rock church video production department
yesterday marked the official first day for rock church’s fledgling video production department. it feels so good to type that… R O C K C H U R C H V I D E O P R O D U C T I O N D E P A R T M E N T. ahhh! 
i thought i’d let you meet our staff…
no, you are not imagining it. i have named our equipment. it wasn’t intentional… i noticed when george arrived that i have actually named every piece of equipment that has been installed since i have been media director at rock church. they all just have personality. i know… weird. anyway, this is the team.
george: is a panasonic dvh100 and he makes beautiful pictures. he’s gently used but we don’t hold that against him at all… we adopted him with open arms and will love him and squeeze him and pet him and hold him and we will call him – well… you know.
mackenzie: is a imac 20-inch 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo. evidently she was born with some sort of birth defect. but the fine people at apple refurbished and made her good as new. she’s absolutely beautiful. we love her.
kyle: kyle is a red blooded, all american, male homo sapian who has been on our tech team for rock church since last december. he is a college student at cape fear community college. recently he went to china with ywam… so, yes – - actually, that is the great wall of china in the picture. kyle has such a heart to serve the his god that when he heard of the dream for video production at rock church he caught the vision and quit his job so that he could come volunteer (as in, we aren’t paying him) to build the team. wow! we are so excited.
today kyle came in to meet mackenzie and talk strategy with me. here is the outline for our first steps…
- establish a video calendar
no matter who is working on what or how many fabulous ideas we come up with we need a tool to help us stay on track. so, kyle is setting up a master google calendar to provide us a central hub for managing our our time line and help us prioritize jobs coming down the pipe. - create a volunteer packets
something that outlines positions, terminology and standard operating procedures for new volunteers to help them get up and running quickly. the goal here is communication, consistency and excellence. - establish a master file structure
gearing for growth. a year from now i don’t want to us to be pulling our hair out trying to find a file that volunteer #2,3 & 4 all worked during the previous week. i want to know right where to look. this took me no time at all. i could have done this myself. but i didn’t want the file structure i would come up with now – i wanted the one i would come up with 2 years from now. i knew just who to ask and i got what i expected. i don’t know what half of the folders in brad’s master file structure are even for. it’s amazing how something so simple can zero in and provide crucial clues as to what you need to learn next. thanks, brad. - recruit volunteers
kyle is going to spend a lot of time looking in flipside and 2xtreme. the talent in our young people is amazing and it is so important to the vision of rock church to equip our young people at a young age. he is under strict instructions to not try to do all of this himself. it is way bigger than he is. he is looking for team members of all ages and people who can lead. if you attend rock church and are looking for a way to get plugged in… call us at rock church, email us or come see us sunday morning after service. - cross train current media team members
this has been my top mission lately. rock church is growing very rapidly. my current tech team is the seed of something HUGE — i mean, REALLY HUGE. i believe that with all my heart. and i believe time is truly of the essence. i have been stretching my guys big time lately. and each time i have challenged them they have blown my socks off. i have sound guys running lights, computer people producing, light guys running video. why? because of kid’s rock, and 2xtreme are busting at the seems and chomping at the bit to progress with technology. and i fully expect we will open our overflow area in the fellowship hall sometime next year. you see, my team doesn’t have a choice – they are the beginning. they are the leaders that will raise up more teams in these vital areas. and what a fabulous team of leaders they are. i’m so blessed. - kyle and i have to learn final cut express
yes, you read right. neither myself nor my video team leader know final cut express yet.
so? what’s your point? - come up with creative ways to make the tools we don’t have
as of this point… we are spent. our budget is zip – zero – zilch. it’s ok. we have gaffer’s tape and binder clips. you would be amazed how close that gets you to successful a green screen set up.
so, there you have it. week one. ok – so, HEY! …
all my video geniouses & tech leaders out there!
what do you wish someone would have
told you when you were where we are right now?
what did you learn the hard way so we don’t have to?
