creative fuZion lab //30// simplest...

I have been on a "secret mission" for a couple of months.

I tried implementing scent before and got major push back.

I have been testing this concept out slowly in a section at a time in the auditorium over the last few months. What a difference a year makes...

I actually had to laugh, one of the major things previously brought up was scent sensitivity (duh!). I explained I really know what I was doing, I've researched a lot and just happen to be highly scent sensitive myself...

So this week our experiential element was some Hazelnut aroma plug-ins through out the venue. Gentle, unobtrusive...nice.
This time...no reactions, no complaints...
Secret mission accomplished!!!
What a cool experience this weekend. I was producing, so I asked the newest person on the ENHANCE team what she thought we should do with the stage. I really had no set ideas except for simplest...
Since this is the end of a year long series...
This is what she came up with...lots of candles (I went and bought some more flameless candles at Walmart)and (LED) tealights. We simply safety pinned the tealights into the curtains. We've done this a couple times, it particularly looks cool when the stage and house lights are off.
It looks like stars...
Great job Allison. She really has "it" I think.

Coming up...we are starting a new series emitled the "imperfect church". I don't thnk I have ever been this excited about a new series. From the creative element vid, the logo and stage design...I'm just flat out excited!!!! Stay tuned...

That's a wrap for this week...

more scent ideas…

Been thinking this week, after the incredibly positive responses to the bread machines, I’ve been trying to think of more ways to implement natural scents. We do have several very scent sensitive people on our weekend team. We did cinnamon incense last week and it did bother at least one person with asthma.

1. when we do the tabernacle set-up again, maybe we could do the incense stand outside of the building…

2. with the bread machines:
I want to try adding cinnamon and/or other spices to bread and bake it during service.

3. bring a microwave in and cook popcorn just before service.

Ha, ha! I like to make people hungry!

Still thinking, still want a scent machine…

tabernacle experience...

This is being submitted to Creative Chaos // 23 @ Ragamuffin.

Series: Revelation: Christ, Redemption Fulfilled (continued)
This was created in just one week. It was a whirlwind experience, but EVER so powerful. The message was really wrapped around the creative elements. I’ll provide a link when it is posted on the website.
Creative elements: here is what we came up with:

Altar of burnt offering (bronze):
A table with crimson cloth and bronze cloth draped over it.
Large rectangular container wrapped with paper (next time it will be bronze). Lights and a fan inside, with crumpled orange and red cellophane.

Lamp stands (gold):
We already have three lampstands (with a total of 7 {holy and complete number} LED candles). We took them and simply grouped them together. Just the candle stands, Next time we hope to paint them gold.

Bread stand (bronze): I have a medium sized brass table. Found four gold colored chargers at World Market. We used one on the bread stand and three on the communion table. Had a display of representative bread (for show in the beginning). If you will note in the picture, one of the ends was torn off; because we forgot to get an incense holder and we actually used the end of the bread to put the incense in. lol.

The bread machines were again placed through out the auditorium and were baking through out the service. Mmmm…

Incense stand (gold): small group podium with gold cloth draped around it. Found a metal bowl (at Walmart) and spray painted it gold. Placed cinnamon incense in a piece of bread.

Holiest of Holies:
Front curtains were closed until we were “allowed access into God’s heart”. When opened, revealed the Holiest of Holies, the very heart of God. Which before Christ, only the high priest was allowed to enter.
Stage curtains were pulled in to create a smaller more intimate space.
Long lengths of chiffon and fishing wire and plastic clips. Hung from rafters, draped across at angles and weighted with sand bags.

When the curtains opened, we had a dancer, dancing to Agnus Dei. It was so amazing, during the dance the people in the congregation just rose and started praising!

Communion elements: On stage we had three tables placed in a triangle shape with white table clothes. Gold chargers (*see above) cups, standard communion elements. And a representative cup.
Everyone was invited into the heart of God to partake in communion.

The last picture is really bad, but it was so cool, it was a young mom who was actually teaching her son how to raise his hands and praise God. It was amazing, so I had to include it.

Afterwards, everyone was invited to hang out and eat the warm bread (placed on the bread stand), as the priests would have done.

We will be doing this again!

Have collected various color clothes over the years at the Walmart $1 table.

Do you have a special store to buy design items, like the $1 table at Walmart (are you smiling Jim)?
_________________________________________________________

Didn’t do: Laver and the other stations this time:
Comes before lampstand and bread station.
May need two because of logistics (the aisles in the auditorium). Two desks covered with black covers with brass bowls on them (and water)

bread machines during worship…

We finally did it! The outcome was amazing…

This was part of our “Revelation” series “Christ: Redemption fulfilled”.

We had three bread machines running throughout the service. The tantalizing smell of fresh bread baking…wafting through out the entire auditorium. Smell the scent here..

Then we had the warm bread set up during communion (along with some pre-made loaves). Also we were invited to gather at the end to simply share bread together as the worship team continued to play.

Our pastor really brought it home. He is an amazing teacher.

After this week my husband wants bread machine…

Have you utilized scent in your worship design? I’d particularly be interested in other scents…

I’d eventually like to purchase a scent machine. This technology is being utilized in many commercial applications, so I know they have overcome the issue of scent sensitivity.

P.S. After lots of challenges bringing this to the table, it went so well that our pastor wanted to repeat the entire thing over again in a tabernacle experience..

_______________________________________________________________________
for more details...
more on implementing scent into worship…
This was submitted to Creative Chaos//22, Thursday's at Ragamuffin Soul.

5S...

What is 5S? designing 5S (using all 5 senses) experiential worship elements...

I am obsessed with this concept. I spend hours and hours research, searching youtube and such.
Striving to break through the fourth wall. I like to think of it as taking the design further up (designing above the audience and stage), further out (into the venue, aisle, etc.) and further in (interactive, and things that evoke emotions)…

From Wikipedia:

"The fourth wall is the imaginary wall at the front of the stage in a proscenium theater, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play. Although the concept has been around since before the ancient Greeks and is used by Shakespeare, it was made explicit by Denis Diderot and spread in nineteenth century theatre with the advent of theatrical realism. Critic Vincent Canby described it in 1987 as "that invisible screen that forever separates the audience from the stage."

visual - not just on the stage, changing it up, stations, holographic images dripping down and interacting with the people, dancers in the aisles.

sound - beyond the music, sound of the ocean, bringing sound out into the congregation (i.e. djembe drums spaced though-out the venue.

sense of smell –is the closest, most powerful sense linked to our memory. This is so under utilized in our design.

"Dr. Luca Turin a biophysicist at the University College London explains: “We don’t smell with our noses, we smell with our brains so we shouldn’t be surprised that fragrance has a direct effect on our moods"

Great research information at Scentair…

taste - well, of course there is the obvious; communion, more recently we were discussing the taste of vinegar (Mark 15: 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.) and actually having people taste it.


touch/kinesthetic - something to touch, clay, a box to open, different textures to explore. interactive - moving around, dancing, get off your duff

5S: This is a more centralized remix of research I’ve been compiling for months.

How do you break the "fourth wall"?

implementing scent into worship design...

I strive to incorporate more 5S (5 senses) into experiential worship design…

Background:
For me, it started with a simple idea of being able to infuse the worship venue with scent. I had been looking for an opportunity to include scent as a design element in worship. The opportunity arose when the creative design team agreed to letting us create an ocean ambiance set.

This is a short synopsis of about 40 hours or research conducted over a two week period.
(A lot of the material presented here is from one commercial website. But it simply provides a cross section of realistic information what was confirmed by our study of multiple sites)

Scent research:
Shows that one of the most powerful senses that we have is the sense of smell.
Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory…
It sparks emotions...
It enhances experiences…

Proustian Effect:
Basically it is what happens in your brain when a smell unleashes a flood of memories, taking you back to a particular time and place…

Scent sensitivity:
Going into this design element I was very aware of the issue of scent sensitivity. Since I am highly sensitive to smells. I can’t walk down the laundry soap aisle in a store without my throat starting to close up, my eyes watering and itching and my skin starts to itch.
Also consider the fact that scent marketing is currently being used in many commercial applications from the Indianapolis Children’s Museums to major retail establishments (Nordstrom, Saks) and high end hotels and entertainment venues (Disney). This wouldn’t be utilized so widely if extensive research hadn’t been conducted.
There is also a lot of difference in pure essential vs. chemically enhanced scents and the impact on sensitive individuals.

Scent dissipation:
(and half-life of scent removal from the air in the venue)
Since our venue is a junior high school auditorium we also spent about a week testing the time it took to disperse the scent, the average area of coverage and timing how long it took to have the scent completely eliminated from the space…

Frustrations:
Our first attempt to introduce scent as a worship element was arbitrarily shot down. After finally talking to the “power rep.” I feel like it was shot down because the powers that be assumed we didn’t understand the scent sensitivity issue and dissipation factors.
I feel the rejection of this element is indicative of communication issues. We live in a bureaucratic world, even in church. I suppose I have to create a proposal, which outlines all the research we did and prove that we can be trusted to research an element thoroughly.

Baby steps:
The next proposal of implementing scent in the worship (bread being baked in bread machines inside the venue). I got specific permission from the “power rep” on June 28 (I have learned from the business world to always document).
Edit: Found out we had to get yet a second approval, from the same person.

Smell sample here…

05/04/08 'Getting Eaten By Whales is Bad For Your Health"

hear it, smell it, feel it…

I have been trying to implement 5S (5 senses) experiential design into our elements.
This was an ambiance set-up for worship for May 4th. Breaking it down:

1. The tech team played a long mp3 of the ocean, waves crashing etc., in lieu of the pre-service music. (link here to hear it)…to build the feeling of being at the ocean.

2. CANCELLED: Smell of the ocean. We were going to order simmering oils andl use warming plates to heat it and oscillating fans to disperse.
We did a tremendous amount of research into this project. Ran across a lot of difficulties implementing the scent element. Going into a lot more detail in scent machines...

3. Fans used to create the wind effect.

4. We had talked about adding some machines that cast waves like images on the walls of the auditorium. Sort of like the ones used in children’s rooms; that cast images. It didn't pan out. Went with a simple ocean wave projection on the screen. (here)


5. Since the wave images aren't going well. We decided to try to "invoke wave images" like the red material in this Paula Abdul video… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TN5umzSnFU&feature=related . First we tried taking large osilating fans and attaching blue cloth to create a flowing length of blue cloth. Need more industrial strength fans.
So we wound up standing on chairs behind the stage curtains and waving the cloths by hand. It looked way cooler than the pictures could capture.

Originally posted at CruX-the heart of the matter.