House of Worship

Bring the Field Work Home

An important part of a ministry's work often goes unnoticed by the congregation. These are the little occurrences that take place behind-the-scenes but are never recorded for all to see. Usually these missed opportunities arise because the technology has never been available to quickly, easily, and discreetly "capture the moment."

That is, until now. Sony's new high-definition video (HDV™) compact camcorder - the HVR-A1U - represents an ideal tool for organizations of all sizes to document their daily life and then incorporate those images - in HD resolution quality - into a worship service to support and enhance the main message.

The grateful look on the faces of senior citizens receiving a visit from grade-schoolers or the proud and satisfied look of teens doing community volunteer work are just some of the examples of how people use their talents to enrich the lives of others. Showing their activities not only promotes the success of a program, but also communicates the spiritual growth and inspiration received by participating members.

All it takes is the right equipment, and a good understanding of the main features to consider: size, quality, sound, and playback capabilities.

Professional-quality camcorders can often be large, heavy and difficult to operate for volunteers. The size of a camcorder also plays a role when loading a van with equipment to take into the field to record an outdoor service or a solemn choir performance, for example. Nothing steals spontaneity better than obvious presence of a camcorder and the ever present bubble mic.

Sony has resolved the size issue with the HVR-A1U. Weighing just 1 lb 7oz., the camcorder is small enough to fit in a shoulder bag or backpack. The HVR-A1U has been carried through the jungles of Africa to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and to the dusty, rugged plains of Afghanistan. So capturing footage discreetly to document a ministry's outreach and the variety of programs that occur daily is well within the camcorder's capabilities.

Quality is essential, especially if what is captured is going to be down-converted as content and distributed over the web to cell phones, laptops, PDAs, or play it back during a main gathering on a high resolution projector. One rule of thumb is to start with the highest quality content possible, and then bring that down to the correct size for the specific type of distribution.  The HDV video format used by the HVR-A1U provides 1440 by 1080i resolution for fantastic master quality. Use this as your acquisition format, and then download it to a non-linear editor like VEGAS 6. Your output will look stunning.

Sound is so important and yet so overlooked. While the HVR-A1U comes with a shotgun microphone and dual XLR audio jacks, field recording can be greatly improved by using the optional UWP-C1 synthesized wireless microphone package. This affordable wireless microphone can eliminate the need for obtrusive cables and large hand-held microphones due to its clip-on lavaliere design and dual diversity receiver. A diversity receiver helps prevent annoying dropouts in reception, and the lavaliere capsule is small and unobtrusive, yet sensitive enough to pick up all of the participants in a small group conversation. There's nothing less compelling than great video with bad sound.

Playback is equally important. The first step is to edit. Don't just take the output from a field trip and try to play it back to an audience. The awkward moments when the camera moves excessively, or when the speaker momentarily moves out of the frame will kill an audiences' attention and raise their frustration level quickly.

A non-linear editing solution, such as Sony's Vegas® 6 suite, can be easily learned by a ministry's technical staff to edit out the bad and keep the good. And it can be used to add audio to create an effective "soundtrack." Remember, great music placed judiciously within a presentation will lend a professional look and feel.

Now that the great moments of the field trip have been captured, make sure to play it back using a large, bright screen. Something everyone can see, like an image from a Sony LCD projector that is bright enough to look great on a large screen that every one can see, and has the ability to playback footage in a widescreen aspect ratio to truly give an audience the feeling of "being there."

Complementing the camcorder is Sony's DigitalMaster™ professional videoptape, an affordable and rugged medium, with a proven track record. DigitalMaster is Sony's highest-quality 6mm videotape. DigitalMaster tape exhibits greater packing density of magnetic grains, higher retentivity, higher output and lower noise. The result is a more robust tape with 60% fewer dropouts and 95% fewer errors.

So let the whole community see the great work being done in the field, by bringing the field work home. Your congregation deserves to be a part of this reward.

For more information on these and other Sony products which can help you bring home your outreach programs, please visit sony.com/houseofworship.