Every year, our church has its annual christmas musical, which took place last week, amidst wintry mix, which is really a nice way of saying it's really cold and ice pellets are falling from the sky. Any way - the production went very well. I'll post some pics soon. Although large productions like that are fun and exhilarating, it's always nice to have that sigh of relief when it's over. Now I can resume my life as it was and catch up on things that got pushed aside....such as blogging.
ciao
Showing posts with label Production. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Production. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
are you Innovative?
check out these videos of all the main sessions from Granger's Innovate '07 conference. They have some pretty sweet stuff going on.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Worship Production Process
Adapted from the Willow Arts Conference 2007
I attended a breakout entitled Conducting an Effective Technical Rehearsal where one of willow's technical directors (Todd Elliot) and one of their producers (Chuck Spong) co-presented the material. All of which was very good, but the thing that really caught me was their production development model. I have added my own interpretation and experience to it and adapted the following diagram and commentary:
Theory:
The vertical axis represents the amount of influence someone has on the pre-production & development of the event/video/project/etc. The horizontal axis represents the production time-line. This will range greatly depending on the project. The main theory (which is actually quite obvious, yet few of us actually practice) is during the first half of pre-production, the creative inputs have the majority of influence on the project. But once you pass a certain threshold (which is determined by each individual team and may be different for each project), the influence transfers from the creative input to the implementation and execution aspects of production.
I am going to use the example of planning a weekly worship gathering to help illustrate this process.
Creative Development:
Whether it is an individual or a team that plans worship, the inception is where the creative brainstorming begins. We ask ourselves the question... "what do we want to do this week"? Ideas are thrown out and eventually the elements of the gathering begin to take shape. Often, many planning teams stay in the brainstorming stage too long (days - even weeks) which will ultimately negatively affect the overall health of the team due to unnecessary stress and anxiety created by the lack of decision making.
Creative Threshold:
This is the point at which the overall influence on the project/production (worship gathering in our case) changes from creative brainstorming to the implementation and execution of the ideas presented. This is where a plan needs to be (for the most part) agreed upon & finalized. I say 'for the most part' because there will always be small changes and tweaks that will occur (which is accounted for in the diagram), but major themes/elements/ideas do not change after this point.
If, for some reason, significant components or elements do change after this point, all involved will need to accept this unavoidable result: either the timeline is extended to accommodate the changes or an understanding that since the normal timeline has now been reduced, the normal expectations will also need to be reduced.
Production Implementation:
At this point the elements of the production/project (worship gathering) have been set and confirmed. A plan is in place, and all involved know what they are responsible for and begin to actually create, implement, and coordinate the ideas that have been generated. It is important to note that creativity does not cease to exist at this point. In fact, this is when artistic influence is very important in regards to creating the specific elements (music, art, photography, dance, message, etc). This is when our artists are freed up to create. The planning team has defined the end goal and some guidelines and now we can enable our teams to do that which they do best.
It is my opinion that when those involved in the implementation are all on the same page & there is trust that the overall goal & guidelines of the project will not get changed that truly great expressions of faith emerge in ways that we could never plan.
Of course there will be unforeseen challenges requiring tweaks and modifications. These are common and should be expected. There should always be a philosophy of flexibility in all projects & productions. If you are rigid and try to micromanage large productions, it will make everyone hate you, which wouldn't be very fun.
That 1 great idea
I do want to acknowledge that it is usually in the midst of implementation, less than 3 days out from the service, that the best ideas come. This is a truth that we just have to accept. You find yourself siting there editing a video or setting up the stage and KA-POW it hits you. You think to yourself that this idea will have so much impact that the entire congregation will be motivated to give an extra 10% but it can only be done during this particular service. You rationalize it by saying, this is the least we can do...it's for God, and didn't he send his Son to....well you know the thought process. If this happens less than 3 times a year and your team is able & willing to try it, I'd say go for it. If it happens more frequently than that, then I'd say write the idea down and save it in your ideas folder (you have one of these that you reference at every planning meeting right?) because there will come a time that you can incorporate that idea...and make it even better with proper planning!
Timeline
One thing to consider is that there is a direct correlation to the level of complexity in a project/production and the timeline you set for the entire process (inception to implementation). The more complex a project, the more time you need to design & implement. For example...
Elements:
If you have multiple elements (drama, dance, music, video, message, baptism, etc) that will increase the amount of design, planning and communication needed.
Art:
The type of art you utilize will effect the timeline. Does a dance need to be choreographed, a new song to learn, a painting to create, a set to design & build.
People:
The more people you have involved, the more difficult & longer it takes to communicate, organize, and mobilize all those people.
Technology:
The type of technology matters too. Do you have lights to program, microphones to set up & sound check, videos to create, etc.
anyway...I hope this helps. I have talked to, and heard about many churches who struggle every week with worship production (and other projects as well) simply because there wasn't an agreement about when the creative influence on the overall direction of the production/project would give way to the actual implementation of the ideas created. I have seen many talented people burned out after the normal 2-3 years in ministry because they are always working with significant last-minute changes. I would challenge all of us who are in a role of influence regarding church production to take stock of our current process and compare it with some of these principles. I don't think it would hurt anything to try.
I attended a breakout entitled Conducting an Effective Technical Rehearsal where one of willow's technical directors (Todd Elliot) and one of their producers (Chuck Spong) co-presented the material. All of which was very good, but the thing that really caught me was their production development model. I have added my own interpretation and experience to it and adapted the following diagram and commentary:
Theory:
The vertical axis represents the amount of influence someone has on the pre-production & development of the event/video/project/etc. The horizontal axis represents the production time-line. This will range greatly depending on the project. The main theory (which is actually quite obvious, yet few of us actually practice) is during the first half of pre-production, the creative inputs have the majority of influence on the project. But once you pass a certain threshold (which is determined by each individual team and may be different for each project), the influence transfers from the creative input to the implementation and execution aspects of production.
I am going to use the example of planning a weekly worship gathering to help illustrate this process.
Creative Development:
Whether it is an individual or a team that plans worship, the inception is where the creative brainstorming begins. We ask ourselves the question... "what do we want to do this week"? Ideas are thrown out and eventually the elements of the gathering begin to take shape. Often, many planning teams stay in the brainstorming stage too long (days - even weeks) which will ultimately negatively affect the overall health of the team due to unnecessary stress and anxiety created by the lack of decision making.
Creative Threshold:
This is the point at which the overall influence on the project/production (worship gathering in our case) changes from creative brainstorming to the implementation and execution of the ideas presented. This is where a plan needs to be (for the most part) agreed upon & finalized. I say 'for the most part' because there will always be small changes and tweaks that will occur (which is accounted for in the diagram), but major themes/elements/ideas do not change after this point.
If, for some reason, significant components or elements do change after this point, all involved will need to accept this unavoidable result: either the timeline is extended to accommodate the changes or an understanding that since the normal timeline has now been reduced, the normal expectations will also need to be reduced.
Production Implementation:
At this point the elements of the production/project (worship gathering) have been set and confirmed. A plan is in place, and all involved know what they are responsible for and begin to actually create, implement, and coordinate the ideas that have been generated. It is important to note that creativity does not cease to exist at this point. In fact, this is when artistic influence is very important in regards to creating the specific elements (music, art, photography, dance, message, etc). This is when our artists are freed up to create. The planning team has defined the end goal and some guidelines and now we can enable our teams to do that which they do best.
It is my opinion that when those involved in the implementation are all on the same page & there is trust that the overall goal & guidelines of the project will not get changed that truly great expressions of faith emerge in ways that we could never plan.
Of course there will be unforeseen challenges requiring tweaks and modifications. These are common and should be expected. There should always be a philosophy of flexibility in all projects & productions. If you are rigid and try to micromanage large productions, it will make everyone hate you, which wouldn't be very fun.
That 1 great idea
I do want to acknowledge that it is usually in the midst of implementation, less than 3 days out from the service, that the best ideas come. This is a truth that we just have to accept. You find yourself siting there editing a video or setting up the stage and KA-POW it hits you. You think to yourself that this idea will have so much impact that the entire congregation will be motivated to give an extra 10% but it can only be done during this particular service. You rationalize it by saying, this is the least we can do...it's for God, and didn't he send his Son to....well you know the thought process. If this happens less than 3 times a year and your team is able & willing to try it, I'd say go for it. If it happens more frequently than that, then I'd say write the idea down and save it in your ideas folder (you have one of these that you reference at every planning meeting right?) because there will come a time that you can incorporate that idea...and make it even better with proper planning!
Timeline
One thing to consider is that there is a direct correlation to the level of complexity in a project/production and the timeline you set for the entire process (inception to implementation). The more complex a project, the more time you need to design & implement. For example...
Elements:
If you have multiple elements (drama, dance, music, video, message, baptism, etc) that will increase the amount of design, planning and communication needed.
Art:
The type of art you utilize will effect the timeline. Does a dance need to be choreographed, a new song to learn, a painting to create, a set to design & build.
People:
The more people you have involved, the more difficult & longer it takes to communicate, organize, and mobilize all those people.
Technology:
The type of technology matters too. Do you have lights to program, microphones to set up & sound check, videos to create, etc.
anyway...I hope this helps. I have talked to, and heard about many churches who struggle every week with worship production (and other projects as well) simply because there wasn't an agreement about when the creative influence on the overall direction of the production/project would give way to the actual implementation of the ideas created. I have seen many talented people burned out after the normal 2-3 years in ministry because they are always working with significant last-minute changes. I would challenge all of us who are in a role of influence regarding church production to take stock of our current process and compare it with some of these principles. I don't think it would hurt anything to try.
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