Capturing the Heart of 'Heart for the House' 2023

ZION and Soul Church in Norwich joined forces once again for their annual 'Heart for the House' campaign, a partnership that has spanned half a decade. This initiative has raised nearly £4 million towards the reconstruction of Soul Church following a devastating fire in 2006.

The focal point of our collaboration has been the creation of a presentation film, showcased both during their Sunday service and online to a global audience. This year's film ran for 29 minutes, centering around the theme 'Every seat has a story'.

We spent three full days filming in Norwich, with Pastors Jon and Chantel Norman taking center stage as we filmed the main pieces to camera in the partly constructed new build auditorium. Within the video there is 15 minutes of scripted content, to ensure seamless delivery we used an Autocue. The autocue is a fantastic tool that allows the on screen talent to keep that consitent eye contact with the viewer, while getting clear promts as to what to say - It involved a little more pre production time, but saves a huge amount of time on set and in the edit!

Our three-camera setup included a static wide shot (A camera, complete with autocue), a close-up camera (B camera) to capture individual speakers, and a jib-mounted camera (C camera) for creative, alternative angles.

One of the challenges of this location was DUST! lots and lots of dust! As we were working on a building site, plaster dust was everywhere. On return from the shoot, we had to fully dust down of the kit bag and the car had a full valet!

Also during our three-day shoot in Norwich, we captured four main stories in various settings, including living rooms, football stadiums, and gardens. This allowed us to bring a diverse range of perspectives to the film.

Footage was also contributed by individuals from around the world, providing glimpses into the global projects supported by Soul Church. Locations spanned from South Africa to the Philippines.

Soul Church is set to unveil their new venue on the 2nd and 3rd of March. Being a part of this journey for the past five years has been a privilege. Witnessing the project progress from initial plans to near-completion while documenting the entire process through these films has been a truly enriching experience.

Here’s the full film;

We hope you enjoyed the film, it was a lot of fun making it. Let us know what you think :)