Single Camera Techniques

Single Camera Production Techniques:

Introduction:

This essay is to show the difference between different production, depending on what set up the production team are using either it being a single camera or multi camera production. This essay also will show difference of the other parts of the production like lighting, sound etc.

Camera:

With single camera production of course only one camera is used to film the production, unlike a multi camera production which uses at least three camera in order to capture what the director envisioned But with single camera production they have to keep doing the same scene over and over again in order to get it in different angles , where as the multi camera production will only have to if the scene didn't go right. But production that use a single camera often do you more cameras when the scene is had dangerous stunt they shouldn't repeat or that the scene is full of dialogue that is complicated.

Lighting: 

With lighting especially in single camera production the lighting can be easily changed to fit the shot and scene no matter the angle, due to having to redo the scene over and over. But with multi camera productions the lighting is different because most multi camera production have weekly episodes, they don't have time to change for every shot, so the lighting must be great for every angle that the director uses. An examples is the lighting used in the "The Dark Knight" making the whole film feel more dark and depressing to the audience, this is done by only lighting coming from only one side or like the video below the light sources during the interrogation is from the desk lamp and the light in the back, giving the scene a serious and dark feeling with it, especially when the lighting is on the Joker. But it all changes when the lights turn on to Batman to symbolize that everything will now be known and nothing can hide in the dark now.

Sound:

Sound in multi camera productions is very much easier to mic the characters in the shot as the things that this is for is mostly shows like the news or talk shows, when in doesn't matter if a mic is shown, but single camera production can't do this as these are things like films or dramas type television shows that only use one camera and the audio starts to be recorded before the filming begins and also finish it after in order so transition in the final product don't look forced and jumpy. But with both most of the sound effects are added in the post production. But with most scenes the audio is not always the same audio from the shot your seeing and is from a different shot from before and use the over the shoulder shot and cutaways in a creative way to hide the change in the audio. But in some situations a mic can be visible shown in a scene and have function for example, in the King's Speech scene below the main character has mic that is used, which could be used as the actual mic recording the audio for that scene and because the shots are quite close in this scene of the character it would be easy to hid a boom mic of scene but close enough to get good audio, this is why the sound and cinematography need to work close together in order to get the best results from both parties.

Editing:

Because multi camera production are usually live shows like the news or the a talent show like "X Factor", then any editing done has to be done during the broadcast like switching camera, but with single camera production editing is all done in the post production and allows any mistake to be changed for the better. But with the amount of re shooting the production team will do, then amount of footage the post production team would have to go through would make it take a long time to edited everything together quickly. An example of this taking a long time is the montage in "Hot Fuzz" because of the amount of shots probably taken and the level of detail that the director Edgar Wright likes to go into would make it have even more to go through as well as making it fast paced enough to be quick enough to not use to much time and also so the audience can still understand what is happening with the narrative.

Single Camera genres and formats: 

For single the different genres that single camera production usually affiliate with are genres on a more serious side of the media industry with some exception in comedy settings, with comedy shows like "Black-ish" which a sitcom which is about a family that is trying to be black but slowly turning into the stereotypical white american family, it also utilizes the single camera to make it seem more realistic and make the audience feel like they're part of the sitcom's family. Another genre is dramas or the different types of dramas like a period drama which is like "Ripper Street" which focuses on the crime of Jack the Ripper in the Tudor times in 19th century and this allows you to feel like that your back in that era and that you are in the same situations of the detectives in the show. The most used one is the Horror genre as like before it allows people to feel even more emotion when watching it and allows more control and like the movie "Halloween", puts the audience in the eyes of the killer, especially during the iconic starting scene of the first movie, which allows more creative use of the camera to get different emotions from the audience, in this case of regret and remorse for having to watch a heinous crime be committed. But for multi camera production this can differ as like I've said before the shows usually contain game shows or contests like "X Factor" or "Britain's Got Talent" or the even more popular like a Soap Opera, which is multi cameras, these includes multiply different stories trying to intertwine and allow the audience to make sense of it.

But the formats of these two different productions can also differ, as single camera production usually only formats things like series which has a different story line with each episode for instance this could be like a show like "Black Mirror", which story line changes each time and is very immersive with its single camera usage, but the story lines also connect in some way in the background as they all fall in the same universe. Another format is serial which develops over the episodes until the conclusion either at the end of the season or the end of the series all together and the audience sees the characters develop as the episodes go on. An example is "Daredevil" on Netflix, you see all of the character develop like the main character go gets his iconic suit, new friends and develops as a person like the rest of the characters and even the main villain who changes from a lonely person to someone who finds love. A single episode drama is also one as the budget for these are usually low and can only afford one camera and they only last five minutes. . But the advantages of having a single camera production can range from the director having more control and makes the production feel more personal as well as different used angles and movement of the cameras, but the disadvantages of it is because of it being very time consuming and long and more expensive as well and also continuity problems arise more as well. An example is a short called "A Thousands Words" which plays with the single camera to really feel the perspective of the main character on his quest to find the girl he saw on a train.

Multi-camera techniques:

With multi camera production the techniques can differ as not all scenes in a production can be filmed with just one camera and need the use of more than one like a really dangerous stunt that can't be repeated, but like I've said before the main use for multiply cameras in like talent shows, game shows or sports events in order to capture everything happening with having to repeat anything. The advantages of this are that the fewer shoots are needed to get everything so the production is cheaper than single camera production and continuity errors occur less and action scenes don't have to stop mid way in order to change angles, but the disadvantages are the lighting have to be fixed perfectly and be the same for each camera and the director doesn't have as much control over whats being shot and locations are limited due to lack of space the amount of camera takes up.