Two styles of films make up a strong amount of church film work. They are live event production incorporating image magnification (IMAG) and cinematic movie making. Whereas live event video and film capture the worship experience and enhance it, in the case of IMAG, movie making is about storytelling—sharing a life-change story, testimonial, or a number of other types of films.
JVC GY-HC900CHU Connected Cam, with accessories
The two types have their own look and feel, and they also come with their own technical requirements to create and deliver.
Live event video & cinematic moving making
Churches are often incorporating two types of video production work: Live Event video production image magnification (IMAG) where cameras are capturing the live worship service in order to put it up on the screens in the auditorium, transmit to other “video venue” campuses, or stream to the internet; and cinematic “movie making” for telling people’s story of their coming to faith, creating sermon illustrations, or other scripted/directed storytelling videos. These two styles have their own look and feel, and their own technical requirements for supporting that style of video work.
Erin Rice, sports and entertainment sales manager for Ikegami, states, “Typically, live production cameras employ smaller three-chip sensor devices with broadcast lens mounts, allowing for quick and easy zoom and focus, and higher-end cameras allow for remote painting of the cameras for matching the tonal quality of the images.”
Craig Yanagi, national marketing manager for JVC Professional Video Division, says, “Live events require the shot to be acquired at less than a moment’s notice with no second chance at capturing the image.” The smaller sensor size of live event/electronic news gathering (ENG) cameras provide a deeper depth of field and thus enable quicker and more forgiving focusing of the camera.
Craig Yanagi, National Marketing Manager, JVC Professional Video Division
“Live events require the shot to be acquired at less than a moment’s notice with no second chance at capturing the image.” Craig Yanagi, National Marketing Manager, JVC Professional Video Division
“In cinematic cameras, however, the sensor is typically a single Super 35 sensor,” says Craig Harper, national manager of faith for Sony Electronics. The larger sensor size creates a shallower depth of field, which is the primary attribute of that “cinematic” look.
If your church is looking to move its video production focus into a more cinematic style of look and feel, what are the attributes that matter most in selecting a camera for this purpose?
“In cinematic cameras … the sensor is typically a single Super 35 sensor [the larger sensor size creates a shallower depth of field]." Craig Harper, National Manager of Faith, Sony Electronics
“I think there are a multitude of different ways to answer this question and it really depends on what kind of story you want to tell and how you want that story to feel by the way it looks,” states Stacey Moore, field marketing manager for Fujifilm North America. “Weight, sensor size, and high-end features are only part of the equation. Knowing what you want your viewers to feel is also really important. So, before looking at features, I always recommend that filmmakers think first about what they want their pieces to feel like. For example, smooth stabilized footage is beautiful to look at, but it certainly gives a different feeling to the viewer when compared to watching something that was captured on a monopod. I really encourage everyone to take a second and think about this before they look at cameras. Ultimately, once you figure out the feeling part, it makes it a lot easier to prioritize the features you'll want in a camera.”
Stacey Moore, Field Marketing Manager, Fujifilm North America
Moore continues, “At the end of the day, there will be features you'll want any camera to have. So make sure it can capture a flat image, has a clean HDMI out signal (a pure image signal without informational overlays), and can be configured to post-production workflows that either involve a colorist or not. For example, the Fujifilm X-T3, X-T30, and GFX 100 cameras can all capture 4K video in uncompressed 4:2:2 F-Log for complete flexibility in post.” This requires more effort in getting the look you desire from the log-gamma captured video and can’t be used as-is. “However,” More adds, “they can also be set to capture footage differently depending on what your capabilities are in post.” This would involve capturing a more standard gamma curve to the captured footage that may not require much effort in color correcting.
“Weight, sensor size, and high-end features are only part of the equation. Knowing what you want your viewers to feel is also really important.” Stacey Moore, Field Marketing Manager, Fujifilm North America
In addition to the larger sensor size that provides for the shallow depth of field, “other key features are the ability to record images with wide dynamic range, such as HDR, and recording in a professional codec such as Apple ProRes for best results in post production,” Yanagi says.
Fujifilm X-T3 + XF18-55mm
Robert Luckett, public relations senior specialist with Canon, adds, “A high quality electronic view finder (EVF) is critical if the camera is 4K, due to the challenges of getting sharp focus with a 4K camera.” And an EVF is able to add overlays such as peaking to show edges that are in focus, and zebra bars that show parts of an image that are overexposed. “In addition,” Luckett continues, “the use of interchangeable lenses, like Canon Cinema Prime and EF L-series primes alongside the large format sensors, helps to create the ‘cinema magic.’”
With all the video options that are now available with DSLR and DSLM cameras, what are the trade-offs when choosing between DSLR/DSLM options and a dedicated cinema-style video camera?
“A high quality electronic view finder (EVF) is critical if the camera is 4K, due to the challenges of getting sharp focus with a 4K camera.” Robert Luckett, Public Relations Senior Specialist, Canon
“DSLRs and mirrorless do produce super imagery,” Luckett notes. “They lend themselves to flexible handheld shooting, and they are relatively low-cost solutions. However, they are limited in their connectivity and systemization, which can be especially important for multi-camera operations.”
Moore adds, “There are a lot of people that believe dedicated video cameras will always be the better choice if a team is going to dedicate itself to doing different kinds of production. Dedicated cameras have more options for audio, they usually have advanced features to monitor functions more closely, and they can sometimes have access to different image capture settings. However, this all does come at a significant cost, which can often put these out of reach from a budget perspective.”
Moore continues, “Despite their perceived shortcomings, mirrorless digital cameras have really closed the gap when compared to their dedicated counterparts. While the form-factor and lack of audio inputs are still factors to consider, there are now many more accessory companies that help content creators bridge the gaps more easily. Image quality has also improved significantly—many of our cameras can capture 10-bit footage through an external recorder, which gives a filmmaker a lot of flexibility in post-production. The best part is the economics of it all. A filmmaker can often get multiple cameras and lenses for a fraction of what they would normally spend for a dedicated video camera.”
For full-featured cinema video cameras, often these cameras are more configurable, have more external controls enabling you to quickly change key settings, professional XLR audio inputs for feeding quality audio signals directly into the camera from external sources, and excellent image monitoring features.
Additionally, Luckett adds, “video capture cameras support connections to base stations from which multiple audio and video, tallies, reverse viewfinder feeds, and remote video control can be readily arranged. These cameras allow for a wide variety of lenses to be used, including EF and Cinema primes and zooms as well as B4 mount broadcast lenses.
The close up future
Looking into the future, expect larger sensor sizes, 8K resolution becoming the norm, and better overall performance and technology improvements.
To sum up, a combination of camera options from a dedicated video camera for key video shoots to a digital single-lens mirrorless (DSLM) for use on an inexpensive gimbal system for capturing b-roll and smooth camera-motion shots might be a good combination solution. But remember, just like a screwdriver or a hammer, one size doesn’t work well in all situations.
