How I Film Videos for My Church
With the Coronavirus Pandemic, churches have found themselves pushed into creating online videos to keep their people engaged and connected as a church body online.
So I thought it would be good to share how I make videos for my YouTube channel and for the church that I serve as a pastor.
I’m no expert, but I’ve been making videos for years and learning all that I can to make them better.
Since our church cannot meet right now, I’ve been using this setup to shoot daily devotional videos to encourage our congregation and help them stay connected.
So far, they have been very well received by our members.
If you are trying to learn how to make quality videos for your church on a budget, I hope this is helpful for you.
Here’s a look at the gear that I use to record videos (watch the video for more detail).
VIDEO
My camera setup is pretty simple. I use a mirrorless camera on a tripod with a fairly affordable but quality lens.
Camera: Canon M50
Tripod: Mactrem Carlsbad
Lens: Canon EF-M 22mm f2
AUDIO
For recording audio, I plug a shotgun microphone directly into the camera and mount it on a boom mic stand as close to the speaker’s mouth as possible.
Microphone: Deity D3
Mic Stand: Amazon Basics Boom Mic Stand
Music: Artlist
LIGHTING
Video lights can get crazy expensive, so I made a DIY video light using a microphone stand, a hanging paper lantern, and some LED bulbs.
Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this and a $1,000 professional light setup.
Stand: Amazon Basics Boom Mic Stand
Cable: Hanging Lantern Cord
Light Adapter: 3 in 1 Light Socket Splitter
Paper Lantern: 24-Inch White Paper Lantern
LED Bulbs: Philips LED 100-Watt Daylight Bulbs
Mini LED Light: Aperture AL-M9
How is your church making and using videos?
Does a camera like yours record long enough to have a 25-30 minute sermon? We tried an older camera but it filled up the SD card in 18 minutes and it was a large card.
My camera with a 64GB memory card can hold a few hours of 1080p HD footage. However, I will say that Canon cameras can only film for about 30 minutes before stopping the recording automatically and you have to restart. I’ve heard that Sony cameras don’t have those limitations if you are looking to record longer than 30 minutes in one sitting.
Wow! Thanks for sharing!
We are now having trouble compressing the file so that I can send it to the editor. : (
If you haven’t figured out a solution yet, try using a file sharing service like Google Drive or Dropbox to share larger video files.