Church Production Magazine: Remember when churches first started adding video to their sanctuaries? So many choir lofts became a hodgepodge of awkwardly angled projection screens. Pale images beamed from underpowered projectors hanging via plywood and chains from the ceiling.
And now?
So much more is possible. Recent advances in technology enable the blending of audio, video and lighting with a church’s building style or architecture, whether contemporary or traditional, creating a whole new experience.
6 comments:
I love gothic architecture. In 2015, photographer Collin Winterbottom spent time in Washington National Cathedral and set up multiple cameras to record in pictures the light of day as it passes over the stained glass windows creating a vibrant display of light and color. Nothing projected, no video screens. A type of lighting display that could probably never be properly replicated by projection. Modern worship services are more about spectacle than about spirituality. I’ve seen churches spend more money on the technology of the service than on anything else in their budget. I can see the use of projectors to enhance a painting, to make it come alive at a particular moment, or lighting to enhance a part of the celebration but that is where I tend to draw the line. I am not a fan of enhancing a sacred space in order to attract worshipers as I feel that if you have to turn the message into a spectacle, perhaps you need to rethink your message.
I don’t attend many events of organized religions, so my thoughts here may be completely irrelevant. I can see why people would like this and view it as an improvement to the ceremonies and services in places of worship. Personally I think that this makes it seem a bit tacky. To me religion is something that we can use to tie ourselves back to a simpler time and thereby gain a stronger understanding of right and wrong. I think that bringing in new age technology draws away from that. In the case of the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal I think that technology pulls away from what makes it so beautiful and serene. I feel that the trade off of making a picture of Jesus more luminescent is not worth the price paid by placing a projector in the rafters. Old churches are beautiful because of how beautifully intricate in spite of the fact that they were not built with modern tools. That shows how much the people making it cared and how much work they put into making such a thing.
Coming from the south east its kind of played up in a stereotype that we have some pretty large and crazy churches and i have started to see some of the things that they talk about in the article integrate into newer church designs over the past couple of years. For example the lew screens in addition to windows. Now I haven't seen them put together in the exact combination that the article is talking about but I have seen them used in churches that have a lot of natural light for one reason or another. Another things is the integration of new technologies into an old church space. For example my church has had major leaps over the past few years to become more technological capable and has added things to the sanctuary and to other spaces to make the experience more enjoyable.its interesting to see church design also be changed by these new technologies as we move forward and I think we will start to see the physical look and the make up of the church change with it.
The hardest part of this discussion for some is the understanding of the line where some sort to call enhancing the worship with technology creating a spectacle. For each person and each religious group that line is drawn slightly differently. I have worked with many churches in finding where that line is for them and working within those confines to produce a look or feel that goes to help them in their congregation as a whole. The hardest part is finding that balance, each person coming into the building want something different than the next. So finding a way to pay homage to the architecture of the space and what’s the desired functionality is can be a tricky negotiation. It is nice that a lot of the technologies that make this more accessible are coming down in price point to make such things more feasible. For many of the smaller churches that like to preserve a certain sense of "traditional" church settings, it has been hard in the past to do this on limited budgets. The use of technology to hints once experience is used in more than just our ordinary every day mega church. For example, technology can even be seen in Buddhist temples that hide speakers around that blend into the environment or space but will go to help into the overall environment for those coming in to experience it. The most important thing is to remember that everyone’s interpretation is both independently justifiable and should be respected on what is too much and what can be further enhanced in different religious situations
I, personally, am a very spiritual person but would not consider myself religious. I enjoy solitary practice and sort of taking your religious or spiritual experience into your own hands and doing what makes you comfortable and at peace. That being said, I have been to High Holy Day services with my friends and family before, and I can appreciate the gathering of a community in a holy environment. I think the gesture of coming together and raising your voices as one is what really makes the experience and the space sacred. Reading this article confuses me and I’m kind of amused by the idea of including crazy LED and projection effects to a church service. The article makes it seem like these tech elements enhance one’s experience and helps to evoke certain emotions. In reality, this sounds more like the services just aren’t moving enough to envoke these emotions without a crazy show. If you are truly spiritual, going to a service surrounded by beautiful architecture, artwork, history, and your community should be an fulfilling and reflective experience. If you need a full out show when you go to a religious service, I feel as though you just aren’t spiritual in that way (which is fine!) and people should be encouraged to seek other ways to get in touch with your beliefs instead. This is a strange fad that’s happening and I feel like there is a time and a place to be entertained, and getting in tune with your spirituality in church is not the place at all.
Having grown up in Atlanta, I have seen the integration of lighting and projections in the mega churches that have since sprouted up, abandoning the traditional looking (and in some cases ideals) of what most people associate. Realistically, many places of worship do not have the capabilities of creating this type of environment due to budget constraints and I think the use of these forms of technology, while enhancing the architecture and creating a more interesting environment, can be excessive and lose the purpose of the addition of it in the first place. With that being said, I would love to see the different ways smaller, more traditional based religious spaces incorporate different forms of technology into the natural structure of the buildings outside of just religious services. I believe that in many scenarios, this included, projections and lighting can further develop the space, creating a new layer that adds to the depth and the personality of the already established environment.
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