Single Camera Production Techniques

This essay is about Single Camera Techniques with slight comparison to Multi Camera Work.
Within the essay I will talk about Cameras, Lighting, Sound, Editing , Single Camera Genres and Formats and Multi Camera Techniques.

1. Camera
With a Single Camera Production, there will mostly be one camera shooting the production, there might be parts of the shoot that will need more than one camera in a scene where a character has to for example destroy a whole set so that we can get more shots of the same scene, but other than high action the rest will be shot with a single camera. This was used in Citizen Kane when Kane had to destroy a whole room dedicated to one of his wives, more than one camera was used in case the actor accidentally steps in front of the action and one of the cameras could not capture it.

Directors tend to use more single camera production mainly because they can have more control over the camera and its easier to reset shots which means that they can make every single shot as good as they possibly can where as in a multi camera shot it might be more difficult for the director to interact perfectly.

Single camera production may be more difficult for the actors as they will have to remember more lines for the shot as single camera shots tend to film whole scenes at once and then shoot them over and over again with the same camera but in a different position. This sometimes is hard for the actors as they might not be persistent with their acting between two different shots.
If the same shot is shot multiple times, actors can't really improvise anything where as in multi camera production its easier for an actor to improvise. In Avengers Age Of Ultron, Robert Downey Jr took the whole cast by surprise as he decided to hide a lot of snacks around the set for him to eat during the shooting, after a while of the multi camera production the director decided to allow him to keep doing it as it was a good trait for his character and it would be something that Tony Stark would do, one of the most known improvised quotes from Robert was "blueberry?" where after a very important thing said by Downey, he offered Mark Ruffalo a blueberry.

2. Sound

Sound is very important in production, if the sound is not great then it can jeopardize the whole production.
There are many ways to record sound in production, in News there are a few different types of way to record sound.
Repel Microphone:
These microphones are small and can be attached to a top or side of a suit. These are used predominately in interviews which may take a while to record if something goes wrong, this saves a person standing and holding a boom microphone. The audio from the repel microphone is good as it is placed very close to the users mouth.
News Microphone:
A microphone is designed to repel the wind, most of the news microphones which are used outside where it tends to be windy there will be a foam ball on top of the microphone to stop the wind.

In production, one of the most important people is the boom microphone holder, he is trained to hold the microphone up for a very long period of time, and also to follow the character, if the microphone is not above the characters head the sound may differ within the scene, The boom microphone may also be used from down below pointed up in scenes which are shot from below, this allows the sound to travel straight to the microphone.


3. Coverage

Coverage is the term for the amount of film captured and good coverage means that there are plenty of options to choose from, which means that there needs to be more than one shot of the same scene.
If it occurs that you do not obtain enough footage and whilst editing you spot a continuity error there might be no way to re-shoot the scene. This shows us that coverage must be large in production else small problems may occur which could lead to larger problems.
Continuity errors are not fun to deal with, especially when you spot it after watching the movie the second time. Gladiator is a movie which contains at least two continuity shot within it, there is some sort of piston device under the carriage of a horse which should have been concealed and there was a plane in the sky in one of the shots. These errors were not taken out of the movie due to either not enough coverage or silly errors within the editing industry.
When it comes to filming, it is easier to obtain more coverage with a multi camera system but it may take longer to set up when an error within filming has been made where as in single camera production it is a lot more easier for the camera to be reset to its previous position so that acting may continue as quickly as possible.


4) Lighting

The lighting in single camera production is a whole lot easier to control than a multi camera production, mainly due to the fact that there is less equipment involved. This allows it to take up less room which also means that there will be less time wasted to find the optimum position for both the camera and lighting.
There are a lot of different examples of how lighting can be designed to create different effects on camera. These are a few examples:
PHOTOS

5) Single camera genres and formats
There are 7 different genres and formats in single camera production, The following are the seven:
Period. Crime Drama, Horror, Comedy, Series, Serial, Single Drama.
All of these apart from the horror are designed to be set out episode by episode. Episodes are easier to film with one camera due to the swiftness of production.

Horrors use single camera production in films where POV's can be used and canted angles to add a more off putting scenario for the viewer. This will make it more anticipating when you're awaiting a jump scare.

6) Multi camera techniques
For some films and programmes the amount of action there is it would not be possible to cover the scenes with only one camera. This is where multi-camera techniques step in.
Multi camera techniques are good and necessary for filming products that are live or cannot be reshot, mainly because if it will be reshot there will be a continuity error which may put someone off with watching the rest of a production.
With a multi camrea techniques there are far less re shoots which is good mainly because there will be less continuity errors and less time will be wasted on filming.
With a multi camera set up the lighting will be difficult to manage as it may look fake and flat.
Also, the director does not have full control of the camera where as in single camera production the director is in full control of the camera.