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Projectionist Training
You are a visual worship leader. That is your job. You're helping create a space where people can meet with God by what they see. The two components of your job as a visual worship leader are:
- Remove distractions
- Inspire people
In a simple sentence, you are to "Lead worship visually by removing distractions and inspiring people."
What are the distractions we want to remove?
Words not being up in time to sing. No single thing causes more distractions. If I should be taking a breath to sing, the words should already be on the screen. That often means you have to guess what's coming next, so it's helpful to know the song well, know the arrangement, and know the leader's style. Coming to rehearsal can be a great help in getting you to feel comfortable by Sunday.
Phrases being broken up differently than they are sung. Songs are basically poetry put to music. The words have a meter and flow. Make sure the line breaks in the song are the same as the way we sing them. Having a single word at the beginning of the next line can really throw people off. Again, knowing the song is really helpful to get this right. Coming to rehearsal can be a great help in getting you to feel comfortable by Sunday. You're right, I did say that already.
Typos and misspellings. It might just annoy the spelling or grammar police, or it may change the meaning of the song if you have misspelled words or other typos. Chris Tomlin wrote the song "Our God" not "Hour God." (but if you go past 12:00, you might make the hour god mad.) So use you eyes like a Mom with a fine-tooth comb looking for ticks in her children's summer hair. Of course, if you are importing song lyrics from SongSelect, typos shouldn't be an issue.
Too many words on the screen. A good rule of thumb is to have up to 4-6 lines per slide. What happens when there are more than that is people easily lose their place. Also, it just looks wordy and cluttered.
Backgrounds that don't work. Maybe they say something different than the words, look disjointed one after the other, make the words hard to read, or are uninspiring, the choice of backgrounds through a set is important. That mountain scene could either inspire or prompt the worshipers to muse "I wonder where that was taken" rather than focusing on the Maker of the mountains. Choose wisely.
Media that doesn't work. Playing videos that freeze, don't have audio, or have to be played outside of the projection software significantly reduce their effectiveness. If a speaker's clicker doesn't work, suddenly people aren't concentrating on what the speaker is saying, but rather hoping that the technology works. If a congregational reading doesn't display properly, it will be difficult to read it with much conviction.
How can we inspire them?
By being invisible. Being flashy or standoutish isn't your job. In fact, most people shouldn't notice you're doing anything if you're doing it well.
By using color well. Every color feels like something. Color sends messages, it communicates. Even "neutral colors" say something.
By helping us sing. Anticipating the words that we sing, being in sync with the flow of the song, staying one step ahead of where things are going, all help us feel comfortable and confident.
By using beauty. The heavens declare the glory of God. What we project in feel, color, picture, video, and texture can declare His glory as well.
I know that being a projectionist is a demanding role! If that's you're role, thanks! And if you're using EasyWorship 2009 and you'd like to get the practical training that I gave our young crew, you can get it here.
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