Content_Creator
These team members shoot on their own cell phone (no pro gear). Capture and participate in social media photos and reels. Content captured by these volunteers shows up on socials after approval.
CREATIVE ARTS LIFETEAM
As DIGITAL EVANGELISTS, we are a passionate team of photographers, videographers, and content creators dedicated to spreading the gospel through the power of visual storytelling. We believe that creativity is a gift from God, and we are committed to using our talents to capture and share moments that inspire, encourage, and bring people closer to Christ. Whether through photos, videos, or online content, our goal is to make Jesus more accessible to more people more often through high-quality digital media.
We work together to serve Lifepoint Church with excellence, always striving to improve and innovate, knowing that our work is a ministry that helps others connect with the love and message of Jesus.
MEDIA TEAM ROLES
Photographer
Photographers at campuses with Lifepoint’s standard cameras are requested to shoot photos and simple (non audio) B-roll to support Lifepoint’s holistic and local video needs
Videographer
This role can be beyond shooting B-roll but requires an intimate understanding of video on pro level equipment
LP_Social_Ambassador
In this role you will play a vital role in sharing the message of the gospel and advocating for the mission of Lifepoint Church through your personal social media platforms. You will create and curate engaging content that highlights how the church and the work of Jesus are active in your life, while encouraging others to connect with and get involved in the Lifepoint community.
Please note this role requires an application please reach out to [email protected] for the application.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Role
Photographers at campuses with Lifepoint’s standard cameras are requested to shoot photos and simple (non audio) B-roll to support Lifepoint’s holistic and local video needs.
- Takes photos of Sunday morning gatherings, special events, and anywhere Lifepoint needs photos to represent our presence in our community.
- Performs minimal editing to raw photos, narrows down raw shots to “your best 10-20”
- Contributes to our archive of past and current photos of Lifepoint, by following naming conventions and delivering final photos to the Photo Team server (as well as raw/unedited photos, when needed)
- Represents Lifepoint Creative Arts, as well as Lifepoint Church and the Kingdom of God in manner of speech, behavior, photography etiquette and upholds Lifepoint’s standards of excellence
Shotlist
Below is a generic shot list for a typical Sunday photo assignment at one of Lifepoint’s Campuses. As you can see, approximately 20 photos is all we need to catalog the day. We ONLY need your good photos. If photos are blurry, don’t show smiles or can’t be used for any reason, please DELETE THE PHOTOS before you upload them to the server.
- 3x Outside as guests enter
- Think variety, couples, moms holding babies, families, being met by a greeter or parking lot attendant. We want to see smiling faces
- 3x Lobby
- Variety is key, children check in, begin greeted while walking into lobby. We want to see smiling faces
- 4-8x Auditorium
- Action shots like people worshipping, engaging in their notes, bible or app
- Speaker shot
- Worship Leader/Team shot
- Illustration moments from the speaker
- Baptisms
- Dedications
- 3x Kids
- Smiling faces in action, back of heads while looking to a teacher in action
- 3x Students
- Smiling faces in action, show them engaged
Guidelines
- Modesty is CRITICAL. If someone is worshipping with hands raised and some of their midriff is showing please wait until the appropriate moment to take the pic. The same philosophy goes for stage, shots including skirts, cleavage, etc should be avoided to protect the individual and Lifepoint.
- When shooting kids, try to avoid photos that include a Childs name tag. We can usually take this out in post but it shows a sign of good faith to parents when we strive toward protecting our kids.
- Always wear your photo team badge when roaming for photos.
- Wait for the Moment. This means that the photos where one dials in their camera and waits for the right moment, almost always yields better results than holding down the shutter button and hoping for the best.
- Smiling faces are always a win.
- Shots from the corner that encompass the whole room are almost never used/valuable. Photos usually need a subject.
Upload
PHOTO & VIDEO TEAM SERVER PROCESS
Access the Media Team folder of the server here:
lp.life/photoupload
User: Photo Team
Pass: LPPhotoTeam1!
- Find your campus’ folder
- Find the year folder (if one does not exist inside your campus’ folder, create one)
- Create a new folder inside the year folder and title the folder with the date and the photographers initials. For example If Shane Tucker was shooting on May5, 2022 the folder name would be 052022ST.
- Drop all good photos (approximately 15-20) into the new folder you created. Besure to wait until the upload is complete before you close the window.*Please do not upload hundreds of photos… if you take a minute to select only enough photos/videos to represent the whole event and that you would be proud of, it saves us a ton of time and server space.
CONTENT CREATOR
Role
This Lifeteam role gives you the opportunity to help share the Gospel and our church culture to others locally and globally through social media by being a Content Creator on our Team!
Content Creators will be responsible for using their own smartphone cameras to take short video clips of the campus they are at on a Sunday. Content Captures need to send videos to Creative Arts through the upload link we provide but they are also permitted to create Reels with the video clips they capture for Creative Arts to potentially use. This will help increase our reach and engagement across all campuses for the sole purpose of spreading the Good News and encouraging others to join Lifepoint in-person or online!
It’s also important to know that not all of our volunteers see all of their work posted but don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t get shown immediately. Remember if you have questions we will do our best to help you and provide feedback to promote your growth in your Lifeteam role.
Settings
Only use a smartphone that meets these criteria:
Quality Standards:
- Use 24fps
- Use 4K
- Have the grid on to help you with video composition
- Use wide shots (no in-camera digital zooms)
- No flash
- Shoot Vertical(intended for Reels and YouTube Shorts)
How to set up camera for iPhones:
- Go to “settings”
- Go to “camera”
- Go to “Formats” and click “Most Compatible”
- Back out and Change “Record Video” to 4K at 24 fps
- Turn on “Enhanced Stabilization”
- Turn on “Action Mode Lower Light”
- Turn on “Camera Lock”
- Back out and change “Record Slo-mo” to 1080p at 240 fps
- Back out and change “Record Cinematic” 4K at 24 fps
- Back out, scroll down, and turn on “Grid”
- Scroll down and turn on “Lens Correction”
Type of Shot Techniques:
– Pan left, pan right, walk forward to zoom, walk backward to zoom out, strafe left or right, still shots
Upload
SOCIAL TEAM SERVER PROCESS
- Use this link on your phone or computer Social Team Upload
- Add your initials, date, and campus when sending files to the folder. (example: “DS – 11/28/23 – Lewis Center”)
- Add your clips to be uploaded
VIDEOGRAPHER
Role
This role can be beyond shooting B-roll but requires an intimate understanding of video on pro level equipment. Takes videos of Sunday morning gatherings, special events, and other needs to represent our presence in our community.
Guidelines
Video branding is largely marked by professionalism. Professionalism is more easily described as “not looking home made”. If the Creative Arts department is not producing the video, it is strongly encouraged that video scripts and concepts are approved by the Creative Arts department prior to production.
If a non Creative Arts video is to be used in a Lifepoint venue it is best that it is of the highest quality possible. Just because a video can be found on YouTube or Vimeo does NOT mean it is quality.
If shooting for slow motion video, it must be shot at a proper frame rate and shutter speed to look smooth and clean when slowed down (we recommend shooting at at 120fps).
All text and motion graphics in video must follow good design principles and any motion design should be of professional quality.
If a video is a part of a series of other videos, it should follow the same title, description, and naming conventions and contain the same graphic themes and styles. This includes weekly message videos across campuses.
Videos shown in Lifepoint venues should be 4k (3840 x 2160) and not less than 1920 x 1080.
Creative Arts exports videos according to Vimeos compression suggestions to guarantee smoothest playback on embeds. To see Vimeo’s recommended format settings, click here: https://vimeo.com/help/compression
Specifications
Resolution / Format
MOV (prores) will give better quality but much larger file sizes. MP4 H.264 is fine for most situations. We deliver in 1920×1080 resolution.
4K is 3840×2160. If you have the capability of shooting in 4k, it is better quality, but requires more storage space and more editing power. At the time of this writing, Facebook is still preferring livestreams to be 1280×720, so 1920×1080 is more than sufficient.
Bitrate
Final exported file should have a bitrate between 15 mbps to 22 mbps if it’s 1920×1080. If you’re uploading to stream online, 20-22 mbps is great. If you’re planning to play the video straight on a tv via flash drive or on a computer to a class, it may play more smoothly with a bitrate of around 15-16 mbps.
Frame rate: 24fps (23.976)
If you have a choice between 30 or 24 fps, choose 24.
Audio in Video
Audio Format: AAC, stereo, audio bitrate 320 kbps, sample rate 48KkHz
For Lifepoint video, audio should never be captured straight from the camera’s built in mic. The mic should be as close to the speaker as possible. For audio captured on external mics, limiters and compression should be used to even out and keep audio consistent. Speaking audio tracks should be limited to around -3 to -6 dB, while professionally mastered music can go all the way up to -0.5 dB. If music is playing behind a speaking part, it should be hitting somewhere between -12 to -20 dB. The voice should be clearly understandable and present above the music at all times. We never add music tracks to videos without obtaining a legal license to do so. When we do, we try to use music that fits with Lifepoint’s style and aesthetic.
Shutter Speed
For video, shutter speed should be double the frame rate. So 24 fps video should use a shutter speed of 1/48th second.
Exposure
We should be aiming to properly expose skin tones, and avoid blowing out any whites in the image. The goal is to make skin tones look bright and contrasted without shinier spots of the skin being blown out. The same goes with white shirts, or other white objects, but skin tones get priority.
White Balance
Our goal with white balance in video is to get the color to look as close as possible as it does to your eye in person. Auto white balance might be close, but it can be dialed in with custom white balance. Custom is preferred as auto white balance is not always accurate, and it tends to jump around and try to re-balance in the middle of shooting. If a white balance card is available, it can help as well.
Focus
We aim for the subject’s eyes to be the most in-focus point of the image. This can be more difficult if the subject moves a lot, in this case, use a wider depth of field (more closed aperture / higher f stop number) We do not recommend autofocus for video unless the camera can support continuous, smooth and slow autofocus (for energetic shots such as worship). Otherwise, keep it manual so the camera does not shift focus to the wrong subject during a shot.
Composition / framing of shots
While this is an art more than a science, there are general rules of thumb to composition.
Rule of Thirds – Keep the rule of thirds in mind (break screen into 3 horizontal and 3 vertical lines). Keep the subject oriented along these lines or in the center.
Don’t leave too much space above the subject’s head, or too much space below the waist. If it’s a full body shot, do not cut off their feet, but do not leave too much space below the feet either. For our most standard angle for Sunday messages, we try to do waistline to just above the top of the head. Don’t include below the waistline in your shot unless the shot goes all the way to their knees.
Upload
VIDEO SERVER PROCESS
- Access the Media Team folder of the server here: https://lpchurch.direct.quickconnect.to:5001/#/signin
- User: Photo Team
Pass: LPPhotoTeam1! - Find your campus’ folder
- Find the year folder (if one does not exist inside your campus’ folder, create one)
- Create a new folder inside the year folder and title the folder with the date and the videographers initials. For example If Shane Tucker was shooting on May 5, 2022 the folder name would be 050222ST.
- Drop all clips or videos into the new folder you created. Be sure to wait until the upload is complete before you close the window.
SCHEDULING
PLANNING CENTER
Planning Center helps you get scheduled! You will want to respond as soon as you can once you get your email request. This will help us schedule an additional person if needed. You can also Block Out any dates you know that you are unavaliable!
Once your leader has invited you, you can visit https://www.planningcenter.com/ to log in!
Check out the video to show you how to navigate Planning Center.
CONTACT
MEDIA TEAM CAMPUS REPS
Your Media Team Campus Reps are the point of contact for all campus specific Media Team questions. Since Creative Arts can’t always be present at each campus, the Campus Rep answers questions when possible while serving as the connection between the Media Team volunteer and Creative Arts.
If you have any questions regarding the Media Team or capturing content on Sundays, please reach out!
TRAINING VIDEOS
GETTING STARTED
ROAMING
This video shows how to roam around the lobby and take photos and things to keep in mind when roaming.
COMPOSITION
Composition is important to lining up your subject and providing enough space around subjects. On the camera, we have given the rule of thirds guide that will help you compose images.
CAMERA SETTINGS
EXPOSURE
The illumination level in an image, often referred to as exposure, is influenced by factors such as ISO, Aperture (measured in F-Stops), and Shutter speed. This video aims to illustrate how these elements interconnect to enhance image quality, highlighting the distinct roles and differences of each.
Aperture
The aperture controls how much light is coming to your camera sensor. This effects the image in how light or dark it is as well as the depth of field for focus. Here is a video to show some examples
METERING
Metering helps you see the best exposure for the photo. This video will help show you how to see that and the best metering mode for your environment.
EXPOSURE TRINITY
This short video explains the relationship between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed. Understand each and how they collaborate will significantly help you find light and color balance between light and dark environments.