How a Church Uses Mandalorian Tech | RED KOMODO and Unreal Engine Setup

Gear Mentioned in Video

- SKAARHOJ RCP Pro Controler
- Teradek Ranger 4K
- Atomos Shogun
- Tilta Nucleus-M Wireless Lens Control System
- Tilta Full Camera Cage for RED KOMODO

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Disclaimer: This video is a paid sponsorship with RED Digital Cinema.

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[nathanielbrice]

God’s message must come across clearer with 12 RED cameras in 6K and a full production team!

[movraptor]

I'd like to see the cost of all this equipment compared to what they spend on helping the less fortunate

[HeriocAngels]

Their budget is literally bigger than most indie films... that's crazy for a church live stream, but I love the vision.

[VlogCity]

Curious, where does everyone think the line is between making sure church doesn't feel outdated/helping people learn skills they can use professionally, vs dropping too much money on a lil bit of extra quality that might not matter in the end?

[kamalsinnofilms]

As A professional video producer, I can say that God must really love them for having big names and brands like red, providing them with the best possible solution and equipment to satisfy and deliver their needs. They have a full live setup, that broadcasting production houses would dream of. This is a half a million dollars donation at least. From the switchers, to the cameras. I mean if they aren't broadcasting for the church, they could cover the next superbowl, football or baseball tournament.

[inktologist]

There is no need for a production team like this. I managed production for a big church in LA. We started getting into that whole vibe of making production bigger and better, this comes when the church puts more emphasis on growth and financial growth, rather than Christ like serving and need fulfilling. If a pastor needs this much to preach the gospel, welp its not a church, it's a business.

[charcoalhobo]

As Productions 4:17 says, "Take heed to my voice and only stream in 6K, anything less is an abomination in the sight of the LORD."

[austinlong]

I’m a church tech nerd, I love pushing the limits, but cost wise this might be a tad too much. I mean, it’s not even close to touching the cost of audio or that led wall but, it seems a tad unnecessary.

[LuisMarquez]

when a church spend all this money on tech and not on missions or to help the less fortunate, you need to RUN!!!!

[Dazdaone]

This is such a solid opportunity for young people in that church to become adept with this tech for free.

[darkzoneattractions]

I’ve worked for so many churches, they spend so much money of gear but still manages to pay you bare minimum, I was sick of managing and operating high end gear that cost more than what I’d make in a life time. also churches shouldn’t believe in Mando

[pglazzari]

I love video production and love lights, exposure, and framing. I can’t get enough of that stuff. I understand about 70% of hardware explained in this video. What I can’t understand is where in the Bible does it talk about mega churches? Churches are a community. Communities of believe are there to show their city the love of God. Massive video production like this isn’t required to share the message with in the church, or outside of it. I would pray about elders concern for their body rather then the concert event their trying to produce every Sunday.

[RONIN]

LED walls? 12 RED Komodo’s. Who paid for this? WTF

[skylarking]

Not going to debate about the religious aspects here; that's not my business. Cathedrals of the first century were the "spectacles" of their day, with soaring architecture, sculpture, paintings, stained glass art, all of that was meant to wow a visitor, and set them to a mood of contemplation and focus on the metaphysical. I still get that when I go to my own church. Though we don't have any of this kind of theatrical production in our house of worship. Just a single fixed camera for a stream for shut-ins and etc during covid. Nothing sexy or theatrical.

What I get out of this tour though is that they like using Unreal Engine to generate scenery loops and animations, instead of buying stock footage. There's advantages to it, in that you can get a loop that's hyper-specific, bespoke, very controllable, and doesn't look like it's looping... but I gotta say, not sure that actually saves money over just buying the stock footage. It's not 3-d video. It does I suppose become effective when you start to add human figures to that procedural environment: say, re-creating hundreds of people in the Temple, or the crowds for the sermon on the Mount, with many people in period clothing, and Jesus teaching them... or the devil tempting Jesus in the desert and then transporting Him to various locations... If you have the figures modeled, then you save the costs of actors and costumes... you can do it all virtually. But come on: these folks are not hurting for money to pay actors or costumes or props. What they see is a time-saver, I guess. What I see is a solution in search of a problem; if you're just coming to church to see a movie, you could just stay home and stream it. If you need this much spectacle just to hold audience attention, maybe the visuals aren't the problem. Again, though, that's not really any of my business...

Also, all broadcast cameras are genlocked to the switcher; by design. The explanation wasn't very clear: the genlock signal is a synchronizing signal that gets each image source refreshing it's output at exactly the same time; like timing your hand movements to touch a spot on the car windshield as the wipers are swishing back and forth, without letting the wipers hit you. Genlocking the LED screen is just like genlocking another camera. But it isn't strictly necessary: camera shutters can be adjusted to a rate that matches the LED screen refresh rate and removes flicker too; Sony calls that "clear scan" and many better video cameras have that feature... It just makes controlling camera lens exposure more difficult.

What makes Unreal Engine revolutionary in something like "The Mandalorian" is that the framing from the camera is motion-tracked in real time via sensors and tied to the actual physical set when it's fed to the computer drawing the frames for the LED screen, so that the virtual backdrop moves in the background, correctly corresponding to camera movements, matching parallax, etc, in real time, and the actual lighting from the scene on the circular, volumetric LED wall interacts with the actor and the physical props around them in a natural "motivated" way, from every direction. And that background can be blurred as needed to imitate depth of field effects of focus. But hey: That's not what's happening here in the church. At least, not yet. It's still just a big, flat screen with the equivalent of old-fashioned Hollywood rear-projection on it. Just cleaner and more flexible, and using LEDs on the wall instead of a projector beam from in front or behind. It's expensive and its flashy and technically very pretty, but I'm not sure it's fundamentally ground-breaking in the way the Mandalorian or Tom Cruise's "Oblivion" was (where this tech got started). And it's only a tool: only works well if you're a good story-teller with something to say. In a scene from the demo clips, it's basically a stock footage background of a nature scene with a powerpoint slide of a bible passage superimposed on it. Just fancier. This is The Greatest Story Ever Told, of course. I come from a faith tradition where that message works pretty good, stand-alone, without all of... this. But again, that's not my business. If it brings more people to God, I certainly won't complain. Don't stress about the expense; you didn't pay for it. Read Matthew, Ch 20, verses 1-16. Don't get bent out of shape about what you have, versus what others have received. There's no shortage of God's love.

[liamjensenmusic]

The Gearhead side of me adores this - The video looks fantastic, and the production quality is unreal (pun intended), and man am I oogling over the whole setup.

But man, can you imagine how much this cost? Why are we willing as churches and Christians to spend so much money on stuff like this?? The money from this could be used to fund tribal missionaries, create, support and staff ministries to reach the unbelieving state side. Funding ministries to help homeless and widows, and supporting ministries like Options for Women.

Jesus' final commandment was to share the Gospel with every tribe, tongue and nation. And that's when He is coming back! Those are the marching orders! How is a full production studio in a church accomplishing this? I love production and tech, but man it makes my heart heavy to see how churches are stewarding the mission we have been given.

[robertsantine]

The tech is impressive but...man it's depressing seeing churches that just look like concert venues.

[JoeOberster]

That's a really amazing use of the LED board for storytelling! Although it seems to me that a church that can afford all of this tech can certainly afford to pay taxes as well.

[arieldelgado]

in my ex-church the day pastors said we are expanding our building and a big UPS cost more than $40k, in my mind did some calculate and thought you can sustain an entire family. Then turn back and saw a poor old lady sit in the back. That day I left these awful places after 15 years of service...
First disciples (book of Acts) didn't spend money in this, they shared with each other and nobody had needs... their fellowships were in houses where each one share about the faith and grow, no big cathedrals, arenas, that's a Catholic idea that evangelic, protestants, and nowdays building absorbed... so... run from these places... also, how many pastors carry fear, pills, heart problems, and all for the question of "how we pay for all of this" because they need money, so if the fellowship don't pay their 10% that's a big BIG problem...

[sanctuarychapel]

so thats 120K in cameras alone, yikes.

[fernsehkunst]

Church? This is an entertainment industry around the golden calf.