Camera Operator and Video Director Training for Church Live Streaming

Cameras used in this training:

CR-N500 – https://canon.us/churchfrontcrn500

XF605 – https://canon.us/churchfrontxf605

RC-IP100 – https://canon.us/churchfrontrcip100

Introduction

In this video, you are going to get the ultimate guide to operating cameras and directing video for your church livestream. We’ll be covering essential topics like framing, headroom, composition, and exposure. We’ll even talk about some advanced features available with these Canon PTZ cameras, such as auto tracking. A huge thank you to Canon for sponsoring this video and providing the cameras to make this training possible. We’ll be demonstrating the Canon CR-N500 and CR-N700 PTZ cameras. I’ll also show you the Canon XF605 professional camcorder, which pairs perfectly with the PTZ cameras. I’m going to link those specific cameras below this video. I’ve developed this training to be comprehensive but very simple. So even if you are a new camera operator or video director at your church, maybe you’re a volunteer, you are in the right place. My name is Jake Gosselin with Churchfront, and we’re here to be your roadmap for Worship and Production Ministry. If you’d like more training content like this video, be sure to subscribe. This training is going to be in-depth, so refer to the chapter markers on the playhead below for convenient navigation of the video.

Dialing in Exposure Settings

First, I’m going to cover how to dial in the exposure settings for your camera. It’s very important to make sure the exposure looks correct because all of the other steps we’re going to cover in this training, like framing, composition, and movement, won’t look great if you don’t have the camera exposure set properly. Ensure you have sufficient lighting at your church. This is crucial. Before you dive into your camera settings, make sure you have sufficient front lighting on stage and know the temperature of that front lighting. Here in our setup, we are using front washes at 4,000 Kelvin. We also have backlights or hair lights, often using colors like blues, purples, or ambers, which look great in helping separate the foreground from the background on the subject.

The key for your cameras, especially in a church environment for your live stream, is to make sure your pastor, worship leaders, and MCs have adequate front lighting when you expose the cameras. At our church, our front lighting stays consistent throughout the service, so our cameras don’t have to adjust exposure during the service.

Manual Mode and Exposure Triangle

Let’s dive into the settings of the Canon CR-N500 and adjust the exposure. I recommend running your camera in manual mode. If you switch to auto, interesting things start to happen, mainly with color and white balance. In manual mode, you control the iris or aperture value (how large the opening is in your lens for the light to hit the sensor), gain (ISO), and shutter speed.

For our system, we are running our frame rate at 29.97. A good rule of thumb is to run your shutter speed at least twice the value of your frame rate. So, we run our shutter at 1/60th of a second. You can also use the angle setting for the shutter mode, setting it to 180 degrees. This camera has a built-in ND filter, which is useful in bright environments where you want to keep your aperture low to maintain the nice bokeh effect.

If you are in a darker environment, you can use the gain, but be cautious as it introduces more noise. Ensure the white balance is set manually based on the temperature of your front lights to get the skin tones right. This camera has detailed image quality settings, including sharpness adjustments, but they look great out of the box.

Focus Settings

The focus settings on this camera are excellent. The autofocus is really good, especially with Canon’s face detection autofocus. This ensures that the face remains in focus, even as the subject moves. I recommend saving a preset once you’ve dialed in the exposure settings. This makes it easy to recall these settings if needed.

Headroom, Framing, and Composition

Now, let’s cover the operation of your camera, using the Canon CR-N500 to discuss best practices for headroom, framing, and composition for your church livestream. Headroom refers to the space between the top of the subject’s head and the top of the frame. Ensure you have enough space to avoid looking unnatural. A quick rule of thumb is to imagine the subject with their hand on top of their head, which leaves adequate space.

The most common types of composition include:

1. Waist Up Shot: This is a standard shot for worship leaders or preachers, keeping them at the center of the frame.
2. Knees Up Shot: A bit wider, easier to track someone moving.
3. Elbows Up Shot: Useful for more intimate moments.
4. Feet Up Shot: The widest shot, ideal for tracking movement.

Use the rule of thirds to frame your subject, especially for side profile shots. Ensure the looking room (the space in the direction the subject is looking) is correctly set. This helps convey where the subject’s attention is directed.

Camera Movements

Camera movements include tilting (up and down) and panning (left and right). These movements help draw attention to different parts of the space. Zooming is another type of movement, and you can zoom in or out to focus on different elements. Be mindful of the zoom speed, especially when the camera is live.

Manned Camera Setup

You might not always be using PTZ cameras. A manned camera setup, like the Canon XF605 professional camcorder, pairs perfectly with the CR-N500 and CR-N700 because it also has a one-inch sensor and matches color perfectly. The XF605 allows for great subtle changes in panning, tilting, and zooming. The autofocus is reliable, and manual focus can be easily adjusted if needed. This camera can also be networked in, allowing remote control of color and exposure settings.

Intentionality and Subject Focus

The key to camera operation is intentionality and focusing on the subject. Ensure your camera is clearly capturing the essence of where you want the viewer’s attention. Framing and composition are crucial, so don’t forget headroom and the rule of thirds. Default to basic compositions like the center up or waist up shot, which are helpful for viewers.

Camera Configuration

If I were operating these three cameras for a church live stream, here’s the setup I would use and how I would configure the framing of each shot:

1. Camera One: A great waist up center shot, perfect for following the subject on stage.
2. Camera Two: A wider shot to show the context of the room, allowing for slow zoom-ins and zoom-outs.
3. Camera Three: A nice side profile shot following the rule of thirds.

With more band members and activity on stage, it would be beneficial to have additional cameras. Even with three cameras, you can achieve great framing and composition by readjusting them throughout the service.

Auto Tracking Feature

One of the incredible features of these Canon PTZ cameras is the auto tracking feature. This is useful during the worship service when your pastor is preaching and you want to automate the process of tracking them. In the web browser control interface for the CR-N500, you can enable the auto tracking application. This feature ensures the subject is framed properly, with options to adjust the size of the framing for different shots. The auto tracking maintains a natural look and feel, making it easier to follow the subject.

Video Directing

In a system like the one I’m running with Canon PTZ cameras and a Canon joystick controller, I am simultaneously the camera operator and the video director. A camera operator controls the camera, while a video director directs how the video is cut throughout the worship gathering. The video director needs to think ahead, understanding the service plan and knowing what’s coming next. They must accurately portray the energy of the room for online viewers, switching camera angles to match the energy and timing of the worship service.

The mindset of a video director needs to be someone who is constantly thinking ahead. You understand the service plan, you know what songs are coming up next. If a prayer time’s coming up or sermons coming up or communion or baptism, you really need to have a clear picture of the service flow because you’re just going to be thinking about what’s coming next so you aren’t caught off guard as you’re switching video.

Video directors must also know how to accurately portray the energy of what’s going on in the room for the online viewers. One common mistake I’ll see is maybe a church has a multi-camera setup, whether it’s 3, 5, 10 cameras. And what happens is the camera that is selected for a program, which is what your audience will see, it’ll just hang out on one camera for too much time, especially if it’s during the musical part of a worship gathering where there needs to be more energy. 

And again, it might vary depending on the type of song that’s being played, but more often than not, I actually notice a lot of church video directors simply just not switching camera angles enough. It is possible to swing to the other side of the pendulum and switch really quickly and try to convey more energy than what is appropriate. But there’s definitely a happy medium there. 

And that’s where I would encourage you to think through television broadcasts that you might see elsewhere. Maybe it’s a sporting event, maybe it is another musical type event. Maybe it is another church broadcast from a larger church that you can look up to and just they can set a nice example for us to kind of understand the appropriate pacing of when to make those cuts or fades in the live stream. 

I would recommend practicing during actual band rehearsals at your church, not on Sunday morning. So it’s important to show up for rehearsal cuts versus fades. I prefer using mostly cuts, especially during the music time. Sometimes though maybe it’s a slower song, a fade might be appropriate. I think stylistically fades are a little old school and a little bit dated, especially if the fade is too long. If you have a t-bar on your video switching controller, don’t make it super long. I’d say a second or so fade would be appropriate, but most of the time I would just default to cuts. I do like fades during the sermon. If you’re fading in graphics like sermon slides or fading them back out, I think that looks good as well. Another important thing to consider as a video director are your safe shots or your cover shots. These are going to be very important for those transitional moments during worship, maybe between your worship set and then your pastor comes up to start the sermon or someone comes up to do announcements. 

It’s very, very useful to be able to go, okay, camera one. Right now, this is my main follow cam, but when the song is done and Matt leaves the stage, maybe I could switch to camera two, which is a nice wide shot of the whole stage here. And then that could be my cover shot or my safe shot while the next pastor’s coming up. And then I could preview camera one. I could get camera one situated to wherever that new pastor is, and then I can cut back to them for that transition. So it’s really important to think through what transition’s coming up, what shot can I use as a safe shot? And usually that’s going to be a wider angle. And then get your other prepped to cut to and then make that cut. So it’s really important to think through these transitions. What can you use as a safe shot, maybe a wider shot of the room. It’s more establishing again and more context, and then it gives you time to move your primary follow cam to that next subject. 

As a video director, I would encourage you again to check out the examples of some churches out there who have very professional video teams. You don’t have to completely copy or emulate them because yes, they have different infrastructure, they have different teams, but a lot of these same principles will apply when it comes to video directing and framing and composition. There’s so many great examples to follow, and whenever you’re watching something, watch it critically and just think about, oh, how are they framing? How are they cutting? What was the timing on that?

Conclusion

Thanks so much for watching this video. Thank you so much, Canon for sponsoring the video and providing the cameras. You can check out the description below for links to the cameras we demonstrated in this video. If you have any questions or comments, let me know down below. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next time.