Single Camera Techniques

This post is about the techniques used in single camera products and how they compare to multi-camera production techniques. Single camera is literally using one camera for the whole production.

Camera
During filming a single camera production, only one camera is used, hence the name 'single camera'. However, in a specific scene with either much dialogue, another camera may used. A downer of single camera production is that scenes will have to be acted over and over again, therefore time consuming and expensive. Some directors chose to use single camera because they are able to control the shots more and can experiment with shots.

Lighting
Lighting in a single camera production is easy due to not having to worry about shadows, like in multi-camera productions. In single camera productions, the director is able to be creative with lighting and create an atmosphere related to the theme. Horror is one of the best genres when it comes to lighting, which uses single camera, to experiment lighting. An example is the movie Mama. The lighting is dark in many parts which gives a mysterious feel as well as a tense atmosphere as we know something is going to jump out.



Sound
In any production, another mic must be used because the quality of the camera mic is extremely poor and can make the product seem amateur. Therefore, microphones can be hidden in the shot, either worn or placed around the room which is used mostly in multi-camera productions. In single camera productions a microphone will most likely be placed in the middle of the room. In scenes with a lot of dialogue they may use another camera to catch this dialogue. An advantage of single camera is that the muffling which can occur in multi-camera productions where they use a lavalier mic, is cut out because they're not attached to the clothing, mics are used around the room or in the center.

                                                           Example of lavalier mic.

Editing
With single camera productions, editing is most likely to take a longer time to look at and edit than multi-camera productions. This is because, as mentioned before, they have to shoot each scene over and over to get different camera angels. During editing in single camera, shot logs are very useful as they document which shots were the beset and others which may cause problems, therefore maybe shortening the time used to edit and helping the editor.

In a multi-camera production, footage can be edited live due to the different cameras. When editing live a vision mixer is used to switch between cameras. This is commonly used in live shows such as The X-Factor, The Voice, or sports programmes. On a rare occasion, the presenter or news reader may look be looking at the wrong camera for a moment which may be due to the person editing being too slow.

Coverage is the quantity of footage gathered. Coverage is one of the most important things in editing, because if there isn't enough footage and a continuity error occurs, then it is likely to make the product look poor. Shooting a mastershot is useful for editing as a cut away. A mastershot is much like an establishing shot of a whole run through of a scene.

Shot log
A shot log is used to record what you have shot, how long it is and so forth. This is useful for the coverage and making sure you have enough footage for the whole product.

Single camera genres and formats
Many genres fall into single camera productions, but some more so than the other. In a period drama props and specific sets are used to recreate the whole feel of the set date in the past. Therefore, using a single camera allows more space and more chance of filming in real locations. In a TV Crime Drama, low key lighting is used to show authority figures, which therefore means using a single camera. Horror films use more close ups to get a personal feel and to involve the audience which a single camera allows the director to do. Recently I have watched Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones where a single camera was used for the whole movie, this allowed to audience to feel like they were actually in the film and altogether creating a very interesting and successful movie.

A lot of comedy TV shows are filmed using a multi-camera due to them being filmed in studios. There are occasional comedy shows which are filmed using single camera such as Scrubs and My Name Is Earl. During a multi camera production, the laughter is not forced and feels more real, where as in a single camera production, due to having to re-film and act the scene over again, the laughter feels more forced and fake. However this is on a rare occasion, as Friends, a comedy show filmed using multi-camera, shows that this is not always the case. 

 Soap operas are known to be filmed with multi-camera because they are normally released every day, but some are produced with single camera. The reason a single camera would be used during a soap opera is to film in real locations where space is tight, and would not fit more than one camera. A soap opera which uses a single camera is Hollyoaks. Hollyoaks airs every night around prime time and still manages to be a successful programme. 

Formats are also associated with single camera production. A series is a run of episodes, each revolving around one main story but with smaller stories in each episode. An example of a series I have watched is Glee. Glee is a multi camera production and has altogether 5 seasons. An episode was released every week for just under a month then it went on a break, also known as a hiatus. A series uses single camera as the episodes are not released everyday. This is due to the long editing process. A serial is continuous, many associated with being soap operas like Eastenders. Using a multi-camera for a serial is much more wise as the editing process is not as long because of the different shot types and angles, therefore episodes can be put up everyday.

Multi-camera Techniques 
Sometimes films and TV shows just fall in to using multi-camera because some scenes would be impossible to shoot with just one camera. Live shows are one of the most common genres to used multi-camera as they cannot be re-shot. Daybreak is an example of a live show which uses multi-camera. Sometimes during the show and many other shows, the presenter looks at the wrong camera, the visual mixer being too fast switching cameras.
Other shows which use multi-camera techniques are: