Over the past 15-20 years, church stage design has literally gone from a pulpit, pulpit chairs, a choir loft, a piano, an organ, artificial ficus trees and flowers to black walls, backdrops, thematic props, LED lighting, projection, rolling risers, and a hi top or lectern. We’ve transformed our church platforms into theatrical stages. We’ve gotten to the point where stage design is just as important as music selection and because of this shift, we’ve started hiring creative directors in addition to worship leaders.
Why? Because we’ve begun to understand the power of storytelling and that in a corporate worship setting, concepts are caught visually just as much as they are audibly. We’ve also begun to embrace the amount of time, energy and technology it takes to create effective storytelling environments. The bottom line is that environments influence and inspire. A quick look at God’s creation testifies to the fact that multi-sensory experiences reinforce ideas and content. Yes, over the years, we’ve battled with balance. We’ve asked ourselves, “How much it too much?” “When does stage design draw more attention to the design than the Designer?” As we look at moving toward this balance, there are some practical things a designer can do in their preparation. I’ve listed a few here.
As you look through these ideas, keep in mind that stages come in all shapes and sizes as well as do the budgets that supply stage designs. It’s OK if you can’t implement all of these things at once. Work toward it and keep dreaming.
Purpose Your Design To Your Church Culture
Many churches prefer a traditional environment. Keep in mind that by implementing some of the concepts discussed in this article, you don’t have to forsake a traditional feel to create a beautiful design. If you’re working on modernizing a traditional environment, move slowly. Sometimes that simply means gradually removing pulpit furniture and artificial plants over the course of several months and adding some LED backlighting or colored lights on the back wall of your platform. Depending on the mission and vision of some modern church cultures, moving lights, lasers and neon lighting can create a “relatable” atmosphere for those who are unchurched.
No matter what the culture of your church, it is best to create as much of a blank canvas backdrop as possible for your stage design. This can be done with a dark fabric if painting is not an option. Sometimes, removing bulky stationary objects can increase the effectiveness of your design. You might consider switching out the built-in choir loft with portable risers or if your pastor is on board, consider transitioning from a large wooden pulpit to a slimline lectern. If you have a lot going on architecturally which you can’t or don’t want to mask, keep design elements simple. A good stage design can get busy really fast. Try to stay away from multiple textures and intricate shapes and go with one overall cohesive look so you don’t send the congregation into sensory overload.
Whatever you do, do it well! No matter what your church culture, there’s nothing worse than “cheesy” stage decor done poorly. If you’re working within a budget, create excellence with fewer items rather than sloppiness with more.
Scale Matters
Many times, a stage design looks great in your head but once you see it from 30 feet away, you wonder what you were thinking. Use Google SketchUp to create a scale rendition of your design before you spend a ton of money on it. Then create a mock portion of your design and place it on the stage. Once you see it, you may realize you need to make pieces bigger or make more of the same pieces to fill your space. Typically, a design will end up being smaller than you imagined it. Also keep in mind that if you don’t have a lot of depth to work with on your stage, you can trick the eyes to see depth and distance by creating the same shape in several different sizes. Smaller objects seem farther away than larger objects.
Think Through Sight Lines
When creating a stage design, think through how it will appear from every angle in the worship center. Height and placement could unintentionally block the view of musicians or worse yet, projection screens.
Use Multi-Color LED Lighting
With the advanced LED lighting technology we have today, extravagant backdrops are no longer necessary. Moods can be created using colored back and side lighting or throwing colored light on a simple backdrop shape. To keep your stage design elements from washing out, use simple shapes and light colors against a black background. The light is absorbed by the black and the dark “negative space” makes your design more dramatic. You can also do the reverse…create an “outline” by back lighting an object or lighting the background and placing non-lit or dimly-lit objects in front of it. Be careful not to overdo it on the color. Just because you can create many colors doesn’t mean you should use every one in the rainbow. Some of the most effective stage designs utilize one or two colors at a time. Keep in mind that light color should also complement whatever background color you’re using on your video screens. When lighting people who will be in front of or in the midst of your stage design, make sure to angle ellipsoids strategically so they don’t wash out the color you’re using to create backgrounds. Typically, throwing light from the each side and at a slightly higher angle will help with this. Don’t be afraid to use haze. When used appropriately, it allows the “air” to catch the color or beam your throwing without anyone even knowing there is haze in the air.
Create Impact With 3D & Layering
Shadows can be a good thing if they are created purposefully. For example, if you’re attaching crinkled aluminum screen to a flat surface and then throwing light on it, the screen creates a shadow that can be quite effective. The shadows cast by light focused onto draped fabric or crumpled paper can also be very effective.
When lighting a series of objects, you can create color intensity by positioning the objects at slightly different angles. Objects directly facing the light will have more color intensity than those angled slightly away from the light while retaining the color.
Use Inexpensive/Versatile Materials
Here are some great materials that can be found in nature or purchased from your local home improvement store for very little money and can be used to create some great designs.
Coroplast
Muslin (stretched and stapled to a frame)
Aluminum Screening
Wooden Planks/Luan
PVC Pipe
Dead Tree branches
Cardboard Boxes
Christmas Light Strings
Twine and Nails
Fishing Line
Don’t Be Cliche
While we all look at other stage designs to get ideas, be creative and think outside of the box when it comes to materials and shapes you use for your design. In other words, just because everyone is using pallets and Edison light bulbs doesn’t mean you have to. Come up with new and interesting ideas that speak to your church culture and reinforce the theme you’re wanting to impress on people’s hearts.
