Working mainly in Glasgow, Scotland we have a lot of daylight in the summer months – not necessarily sunshine but daylight. We also work mainly in traditional church buildings which tend to have been designed to let in as much light as possible and aren’t easy to black out.
Our regular Deeper service is held in St Silas church, where we have never managed to solve the black out problem. Our latest wide screen solution (which I now realize that I haven’t mentioned on this blog) is some large spandex fabric stretched to give an excellent smooth surface to project onto. However it is also transparent enough to see the large stained glass window through which makes the projections difficult to see, thus defeating the purpose.
So when the clocks change we have to re-think how to do things. This month was the first that would be taking place with daylight right up to around 8:30pm (around when the service ends) so we couldn’t use the spandex-screen for dual projector VJing. So instead left the 8×10 fast-fold screen in place that the church normally uses and used the spandex to create a different visual impact.
The other reason for using the spandex like this is something that should always be at the core of all visual design of a service – don’t just do it because you can or because you have the tech to make something happen – it has to fit the theme!!
The them of these last three Deeper services of the season is Authority and using the verse “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2 to look at Biblical Authority and submission to authority in our daily lives.
So taking literally the words ‘shelter of the Most High’ and the theme of being under God’s cover, we set up the spandex sheet over the meeting and used two propped up projectors to put some phrases from the key verse on this sheet.
We still did some VJing onto the 8×10 screen but my point here is that visualists should look at the entire worship environment and don’t just get caught up with what to do on the main screen.
Christian Visualist 