39 HOUSES OF WORSHIP Production
STAGE AND SCREEN
Once a month, all the Hillsong congregations across the UK join together via video link for collective worship, which is then broadcast on TV
and to receive video at ten locations. It was to be hardware based, with internal cache, multichannel audio, the capability for time-shifted playback, the option to add cue points for defined playback positions and then be robust enough to cope with unreliable public internet connections. After testing, the contract was awarded to US-based Living As One. According to Collin Jones, VP of Sales and Marketing at the company, Living As One is a privately held technology company, focused on improving communications within and between geographically broad organisations. Jones explains that the move into streaming systems came about through the efforts of two of the members of his home church who were involved in corporate broadcasting. “We started to create the broadcast architecture for the church, but after trying many existing products on the market, none of them meet our quality and reliability expectations,” says Living As One’s Jones. “The logical move was to create something of our own.” REDUCTION IN COSTS The result was a patented system that transmits and receives video over the public Internet, one which is aimed at reducing costs.“ This is especially helpful for churches that use rented venues for their services. On previous systems, all the sources had to have expensive networks that were constantly monitored. With our set-up, that is not necessary. We have customers transmitting perfect video quality over hotspots, with no interruptions.”
consultant as needed. The remainder of the crew is made up of church volunteers that are either professionals in the field or keen amateurs. INVOLVING EVERYONE “The team firstly provides the IMAG picture for the auditorium, allowing people in the theatre to engage better with a speaker that is further away,” says Hillsong’s James. “The broadcast mix is also sent to our family rooms, allowing parents with small children the opportunity to experience the message. Our sermon messages are also captured for our television programme, which can be viewed worldwide on the Hillsong Channel on Sky, on our website, or on Freeview channel, TBN UK. “We utilise four Sony HDC 1500 camera channels with a mix of lenses. A Canon XJ72 box lens is used on the main follow camera – mostly for mid-shots of the individual presenting on stage. A Canon HJ22 is on the secondary camera. We use that mostly for a long shot on stage. Finally, two Canon HJ11 wide-angle lenses capture the environment of the service. For vision mixing, we use a For-A HVS-350HS.” Alongside its weekly services, the church hosts several other events, including Hillsong Conference Europe at the O2 Arena and Colour Conference and London Carols, both at The SSE Arena, Wembley. MAJOR INVESTMENT For this latest broadcast upgrade, the brief was to establish a multi-site system with the ability to broadcast from two locations
This live linking began in 2010 and then in 2016 was expanded to include multi-camera capture of the Sunday services for a TV programme. In 2018, a considerable investment was made in a new multi-site broadcast infrastructure with initial development by Vivid Broadcast, based in Surrey, UK. “I became involved as a consultant when the church was operating just two SD cameras in a mobile portable production unit,” explains Rory Springthorpe, director of Vivid. “Since that time, as part of a major refit, we have seen the infrastructure built up including the construction of a gallery within the theatre and trained volunteers within the congregation to use industry standard equipment.” To manage the broadcast of the services, Hillsong has one person employed full time to manage the day-to-day operations, with Springthorpe used as a specialist
feedzine feed.zine feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook