Guide to using laptop, tablet and mobile webcams for live-streaming and recording
- If you need to download software or an app, allow plenty of time to set this up.
- Ideally use a laptop or desktop computer rather than a mobile device for live segments. If a mobile device (phone or tablet) it must be in landscape orientation (on it’s side), not portrait. It also needs to be positioned firmly rather than handheld.
- The device you are streaming or recording on should be as close to the same height as your head as possible - i.e. you shouldn’t be looking down at the camera. For example if you are using a laptop sitting at a table, use books to raise the device up. No one wants to see up your nose!
- Think about the location in your home – try to get an interesting background where you are well lit, preferably with natural light. Don’t sit with a window behind you as you’ll probably appear silhouetted.
- Don’t sit too close to the device - you should aim to be sat central in the shot with your upper body shown, rather than just your head. Beware of too much ‘headroom’ in your shot - there should just be a small gap between your head and the top of the frame.
- Equally, don’t be so far away that the sound is unusable. If you have an external microphone for your device, please do use it.
- Try to find an easy way to submit recorded video clips to the church for use on a Sunday - most likely this will be via WeTransfer. Ideally send a link to where the video has been uploaded. Try to avoid sending large video files by email.
- Please do not use any pre-recorded music in any of your clips. We do not have the rights to re-broadcast this and our live-streams are likely to be cut off if we do.
- Enjoy it - it’s church re-imagined, so be creative! We don’t necessarily have to be professional broadcast quality, but we do want to be engaging and minimise distractions if we can!
Further support:
Here is a great aid for making videos from Glen Scrivener, of Speak Life in Eastbourne. Glen is an ordained Anglican minister and evangelist and produces a lot of excellent video/YouTube material.