Confidence Monitor Location and Size

[macsound]

Totally onion based, but worth the conversation.
Working with a church moving into a new space and they have opinions about video and confidence monitors and location, but they can't make up their mind.

In the old space, there was a 5x7' fast fold essentially against the back wall with a projector that acted as the confidence monitor.
It was great because it was big enough for everyone to see the words to songs and could rely less on printed music. It was also high enough that it encouraged a more approachable angle of singer's and speakers heads, looking up and out instead of down at a music stand.

Their gripe with this solution and the possibility of this being the setup in the new space is it was painfully obvious. Having a huge white screen when the room is unoccupied was ugly, (could be roll up) and everyone can see the monitor when you turn around so if there's cue text or images everyone could see them.

My three solutions are
1. Smaller roll down projection screen halfway back, angled from the ceiling to minimize height
2. LCD monitor flown from the house electric
3. LCD monitor in the front row

Other info
Room is 50' wide, 70' deep, 14' ceiling below AC ducting.
Stage is 20' deep, 35' wide, 30" tall
No major drapery

Thanks all

 

[josh88]

We use monitors all over for all kinds of events. Primarily we use an lcd screen on a floor stand (top is around knee high) dressed and draped to mask everything. Works well. That being said this sounds permanent and if you don't want people to see it, I'd go with a flown monitor in the house. Or 2, one left and one right. Might allow you to use smaller screens that way. Permanent, easy to use and easy to dress nicely.

 

[Amiers]

I’ve always been a fan of POTUS style. It’s always looked new age back in the day and even now.

Especially if you are doing just spoken/hymnal words.

If you are going for low profile. That’s the way to go.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I rather liked the Willow Creek display in the front row in place of a seat. Does require presenters who can present without looking at the display constantly, but except for the few seats very close, not visible.

Related, doing a HS theatre now with a virtual orchestra pit and the typical displays on the balcony face. I'd offer that as an option for worship though balcony faces in churches seem to be quite far away compared to performing arts venues.

 

[Haydenk]

I’ve always been a fan of POTUS style. It’s always looked new age back in the day and even now.

Especially if you are doing just spoken/hymnal words.

If you are going for low profile. That’s the way to go.

What is POTUS style? Could you explain?

 

[sk8rsdad]

What is POTUS style? Could you explain?

http://www.neiltanner.com/presidential-teleprompter/

 

[Amiers]

Beat me to it.

 

[macsound]

Unfortunately, it needs to be full video for everyone on stage to see, so the presidential design won't work.
If it was just for one speaker, I love the idea of undercounting a monitor in the podium so it just looks like they're reading their own notes, but unfortunately, we want the choir to look up and out and really, when people on stage reference something on the screen, prevent them from turning around to check and make sure the operator is on the correct slide.

My mental difficulty with all the situations and what I'm trying to parse through are the downsides and figure out which one is the best tradeoff.

Monitor flown with lighting - Am I going to limit lighting placement so everyone who looks at the monitor isn't staring down the barrel of a S4.
Monitor on the floor - No one will address the back row
Projector on the rear wall - So big it will be distracting
It's a flat floor, so no balcony rail to hang from

What I'm thinking about with the front row (which I'm leaning toward) is how tall can the display be?
Can it be as tall as the top of the back of a chair? I could even get them to build a shield that incorporates the same wood and maybe a faux backrest so from the back it looks like an unoccupied seat. In the past I've always opted for as low as possible because "technology is ugly"

 

[RonHebbard]

http://www.neiltanner.com/presidential-teleprompter/

Spell it out for me please; is POTUS an acronym for President Of The United States?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[ruinexplorer]

Spell it out for me please; is POTUS an acronym for President Of The United States?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

We have a winner!

 

[ruinexplorer]

Totally onion based, but worth the conversation.
Working with a church moving into a new space and they have opinions about video and confidence monitors and location, but they can't make up their mind.

My three solutions are
1. Smaller roll down projection screen halfway back, angled from the ceiling to minimize height
2. LCD monitor flown from the house electric
3. LCD monitor in the front row

Other info
Room is 50' wide, 70' deep, 14' ceiling below AC ducting.
Stage is 20' deep, 35' wide, 30" tall
No major drapery

Thanks all

Personal opinion, keep the confidence monitor closer to those who are using it. Don't have just one, but if possible, use one for the choir and a separate one for whomever is speaking (and I would embed it into the lectern). You can get stands that are built to match the rest of your furniture. It is kind of difficult as to how you have your choir situated as to how they are going to see the monitor. Remember, don't limit yourself to landscape orientation with your monitor. Since your choir might be used to reading off a page, you can always mount it in portrait mode.

 

[macsound]

Huh, portrait. Somehow that idea always escapes me. Great idea for words! And better sightlines if I were to mount it on a wall or something

 

[GWWWicked]

I'll echo what I wrote on https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/video-confidence-monitor.44205/#post-384732

Ours is a 40" plasma mounted on the face of the balcony (about 45' from the stage). In your situation, I'd lean toward a TV mounted on the back wall or half-way along as you described. Using the Stage Display module in Propresenter, you can simplify the output of the Stage Display (we use white on black, cyan for next line), making the words a lot more legible than your main projection. For how we use it, I would stay landscape so you can get more words per line.