Moving image texts are normally made in two ways, single camera and multi camera production. Both of them are used for different things and each have positives and negatives, the majority of films are made using single camera technique and many TV shows are made using multi camera techniques. This essay will be about single camera techniques.
Single Camera Productions
Single camera productions are the main method for filming the majority of films that you see. It really does do what is says on the tin, the scenes are filmed with one camera but the flexibility you have when filming with one camera is much greater than that of a multi camera setup. The way single camera productions work is that each scene is shot more than once, but from different angles which allows the DOP to have much more focus and thought on each angle. For example a scene where someone is walking through a door could be acted 8 times to get the shots required, the talent will run through the scene the same each time but the camera will be placed in a different place each time. Single camera productions are sometimes frowned upon due to the time that they take but the overall look is much better. A good example of a single camera production is from Better Call Saul, (Vince Gilligan, 2015-16), where you can see the scene being shot from different angles but with the same camera. If you were to shoot this particular scene with a multi camera setup it may be quicker to shoot and edit but you might be able to see the cameras in shot and there would be less focus on each camera meaning a less aesthetically pleasing scene. Character development is often easier to create with a single camera setup too as you can really get intimate shots concentrating on character emotion and their characteristics.
As you can see this is one of the shots from Better Call Saul, (Vince Gilligan, 2015-16) where Mike and some cops get into an altercation, this is all created with a single camera and the scene goes from the cops viewpoint to Mikes.
As you can see if this scene was shot with a multi camera setup you would have seen the cameras in the shot and that would have spoilt the whole sequence, the flexibility and control you have when using a single camera setup is the reason why it is so widely used.
Lighting
Once again a big positive of single camera productions is the control that you can have over the shot. When it comes to lighting the popular way of lighting is via a 3 point lighting system which is where you have you main subject illuminated via 3 lights which surrounds that subject.
Once again though the big pulling factor to shoot with a single camera setup is that you have so much flexibility when it comes to lighting, when you have a multi-camera setup the lighting needs to be adequate for every shot, meaning that some shots can be flat and often un-varied. With the flexibility of a single camera setup it means that you can change every single scene in terms of lighting and also worry less about having lights within the shot, which is another thing you have to worry about if you are using a multi-camera setup. Lighting is a hugely important factor when it comes to content and the intricacy that can be achieved with a single camera setup is far superior to that of a multi-camera setup.
A good example of a director that uses lighting to his advantage in single camera setups is Bertie Gilbert, he relies on lighting a huge amount in order to convey the emotions that are being felt.
In these first few pictures you can see what kind of lighting they are using and how it is setup. From the majority of shots they are only using one light that has gels on the front to create the desired colour, Bertie uses a lot of reds and blues in order to create the strong, meaningful, emotional shots. Below you can see a screenshot from his short film Tick Where It Hurts (Bertie Gilbert, 2015) which has been shot against a black background with the one light to the left hand side of his face with a red gel over. This would not be able to be recreated within a multi camera setup as it would look different from every angle meaning the desired effect would be different.
As you can see from the picture above Bertie's lighting isn't always so intense, the bottom picture is a good example of how simply lighting a shot with close attention can make all the difference. Bertie has made use of the lights that are already in the kitchen and also one light that has been positioned below the camera which creates the shadow like effect on his face.
As shown above the versatility of lighting is great in single camera productions. Below is an example of a multi camera production which is the TV series, Jeremy Kyle (ITV Studios, 2005-2016).
As you can see the shots are really well lit and there is nothing wrong with them but they don't add anything to the shot. All the angles look the same and it's all very flat and plain. The flexibility and versatility that single camera lighting allows gives the shots that little bit extra feeling.
Sound
As with every piece of content that is made it is vitally important that sound is audible and of a good quality. A lot of people look over sound but it is sometimes more important than the visuals itself. With poor audio it is very hard to concentrate and enjoy whatever you are watching hence this is the reason why production companies spend so much time perfecting audio. Most cameras are built with microphones in them but they are often poor quality ones. They might just do when you are recording inside and the subject is directly in front of the camera with no other interference but when there is more than one object being recorded and when you step outside or somewhere there is wind, this is when the inbuilt camera doesn't suffice. This is when external sound recorders and microphones come into action as you have much more control over sound and they are of much better quality. With multi-camera setups often the characters will have microphones attached to them as otherwise the external microphones will be in the way of the shots, this is good but it can look unprofessional as the lapel microphones that are worn only really look good in interviews.
However in single camera productions there are ways to get crisp audio and not have any microphones in shot. This is done by using boom poles, usually which are made up with a shotgun microphone with a long cable running down the boom pole attached to a sound recorder. This will capture good raw audio if done properly but more things can be done in post production to make it sound even better,
It is important when recording sound to record a couple of seconds before and after the scene, this is so there are no awkward, jumpy cuts between scenes. Once you have you raw audio it's then time to put it through the post production stage, this can take multiple steps depending on what you want it to sound like.
Sometimes when you have your original audio there may be some elements that you want enhancing, this could be anything from footsteps to gunshots. This is where the foley artist comes into play, these are the people who make sounds and then add them into the edit. In the video embedded above you can see that particular foley artist, Marko Constanzo uses spring onions to recreate the sound of bones breaking. Foley artists can identify what sound they need and know what utensils they need to make that sound. These little bits of added sound are vital and add a real texture to the sound within a film.
Ambient sound is also an important part of how films sound. Ambient sound is simply background noise, although this is sometimes distracting, a little bit of it can really help the way something sounds. Usually ambient sound is recorded separately to the main audio and then added in in post-production. If there was no ambient sound everything would sound too un-natural and clean.
On occasions dialogue is sometimes added in post production as well, sometimes this is because the first take was not done correctly or just can't be captured on set. The main problem with single camera audio production is that each take means it is likely the ambient noise will be different in each take creating a jump in each cut. This is where post-production is key just to level everything out. The video below shows the process nicely.
Once again the main positive for single camera production is the flexibility that you have with sound recording. With a multi-camera production it is very restrictive as it's very hard to hide the microphones from being in shot. With the single camera production you can use different methods to record the audio you need and then alter it in post-production for the desired sound.
Coverage
Coverage is hugely important when it comes to single camera production as it gives you plenty of options when it comes to editing. Coverage is the amount of content that you shoot of one scene. It's always important to have an establishing shot as well as you can always cut back to this. When editing this is hugely is important as if there is a continuity error you can always cut to the establishing shot. It's always better to have too much content than not enough which means directors sometimes even record the rehearsals as ti doesn't cost anything else with digital media as you can just dump the data and use the same memory card. This wasn't the case when DV tapes were used as you couldn't re-use this.
As you can see above this is what an establishing shot looks like. This is the first shot that directors will usually want to get so they have it in the bag. Then the scene will be shot multiple times from different angles as they need this for the cuts in the edit.
Multi-camera setups simply run with a whole long scene and capture it from all angles at once. This can be demanding for the actors as they need to memorise the lines, this isn't the case in single camera productions as there are far more cuts in filming where the actors can check lines. Single camera productions also allow the director to get shots that would't be achievable with a multi camera setup.
Editing
Editing comes in the post-production stage and is one of the most time consuming sections of the project, mainly due to the sheer amount of footage that needs to be trawled through in order to find what you need. With multi-camera productions there is more film wasted but it takes less time which could make it considerably cheaper, however with modern digital recording this doesn't matter as much as you don't need to pay for film.
Single camera productions will often be shot in one specific location at once or when specific characters are needed. This is due to it being expensive to shoot as scenes need to be shot multiple times from different angles.
With some multi-camera productions they use a device called a vision mixer which shows all of the camera being used and then with the press of the button you can cut to the angle you want which will be the shot that you see on TV. A lot of TV programmes use this technique such as Britain's Got Talent and live transmissions of football.
Vision mixers are very handy because you can pretty much edit as the footage is captured which means you don't need to go back afterwards and go through hours of footage. If it wasn't for Vision Mixers, live TV wouldn't be possible either. A cheap alternative to a Vision Mixer is a setting within Premiere Pro which allows you to combine camera angles once they have been captured. The way it works is that all the camera angles are visable on screen and you simply click on the one you want at the time you want it to be shown on the main screen. You can pretty much edit a 10 minute video with 4 camera angles in 10 minutes with this method. This editing technique is called 'Merge Multiple Cameras' within Premiere Pro.
When editing a single camera production it's normal for the editor to have a shot log with them to make it easier to find each shot. Big crews will hire people for just shot logging as this really is a big part of the edit as it cuts the time it takes to edit as it makes finding the footage so much easier.
All footage should be captured with audio separate to the video which means when editing the audio and video will need to be merged. This can be done manually but if there are hundreds maybe thousands of shots then this will be too long winded. There are ways to merge video and audio automatically, there is a setting within Premiere Pro that can do this or for bigger projects a good method would be via a programme called Plural Eyes which syncs up batches of audio and video together which takes away the process of manually syncing up clips.
Single camera genres and formats
Some genres and formats are more suited to single camera production whereas some are suited to a multi camera production. Directors need to figure this out before they start recording to make sure that the method they go with best suits the style of the programme.
Period Drama
A good example of a period drama is a programme such as Downton Abbey, (Julian Fellows 2010-15) which is set in a specific time period and are often romances. In order to create a successful period drama the atmosphere needs to be correct and this is done by using props, costumes and the right sets. As you can see from the clip below Downton Abbey, (Julian Fellows 2010-15) is shot using a single camera setup as it needs to create the feel of the time it is set and it wouldn't look great if there were TV cameras in the background. They are using a lot of angles in a short space of time as well so it just wouldn't be realistic to use a multi-camera setup for this.
Crime Drama
Crime dramas and thrillers are programmes that follow criminals and people with authority, normally crime prevention teams of some extent, To create the tense feeling that these programmes require they are very often shot in low light situations which would be very hard to capture if operating a multi-camera setup. As previously mentioned single camera setups are much easier to operate and are more flexible when wanting specific settings. If you were to use a multi-camera rig in this particular genre the desired feel would more often than not be unachievable. Below is a screenshot from an episode of Sherlock, as you can see the low light shot really does give an atmosphere about the show and this is why single camera production is vital when it comes to crime dramas.
Horror
Horror is another genre that requires a certain atmosphere about it and this can only be achieved using single camera techniques. The aim of the horror is to make the viewer feel like they are part of the film and when this occurs it makes the scares more realistic. With the flexibility that comes with a single camera production these shots are able to be achieved, this wouldn't be possible with the multi-camera. As you can see with the shots below the lighting is very similar to that of the crime dramas but the angles are often different. Once again it's the versatility of the single camera production method that makes the scares realistic within a horror movie.
Comedy
Comedies are a close split in the way they are made. Some comedies including My Name Is Earl (Jason Lee. 2005-2009) and Spaced (Nira Park 1999-2001) are filmed with a single camera. However some extremely successful comedies including Friends (David Crane 1994-2004) have been shot using multi-camera techniques. It all depends on preference with comedy as people don't really care on how it looks but the actual content and humour. Look at Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan 1997-2002) for example, there is only about 3 different angles throughout the whole series but it still went down very well due to the humour.
Below is a good example of how single camera technique is used within My Name Is Earl (Jason Lee. 2005-2009). This is shot on a single camera because they are always in different places and not in a certain set. It may be quicker to shoot on a multi camera rig when it's setup but it would be far too much hassle for camera operators to move it from location to location. It is easier and more versatile for a program such as My Name Is Earl (Jason Lee. 2005-2009) to shoot on a single camera.
However in some situations a multicamera setup is the most efficient and best way. With a show like Friends (David Crane 1994-2004) who record on the same set every single week and also produce a lot of episodes it is ideal. Due to recording in the same place every week it means that cameras do not need to be shifted around and it also feels more natural as you don't need to record the same punchline 6 times over in order to get every angle. Another good example of a multi-camera comedy is The Big Bang Theory (Chuck Lorre, 2007-2016) which is also recorded in front of a live audience creating the realistic laughter that can be heard throughout, it's far better than canned laughter.
Soap Operas
Multi camera setups can help with the speed of editing as it can be edited as live and also shot just once instead of over and over again. A genre of show that needs speed is a soap operas, most British soap operas air 6 times a week meaning the episodes need to be produced quickly and efficiently. The best way to do this is with a multi camera setup.
The key to shooting a good multi camera setup is to be fully prepared before the action starts, John Smith who is the multi camera director on the Weakest Link (2000-12, Cathy Dunning) where they use 5 cameras says that 75% of the work is done before they sit in front of the monitors.
On a long-running programme like Weakest Link (2000-12, Cathy Dunning) there is an established pattern and style of direction to follow. John has five cameras to achieve the look of the show, but acknowledges that one of the secrets of good direction is in having the confidence to try new things.
Above is a typical multicamera setup that will be used to shoot a whole host of genres but especially soap operas. As you can see with 4 cameras it is very easy to capture all angles at once and if using a vision mixer you can edit this footage as live which saves a lot of time.
It is also worth noting that the reason soap operas can get away with these large multicamera setups is because they are filmed on a set rather than a real life location hence meaning they can build the set to suit the cameras. Shows like Brookside (Phil Redmond,1982-2003) were shot on a single camera as they used real locations and they couldn't use a multi camera setup as they didn't have the maneuverability.
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