Here are some equipment/application options for your Digital Team to consider as they make recommendations to your church’s leadership about developing a quality virtual presence for your church.
- At the most basic level, all you need to do virtual church is a smart phone (for recording), a laptop and video editor (for saving and editing), and internet access (e.g., email … website … FaceBook account … Google Drive—for distributing virtual content to your people).
- Even at this basic level, there are a few tools that will help you create better video: a tripod (for a steadier picture); a smart phone mount (to hold your phone on the tripod); and a remote (to start and stop your video). Here is a link to consider.… (note that this comes with a tripod, smart phone mount, and bluetooth remote control start/stop).
- External Mic. Nothing kills a video like poor audio. The mic on your smart phone is probably fine if you’re only standing a couple of feet from the phone when you record. However, any further back and you run into significant problems. Consider an external, shot-gun microphone to get cleaner, clearer, and more focused audio like this one.
- Consider using a tool like MoviePro to record your video. Better quality and fuller-featured than the app that usually comes on your phone. It also has better support for external microphones.
- Upgrade your camera. This is a big step and requires some expertise to take advantage of the very real benefits of a better camera. However, if you want the best quality, in 4K resolution, you need to jump into something like this one.
- Digital Recorder—even the best digital cameras have limited audio. Built in mics are often of poor quality. And external mics work on better digital cameras but have to run through (often) inferior plugs and circuitry. So many vloggers utilize digital recorders like this one. You have to sync video and audio in a video editing program as you edit, but that’s simple and relatively pain-free.
- Pick a good video editor. If you are on a PC platform, you probably already have Movie Maker 10. If you have a Mac, you already have iMovies. Both are adequate editors … even good. You can manipulate video and audio files, splice, add titles, do some minimal special effects, etc.. If you want to get more serious however (and have someone who is seriously skilled), you should consider Adobe Premier Pro, Final Cut Pro, or an equivalent professional-level video editor.
- Don’t forget related cords, batteries, dongles, memory cards, etc.. You can render a $2500 video setup useless for lack of a single card, cord, or battery! Ah, the joys of technology.
