James Reeve BTEC Media: H. Single Camera Production

Single Camera Techniques

In this blog post I will be explaining and giving examples on some of the key points and terms of single camera production. From the different genres that use single and/or multiple camera techniques to making the sound seem professional.

The first area I will be covering in this blog post is more or less the main tool the director uses, the camera. In a single camera production there is, as you can probably tell from the name, only one camera used at any one time. The camera is the tool used to get the audience into the diegesis. with using a single camera you and the audience usually have a far more 'intimate' feel which isn't available when using multiple cameras. Film makers more often or not prefer single camera productions as they have more control and are able to really set up each shot individually and make exactly what the visualized into reality. logistically, single camera productions allow you to shoot almost anywhere you would want to shoot, on multi camera productions it is far more difficult as logistics come into play a lot more. When filming a single camera production entire scenes need to be filmed several times and the different sections of scenes need to be done over and over to capture the scene from various different angles. unfortunately this makes filming more expensive. The camera angles in the film Drive are very unique and memorable and makes the film more engaging to watch.

The second area I will be covering is the lighting of a single camera production. Lighting a single camera production is far easier to control as each shot can be lit individually. if you use multiple cameras then the lighting must be correct for each shot, this could give each shot a fake and unreal effect- like it has actually been filmed in a studio rather than on location. using a single camera will make it look more authentic and will make the audience get more involved in the diegesis. The lighting in old Film noir films such as The Lady from Shanghai is very distingtive and bold, the term used to describe it is chiaroscuro.

In the following paragraph I will be covering sound in single camera productions. Single camera production shots always need to have some sort of overlay sound there. this is when sound starts
before the scene and continues after the scene to make sure the whole of the scene an to get rid of any jumpy cuts. sound affects can be added during post production. multiple camera productions, such as talk shows and reality shows usually make the recording equipment visible. one of the most important things to remember when filming a single camera production is that not all dialogue in a scene is from the same take. Commonly the sound is recorded and then put over the op of takes- Any scenes where the audience don't need to be able to see the source of dialogue. War of the wrolds has some very destinctive sounds such as when the tripod raises from the earth and gives off the 'foghorn' noise.

In this part of my blog post I will be covering the term 'coverage' in a single camera production. In a single camera production coverage is the term used for the amount of film that is captured. The term 'good coverage' means that the film maker will have a lot of options when it comes to the post production editing process. not having enough coverage means you may have to settle with a poor piece of footage as there is nothing else to put in its place. When using a digital video recorder film makers can shoot pretty much everything. The amount of coverage you are able to shoot mostly depends on your budget. in a single camera production the film maker should always start by obtaining a master shot- this is when the film maker gets a shot that has everything in the scene so that different areas can be cut to while editing. In multi camera productions long scenes are filmed continuously so that lines have to be memorized.

The post production of a single camera production mainly consists of editing. this can take a rather long time as there is a large amount of footage that the editing team/film maker will have to go through. in a single camera production it is very likely that all scenes involved in a location will be shot together when a certain location is needed or certain cast members are needed. in a singlke camera production it is more efficient to edit shots in chunks. this means that after a day of filming you will edit what you have. If this is not done and you save all of the editing to the end then it will take more time and effort to go through it and select what you need.

TV Genres

Crime Dramas

Crime drams are naturally intense and have deep, meaningful characters that the audience have to connect with. the use of the single camera also gives a far greater feeling of intimacy and makes the more heart pumping moments more thrilling. Crime dramas can give the pint of view from either side of the law. Breaking Bad and The Sopranos both show what its like on the wrong side of the law. whereas Miami Vice and 24 are from the perspective of the do gooders.

Horror
In horror a single camera is chosen over multiple because, as I mentioned earlier, single camera productions are able to get you more involved with the world of the the shot. this is very effective in horror as it makes the audience feel as if they are actually in the diegisis which improves the amount they get scared.

Comedy

Quite a lot of situation comedies are shot using the multi camera technique. shows like Friends and the IT crowd are shot in front of a live studio audience and have a laugh track which can help or hinder the audiences amount of enjoyment after a joke is told. My favorite comedies on television are all single camera productions. The TV shows extras and the office(UK) are not only two of my favorite comedy shows but also two of my favorite TV shows full stop. single camera production comedies linger more on the joke after it is told and sometimes use the cinematography to tell the joke.

Period Dramas
Period dramas is the name for a drama that takes place in a certain era from the past. Most of the time period dramas have some kind of romantic element involved. a Good example of period drama is Downtown abbey. this has recently revitalized the genre and has been reward with critical acclaim from fans and critics alike.

Formats

Series

A series is a type of programming where the characters are the same in every episode however each episode has a different story line. however there is usually a sub plot in the background which we follow as the episodes go on. Dexter is a single camera production crime drama programme. In series one he is presented with different criminals to kill in each episode however over the series he has the job of solving the mystery of 'the ice truck killer'. these types of shows are commissioned for a set number of episodes.

Serial

a serial can follow the same format as a series or it could, in the case of a soap opera can run on continuously and never end. A good example of a serial that never ends is Eastenders or coronation street. Like the series the characters are the same from episode to episode and the story line develops throughout the episodes. as mentioned earlier a serial that never ends is known as a soap opera, these have multi-strand narratives that overlap over many episodes. these have no clear protagonist and really no ultimate closure as they go on and on and on. one of the reasons serials can last so long may be the use of a multi-cam technique as it is quick and easy to shoot.

Single drama

A single or one off drama is told in a single one off episode. The minimum length of a one off drama is five minutes. Some one off dramas can run over two or three parts. They are also called a television movie and have their own category at the BAFTAS. The winner of the 2010 BAFTA'S was the single drama entitled 'A Short stay in switzerland '.

Production diary

Pre-Production-
Our Pre-production ran from the 5th to the 12th of February. This week consisted of getting location recce's and releases. Most of the week however was spent doing the storyboards. We had to divide the ten minute short by 3 so that we each had our own segment to direct. i chose the first segment which was mainly centered around our college. It was quite challenging to do the storyboards for our segments because we had never done storyboards for a project this size before. i had to get permission to be able to use the college for filming. we also had to assign the different acting roles for each other. I had to be the main protagonist "James", Mark chose to be "Michael" while Duncan chose to be "Dan". we also had this week to get to together and order any props we might need for our production. the only prop we had to order was an inflatable hammer.

Production-
For our production we started filming on the 12th of February as we managed to get all of our pre production paper work done before the half term. We decided that it was probably more efficient if we did the scenes in and around college rather than the scenes outside of the college. We spent quite a long time on the first scene as we were reasonably unfamiliar with the equipment and also we were not used to the techniques of a single camera production. we did come across a few problems such as the camera batteries running out at times and weather problems. A big problem we faced was the original place we planned to film the exam scene was booked out for the whole week. We had to find another place quickly so we had to end up filming the whole exam scene in our regular classroom which made problems arise because of availability and another production team wanted to use the classroom location for one of their scenes.

Post Production-
Our post production was, at times, tricky. We were missing a few shots because we didn't completely stick to the rules of single camera production because of time constraints. However quite a lot of it went smoothly, We saved most of the editing till the end of the production. this created problems of its own because we had little time to re-shoot certain shots. some of which were out of focus. We also saved it until quite late to come up with a proper title for it, we came up with several terrible titles like "An Unhappy ending". However with help from our peers we came up with "Badvice". we also had to find a soundtrack for our short. I opted for something rather "funky" and "seventies". My colleagues agreed so we had that soundtrack running throughout the short. In the end our short just ran over six minutes witch is appropriate for how long the script was. Our ten minute short is below, i am happy with the final result, however it was harder than I thought it would be.