December 27, 2011 in
Creativity, Faith, inspiration, My Work, Video with
Here are some of the elements from this year’s Christmas Program.
Drummer Boy
We decided to take a cue from Church on the Move‘s production, Celebrate with Family and were inspired by their 2010 opener Drummer Boy. We kicked off our 2011 show with this awesome Drummer Boy arrangement. We decided to add a short monologue at the beginning to set the mood. The Band did such a great Job.
Wanna Ride in the Sleigh
The top of the show was packed with a ton of excitement and humor. Check out this Burno Mars Grenade parody: “Wanna Ride in the Sleigh” Watch the video to find out how far one deranged christmas lover will go to ride in santas sleigh.
“Behind the Scenes”
Every year we put so much effort into “A Family Christmas” So we put together this satirical “Behind the Scenes Look” at the planing process.
Elf on the Street
Yes ladies and gentlemen he’s back! Peter, I mean Buddy, the elf is back from last years opener. This time around we took the king of Christmas cheer to downtown Pittsburgh to see if what kind of Christmas cheer our city had. Coincidentally the ice rink at PPG was hosting a mascot skate. There were dozens of local and national mascots on hand taking pictures, skating, and hanging with the kiddos. Let’s just say we used this to our advantage, and the elf may have crashed the mascot party, including getting announced over the PA system along with all the other Mascots. Oh yeah, and the elf meets a very special lady friend towards the end of the video so you will want to watch the whole thing.
The Christmas Story
Thanks to the kind folks over at Northpoint Media we were inspired by one of their videos from last year featuring some youngsters reciting the Christmas story from the bible.
Tags: 7d, a family christmas, bruno mars, celebrate with family, children, christmas, christmas parody, christmas program, christmas story, church on the move, creativity, drummer boy, drumming, grenade, monologue, production design, seeds, service programming, the elf, Video, video production
December 26, 2011 in
Creativity, My Work, Video with
For our annual Christmas program (A Family Christmas) we wanted to transform a pop music video into some sort of Christmas spoof. We laded on the Bruno Mars song “Grenade” and created “Wanna Ride in the Sleigh” a song about a deranged Christmas lover who’s deepest desire in life is to ride in Santa’s sleigh. Watch and find out what lengths he is willing to go for a spin with the fat man.
The whole video was shot on a Canon 7d. Slow motion shots were over cranked by shooting a 60 fps and slowing the footage dow to 24 fps. I used the CineStyle color profile to shoot the footage, and I color graded the final piece using Magic Bullet Quick Looks and the Final Cut Pro 3-Way Color Correction tool. The dolly shots were created using the 360VM Video camera slider. Lenses user were the Tokina 16-50 2.8 lens, and Canon 50mm 1.8.
Lyrics/Arrangement Written By: Peter Penrose
Director & Editor: Chris Martin
Cast & Crew: Adam Brown, Atwan Brown, Jonathan Sheffield
Tags: 7d, bruno mars, christmas, christmas music, christmas program, christmas video, church christmas program, creativity, dolly shot, grenade, music video, overcranking, santa, slow motion, victory family church, Video, video production, wanna ride in the sleigh
March 14, 2011 in
Faith, inspiration, My Work, Video with
I had a lot of fun making this opener with my lovely wife. This opener is from our series Jesus Is where we are unpacking some of the truths about who Jesus is. We have been trying to keep the look and feel very spring like, it has been hard trying to shoot outdoors when it snows one day and then there is a torrential downpour the next. Somehow I have been finding days that have been bright and sunny. Now all I need is some of the foliage to start blooming. I am sick of shots with dead plants.
This was shot with a Canon 7d using a Tokina 16-50 2.8 lens.
Tags: 2.8, 7d, canon 7d, depth of field, Faith, final cut pro, jesus, Love, tokina
December 8, 2010 in
Creativity, My Work, Video with
As much as I complain about Christmas decorating, I secretly like it. Shhhhh! Don’t tell my wife. Check out this time lapse we put together of us decorating the house for Christmas.
Tags: 7d, canon 7d, christmas, christmas lights, cretivity, decorating, time lapse, Video
November 15, 2010 in
Faith, inspiration, My Work, Video with
In a few weeks, Victory Family Church will be starting the sereis “Man Vs. Christmas” It’s all about keeping Godly priorities in a season of impossible time demands. We really want to save people from the insanity of the season.
Making the Promo
The concept for the piece came from a conversation I was having with someone in the office about putting up Christmas lights (I wish I could remember who it was, but thank you).
The whole piece was shot on a Canon 7d with the Tokina 16-50mm 2.8 lens (except the hand pushing the garage door button, that was the Canon 50mm 1.8). All of the ambient noise was captured with the tiny little on camera mic. I originally wasn’t going to keep the background noise. It wasn’t until post production I realized it added value. My good friend and amazing Pittsburgh wedding photographer Michael Williams was the actor, and helped me set up all the shots (collaboration with him really made the film better).
I really tried to stick to a principal I learned from Vincent Laforet. “One of the surest ways to elevate your video work to being cinematic is camera movement” I used a sweet tripod move I learned from one of his posts to fake a dolly push when Mike goes to grab the box. I also used a wheel chair (which you can see in a couple of shots) to simulate a dolly in the opening shot behind the boxes, and when Mike walks to the garage door.
Anyone else know of any low tech or low budget ways to create come cool camera moves?
Tags: 7d, canon 7d, christmas, cretivity, depth of field, dolly, production design, tripod, Video
October 27, 2010 in
Faith, inspiration, Life, My Work, Video with
The Grooms are a family that has been attending Victory for around 6 years. Their story is unique, it consists of several intertwined events over several years weaved together by God, and is a great example of how God can change an entire family. I had a lot of fun getting to know all of them while shooting this, they are awesome people!
Tags: 7d, canon, depth of field, dof, hvx200, inspiration, interview, testimony
October 11, 2010 in
Faith, inspiration, Life, My Work, Video with
Here is a piece I put together about the story of my good friend Larry “Toot” Selick for the series How to Save a Life at Victory Family Church. His story is an awesome example of how God pursues us, and uses people to do it.
Thanks again to Toot for being faithful to what has been entrusted to him. He is changing lives!
[Shot on a Canon 7D with a 1.8 50mm lens, and a panasonic HVX200. All audio was captured on a lapel mic to the HVX]
Tags: 7d, addiction, depression, Faith, God, hope, hvx, hvx200, restoration, testimony
September 15, 2010 in
Faith, Life, My Work with
This past week I had the privilege of participating in one of the most significant interviews I have ever been a part of.
All of the month of September Victory Family Church is featuring a series entitled At Risk. This series oultlines some of the more serious risks that people are seseptable to in our culture, everything from pornography to teen suicide. Our hope is to help people avoid some of these devastating circumstances or to lift the lives people that are currently facing some of them.
Sandra Campbell is a mother who has experienced something no parent should ever have to experience. The loss of their child. Please take the time to watch Sandra’s story about how she is finding hope in a difficult time, and what an amazing young girl her daughter Maggie Campbell was. This is a must watch for parents, it deals directly the issue of bullying that teens and young people face every day in schools all over america.
Tags: 7d, bullying, Faith, hope, hvx, suicide, Video, video production
May 22, 2010 in
Faith, Tutorials, Video, Web, Web Design with
Over the past couple of months I have had the opportunity to talk with creatives from several (much larger) churches around the country. I was simply seeking the advice and wisdom of those who have gone before me. It was extremely helpful, I gained a ton of insight, and I am thankful for those who took the time to speak with me.
There was one similarity that I noticed across the board (even in my church), there are very few volunteer creatives. Now I am not talking about your weekend service production teams (these teams tended to be strong).
This is not necessarily a bad thing, or a deficit. It is completely understandable that creating motion graphics, or producing a video piece takes a lot of time, and a highly skilled individual.
However, one creative director and I agreed, we are on the look out for people with initiative and ambition. Most people we know are self taught.
There are a ton of resources out there. Here are 3 that have been a huge help in my devlopment:
This site has tutorials on everything from java script to video production. You can preview a few videos for free in each cource. A $25.00 monthly subscription gives you access to over 42,000 tutorials. I highly recommend this site, it is well worth the cost.
This site has some great content on digital photography and film making. You can take a course via live video stream, or purchase them after the fact for prices ranging from free to $129.00 I recently purchased “HDDSLR Cinema with Vincent Laforet ” (one of the more pricey titles) This course was well worth the cash I paid for it. If you are making the leap from stills to HDDSLR photography, or you’re just starting to shoot video with a Canon 7d or 5D Mark II this course is a must. Vincent Laforet is a legendary still photographer. In addition, this course features special content with Chase Jarvis a revolutionary still photographer.
Smashing Magazine is an amazing blog with tons of “how to” content about web and graphic design. The best part is… It’s completely free. This is a great site for design inspiration, or if you are looking for a tutorial to help you give your blog a fresh look.
Here’s the bottom line: If you are passionate about creatively communicating the powerful message of the Gospel, to a culture that desperately needs this message, then just like any other calling or vocation in life, it takes time and preparation. I personally believe that the next great creative mind (designer, director, producer, etc.) is out there. Will they do what it takes to develop the gifts and the grace that are on their life?
What learning resources do you use/recommend?
Tags: 5d, 7d, canon 7d, dslr, education, fcp, final cut pro, hddslr, learning, motion graphics, production design, Tutorial, Video, video production, Web, Web Design
