Diocese of Chichester


Guide to using laptop, tablet and mobile webcams for live-streaming and recording

  1. If you need to download software or an app, allow plenty of time to set this up.
  2. 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.
  3. 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!
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.