Captions and filming checklist
A practical pre-flight checklist for church media teams. Get your recording, audio, and brand assets in order before you generate a single clip.
The difference between a smooth clip workflow and a frustrating one usually comes down to preparation. A few small decisions at the filming stage save hours of cleanup later.
This checklist covers the three areas that matter most for sermon clips: how you film, how you capture audio, and what brand assets you have ready before rendering. Check each box once, then reuse the list every week.
- Camera is at eye level with the speaker. Low or high angles feel less personal in vertical clips.
- Speaker is framed with enough headroom for vertical cropping. Leave about 20 percent space above the head.
- Background is clean and uncluttered. Busy backgrounds distract when the frame is tight in 9:16.
- Lighting is even on the speaker's face. Avoid harsh shadows or backlighting that blows out the face.
- Speaker stays within a central zone on stage. Excessive walking makes speaker tracking harder in vertical reframe.
- A second camera angle is optional but helpful for cutaways during the strongest moments.
- Use a direct feed from the soundboard or a lapel mic, not just ambient room audio.
- Record audio at a consistent level. Sudden volume jumps make captions hard to time cleanly.
- Minimize background noise: HVAC, crowd rustling, and music beds under speech all reduce transcript accuracy.
- Announce scripture references and key quotes clearly. Mumbled transitions are hard to transcribe word for word.
- If the sermon includes a video or music segment, note the timestamp so you can skip it during clip selection.
- Export the final service audio as a single continuous file. Gaps or split files complicate transcript alignment.
- Church logo in PNG format with a transparent background. A white version and a dark version covers every clip style.
- Outro clip: a 3 to 5 second branded closing with your call to action. Export it as a reusable file.
- Brand color hex codes. You will need them for captions, lower thirds, and any on-screen graphics.
- Primary and secondary font files. Use readable sans-serif fonts for captions. Decorative fonts reduce legibility.
- A short music bed or ambient track, if you use one. Keep it instrumental and subdued so it does not compete with speech.
- Social handles and website URL formatted consistently for copy-paste into captions and outro slides.
- Choose a caption style: word-by-word highlight, static line, or karaoke-style bounce. Word-level highlighting performs best.
- Set a max line length: two to four words per line is ideal for mobile screens.
- Pick placement in the lower third, clear of the speaker's face and platform UI elements like the TikTok username badge.
- Decide on casing: sentence case feels conversational; all caps feels like a headline. Match it to your church's voice.
- Plan for scripture references. Some teams burn the reference into the clip; others add it in the social caption only.
- Review a test clip with captions on a real phone screen. Desktop previews are misleading for mobile readability.
- Master export: 1080 by 1920 pixels, 9:16 aspect ratio, 30 or 60 FPS, H.264 codec.
- Safe zones: keep text and logos within the central 1080 by 1420 area to avoid platform UI overlap.
- Duration limits: Instagram Reels up to 90 seconds, TikTok up to 10 minutes (but 21 to 60 seconds performs best), YouTube Shorts up to 3 minutes.
- File size ceiling: most platforms accept up to 4 GB, but compression under 500 MB uploads faster and processes more reliably.
- Thumbnails: not every platform supports custom thumbnails for short-form video, but YouTube Shorts does. Have a 1280 by 720 still ready.
Making this a weekly habit
Run through this checklist on the first Sunday you implement it, then keep a printed copy in the sound booth or media room. Most items become automatic after two or three services.
The goal is not perfection. It is repeatability. A church that films with clips in mind will produce better source material than one that tries to rescue a poorly lit, echo-filled recording in post.
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