Single Camera Techniques

In this essay I shall be covering how Camera, Lighting, Sound and Editing are all used in single camera productions and explain why they are used in this way. I shall also discuss how these differ form multi camera productions.

Camera
In single camera productions, the camera can be controlled a lot easier as their is only one camera to work with. It can also mean that they can bring the audience closer to the action and make it seem a lot more alive. Also, another plus is that if you only have one camera you can film in more confined spaces such the corridors of a house. There is the downside of that you would have to film the same scenes multiple times to get different angles which means that he actors may have to do the same thing more than once. This then makes the filming more expensive.

Lighting.

Lighting is a lot easier to control in single camera productions as once the lighting looks good through the camera then that's that. Whereas in multi camera productions the lighting needs to be the same for every camera and therefore look more unnatural and will consume more time during the filming process. Using one camera means that there can be shadows cast across the scene giving more effect and making the scene more dynamic. For instance, in the film Drive, which is a single camera production, the lighting is a major part in the opening scene in which Ryan Gosling's character is waiting out side of a shop for a robbery to take place as he is their get away driver. Throughout this scene he says nothing which is why the lighting and his actions need to stand out so that the scene doesn't be come boring etc.

Sound
Using one camera means that the best thing to do is use a separate microphone to the actual camera as inbuilt microphones are not of a good enough quality to use in a professional piece of work. If, for instance there is overlay between the sound and the actual picture, the audio would need to be recorded apart so that they can be edited apart as well. SFX can also be used in single camera to add extra effect and to fill out certain sections. In a multi camera production it's easier to mic up the different people as in many multi camera productions, if the microphone is in shot then that isn't a problem such as the news or any kind of game show. In some shots the audio has been pulled from another clip in pasted in. This kind of technique can be used in things such as over the shoulder shots.

Editing.

Editing in single camera productions, much like other productions,takes a lot of time and effort. As in multi camera productions you can film in lots of different locations with different people at different times, in single camera it is better to film everything and everyone in the same place at the same time. Multi camera productions can be edited on the spot with shows like 'X-Factor' and 'The Voice' as they have lots of cameras around the set so they can chop and change between them live on TV. This would be an impossible feat in a single camera production. When filming with just one camera you tend to end up with a lot of footage as a lot of scenes will be filmed more than once and it'll all be on the same camera, so as you can imagine there would be a lot of footage to go through in the editing stage. Editors tend to use Shot Logs when editing single camera pieces so that they know which pieces are good for use and which ones are not so useful.

Genre and Formats.
Single camera productions are most used on TV shows such as EastEnders and Doctor Who as they tend to be shot in small areas or small sets where more than one camera would get in the way and would be of inconvenience in the filming process. Whereas shows that are live such as 'X-Factor' need to be multi camera as they need to swap between angles live on TV which is impossible with just one camera. But as I have mentioned throughout, Multi camera is used for live TV whereas single camera is preffered for other things and both have their pros and cons.


Multi Camera

To sum up how they differ, Multi camera is used for live shows and larger film productions so that the director can show lots f different things all at once without filming them multiple times. But the draw backs are things such as lighting, as i can be very plain and not bring much contrast to the scene in hand. Also when filming in a small environment such as a house, there would be less space as the cameras are taking up all of it. It also has the the quite large draw back pf the fact that it costs a lot of money to