Using motion and still backgrounds for worship can be fun and exciting. They can also be a recipe for stress, opinions and conversations, in which you may have to defend your choices. No matter what size your church, whether it's been years since you began using graphics, just starting out, or you just want to amp up you current game; here are some keys for success.
Conversations
Having a conversation with the other people involved with planning and implementing your services is key. It is important to be open and honest about your feelings and opinions. As a group, come to an understanding of how you all want to proceed with the style and kind of backgrounds you would like to use. This is not a single conversation, but something ongoing and ever changing.
Get together and review each weekend or setup something monthly, it will be a great tool and you may find it helps you in other areas as well.
Without ongoing conversations, your style will become stagnant. Always remember to innovate by trying new things and styles. Just ensure you do it with everyone.
During a weekend prep or rehearsal it is so much better to be able to say to a volunteer, “This is how we do things,” instead of saying, “I don't like this.” Personal opinion is subjective and easily starts disagreement or arguments.
Invisibility
Using multiple backgrounds can be fun and creative, but will also be time-consuming.
If background takes center stage, then it is no longer background, its foreground. You want your background to support the message or theme of the current element. Think of the background as a musical underscore to your favorite movie. When you select the correct background the words, lyrics or notes you are supporting take on life allowing people to engage. Just as the soundtrack to a movie should be invisible, it is critical in providing the impact needed to support the moment. This is how backgrounds should fit; unnoticed but critical for the moment and element.
Prayer and Preparation
This may sound obvious, but how often do you start picking backgrounds 30 minutes before the service? Prayer and preparation are key to getting it started off right.
One of my CG (character generator) volunteers had a great comment while a group of us were meeting together about this very topic. He said, “When assigned to a weekend service, the first thing I do is carve out some time before programming to listen to the music, read the notes and simply ask God to lead me in choosing the right backgrounds.”
When he said “ask God to lead him,” I was immediately convicted and inspired. I always took time to properly prepare, as a volunteer and staff member. Yet I relied too much on my talent and abilities and never invited in the One who all of the preparation was for into the process. Now I say a simple prayer, almost a breath prayer, I simply say as the music starts or as I am reading through the notes, “God will you lead me as I prepare to lead our congregation in worship this weekend?”
Using Backgrounds with Music
I would consider this to be one of the more challenging applications for using backgrounds. Anyone can chose a background, but not everyone is suited for this role. If you have volunteers set up your backgrounds, find a person or people who fit this role. Music has passion, life, and emotion. Find someone who can play the backgrounds as their musical instrument. They do not need to be musicians, or even know the mechanics of music. They just need to have “it.” I find people who have “it” are those who cannot sit still or need express themselves with their whole body when listening to music. A purely technical approach to backgrounds will get the job done, but you need artistry and passion to be a success.
Use motion graphics sparingly as they can quickly become exploited.
As you begin to select backgrounds, play the song and break it apart into its movements (usually chorus, verse, bridge). What is fast and slow, what has a driving edge and what flows like silk? Begin to look for backgrounds that match these emotions. If you are selecting a single background for the whole song, make sure your choice matches all of the parts of the song. If you are breaking the song up and going to use multiple backgrounds they need to complement each other and one should not stand out more than any other. This method of using multiple backgrounds is fun and creative, but will consume your time. So ensure you keep an eye on the clock, especially if you are under a deadline.
When choosing backgrounds, it is important to ensure not only the color, and artistry of the background work with the song, but speed needs to be considered as well. A couple of clicks in background speed, faster or slower, can ruin the feel and not match the song. If you have the ability to alter the image by applying a sepia tone or de-saturating the image to black and white, adding in these subtle adjustments can really set the mood for an element or service. Use them sparingly as they can quickly become exploited.
One topic you will need to keep high in the conversation with your team is the style of backgrounds. You have abstracts that can fit almost anything and you have literal backgrounds. Inevitably you will have one person who loves flower landscapes and another who loves abstracts and will use every one of them in your library for a service. Here is where having had a prior conversation can help you guide your people by coaching them when and how your church uses these backgrounds. There is not a right or wrong with either of these, each church is different and so the method of using them will also differ.
Backgrounds for Non-Musical Elements
Choosing a background for non-musical events (announcements, sermons, business meetings, etc) can be a bit easier, but still requires some thought. You need to ask these questions, “What is the focus? Am I supposed to grab people's attention with the background or is the background a supporting role?”
If it's the main attraction have fun, just ensure it is within the bounds of the element. If it is a supporting role, ensure what is in front of the background can be easily seen and read. This goes back to being invisible and selecting the right background to create the soundtrack, which brings the content to life.
As you prepare for your next weekend service, I hope you are inspired to try something new, or you're encouraged that you are on the right track. Either way, go out, choose backgrounds for your weekend services that create an “invisible” underscore, but also add emotion and impact.
