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Anyone can point the business end of the camera toward the stage, but what happens next is what separates the pros from the amateurs.
The PTZ camera is a staple in the house of worship market, and has been for some time. Now more than ever though, PTZs are playing a critical role for churches. With more people consuming church content virtually and fewer people being available to help produce that content, the PTZ camera is showing huge returns on investment.
In addition, many PTZ systems utilize controllers that can manage multiple cameras. For some of these systems, the number of cameras is in the hundreds—meaning the only real limiting factor is how many cameras you can afford, and in the church setting, how well your techs can operate them.
… it doesn't matter if you call it a zoom, a push, or a bump, as long as everyone is on the same page as to what those words mean, you will be setting your operators up for success.
1-Communication
The first thing every volunteer camera operator should be taught is the jargon. When it comes to cameras, communication is critical. If a director says "push-in" and the camera operator doesn't know what that means, you will not get what you want. Like many live events, worship services tend to have multiple moving parts, and typically the director is trying to communicate as much information as possible as quickly as possible so things don't get missed. I always say communication on intercoms should follow the ABC; your communication should be Accurate, Bold, and Concise. As a result, sometimes camera directions come in concise directions like "push 2, 1 bump, 3 is up, go 4." Having standardized vocabulary that everyone uses will reduce confusion and give confidence to the operators. Churches that benefit from a staff member or volunteer who works in broadcast tend to inherit whatever vocabulary that person learned, because the jargon is somewhat standardized in the industry. Still, it doesn't matter if you call it a zoom, a push, or a bump, as long as everyone is on the same page as to what those words mean, you will be setting your operators up for success.
2-Framing and composition
Anyone can point the business end of the camera toward the stage, but what happens next is what separates the pros from the amateurs. The framing of the shot, how it's composed, who is where, will turn a simple image into something that can covey a story or feeling. Tom Lattin from Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Garner, North Carolina, says, "Training framing makes all the difference." An understanding of basic composition like the rule of thirds, nose room, and headroom makes a considerable difference to your audience, especially if the camera lens is the audience's only eye into what is happening.
The closer the camera position is to being eye level with the subject, the easier it is to compose a shot properly.
Lattin has a tip for getting this right: mount your PTZs at eye level. The closer the camera position is to being eye level with the subject, the easier it is to compose a shot properly. Cameras mounted on overly high or low angles can offer some fantastic options for some shots, but they are hugely limiting. Your worship leader, who is 5'2", should not come across like Andre the Giant on your video stream, and no one wants to be looking up the senior pastor's nose while he's reading from the book of John. Keeping your cameras around eye level will help prevent awkward framing and composition.
According to Larry Leake at Crossroads Fellowship in Raleigh, North Carolina, mounting the PTZs to tripods is a great way to stretch what you can accomplish with PTZ cameras. Having them on tripods means you can move them as needed for special events or just to change things up. Also, if your cameras are awkwardly placed, they can be adjusted relatively easily.
3-Presets
One of the more powerful functions of the PTZ camera is the presets. On most PTZs, presets can be set to recall camera location and focus. In more expensive PTZs, these presets can also recall white balance and iris, and the highest tier controllers will even control basic motions. This is important because it makes everything consistently repeatable. Things that are consistently repeatable have a much higher opportunity for success. If your worship leader always leads from a keyboard, and it never moves, setting up a preset for that location means that the camera is seconds away from being able to get back to the worship leader. So go ahead and add that extra bridge at the end of the song without warning anyone; the camera can get the shot fast enough for nothing to be missed. The graphics operator is on their own.
With a volunteer staff, having consistent presets are helpful. If everyone knows page one preset one is always the worship leader, you will get good results. The inverse is also true; your mileage may vary if the presets are different week to week. Some ways to encourage this include using a consistent pattern in your programming, like having the presets move from left to right as they increase. Odd number presets are stage left, and even numbers are stage right, anything as long as it is consistent. It might also be helpful to have a stage diagram with numbers at important shot locations. Regardless of how you do it, being trained on camera locations and presets will help get the most out of your PTZ volunteers.
Most kids have naturally fine motor control built up by endless hours of video games, and while it's not a one-to-one correlation, people who game a lot will be more successful controlling PTZs than people who don't.
4-Emulate others
Watching other churches’ work is a great way to get inspiration for your tech ministry. I have said for years, "Good technical directors borrow from others; great ones steal outright." Watching other churches, concerts, or even Ted talks can be a great way to get inspired about how you can improve your camera work. Sometimes it's even a little morale booster because no one gets it right 100% of the time. The number of mistakes made regularly on live TV would blow your mind. It's not hard to find things that make sense to you and try them, especially with PTZs, because your chance of getting it right by using presets is just much higher.
It's great to watch other churches, however, don't fall into comparing what your church does to what other churches do. It's not a massive jump from "oh, that's an interesting angle …" to "if we had their budget …" Comparison will lead you to a bad place, so if you can't be objective, or better yet, if you can't be thrilled for what those churches have been able to achieve for the capital “C” Church, then don't watch other churches.
5-Practice, practice, practice
While most PTZ controllers have very similar interfaces, even the most expensive PTZ controllers take some getting used to. Some controllers may default to an inverted joystick, where moving it up tilts the camera down, and some may have the option to alter the speed and responsiveness of the controls. These idiosyncrasies take time to get a handle on. Regardless of the manufacturer of your PTZ or controller, practice will be one of the most important keys to success. All PTZ controllers require a deft hand. As Leake points out, "This is a great option for your volunteers who are big gamers." This is why if you have youth in your tech ministry, this is an excellent place for them to serve. Most kids have naturally fine motor control built up by endless hours of video games, and while it's not a one-to-one correlation, people who game a lot will be more successful controlling PTZs than people who don't.
To wrap this up, hopefully these five tips give you something to take back to your volunteers. But remember, PTZs can be a powerful tool in your technical arsenal, but they’re just that, a tool. Adding PTZs to your streaming or IMAG will probably not increase your attendance or up your giving. In the 20+ years I have been in technical ministry, no one has ever come to Christ because "the Dutch angle on camera two really demonstrated His love for me." However, having a tool that gets the life-changing message of Jesus into the hands of people who may never darken the doorway of a church, that's huge. And being able to remind your volunteers that they played a part in that is as good as it gets.
