When I started my television career, the most popular television camera crane on the market (maybe the only professional one) was a Chapman crane. You couldn’t buy it – only rent it, and many studios rented one for decades. It was huge, and the camera operator sat on the end of the crane and operated the camera from there. Which meant that you needed a second crew member to move the massive crane arm around and a third one to drive it. It was not subtle. Camera cranes (or jibs today) are remarkable tools to enhance capturing a television program, live stream, or video. But I also remember the controversy when we moved camera cranes and jibs into churches. Initially, they were naturally distracting, and although they helped tell the story for video or TV, they really only worked in a large church, with a congregation big enough that their presence wasn’t so prominent. But now we have progressed to drones and cable cams in worship.
Drones and Cable Cams in Worship
But in the intervening years, hundreds of churches have adapted, and today, they use camera jibs, dollies, and other gear to help extend the service and become more compelling online or through broadcast television. But just as congregations finally accepted that distraction, some church media teams are starting to unleash drones and cable cameras during worship services.
I’m all for innovation, but I think it’s time for a serious conversation about those drones and cable cams.
I remember long ago when Ampex launched a video effect called “ADO.” It could shrink a picture into a picture and fly the box around. ADO was an amazing effect at the time, and for at least six months after its debut, every show on TV featured flying boxes. It was human nature for every director to play with it to the extreme until people finally got sick of the effect, and things calmed down.
I worry that will happen to drones and cable cams in church.
