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LEADING THE WAY Media Production Director Tarik Stewart says that one of the challenges of applying groundbreaking technology is that there are few other facilities to look to for guidance and inspiration.
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Image courtesy Ketterman
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Celebration Church, Jacksonville, Fla.
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Image courtesy of Ketterman
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Image courtesy of Ketterman
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Image courtesy of Ketterman
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Image courtesy Sheridan
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Image courtesy of Ketterman
When the leadership at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Fla., set out to provide worshippers with an immersive experience, at first they didn't realize how truly immersive they could get. “We were like, ‘Wow, really? Can we really do that?'” remembers Tarik Stewart, the church's weekend experience director and media production director.
The project was focused on the construction of The Arena, Celebration's 77,000-square-foot campus that houses a 2,750-seat sanctuary from which services, conferences, concerts and other events are broadcast from its main campus in Jacksonville to satellite locations in Orange Park, St. Johns and Hardee.
To achieve this concept of total immersion, Celebration's leaders worked with the architects at Birmingham, Ala.'s Live Design Group and the audiovisual and acoustics experts at WAVE Group, an audiovisual and lighting design and integration firm based in Charlotte, N.C. Together, the collaborators pushed forth the idea of church as canvas: a thoughtful marriage of architecture, sound, lighting and projection technology that would eventually result in a venue that not only immerses guests in worship, but also an environment that is ever-changing, largely thanks to the digitally projected support material that is regularly displayed in the sanctuary, and throughout the entire campus.
Enter 4D emergent worship technology
WAVE's holistic approach to audiovisual design utilized the company's 4D emergent worship technology, which takes into account not only the technology, but also its impact on the energy and spiritual unity of a space, as well as its ability to help worshippers leave their lives outside in order to fully engage with the service. At Celebration Church, this involved the application of environmental projection: a technology-driven approach to creating an atmosphere, or setting the stage, based on a particular theme. It could be described as a form of high-tech theater: instead of painted backdrops and constructed set pieces, the surfaces of the facility itself—walls, ceilings, the floor—act as a blank sheet onto which digital images are projected to support the service. And, just as busy theaters may host several productions during any given week (requiring not only scene changes, but entire set changes), the environmental projection technology can be programmed to accommodate any presentation, creating the ability to transform the sanctuary from a “traditional” church into a conference space or a concert venue, for example, seamlessly.
In the sanctuary, the visual component of this experience is centered on a large screen measuring 60 feet by 20 feet; 15 edge-blended Digital Projection projectors display images onto this surface. Two additional ceiling-mounted screens flank the main display. The systems are driven by Pandoras Box media and show control technology by Coolux Media Systems. Sony cameras are used to capture images for image magnification (IMAG) presentation. Because sound is crucial in creating an immersive experience, Celebration features a surround sound system comprised of Meyer speaker systems controlled via a Digico SD-10 audio console. The lighting system is made up of Martin Professional lighting fixtures, controlled through a Jands Vista lighting desk. The AVL and environmental projection systems extend to the lobby area, hallways and other spaces in the facility, which are equipped with Panasonic LED flat panel displays, making the creation of different experiences throughout the church possible.
Walls, ceilings, the floor––act as a blank sheet onto which digital images are projected to support the service.
Armando Fullwood, principal and director at WAVE, points out that the use of environmental projection requires some careful architectural planning up front, at the beginning of the design portion of a construction project. “There is no point in creating a lot of architectural elements that get in the way of the [environmental projection],” he says, underlining that this requires both the architect and the AVL firm to work together closely. “It takes a very confident architect to be able to design rooms where the technology, to a large degree, is communicating the emotion of the experience. You really have to have architects who understand that sometimes, their ideas for aesthetic placement may not be the priority, and they have to be O.K. with that. Quite frankly, a lot of the architects that we work with are good at that.”
Stewart acknowledges that while the capabilities of Celebration's new system are virtually limitless, it's important for he and his team to remember why it's there. He likens it to a brand-new Ferrari: while the urge may be to open it up and run at full-tilt all the time, that doesn't necessarily make for the best ride. “We still have to work to make it fit us, and to enhance our experience,” he says. “That was a challenge, because after learning everything that the system can do, we had to scale back and really find our own way of doing it, and what really fits us.”
Keeping priorities in focus
During the creative process, team members continue to ask themselves if their proposed ideas actually contribute to achieving the goal of the particular service or event in question. “We can throw up a video of somebody dancing on the screen or whatever, but will that really enhance the actual experience? This helps us to filter out the good ideas, the great ideas ad the ideas that are just O.K. There are a lot more voices [in the creative process] now and it takes more time, but we get great results,” Stewart adds.
While AVL plays a lead role in total immersion, low-tech methods also contribute to ensuring that worshippers are completely immersed in services and events, Stewart explains, because there's not a bad seat in the house. Configured in a clam shape with a flat floor that slopes up into stadium seating, all visitors have a clear view of the platform as well as the screens projecting what's taking place up front; they may also easily face each other which, according to church leadership, helps to build unity during worship throughout the congregation. “No matter where someone sits—whether they are in the back in the top of the stadium seating, or if they are in the very front row or even in the middle section—they will always have a great experience,” Stewart says. “Everything was designed for their comfort and for their ability to be immersed in the experience.”
Stewart says that one of the challenges of applying groundbreaking technology is that there are few other facilities to look to for guidance and inspiration. “There are very few churches that we could actually use as examples to tailor and fit to us,” he says. “It was learn-as-you-go, which can be a bit frustrating because you are dealing with a number of different teams and staff members that run [the technology].” Coupled with this is the fact that each week, the theming and presentation changes, requiring technical team members to experiment with volumes, brightness and imagery to arrive at the best solution. For added support, Stewart encourages his crew to reach out to AVL manufacturers for assistance. “We've built relationships with them, and we are constantly talking with them and asking them questions, and giving them an idea of who we are and how we're using this equipment,” he says. “From those conversations, we get a lot of great feedback and insight, and great tools and resources to help us achieve what we want to do, and what we need here at Celebration Church.”
For churches that are considering the application of high-tech AVL, Stewart offers this advice: “Plan for more time to learn it. Plan for more time to test and troubleshoot, and be patient with it. And be patient with the teams that are working with this equipment.” He notes that while being on the cutting edge can be rewarding, it's also necessary to realize that, once again, there won't be many other examples of how it's being applied … at least not at first. “There's a role you play in being a guinea pig, where everybody is going to be looking to you and taking notes on how you use it. You have to understand the risk you're taking by using brand new, state-of-the-art technology. You have to understand what you're getting into,” he adds.
That's not to say it's not worth getting into, and Stewart is excited about where Celebration is now, and where this technology can take it in the future. “The great thing about it is we have a lot of areas that we can grow into,” he says. “The technology was designed so that we can always add to it, and to completely change and upgrade any system that we want—the video system, the lighting system and the audio systems.”
Fullwood notes that thinking about the future plays a central role in his design work—to allow churches to grow into their systems, and develop them as both their message, as well as the technology, evolves. “The thing that's frustrating with a lot of campuses is that they make this design statement up front, and if that design statement is not flexible, they can't [evolve],” he says. “Every visual has a shelf life—we don't want to admit that, but it does. Rooms that were state-of-the-art five years ago can feel dated today. It's unfortunate, but that's why with a lot of the rooms we're doing now where a church has made the decision to communicate technically, it's our responsibility to say, ‘Here is where you can be 10 years from now.'”
