Building a Solid Base for Your Team

Village Seven Presbyterian Church (V7) came to us in the middle of Covid because they needed help with their video streaming. They were in the middle of transition in their AV department and the team needed help getting their stream and recently new system working well for the coming weekend. So, Village Seven found themselves looking for training on their new system. Their main areas of concern were color matching their cameras with each other, getting the lower 3rd lyrics for the stream looking correct on screen and just general operation of their video system that we had just installed. They had an idea in mind of what they wanted their production to look like, but did not have the knowledge of how to immediately implement that vision.

"People make the gear great, not the other way around."

Prior to the recording of one of their services, Matt and Trevor came in to answer questions, suggest workflows and help them learn their system. Having us there before the recording of their service allowed them to have any questions that came up during the practice session answered right away. Doing this helped speed up the learning curve as well as prepare them for their first livestream. In live production there are often many ways of doing something, but, only a few of those ways are the correct and industry standard. Starting off with a solid base allows you to run a clean show and then slowly build and craft your production into exactly how you envision it.

One of the key things V7 had prioritized was the color matching of their cameras. At that point Village Seven’s cameras consisted of three PTZ 140 cameras. They were also demoing a CV345-CS Marshall camera and a Black Magic Ursa Mini broadcast camera. These three types of cameras all have different sensors, color sciences and menus.
Color matching cameras can be a challenge sometimes even when your cameras are all from the same manufacturer. Like a lot of churches that have recently started recording and live streaming and have had no prior experience doing so, it can be a confusing process. 

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This is where Lambda came into the picture. Having the expertise and knowledge of the system and each of the different cameras, the Lambda team was able to walk V7 through matching the cameras and dialing in the color to exactly how they wanted them to look. During the recording of their service, they were able to see what their system was cable of doing. Seeing the system in action allowed them to have a better understanding of the gear they were looking to add and needed to bring to life their vision.

​Sometimes some of the most drastic improvements are not brought on by buying more gear, but by simply having a better understanding and knowledge of your system. People make the gear great, not the other way around. Not only was this a big confidence builder for the V7 tech team, but they were able to have all their questions answered on the spot, giving them a great head start forward.

This is why training is so vital. Reading the manuals of each piece of equipment is a great way to start to learn and familiarize yourself with your tech, but it is not always the fastest way to start. Having in-person training helps give you a solid base to work from and helps point you where to look when trying to improve your production.