Guest Blog - Mark Dawson
I’d like to introduce you to one of my closest friends, Mark Dawson. He’s also our Senior Video Editor. He leads a team of seven video editors. Here are some of his thoughts…
1. In terms of the church world what makes a video effective or ineffective?
Like a good sermon there are many things that go into a video that make it effective. Planning, study and presentation, these same things apply to video. But they include creative shooting and editing and the choice of the right music. If any one of these don’t work it fails. So I’d say to someone whose trying to start video into a sermon or church is to KEEP IT SIMPLE. Too much can kill you. Have a plan. Don’t go out and shoot unless you know what you want. Keep it short. Especially at first when you’re finding out what works. Try two minutes of finished product at first and see how it plays. Then as you get better as a video storyteller move on to more. Video storytelling is a different style of speaking. When you’re speaking to a congregation you’re speaking to hundreds or thousands. When you’re speaking on video you’re speaking to one. Basically throw your public speaking knowledge out the window. It doesn’t apply here.
2. What are some mistakes you’ve made along the way?
I don’t make mistakes. (Just kidding) You will most likely be working with someone on a video. So it isn’t about you or about the speaker. It’s about God and spreading the word. So don’t try to make this into a blockbuster movie. You’re trying to convey an idea or a thought in a way they can understand. This is a team effort. Listen to each other. Some times I’ll watch a video and yes it looks cool. And that pastor sure looks hip. But it doesn’t fit. That’s because the people on the shoot were not on the same page and they had different goals. Don’t do a video just to do a video. Sometimes the best video is the one you don’t do. But when it works it’s awesome.
3. Describe your planning process for a typical video shoot.
We work week of. Craig has an outline of what he’ll be speaking about for that week. We usually meet on Mondays and he gives me insight on what he’s thinking sermon wise. We’ll talk about video possibilities for the sermon at that time. Sometimes we come up with something then. But most of the time it’s just an idea. Then we let it stew awhile. Remember this is a process. Sometimes we’ll talk in the evening about ideas that have come to us while driving or at the gym. By Tuesday we’ve narrowed the ideas down and we’ll shoot. We normally don’t have a script but we know what we want accomplished. Sometimes the shoots go quickly and other times it can be grueling. But we don’t stop until we both agree that we have what we need. We’re finished editing by Thursday morning. Sometimes we’ll bring some staff people into the editing bay and watch them watch the video piece. This is helpful to see what’s working and what’s not. The end result is what’s most important. To bring people closer to Christ.
4. In your opinion what do you think the future holds for churches using video teaching?
I believe this is the future. Video reaches around the world in an instant. Video transcends culture. It breaks down barriers. You can create an emotion or feeling that can’t be done live from stage. I believe that video will become the primary mechanism for spreading the gospel. Just like the written word was centuries ago.
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Thank-you for much for posting this one. I used to edit video for New Covenant United Methodist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma before I started attending LifeChurch and I love to hear about what LifeChurch is doing with video.
I work on small projects for my university and fraternity all the time and I’ve offered this advice to people who start shooting and editing:
1. Get a mentor - even one evening with en expert will give you a huge step forward in understanding how to shoot properly and use an editing program to it’s full potential
2. Focus on a quality script/idea and less time on fancy camera angles and editing tricks. Simple looks great and fits with the style that’s popular now
3. Shoot your passion - if you’re looking to just do projects that increase your experience do something you care about. The more you care about something the more time and effort you will put into it and ultimately you’ll enjoy it much more.
4. Watch, listen, watch, read, watch - become a sponge for everything video. Even podcasts about Hollywood level production will add little bits and pieces of information to your knowledge that will make you a better movie maker.
This was extremely helpful. We’re a new church plant and desire to use video, as well. This helps us to begin using baby steps. Thanks, bro.
Great insight, Maddog!
I had a professor in college who used to say in regard to production, “Don’t even think about breaking the rules until you’ve proven 1) that you know the rules and can work within them, and 2) that you have proven yourself able and have reason to break them.”
Too many amateur (and even some professional) video producers try to be Quintin Tarantino for all the wrong reasons. (Which sort of implies there may be a right reason to try to be him, but that was unintentional.)
Mark, it’s a pleasure to be serving on your video team for 5 years and going! I continue to learn a lot from you.
Thanks Mark! You guys do great work. I hope Justin is learning a lot from you.
Its good to hear from you Mark. Every week I’m so impressed by the quality you guys crank out. Some of the comments we get here in Texas is that the videos are so good.
If you subscribe to the notion that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you guys got flattered yesterday at our church here in Austin. We presented this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSfsq1fizwY
as the intro to our message SOMEDAY…I’ll Have Enough Money.
I hope you recognize it as a respectful homage, not an outright ripoff…
Andrew: Yes, It is the greatest form flattery when someone takes an idea and does more with it. Great job. Loved the video. Man it’s great to see there are people out there like you and I. I’m glad to see that you’re using your creative talents for greater rewards. I’d like to see who else out there creating videos. This is a great way to share. And, oh well show off a little bit. Also, if anyone has some things that are working for you to share with the rest of us.
Mark
What a great article! I’d like to add that as talented as Maddog (Mark Dawson) is, he is extremely selfless! I prepare the video suite for Switch, our LifeYouth Ministry on Wednesday nights, and I’ve called Maddog tons of times because of equipment issues right before, during, and even after an experience. (The equipment issues are usually my failure to push the correct button.) Anyway, he answers EVERY TIME I call, and sometimes will even come up to the church on his night off (to point out the right button to push). Seriously, sometimes it’s truly an equipment failure and sometimes it’s operator failure, but no matter what, Maddog is available to help. Maddog is unbelievable! He is just like the Red Cross, “He’s there when we need him!”
[...] Craig, Mark, and I will be traveling to an undisclosed location and filming for Craig’s One Prayer [...]