 3D animations.
"The visuals are projected through a series of 'foils' into mid air, so you see the images in mid-air. The models can then interact with them and walk through them. We used plastic foils placed at 45 degree angles so that the projected light from the ceiling goes onto a foil, is reflected on to another and then into the air. (Creative Review, June 2007)
When I see effects like this my first thought is how to develop it for use in the worship experience. I know that I can’t be the only one who thinks along this process.
In fact it is time to pray. I have prayed for all of the following (plus a lot more) and God has faithfully provided; someone to sew, someone with carpenter skills, some one with projected video skills.
Now I am praying for someone that has experience in cheoptics and a desire to utilize their talent to serve God in the worship experience.