Production Musings

AE Scripts – I love ‘em

// April 15th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Thoughts

It’s been too long since my last post.  We’ve been up to our neck over the past 3 or 4 weeks in video projects and the usual tasks.  I have much to get caught up on.  Until then, here’s the most recent project.  First, a note about After Effects scripts.  Up until this past month I’d never used them.  Uhm, hello?!  They make life easier.  We found one to help us with subtitles (which I’ll write more about later) and another to align objects to a grid.

For Easter, we were expecting above average attendance.  One of the things we wanted to communicate is the life that Jesus offers to all of us and the reality of that.  We wanted to share stories of people whose lives have been changed by Jesus since they’ve chosen to follow Him.  One of the elements we used to help support this message was a mixed media element.  The band performed Matthew West’s song “The Motions” to an animation we created.  It contained photographs from all of the baptisms from 2006-2009.  The question was, “How can we display this in an interesting, attractive manner and be impacting?”  Judson Lee created the performance click track on the Left and some synth/filler on the Right to be mixed in at front of house.

Of the hundreds of photos, we selected the top 80, cropped to 16×9 and resized to 800×450.  We ran the Layers2Grid script found at aescripts.com and it worked like a charm.  After wasting about 7 hours figuring out why nesting one comp into another creates blurry photos, I finally got it right.  Here’s what we came up with:

Ok ok, I apologize for the Mac look rip-off in advance…I couldn’t resist.  Here’s a version with no click, piano only.  I can’t post it with “The Motions” due to synchronization rights:

In Me – March ’09

// March 18th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Thoughts

Here are a few thoughts I shared with the team this week about what God is doing in me.

We have such a large capacity to live within our own brokenness and do so without realization. (At least for some time.) This is becoming a life lesson for me and has been in process perhaps for the last 8-12 years. (Apparently, I got on the slow train for growth!) This is being a difficult and beautifully restorative journey where God is healing me. I’d like to share some tools that have been helping me while I’m in the midst of it.

We are not as strong as we think we are :: Rich Mullins

“But I’m me. How can anyone know me better than me?” That’s the underlying thought at least. A songwriter wrote “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.” Psalm 139:1-2.  With these words, he begins to paint the picture of how well God knows us. The remaining chapter is spent adding the color, stroke, and details of the painting of just how much better God knows us than we know ourselves. How is it that anyone could know us in this way?! Settle into this: God does.

The ending of Psalm 139 has struck me with a greater level of depth.  It’s simple but it runs deep!  “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”  We all can rest here…in a healthy, humble need of God.  This is where we stop trying to produce a fix or even create understanding on our own.  His knowledge of us is utterly more than we could ever handle about ourselves and He will point out areas in our souls where we need to take some sort of action.  I’m learning a new kind of rest and work…well, it isn’t anything new…just new places for me to go.

You humble me, Lord.

2009 Father Daughter Dance

// February 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Audio, Stage Design, Thoughts

Fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
- John Mayer

This is becoming a tradition around here at Blue Ridge.  Once a year we get all the dads and their girls (about 250-300 or so), both young and old, and have a fun night of food and dancing.  We typically sell tickets to this event for a nominal fee ($5 or so) to cover the cost of some of the food.  For this event, we used the Dynacord XA-2 system for audio.  The system itself boasts H-Class amplification at 4,000w per amp.  It’s designed to consume small amounts of power but really pack a punch.  It can easily sustain over 135dB and throw long distances, but of course that would be very dangerous to the health of our hearing.  Absurd really.   I love the sound of the system, it’s weight, ease of use (really, an impaired monkey could set it up without damage), and it’s mobility.  Check it out if you need a nice portable system.

The event was DJ’d by Mark Lamb.  He provided his own equipment and patched into the system.  Lighting and truss was provided by Lester Hamrick of Just Right AV.  This combination created a great environment full of energy.  Each father or daughter could submit requests to Mark or his wife Kara and they’d read them aloud.  This element added a great deal of meaning because many of the messages were so meaningful and impacting.  One daughter said, “Dad I love you.  You have always been there and have always protected me.  You’re a solid rock.”  I bet that guy is gonna go home filled up!  Or the dads who gave shout outs to their daughters to tell them how special they are and how much they care for and love them.  I think it’ll be cool to have a daughter one day, or a son will be great too.

We had a little photobooth set up as well so the girls could go get their photos taken.  We assigned each father/daughter a number so we could manage the flow to the photo line.

Now playing:  LIonel Richie – “You’re an Angel”

Next up:  Will Smith – “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It”

Be Still

// February 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Thoughts

Sadness  ::  Chaos ::  Laughter  ::  Joy  ::  Grief  ::  Peace  ::  Guilt  ::  Excitement

This past week has been something else.  It may be safe to say that it’s been one the most challenging weeks of the past year.  I’ve experienced a little of every emotion imaginable in a short period of time.  (INFJ – Feeler) Last February 11, my younger brother passed away unexpectedly and I’ve been working through all the grief and emotions of this loss.  It seems that this particular week was more difficult than Christmas or Thanksgiving.  Being with family through times like this is priceless.  Other things in life have added their toll as well — summed up:  God is showing me places deep inside myself that are broken….and have been for a while.  I think we all have those places and sometimes walk through life seemingly unaware of them until God metaphorically shines His light on our souls to reveal it to us.  Added in with all of this was the joy and excitement of having brief video interviews with 37 people who have recently decided to follow Jesus.  I’m not kidding, you could see the joy and peace on the faces of each person….that’s just what God will do!  Speaking of 37 videos…I was responsible for those as well as lighting the new stage design this week.  (Posts about those will follow soon.)  Needless to say, a Sunday afternoon nap was in order.

Stress :: Tension :: Control :: Fear

Yeah, sometimes I experience those things and I did this week. But here’s the thing: as technical production people we work hard – really hard – to make sure our lighting transitions are set and timed just right,  colors match, we’ve selected just the right typeface, just the right amount of haze and so on.  We love it.  We live to serve like this.  However, this is key:  we have to make time to stop.  There must be that space in each of us.  So, I’m learning to be still.   I shared all of this with the team this morning.  We all stop what we’re doing each Sunday morning around 7:30.  We exhale.  We connect with one another.  We stop and pray with one another.

Stillness ::  Peace

I played a song this morning for the team that a friend wrote.  His name is Nic Carver and he leads worship at Brentwood Church here in town.  It’s been in heavy rotation this week.  I love the pictures he paints.  It put to words and music my experience this week:  “can’t move but can’t stop moving” and “busy discontent, working harder, I’m spent” and “trust you or just keep trusting me” and finally resting in “much greater hands than your own.” God used this song to help me stop being a “Martha in a Mary’s world.“  This week I gave up trying to work through the grief, chaos, massive to-do list, and long hours on my own.  With his permission, I’m putting the song up here along with the lyrics.  I hope it brings the same encouragement to you!!

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Be still

Chorus
Be still my heart and know you’re not controlling what you fear
Be still my soul find rest and know you’re in much greater hands than your own

Verse 1
My cloudy heart will break feel exhausted, I’m frayed
Can’t move but can’t stop moving
My busy discontent, working harder, I’m spent
Treading lightly, but I know I’m drowning
Help me stop

Verse 2
My faith is often frail, terrified to unveil
Trust you or just keep trusting me
I’m often far behind an image I’ve refined
But closer to the ground, I’m dirty

Clean me up

(breathe in, just breathe in…)