Worship Media Arts

Len and I were asked to be part of the teaching staff for a program put on by UMCOM designed to train African communicators on how to better use technology to tell their stories to a global audience. The program covers a wide range of topics from sound mixing and social networking, to graphic design and video production. For our session we’re focusing on design and video storytelling. What’s really fun about it is that it’s taking place at our alma mater Ginghamsburg Church where we got our start in ministry.

Each of the communicators get a laptop, digital camera, Flip camera and a digital audio recorder. They can do virtually anything they can dream with the tools they’ve been given to work with. Of course technology only gets you so far. Our role as teachers is to help them think creatively and tell their stories in the most effective way.

The UMCOM staff thought it would be helpful for us to spend time getting to know the Flip camera and audio recorders they provided to the communicators, so they send us some to experiment with. Len and I decided right away that we needed to shoot a piece with the same tools the communicators would be using.

Today, I took the flip camera with me to visit the Bethany Center, a soup kitchen/food pantry/clothing and furniture bank. I honestly was a bit skeptical going in, fearing the footage would look like that produced by the VHS-C camera a friend had back in jr. high. I was pleasantly surprised that (while not perfect) it looked pretty good. Especially when there was decent light in the room.

For this shoot, I didn’t light anything; I just used the natural light you’d expect to find in a converted elementary school gymnasium and kitchen. While I wish I could say that I got to shoot with the HD version of the Flip, we were provided with the SD version. Even so, I was impressed by the picture quality. It looked similar to s-video, though ¬?better. Some well lit shots looked as good as my 3 chip Canon GL 1.

What blows me away is that not so long ago, you had to spend at least a thousand dollars to get a camera that produced video of a similar quality to the Flip’s. When you did, it was bulky and somewhat cumbersome to lug around. Then there were the tapes, batteries, chargers and so on. No so with the Flip. It fit in my pocket, taking up less space than my iphone. What I loved about shooting with it is that people are often intimidated when you stick a large camera in their face. They freeze up and get nervous. With the Flip, they almost don’t know you’re there. We’ve all become so accustomed to people taking photos with their phones, that it’s not out of place to see bent elbows with forearms extended in the air in pursuit of the perfect shot. When I was shooting b-roll and coverage, it was almost as if I was invisible. Of course interviews are a different story, but there is still a sense of ease felt by those in front of the camera with the unit being so small.

My second favorite thing about the Flip is how simple it is to get the data off it. There a little button near the top of it that pops out a USB fitting that plugs right into your computer. You simply copy the data off. It’s easier than my iphone which requires iphoto software to retrieve files. I must admit though that I think iphone’s picture quality is better than the flip SD camera.

So it sounds great right? Well, there is one major down side to the camera. It has no audio input. There’s a mic on the camera, but it picks up everything in the room. This makes it really tough when shooting in a busy kitchen. This is why the UMCOM folks included an Olympus SRS WOW XT digital audio recorder in the package which does have a mic input (though a mic was not included, so I had to use the internal mic on the recorder). It is also USB which is great and as simple as the Flip to transfer files from. Of course the bummer is that you have to resync all of your audio when you begin to edit which is time consuming and somewhat painful. Len has to do that part!

If your church isn’t doing video yet, the Flip is definitely worth buying. You can get HD video for around $230. That’s amazing! There’s just no excuse now¬?to not be doing video. It’s so small and portable that every mission trip, retreat and staff outing should be captured by one. Just make sure to record the audio on another device.

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