5 Questions to Ask Before Considering doing your Own Video Announcements

Carl Barnhill

You’re thinking about producing your own Video Announcements In-House instead of outsourcing your announcements to a company like Twelve:Thirty Media.

Before you start, I want to give you a few questions to answer and a few tips to consider.

Here are 5 questions to ask before you consider producing your own Video Announcements:


1. Why are we producing our own Video Announcements?

– Are you doing Video Announcements because we visited or saw them done at another church and they looked cool?

– Are they the right fit for our church?

– Would they flow well in our worship experiences?

When I was the Media Director at one church I served, we had a Video Editor on staff. It took him two full days to script, shoot and edit our Video Announcements. After review, I realized that no matter where we placed them in our Worship Experience, our congregation was not watching the Announcements. We tried several things to spice them up, but found they just were not connecting to our culture. We decided to kill Announcements entirely and no one skipped a beat. We were able to now utilize that Video Editor for testimonial stories and other things that made a bigger impact.

This may not be the case in your context, but let me encourage you to not do Video Announcements ‘just because we think we should,’ make sure they are a good fit for your culture.


2. Do I have the right gear and equipment? Can I capture high-quality audio and light my subject well?

If you are not able or not willing to spend the necessary money to purchase good equipment – a good camera, good lighting, good audio equipment, a good set up location and other materials, I would suggest you hold off until the right gear is in place. Do NOT shoot your Announcements on a Green Screen – find a nice accent or wooden wall at your church to shoot your subject against.

Capturing great audio, I would argue, is more important than the quality of your video and lighting. Make sure you have some solid audio equipment to get the job done. You also might want to make sure you have a Teleprompter or any equipment you may need to help your talent.


3. Can I find consistent, On-Camera Talent?

Let me stress “Talent.” Your pastor might be dynamic on stage, but may be terrible on camera. Before you even begin to consider doing your own Video Announcements, think through possible on-screen talent. You also want to make sure you have a several in your ’talent pool’ to choose from so you are not dependent on one person.

Have 3-4 people that you can choose from to use for announcements. If you don’t have 3-4 people you know will be great on camera, you may want to wait on producing your own. You might try ’test-driving’ your talent and use them for promotional videos or other videos at your church to test them on camera.


4. Can I edit and produce these well?

– How do I know what a good edited video announcement piece looks like? Whats the standard?

– What kind of video editing gear do I need?

– What kind of B-Roll / Motion Graphics / other footage do I need to cover edits and make them look nice?


5. Do I have the time and money to invest into producing our own announcements every week? 

– How much estimated time and money would it take to accomplish this project in-house every week?

– How much would it be to outsource it?

– Is it worth church staff time to do or should I outsource it?


Ask these 5 questions before diving into producing your own in-house Video Announcements.

If you find you can not answer these questions at your church in a way you can produce these with excellence, let us know, our team would love to help you get there or take the entire load of Video Announcements off of your plate. Contact us today at 910-849-1230 or learn more here.

About Carl Barnhill

Owner, Church Visuals

Carl Barnhill is a creative entrepreneur, motion designer and author. He is the Owner Church Visuals, a company that helps Ministry Leaders visually communicate the Gospel. He is the host of the Your Visuals Matter Podcast. You can find him in Columbia, South Carolina with his wife, Katie and two sons, Jacob and Wesley.

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