November 28, 2010
/Many apologies for the delay in posting last week’s set. This is by no means an indication of the amazing time of worship that we experienced, or the quality of visuals we used. In addition to the great set this week, including a couple of my new favorites: the song ‘With Everything’ and a Visual Liturgy piece from Colossians 1, we celebrated Communion and used some amazing footage from the talented Jason Satterlund at Big Puddle Films and a passage of Scripture from Thomas Nelson’s new translation ‘The Voice.’
- Unfortunately, the Nature Loop I used for this song is not currently available, but it uses time-lapse shots of sunrises, sunsets, clouds, canyons, and rivers. I’ll try to avoid this as much as possible in the future.
- Verses: Confessional Vibe (Non-Titled) (Highway Video) - Blurred footage of a man praying in church. “Here I am. Humbled by your majesty. Covered by your grace so free. Here I am. Knowing I’m a sinful man. Covered by the blood of the Lamb…”
- Chorus Option A: Crucifix Frames Loop (The Work of the People) - Various framed pictures of Christ on the Cross, including some hands and feet images, are displayed on a surface covered with tealight candles.
- Chorus Option B: Cross Montage 2 Loop (The Work of the People) - This clip features outdoor footage of stone crosses and the crucifix.
- Ending/ Down-Chorus: Declaration Vibe (Non-Titled) (Highway Video) - Dark footage of candlelit parchment. The handwriting on the parchment, which you can barely decipher, and the titled version of this clip features text from Psalm 63.
NOTE: As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we’re only doing about half of the original tune, including the first two verses, chorus and bridge, but it ends up being a powerful 6-7 minute piece.
- Intro & Chorus: Declaration Vibe (Non-Titled) (Highway Video) - This is a continuation of the clip we used to finish out the previous tune, since they run together so well.
- Verses & Chorus: Armor of God Loop (The Work of the People) - This clip features dark sepia-toned still images of crosses, people and nature. “Open our eyes…to be Your church…Your light to be seen.”
- Break before quiet Bridge: Psalm 121 (The Work of the People) - Using the first 10sec of this visual liturgy, and smoothly restarting it as needed visually poses the question from Psalm 121:1 “I lift my eyes up to the hills, from where will my help come?”
- Quiet Bridge: Psalm 121 Loop (The Work of the People) - This loop keeps the visual harmony between the Psalm 121 question, and a quiet, thoughtful response “with everything we will shout for Your glory, with everything we will shout forth Your praise”. While starting softly, the music continues to build underneath the bridge with an impending explosion of energy going into the next musical break.
- Break after Bridge:Jesus Holds It All Together (The Work of the People) - This powerful visual liturgy piece comes from The Message translation of Colossians 1:15-29. At this point, the band is singing to ‘wooahs’ and lyrics from the bridge are used on-screen, one line at a time, as needed. Once again, good communication between the visual worship leader and the musical worship leader is key, in order to keep from interrupting the reading of God’s Word at an awkward moment during this time. With longer pieces like this, it’s usually a good idea to either work through these things in rehearsal or in a production meeting earlier in the week, just to give the stage team a heads-up so they can plan accordingly. NOTE: Currently the available video has a misspelling around the 1:21 mark. I’ve re-edited the video to cover this entire screen of text until the corrected piece is officially uploaded.
We used this song during Communion this week, hence the use of those visual themes. Also, the visuals used during this song are all from a Big Puddle Films volume called ‘Droplets Volume 3: Communion’ and feature a beautiful, multi-cultural picture of Communion being served at a long candlelit table. I can’t currently find a site that includes the volume for sale as 1 piece, but if you can find it, leave me a note after you purchase it, and let us know where it can be found.
- Verse 1: Bread (Big Puddle Films) - A single-scene loop of flatbread on a candlelit table.
- Chorus 1: Bread Edit (Big Puddle Films) - Footage of bread being passed, broken and eaten at a long table of people. This shot made use of a jib crane, so the overhead and side footage is wonderful!
- Verse 2: Wine (Big Puddle Films) - A single-scene loop of the wine cup on a candlelit table.
- Chorus 2: Wine Edit (Big Puddle Films) - Footage of wine being passed, poured and drunk at a long table of people. Again, this shot uses the jib crane.
- Bridge:Bread & Wine (Big Puddle Films) - A single-scene loop of the bread and cup at a candlelit table/
- Interlude & Ending: Water to Wine Loop (Big Puddle Films) - Footage of wine being poured, which turns into water, which turns back to wine. Since this was used toward the end of the song during a musical interlude, I created my own visual liturgy with text from The Voice translation of 1Corinthians 11:26, “Every time you taste the sweetness of this bread, and every time you place the cup to your mouths and drink, you are declaring the Lord’s death, which is the ultimate expression of His faithfulness and love. Until He comes again, keep this memorial.”