ChurchProduction.com: Ego. That nagging quality which can be both a driving force of achievement yet a dominating blinder on reality. A healthy ego does serve a purpose, propelling one with a sense of confidence and command. Too much though and we succumb to a trap of narcissism and stubbornness.
9 comments:
I want to say one thing first, it was sort of hard to read this article. NOT because of content, but because of how, for me, the paragraphs were positioned on the far left edge of the page, which made it very distracting. Putting that aside, I really liked this article. When I was a kid and in middle school, I went to West Los Angeles Church of God in Christ… a really big church with, big surprise, a big ego. We didn’t have exciting lights, except during Easter or some other big event, but they basically do anything that they (or individuals) think is the most big or impressive. And a lot of times there was no communication, what so ever. The problem with big churches like that, although enjoyable at times, is that the attention goes into the grandness of “Look at what I am doing!” rather than the worship and connection between people. And something seemingly simple, like lighting could be abused and distracting. That is why lighting is important, because, there is a bunch of people in this one space, sitting down for what seems like forever (sometimes service was 2-4 hours, depending how long the preacher wanted to keep going), and you don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable. Harsh or “Creative” lighting will do that exactly. That is not to say that adding color is bad, especially when you thought about it carefully and thought about what it means and how it will effect an audience. But it is important, in the case of the church, of why you want to do certain things and communicate with everybody who is part of providing service for that evening.
I feel like lighting in churches is testing the line between ritual and performance. I’m certainly biased. I grew up going to a church where most of the light came through colorful stained glass window, which always looked pretty on the light stone altar and walls. I don’t think that all technology should be kept out of religious service, sound systems can be helpful for hearing the priest and choir, and I’ve seen large cathedrals with TV monitors to help people far in the back see the altar, but that those are both for clarity. I guess I just imagine the lighting not just drawing attention to, but putting a spotlight on the priest, which would undermine the sense of equality within the parish. Granted, if I had grown up in a parish that had lighting during mass, it would likely be unfathomable to do it any other way.
I know next to nothing about lighting design but this article made me feel like I know a little more now. I never realised things like the of dimming lights in a movie theatre or the dimming of lights in a luxury car taking a similar amount of time but now that I think about it it's not only comfortable but adds to the ambiance of the movie theatre same thing with the car. I appreciate how the author wrote, “A healthy ego does serve a purpose, propelling one with a sense of confidence and command”. I believe selflessness does not serve a purpose and as a proud fellow owner of a 12” ego I appreciate that the author did use a all egos-are-bad blanket statement. I agree that learning when to use your ego is an art, learning when to harness it and when to set it aside is a challenging but critical skill.
Article Rating:
7/10
Notes:
Film is not an approved fastening device.
I'm part of a bunch of arbitrary online lighting groups, and I see questions about church lighting a bunch, many times from people who are fairly amateur designers. Overall, I think this article laid out what is needed fairly well without getting into any crazy specifics. In my opinion, it was well described, and it seemed like it would make a lot of sense to someone who doesn't necessarily know too much about design. Hell, despite it being a basic article on church production, it did have some interesting points that relate and are relevant to all types of design, not just lighting. What I really agreed with is that the audience doesn't really care what they see, but more what they feel. Even just an even stage wash makes the audience feel different than just house lights on the altar or stage, and even that can make the difference.
I think it's so interesting how many things require work from people who are generally involved in theatre. Truly any live event needs things like lighting designers, sound designers, and stage managers, though they do not always go specifically by those titles in other smaller events. I think it is very strange to think of church in this way - as a performance, but it is in a way. Despite this, I'm not entirely sure that I understand what this article is trying to prove. Not all churches are going to need lighting designers, since a lot of them just use typical architectural lighting systems, as well as natural light. For larger, big name churches like the Times Square Church, I would definitely understand how virtually every sermon would need a technical team working on it. I do not really see churches as a constant source of high level employment, but it is certainly an interesting thing to think about.
I think it's so interesting how many things require work from people who are generally involved in theatre. Truly any live event needs things like lighting designers, sound designers, and stage managers, though they do not always go specifically by those titles in other smaller events. I think it is very strange to think of church in this way - as a performance, but it is in a way. Despite this, I'm not entirely sure that I understand what this article is trying to prove. Not all churches are going to need lighting designers, since a lot of them just use typical architectural lighting systems, as well as natural light. For larger, big name churches like the Times Square Church, I would definitely understand how virtually every sermon would need a technical team working on it. I do not really see churches as a constant source of high level employment, but it is certainly an interesting thing to think about.
I’ve always found articles about intentional lighting in static spaces really interesting because it’s not something we usually consider. The idea that the lighting in a hotel lobby or museum hallway has been as carefully planned and considered as the light cues for a show is not something I would naturally assume. Designing the lighting of a church service is a bit more of an obvious jump from theatrical lighting. After all, theatre originated from the blurring of religion and performance and even modern church services, to non-believers such as myself, are a type of site-specific performance art. However, I had always assumed that churches and other places of worship relied on architectural lighting and, of course, natural light: the stereotypical beams of sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows. The way this article frames the conversation about lighting, it sounds much closer to the world of theatrical lighting instruments with fade times, particular color pallets for certain songs, etc. As I mentioned above, in theory, this approach would not particularly surprise me, however, it's not something I have ever encountered in a church service so it makes me wonder what the author is imagining as they write.
I think there are two perspectives from which people usually look at this article: from a churchgoer or a technician. I think there is a little to be learned from this article in terms of the technical side of lighting, such as fade times and the need for attention to colour, but because this article seems to kind of gloss over these in order to get to the topic of "ego," I'm not sure how much there is to earn from a technical perspective. One thing about this article, which might explain some of the vagueness and blanket advice, is the fact that it was written by a audio engineer, who likely was pulled into lighting in a church in which he was originally hired to do sound. I think this is good advice from someone who likely learned this through trial and error, but I do think it is pretty limited to churches and other houses of worship. One reason I say this is that his point that fades shorter than 6 seconds are not very common, even in theatrical productions, from my experience is not entirely true. The default fade time on many consoles is half that time, 3 seconds, and is used frequently by theatrical designers. I think this is a great article for those new to or inexperienced in lighting, but doesn't really go deeper than surface level advice.
There's a strange complexity about this article that really confuses me. When I opened the article at first, I was expecting an article that was either going to critique the use of high production lighting in churches or suppirt this phenomenon. When I opened the link and saw that the website was called ChurchProduction.com, this just supported my theory. As I began to read it though, it shocked me that none of this article discussed the prevalence of megachurches at all. If I hadn't seen the website or article title I would've sworn this was just an article about theatrical lighting. This article refers to church services as productions with audiences, a concept which baffles me. The information presented in the article isn't very revolutionary from them perspective of a professional lighting, although some might want to read this article for a little refresher.
Post a Comment