Does this phrase ever go through your head? And then you think, well we don’t really have the budget to spend a ton of money on new backgrounds each week, so we’ll just use the same moving clouds background we have been using for the last 5 years. Since nobody has said they don’t like it, that must mean they like it!
NO!
As the Director of Worship and Music at my church, I am in charge of making the worship slides for all the music we do each Sunday. I was recently visiting with a few colleagues of mine and their lack of knowledge about moving backgrounds stunned me, so I thought that maybe there are others out there having to sing “Say So” or “I Am Free” or “Amazing Grace” while watching clouds the whole time. I’d even say that some of the conferences I go to, don’t really intentionally think about what background they are slapping up behind the words!
Here are 3 of my biggest pet peeves about worship backgrounds:
- They don’t fit the song they are singing about
- They don’t fit the tempo of the song they are singing about
- They’re just plain boring!
Now we don’t all have time to be making our worship slides look like these, but we can do our best to enhance our worship with backgrounds that fit the song, tempo and mood.
One of my favorite places to go for worship slides is Motion Worship. I’ve been following Josiah for a few years now and he has really worked hard to get this site where it needs to be! He recently announced this video, and its a great piece of marketing!
[tentblogger-youtube uMsR7b7TUdM]
There are tons of sites out there now, but what I have found the best are these subscription sites:
- Motion Worship – $50/yr
- Shift Worship – $125/yr (another great site with weekly updates)
- Centerline New Media – $199/yr (great site with a free weekly video…these videos aren’t always what I’m looking for compared to Shift and Motion)
- Igniter Media – $349/yr (this is a bit pricey for me, but when I think about all the videos I buy from WHM and most of them are from Igniter, this is pretty good deal!)
- Motion Loops – a great site that’s not connected to the church but has some fun/fast colored backgrounds. No yearly subscription but has a free weekly background and $45/20 backgrounds..but if you buy 2 compilations the 3rd is free.
- Church Media Design – another great site with some free backgrounds. Brad does a great job with this site with different tutorials but also a ton of media for free!
- Life Church – A great resource for all sorts of worship elements, but they have a few backgrounds out there
What sites do you use?
What do you recommend?
[Image via cobalt123]
Jason Delgado says
Being a deacon and worship leader at my church, I find that most (and I know this is just in my context) find visuals during worship to be either cheesy or distracting at best,… further more I think it takes away from the words, etc… as far as visuals or images of any kind in worship, the only two that God has ordained are baptism and the Lord’s supper,… with that I am content.
So on my powerpoint I just have a black background and the words. Simple, clear to read, and not distracting.
Seth Rowoldt says
I would challenge you to try perhaps a different font, or a different color of font. Or instead of a black background maybe a different color for the liturgical year.
Or maybe just a background of a candle flickering. Or of a baptism font with water running.
I think motion backgrounds or still backgrounds only enhance the words and what our worship is trying to exude.
But if you still only want words, why not try Eric’s post on typography from Jonathan Malm.
https://churchm.ag/sunday-morning-slide-typography/
Jason D says
challenge accepted 🙂
silentfool says
I would start here http://worshipvj.com/resources/ (scroll down to vj content)
I haven’t actually purchased it, but the Playback Drive looks pretty good to me (http://playbackmedia.com/360/) The price is a bit steep, but the quality is good and it includes an external drive that you can use to store the rest of your collection.
Seth Rowoldt says
I have looked at that thing and while it does come with a hard drive, it is still really pricey for what it seems like you get!
Paul says
Solid black – best background I’ve found, with motion or without.
Chandos says
I use Apple’s Motion 5 to make background loops. There’s a ton of content built in that can be easily tweaked and layered to make some cool stuff. And it was only $50.
It’s got a replicator, generators, and particle emitters, all of which can loop fairly easily. For anyone interested, here’s a forum post I found that helped me figure out how to loop the particles.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread/3651133?start=0&tstart=0
And when you do it yourself, it’s awesome ’cause you can change/tweak color, or even set up specific ones for holidays and special events.
Seth Rowoldt says
I have heard of others using Apple Motion 5, thanks for your suggestion! Am definitely going to give it a whirl, would love to see some of your work!
David Wanat says
I use Worship House Media (http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/) it works inside ProPresenter, so I can just click download and it’s ready to use. Prices range from $3 to $10.
On the free side you can check out Creation Swap (http://www.creationswap.com/), formerly CreativeMYK, they have some free stuff, and some that cost.
I spend about an hour laying out a new song for worship. Parsing out the words just right, so line breaks fit correctly with the song, changing the font or highlighting parts and making sure the slides are in the right order. I also pick the background just for the song, adjusting the speed of the motion, it’s color, and other things so that it’s the most appealing. I will spend $10 on a motion background if it fits the song.
Most folks are used to modern media and so anything we can do to bring the church up to the expectations people have helps to remove barriers to worship and attendance.
Seth Rowoldt says
Yes Worship House is great especially because you don’t have to leave the propresenter module to use it. Great suggestion of Creation Swap, I normally only use them for stills but they did just add a video media section!
I too spend hours to get the words to fall exactly how I want them to look, including the font being the write look for the song and the backgrounds appealing to the song.
“Most folks are used to modern media and so anything we can do to bring the church up to the expectations people have helps to remove barriers to worship and attendance.”
Amen brother!
Gangai Victor says
Another vote for plain simple/plain backgrounds that keep the focus on the lyrics.
Daniel Merchen says
Here’s a freebie people can use:
http://www.danielmerchen.com/2010/05/cooler-colors-loop/
It was the large church background loop winner the the CMD.tv contest a few years back. Or there’s this prairie loop too: http://www.danielmerchen.com/2010/05/grunge-field/
Alexandria Covenant Church says
We use sharefaith. Great selection for the price. Helps out.
Mark Robinson says
I agree with the sentiment that: usually every church can do more with their backgrounds however there is a balance between doing more of the cool stuff and it not being distracting.
The debate comes gets stuck in the mud when you tackle accessibility – we have several members who are dyslexic and some backgrounds make it very difficult for them to read.
So whether its motion or stills when addressing accessibility for all we need to make sure that the textures are not too contrasting. This make it difficult as sometimes the really stunning visual stuff is exactly that.
Mike Anderson says
I second CreationSwap. One thing I like about them vs. WHM is that most of the vids lean more on the animated side as opposed to the live acting vids which most turn out a bit cheesy.
Church Motion Graphics says
Could we be added to your list? We offer a unique monthly subscription where you get fresh new church media like worship backgrounds and announcement bumpers sent straight to your email inbox every month $10/month.
http://churchmotiongraphics.com/subscribe/
Mark Tucker says
I own a motion background website that churches use as a free/paid resource all the time. I receive calls from churches all over the world asking if they can use my backgrounds. The name of the site is http://www.motionbackgrounds.co We have hd backgrounds in all categories, and starting to add some 4k backgrounds as well.
Videos2Worship says
Hi
Another great place to find motion backgrounds is http://www.videos2worship.com
Many of my worship loops are on worshiphousemedia.com
Please stop by to check it out!
Dan Stevers says
I’d throw my own site into the mix. I too find most motion backgrounds distracting so my site creates a lot of backgrounds that are dark and subtle but still add interest: http://www.danstevers.com/motions
Seth Rowoldt says
Whoa THE Dan Stevers replied to this thread???!!! Amazing! Your stuff is absolutely fantastic and some of the best stuff on the net back then and still today.