From day one of Church Online, I’ve always wanted to create a unique worship experience that didn’t just capture what was on screen at an existing campus, but felt personal and unique.  While the captured sets from physical campuses were effective, I always thought that removing the “audience” from the worship leader might help him or her go deeper within himself, and connect with the spirit of worship that would really come across online.

This past Easter, we gave it a shot by recording a special set with Joel Limpic in a studio setting.  There were some minor quirks, mainly due to the cramped space, but overall we were pretty pleased with the results.  (you can see the end product of that session here).

So we decided to do it again, this time on our Edmond Campus stage with Trent Austin.  Trent is an amazing worship leader with a killer band, so we set them up in the round facing away from the auditorium to let them feed off each others’ energy.  By shooting across the circle we hoped to capture the little interactions between musicians, as well as the expressions on the faces that you don’t catch when sitting in an auditorum.  The idea was to create visual connections between the musicians and the music, and to create a sense of intimacy with the viewer.

I’m really pleased with the results; check out this sneak peek and see for yourself.  We recorded three sets that will be rolled out over the next several weeks at live.lifechurch.tv.

Video Producer – Aaron Ryburn
Speaker – Garrett Neuman

“God Is” is a four-part series that was produced in conjunction with the “One Prayer” message series. These videos were produced for the new 5th & 6th grade curriculum called “The Loop.”

“In the cool darkness of a movie theater, we’re glued to the screen. We laugh, cry, and cheer as the story connects to something deeper within us. But what can these larger-than-life moments tell us about the world where we live? Find the timeless truths revealed in Hollywood’s biggest films… At the Movies!”

“At the Movies” is a series LifeChurch.tv has done every summer since 2002.  It’s always a lot of fun and a lot of work to prepare for.  It’s not easy to create promos for this series because we can’t promote the specific movies that will be featured in the messages.  (Copyrights, etc…)  So we have to get super creative.

Kevin Ely produced this year’s video promos.

And THANKS to all of the volunteers and LifeChurch.tv staff members that were in the cast and helped us out at the shoots.  You guys are awesome!

It turns out that it’s pretty difficult to represent a lot of movie genres without using people. The result is that this ends up being a little sci-fi/action heavy (which is fine by my inner geek). I just can’t believe I didn’t add a Western element…

Had a lot of fun with this. Cinema4D has made the transition from Lightwave for 3D animation a smooth one. Here’s a quick capture of some of the process. As you can see, the whole project took about 2 minutes to complete. I’m that fast.

Here’s the finished artwork for LifeChurch.tv’s “At the Movies” series, in which we (legally) watch edits of Hollywood films to find Biblical truths in the stories.

This was a lot of fun and was my first full project since my recent switch to Cinema4D.

Produced by Kevin Ely

Video Producer – Aaron Ryburn
Speaker – Tony Cobb

“Hot Topics was a series produced with one of the most amazing speakers on the planet, Mr. Tony Cobb, who is the Youth Pastor for the Northwest Campus of LifeChurch.tv This was a two week series focusing on questions like, “What would Jesus have on His iPod?” And “What movies would Jesus watch?”
Produced for the LifeChurch.tv 5th & 6th grade curriculum; The Loop.”
- Aaron Ryburn

Video Producer – Aaron Ryburn
Speaker – Tony Cobb

“Hot Topics was a series produced with one of the most amazing speakers on the planet, Mr. Tony Cobb, who is the Youth Pastor for the Northwest Campus of LifeChurch.tv This was a two week series focusing on questions like, “What would Jesus have on His iPod?” And “What movies would Jesus watch?”
Produced for the LifeChurch.tv 5th & 6th grade curriculum; The Loop.”
- Aaron Ryburn

The message series for most of May here at LifeChurch.tv is “Elijah,” a look at one of the Bible’s most prominent characters.  When the Bling team came together to concept the series branding, we ultimately decided that one great symbol of God’s provision, and of Elijah’s faith, could be found in the ravens that God sent to provide food for Elijah in the wilderness. With that concept, I couldn’t help but lean to Hitchcock for inspiration. Here’s the finished promo:

I’ve been using Trapcode’s Particular plug-in for After Effects, so I immediately knew that a huge flock of birds was the way I wanted to go, and with my newly found love for Maxon’s Cinema 4D (after switching from Newtek’s Lightwave, a choice I’m thrilled that I made) I had everything I needed.

Here are some quick captures of the steps in the process: