I've had an idea about how to produce good looking online sermons, rather than just uploading the audio:
- Record the video of the sermon.
- Grab the slides that go with it (when there are any)
- Put the two together with Screenflow, so that the points on the slides are shown as they were during the sermon, and the speaker is also shown, so you get to see their body gestures too.
What do you think of that? If I had the time and equipment, I might just do that. Not sure who would use it though....but it would be fun!
Neat Idea
This could be a way to make the sermons more than they are. But, would people actually watch them? I know several people who listen to sermon audio while they do something else. Does anyone listen to sermon audio without other distractions? Would you be willing to?
I like this thinking. I wonder if there is a segment out there for this.
Matt Farina
Geeks and God Co-Host
www.innovatingtomorrow.net
www.mattfarina.com
re: Neat Idea
Well, there seems to be a market for Christian TV channels, so there may be some people who would sit down and watch something like this. I guess it could be one of a range of options of how to get the sermon once preached....in the same way you could do an MP3 and an AAC version, so you would have one for almost everyone, and one for those who want to take advantage of AAC's extra features. All this would take extra time, and you would want to ask "Is it worth the effort?". Maybe it would be, maybe it wouldn't.
I only have a Creative Zen Nano Plus, so I am limited to MP3 audio only at the moment, so that is what I listen to.
See The Answer
I don't want a negative spin to come from this when we ask the question, "Is it worth the effort?" Too often people turn sour from that. I'd like to see the question answered and answered in a way that tells us the conditions in which it's worth the effort. I'm honestly curious.
Matt Farina
Geeks and God Co-Host
www.innovatingtomorrow.net
www.mattfarina.com
The content is the message
To a large extent, it depends on what device you are going to view the output on. If it's a PC, then this would work nicely, because you have plenty of screen real estate to show high-resolution graphics, as well as the video. And you can "get away with" lower resolution video encoding (smaller file size) compared with normal television production standards.
If on the other hand, you are going to view this on a small device like a phone or an i-pod, then I am wondering whether you will have enough on-screen space to fit your slides in, and have them seen clearly, in addition to the video of the speaker.
There is certainly a market for Christian television. I produce such a television program for our local church, and our strategy there is to use the program in tandem with a website. We advertise the website during the program, and then viewers can go to the site, and download the sermon notes, MP3 files etc. On the website (which is built on Drupal btw, thanks largely to the advice given by Rob & Matt here at G&G) you can also view the episode schedule (this month, next month) as well as leave comments etc.
It's essential to tailor the content to the delivery format/display device.
Is it "worth it"? You bet! Whenever we get letters from people who have been really touched by a particular message, it is at those times that we say: "that's why we do this!"
It's all about bringing the gospel to a wider audience.
Hope that helps.
If the slides are good ...
I think this would be helpful if the slides are good and not distracting.
If just audio sync was needed, something like slideshare's slidecasts or ProfCast might work.
Thanks for the resource!
Good Idea for some
I personally think it would be a great idea. I like the idea of video podcasts and watch lots of tech-related video podcasts. Mostly, I download the video to my iPhone and when I have a few extra minutes, I'll watch. I could imagine doing the same for a video version of a sermon. Additionally, I don't think it would take that much more time to do. I think the bulk of the time would be eaten up in the actual encoding of the video during which time you could go for a walk or do something "analog" as was mentioned a few episodes ago. (Or I guess you could do something else "digital.")
example presentation
Check out this "Introduction to accessibility" video for a demonstration of the type of thing I mean. Useful content for Geeks and God listeners too.