The Gear We Used to Turn an Empty Room Into a Church Interview Studio

Uncategorized Feb 03, 2020

If your church has an empty room, you can turn it into a small studio for testimonies, interviews and talking head videos. That's what we did. We took a plain room and set it up with a camera, three lights, a backdrop, a shotgun mic and an audio interface going into a laptop.

There are plenty of options for every piece of this: microphones, lights, backdrops, all of it. What I use isn't the only right answer. It's what I was using at the time, and it's gear I like and would recommend to another church.

Camera: Sony a6300

For the camera I used the Sony a6300. It's a huge bang for your buck, and for church work it's a great camera.

It has one con for a setup like this: the a6300 stops recording after 15 minutes. It may also be prone to overheating if you record in 4K for long periods of time.

Lighting: Lykos bicolor kit

For lights I used a Lykos bicolor kit. This kit may be more than your church's budget allows. If you can swing it, it's a great option, because the lights get used for a lot more than the interview room.

I've used them to shoot b-roll around the church when a room needed extra light. I've also used them during VBS when I needed light in some of the darker rooms.

Here's what the kit came with and why I liked it:

Three lights and three stands
Small and lightweight, so everything breaks down fast
Rechargeable batteries for each light
A little wheeled suitcase that holds the whole kit, so I can roll it wherever I'm shooting

It's versatile and compact, and a solid choice if your church has the extra money.

Backdrop

Behind the person sitting in the chair is a backdrop held up by stands and a pole across the top. You can get these backdrops in several colors. I went with white because it looks clean. Black or a dark grey are good choices too, depending on the look you want.

Audio: Rode NTG-2 into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

For audio I used the Rode NTG-2. It's a shotgun microphone, and a shotgun mic is a good fit for an interview or talking head setup. There are cheaper mics out there and more expensive ones. The NTG-2 is a solid one.

The mic connects with a normal XLR cable. If you don't have a spare, you can borrow one from your worship team.

The XLR cable runs into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. That's an audio interface that plugs straight into a laptop. From there I recorded the audio in either Logic or Adobe Audition.

How the room is laid out

Once all the gear was in the room, here's how it was arranged:

Chair: the person being interviewed sits in front of the white backdrop.
Microphone: the Rode NTG-2 is aimed toward the person in the chair, running into the Scarlett 2i2 and the laptop.
Backdrop light: one light is aimed at the backdrop to light it up.
Hair light: another light is set up as a hair light, hitting the head of the person in the chair. I put that one on an old stand I found around the church.

A few years before this, I was in the same spot a lot of church media people are in: at a church, trying to make videos and figure out the multimedia side on my own.

Common questions

What camera is good for church interview videos on a budget?

We used the Sony a6300. It's a lot of camera for the money and works well for church work, but it stops recording after 15 minutes and may overheat when recording 4K for long stretches.

What microphone should a church use for interviews?

A shotgun mic fits interview and talking head videos well. We used the Rode NTG-2 on a standard XLR cable running into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface and a laptop.

What color backdrop works best for a church studio?

We chose white because it looks clean. Black and dark grey are also available and work fine if you want a darker look.

Can studio lights be used outside the interview room?

Yes. I've used our Lykos bicolor lights for b-roll around the church and in darker rooms during VBS. The kit packs into a small wheeled case, so it moves easily.

Church Media Training