Single Camera Production Techniques

This essay will focus on addressing the key points of single camera techniques.

Camera:

In single camera productions there is only one camera and the reason there is only one camera is so it can be used to draw the audience into the production for a realist effect.  If there is a difficult scene to film more than one cameras may be used, for example filming a stunt or a scene with heavy dialogue.  Single camera productions are often favoured by directors because they will have more control over a camera and it allows you to freely shoot anywhere you want.  When filming a multi-camera production, you find that you are more limited and have to do a lot more planning in order to get all the shots.  You can achieve more realistic shots which can look more personal and achieve a number of good quality point of view shots.

Lighting:

The lighting in a single camera production is found to be much easier to control because you can light each shot individually which is unlike shooting with multiple cameras.  The lighting would have to be precise for each shot because it would look unvaried and flat.  Lighting in a single camera production is more sharpened and adds tone and style.

Sound:

The advantages of sound in a single camera production is that sounds can be added into a production during editing (Foley sounds, ambient noise and dialogue).  Using a boom mic to capture the sound in a single camera production can be somewhat easier because you only have one camera to worry about when seeing whether or not the boom is in the shot.  Disadvantages of using sound with a single camera production are that relying on a built in microphone can make the sound too quiet or increase the tone when not wanted.  You have to use a boom mic so that the sound is at the right tempo in the right shots otherwise the production will appear too rough and amateurish. 

Editing:

The term coverage means the amount of shots/film that is caught on camera and if you have a sufficient amount of coverage then you have a whole lot more of options when it comes to editing.  Having a poor amount of coverage or very little can restrict you when it comes to editing because you might have to cover up a continuity error and not having a back-up shot can make your production poor.  When thinking about editing for a single camera production it is important and also a smart way to film everything you need for a specific location and actors is section.  This gives you a better chance of covering everything you need have having back-up shots when you are focused on one section at a time.  On the other hand, filming with a single camera gives you a slight disadvantage when editing because you would have to file through all your scenes.  For example, if you were working on a 90-minute production, finding a specific piece of film would prove to be difficult.  Creating a shot log of every different scene would help you avoid this problem, because you would be able to find exactly what you were looking for without having to look back on every single scene.

Single camera genres and formats:

Depending on the genre and context of a production, the use of a single camera can add the right mood and tone.  Here are some examples from some genres of film:

·        Period – when filming a specific era in the past, using a single camera can give you raw footage which would make you feel as if you were watching something from the past.  These sort of films that associate with this genre are often romantic spliced with some adventure.  To make it look realistic and for the audience to feel that the period drama they are watching is politically correct, using a single camera can work well when creating that raw piece of footage.  Having multi-camera can make it seem too polished when in the past, that time frame they directors are trying to portray was not.

·         Crime drama – with actors playing authority figures or criminals, it is easier to accomplish getting that low key lighting.  Crime dramas often have point of view shots and spotlight effects to make the authority figure or criminal seem important or dangerous.  You are able to achieve low angles in an intense way such as in the film Bronson. 

·         Horror – films such as The Blair Witch Project really benefit from using single camera.  It gives the production a sense of realism and can provide exceptional point of view shots.  You see in The Blair Witch Project the actors are carrying on camera around with them in the woods.  The way it is unpolished and shaky gives the audience a sense of ‘what is going to happen next?’ Unpolished and raw footage is more realistic which works well in a horror film because the aim is to scare the audience.  Seeing the film from the actor’s point of view can make the audience feel like they are there.

·         Comedy – using single cameras in a comedy program or film can be at a light disadvantage than to using multi-camera.  Because there is only one camera, when a joke is being told you have to cut at the end of the joke and the film the reaction from the other person.  This can look unnatural whereas in a multi-camera comedy production you can film the joke being told and the reaction of the other person at the same time.  Cutting between jokes can look too staged and unrealistic.

·         Soap operas – normally soap operas like Eastenders use a multi-camera technique.  This takes advantage over a single camera because it is more difficult to manoeuvre the camera into the right place.  You can end up with too many cuts between conversations and scenes with action in them.  When filming real locations, a single camera is good because you can get that raw footage that the audience would want to see instead of having scenes that feel too staged.

Here are some other examples of various formats which are done using the single camera technique:

·         Series – series such as Pretty Little Liars are of the same story but in each episode there is a different storyline.  Using single camera for a series production can give good point of view shots, can make it easy to achieve the right lighting for the characters and you can easily obtain good quality looking close-ups or blurs of actors or objects.

·         Serial – these can run for a specific length of time or like a soap opera, never end.  An example of this would be Great Expectations which follows the main characters.  Using a single camera can be successful when you want to obtain a close-up for a cliff-hanger moment.  It can give the scene a dramatic edge and give the production a sense of realism.

·         Single drama – single cameras work very well in single dramas because you can achieve that raw footage you need to project in your production that sense of real life.  An example of a single drama is The Secret Adversary.

Multi-camera techniques:

Some productions require multi-camera usage because it would be extremely difficult or impossible to coverage all the footage needed.  Television shows such as X-Factor need multi-camera because you need to capture everything such as the talent on stage, the judges at the panel and the audiences’ reactions.  Sports on the television such as the cricket would need multi-cameras to capture close-ups of the game and the audience in the background.

Advantages:

·         You have a better change of re-editing the footage.  Using more than one camera gives you a better advantage because the people operating the camera can cover each shot from each angle, to which you can edit more freely.

·         Linking to my first point, covering footage from different angles helps get rid of continuity errors.  You will always have some back-up footage to work with.

·         You don’t have to cut scenes as much.  You can have people talking in a television program and the reaction of the other person at the same time and in different angles.  It makes a show look a lot less staged.

·         It is a lot quicker to complete a production.  More single takes mean more time to concentrate on editing.

Disadvantages:

·         Getting the lighting just right can prove it be difficult.  You have to test the lighting from every angle of each camera otherwise your production will prove to look amateurish.

·         As a director there would be a lot more work involved when keeping up with how the shots look.  A lot of the time you find the director have no control at all. 

·         Sometimes when filming somewhere like a living room or in a small house, it is hard to fit in all of the cameras.  It would prove difficult to make sure you would not have some of the other camera in the shot.