Church of the King gets in focus with Chauvet
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Prior to the coronavirus, well over 7,000 people were attending services every weekend at Church of the King, as they had been for years. But recently, a growing number of additional worshippers were also connecting to the multi-campus house of worship via livestreams.
As a growing number of its congregants turned to the internet during the lockdown, the church decided to make its services more camera-friendly without detracting from the in-person experience. This March, Church of the King achieved this goal when it completed a lighting upgrade that featured Chauvet Professional LED fixtures.
“Our goal when upgrading the lighting rig was to create a really good, colourful and engaging fill in background for our online broadcasts,’ said Phillip Braddock lighting and central support director at Church of the King. “For some time now, we’ve seen a growing interest in our broadcasts, so we wanted to improve the look and experience for online worshippers.”
In addition to seeking to provide realistic and vividly coloured backgrounds, the church wanted any lighting upgrade it did to add to its design flexibility, according to Braddock. “This was critically important,” he said. “We really wanted be able to fill camera shots with a wide variety of interesting dynamics that enhanced the online experience while also complementing the in-room looks as well.”
Church of the King got what it was looking for by adding 16 COLORado 1-Tri Tour and six COLORado Batten 72 fixtures. Spaced evenly along a 12ft upstage pipe, the par fixtures are used to fill out the black space on the set, in addition to serving as “heavy backlights” that allow the musicians on stage to stand out more vividly on camera and to the live audience.
The batten units are arranged on the deck to the left and right of the main set to fill out the outer edges. “We don’t want black space on camera unless it’s by design,” said Braddock. “The colour that the COLORados add to the edges is like a cherry on top of the sundae - it finishes things off very nicely.”
Colour is an essential part of Braddock’s design philosophy, being used to set moods on stage and convey changes in looks. “Typically, when we begin the process of designing, we will usually start in the cool spectrum-usually blues and purples,” he said. “Lately though, we have been going more towards bright and warm colours to convey the message.”
