Aurora projection
Published: WORSHIP
USA: Calvary Aurora is a small, non-denominational church was founded in 1999 and takes its name in part from the home rule municipality in which it is based. Aurora is located in Colorado, lying west of Denver. The church is an affiliate of California’s Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, which is the spiritual home of approximately 30,000 worshippers across America, and comprises children's, youth, and adult ministries that are aimed at people from all walks of life.
With a diverse congregation, Calvary Aurora recently opted to upgrade its video projection systems to help further engage its worshippers. Brett Nelson from Nelson Audio & Light was contracted to design and install the new video system. Mr Nelson’s company, based in Eldon, Missouri, specialises in sound, lighting and video systems integration within the education and house of worship sectors.
‘Calvary Aurora’s services are pretty contemporary, so they're able to really take advantage of the ability to project a wide variety of content, which helps keep their services upbeat and interesting,’ explains Mr Nelson. ‘The sanctuary’s centre screen usually shows a themed picture or an abstract background video while the outer screens typically display live video of the worship team or the pastor. Lyrics can be overlaid on any or all of the screens.’
Following consultation with the church, Mr Nelson and his team decided to deploy two LC-HDT2000 HD widescreen projectors and a pair of LC-HDT700 HD widescreen projectors, all four of which are manufactured by Eiki. ‘We chose Eiki projectors because they deliver an exceptionally bright picture and have the richest color for the money, without sacrificing reliability,’ says Mr Nelson.
The LC-HDT2000 projectors deliver front projection onto Rosco scenic paint for the 10m wide central screen. They are fed from Renewed Vision’s ProVideoPlayer software running on an iMac via a Datapath X4 that splits the video before the signal reaches the projectors, which handle the edge-blending themselves. Meanwhile, the LC-HDT700 HD units provide front projection for the two Da-Lite tensioned screens, one on either side. A Blackmagic Design Atem 2M/E switcher feeds the video, which is often IMAG, to the LC-HDT700 HD pojectors.
‘One of our key challenges on this job was how to properly achieve a sharp, 10m wide centre image, while ensuring that the side images would be a close match in colour and brightness,’ notes Mr Nelson. ‘In this regard, Eiki support services were great. There isn’t a lens available that’s supposed to do the extreme wide angle we needed to handle the centre screen from such as close distance. When I voiced this concern, Eiki experimented with their lenses to see if they could push the limits and they then came up with a lens that could handle the job. That level of support is very reassuring.
‘According to Jason Klein, church media coordinator, everything’s been going great,’ Mr Nelson reports. ‘They’ve been training volunteer switcher and camera operators how to use the new equipment and that has been going well. The images and videos all look great on the Eiki projectors. The visuals really add a new level of impact that most churches services simply don't have, all of which helps make their services all the more compelling. It’s been a win-win situation for all involved.’