Funeral Screen Streaming Tutorial
FuneralScreen is deeply committed to promoting the value of a funeral and with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are challenged on how to balance our long-held values alongside the health concerns now affecting the world. It is our commitment to protect the health of funeral and memorial attendees, funeral home staff, clergy/celebrants, and reduce the potential for community spread and mass health fatalities.
Due to growing social distancing requirements, FuneralScreen is providing streaming services to replace traditional memorials and funeral services by providing families access to services online as well as the ability to view the cemetery where loved ones are laid to rest.
As you prepare to offering FuneralScreen’s streaming service to your funeral and memorial services here is a how-to approach to providing streaming services. Once signed up for the service please feel free to contact FuneralScreen with any questions.
Contact FuneralScreen to sign up for service
Funeral screen is committed to your success and as such we are prepared to help your funeral home navigate streaming services. FuneralScreen streaming services offer custom funeral home branding for each service which includes:
- One streaming account per service (Additional bundles are available upon request).
- Custom branded website page for each obituary listing and service.
- Embedded video for live streaming with streaming service for individual live feeds and group streaming.
- Recorded video of service.
- Custom designed tribute page with memorial video pages for one year.
- Customer service and consultation
- Funeral home support to provide cameras, hardware and required equipment.
- Installation Services for cameras, equipment, and streaming-technology.
- Customized Funeral Home Branded website services.
Needed Equipment and Installation
Streaming services need specialized equipment and the FuneralScreen streaming service provides the option to request video, equipment, and local installation for your funeral home. When using our service you will need the following equipment:
- FuneralScreen streaming account
- Internet connection
- Video camera(s)
- Microphones and audio equipment
- Natural and/or artificial lighting
- Lighting screens
- Computer or laptop to manage website, streaming, and video editing
- Additional HDMI and power cords
FuneralScreen will also work with local technology companies to install cameras, equipment and streaming technology in your funeral home or place of filming.
Commit someone to live-streaming
While it is always important to cross-train your staff, committing a single person to focus on and fully understand the FuneralScreen streaming service as well as filming practices will help you successfully manage the steep learning curve that may come from streaming funerals and memorials.
For smaller funeral homes with a staff of one or two people this may be difficult and you can always contact FuneralScreen to assist with questions, but for a larger staff having a local expert in the technology and filming practices will help you avoid, or quickly manage, any issues that arise.
Test the Technology
Prior to advertising your streaming services it is important to test the equipment, internet speed, and your filming area to minimize or eliminate mishaps during streaming. This is a time of need for your customers and you never want them to feel as if celebrating a loved one’s life isn’t taken seriously.
We recommend that you run through several tests prior to the first funeral or memorial streaming. When running a mock-service things you will want to look for include:
- Is the lighting right for the area or are their reflections, shadows, and other disturbances?
- Is the audio working correctly or does it sound inaudible, scratchy, too loud, or not loud enough?
- Is the internet connection fast enough or do you need to contact your local internet provider to increase your internet speed?
- Do you understand how to set-up, use, and implement the streaming technology online?
- Do you know how to use the FuneralScreen software to set-up and manage services for new funerals or memorials?
Running through the technology should follow all steps from set-up and filming to using the software online by setting up mock services.
Advertise streaming services
Don’t forget to advertise streaming services. While many funeral homes have been offering a form of streaming, this may not be known to potential customers. In fact, many people are under the belief that funeral and memorial services are restricted all together. By advertising streaming services and what you are providing, you can help grieving families balance the challenges of social distancing and the long-held values of saying goodbye to a loved one.
Engage with Families
Prior to the service it is helpful for you to engage with the family. Ask for photos, vignettes, and an obituary which can be displayed on the family’s personal webpage. Remember, each service is going to have their own custom-branded page memorializing the loved one. While family and friends will not be able to socialize in person they can still reflect and remember their loved one. This can be best presented in the family’s engagement and publishing of content on the webpage.
Utilize Filming Best Practices
When filming a funeral or memorial service there are several best practices you can implement that will help your streaming feed look professional and keepsake videos remain memorable.
- Decide if your camera will remain stationary or move during the service. If you choose to move the camera during the service it is important to plan that movement, the close-ups, and how the surrounding lighting and audio will be affected.
- Designate one person to be the videographer and a back-up if available. Having someone who is dedicated to shooting the video means you have someone who is prepared and versed in how to shoot the service, also with the ability to manage any unforeseen circumstances.
- Check that all equipment is working properly the same day as the service, giving yourself enough time to adjust for faulty equipment.
- If you choose to move during the service move slowly so as not to skew the visuals or interrupt the audio.
- Be close enough to the microphone and cameras so that the audio is not fading in and out.
- Stream and record the service completely through without pausing or stopping recording.
- Zoom in as little as possible, preferably not at all.
- When checking the equipment make sure that the camera settings are adjusted properly.
- Lighting is important. You don’t want to have shadows, reflections, or glare. Natural light works well, but if natural light is limited you can use portable artificial lights and lighting screens to prevent awkward or challenging filming.
Save Streaming Event
LiveStream by FuneralScreen will save your funeral or memorial service video free of charge. However, it is important to save your recording and we recommend archiving so the family can retrieve the recording if lost beyond the 90 days.
When saving the video it is important to remember that video files can take up a lot of space. The good thing is that you do have several options that can provide plenty of storage for your services.
- An external hard drive or USB drive are convenient and located on site. However, when using an external hard drive one thing to consider is that they are prone to damage, loss, and even malfunction resulting in the loss of information. We recommend that if using an external hard drive it should be for a temporary basis.
- Cloud Storage such as Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive. Cloud storage is subscription-based and can be upgraded when you need more storage, are reliable, safe, shareable, and you do not need to worry about loss of information. The caveat is that the family must have an internet connection to receive shared files.
One way to manage your saved streaming services is to save your video footage in a cloud-based service and download to a USB drive upon request and for distribution.