Single Camera Techniques

TV

Short Film

The way of segregating the differences of a TV series, and a film is usually in films it covers a whole story, whereas a TV programme doesn’t, it keeps leaving cliffhangers so the audience keep watching the episode and find out what happens at the end which is a clever technique. TV Series are very popular and have a lot of advantages, but the one disadvantage is the length of time It takes to complete a story, some people may end up getting bored if it goes on for to long and this is why films are good, it is only a short sitting usually between 1 and 3 hours so people don’t get bored. For tv series, the budget can depend, for example if it is set in studios it wouldn’t be as expensive, but if they need various locations like ‘Breaking Bad’ it can be quite a high budget.

Short films are generally made low budget, this is because the audience isnt as largeas full size films so less money is circulating. A short film is usually 20-30 minutes and has a story

line compact into that time period, so they can be quite exciting as its literally ‘action packed’

unlike a full movie which wull take hours to explain the full story line.

Film

Films are generally the most popular way to watch production in the present time, and

the typical film can range from 1 to 3 hours long. For a full film, you will need some sort of budget. The clear difference of films and general TV Series, is the fact you only need one sitting session to watch a film unlike a

series which could take a while to complete.

Horror

Period/Costume Drama

The main aim in a horror production is to have audience feeling suspense, like anything could happen at any minute that may be frightening, have them on the edge of their seats. The fear usually comes from things jumping out, shocking the audience. Some other key techniques used to scare the audience can be involving paranormal activities on screen, creepy music and even some weird plot twists that they wouldn’t have expected.

Genre

A Period Drama or a Costume Drama, is a period piece in time, in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture

the ambiance of a particular era. Things like Downton Abbey are considered in these genre.

Soap Opera

Comedy

Soap Operas are basically people acting out day to day life on TV, involving plots, story lines and suspenseful things happening. There are usually multiple story lines leading off to one big one. They usually have a low to medium range budget because episodes are made every day and because the production is so simple there is no need for it to be high as usually it is filmed in the same set/studio. An example of a Soap is Eastenders, always different storylines, low budget and cameras just simply used for general talk.

The objective of a comedy is to humour the audience, assuming they have the correct sense of humour., whether it be slapstick, funny acting, even gags, the producer will find a way to make the audience laugh. For series like ‘Friends’ they have a live audience watching the show that laugh at funny points to show what was supposed to be humorous and how the audience should have interpreted the scene. For these kind of productions, it is difficult to film with just one camera because of the conversations and shots needed.

Story Lines-Linear/Non-LinearLinear stories are the most generic, basically meaning they have a Start, Middle and End. Linear stories are usually stories easier to understand so usually for children, an example would be ‘The Gruffalo’. As well as Linear, there is also Non-Linear. Non Linear storylines are basically the opposite of the well laid out Linear storylines, they have no order. An example of this is breaking bad, there is no story to it meaning there can be plot twists at any time giving more space to create interesting happenings.Sequels Sequels is when there are 2 or more films put together to create and complete a full story. A good example of this is Lord Of The Rings, it is over 3 different movies and takes that long for the story to be completed.

Narrativity

Realism

Cliffhangers

Realism is when everything is basically realistic, the storyline, setting, acting, usually these films are ones that turn out to be ‘true stories’.

Cliffhangers are one of the most important techniques used in TV and essential to keep viewers watching every episode. They are used when the episode is at an intense point and something is about to happen but the viewer doesn’t get to see, so they watch the next episode in hope of finding out what happens. A lot of Soaps use this such as Eastenders. This can even be used in sequels like Lord of the rings as there are more films to carry it on.

Open Endings

Closed Endings

An open ending is how it sounds, the film/series is left with no answer leaving the viewers to interpret what happens next, this happens in series ‘Dexter’.

A closed ending is the opposite to an open ending, the story is closed off. This is the most popular technique used unless you are making sequels. An example of this use is in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’.

Camera

Editing

With single camera productions, the useage of shots would have to be carefully looked at, so using things like shot reverse shots to not over complicate things and use linking shots, like for example if someone were to run up and kick a ball, they would film him running and midway through his swing in one shot, then the next shot have him finishing his swing, kicking the ball.

With the editing, it relates to the camera shots, so with the example I gave in the last paragraph, the editing would have to make sure they get the timing of putting the two shots together exactly right and at the right times.

Technical Sides

Lights

Sounds

Lights are used differently depending on whether you have a high or low budget. Things like Eastenders rely on natural daylight mostly but also some light rigs, when high end things use big expensive light rigs. Lighting is important especially in Single Camera to help it look professional as it is very easy to make a production look amateur, it is key ambient lighting is not involved.

Sounds are important in Single Camera productions and can be used in many ways whether it be voiceovers or some sort of effect, a good way sound is used in a production is in Jaws when they build up suspense putting the well known Jaws soundtrack when the shark is coming.

Pre productionScript-

Scripts are needed so the production can pan to.the exact way it was wanted. Story boards are similar and could also do the job a script could do, but they are harder to

work with as thingsAre drawn out so it is generally more complicated. As longs are scripts have the

actions and audio descriptions on them, it can all work.

Building Scenes-Building a scene isnt to complicated as all it entails it sorting it out, then shooting it with a caemra. Although for a detailed scene takes some more work, to give the scene meaning

and emotion, that’s where the actors come in something cold just seem like a boring scene,

but when emotion is brought in everything changes. Also with sounds, for example if there were a scene shot in a park, having sounds brought in of wind and trees to make it

more spooky creates atmosphere than if it were just silent.

Shooting Techniques

Master Shot

Close Up

The master shot is used for two things, firstly and mainly to get everything that’s important, in the shot. Secondly, it can be used as an establishing shot, to get surroundings and things of interest into the shot.

Establishing Shot

The establishing shot is used to identify the scene and its surroundings for the viewers.

Close up shots are generally used to record reaction, for example in Eastenders, a girl tells a man he is fathering her child so when she tells him they record his face

close up to see his reaction

Cutaways

Repetition

Usually in things like documentaries, for example if someone were to be talking about something, they would cut away and have the visuals of the subject whilst speaking about it, this is used in ‘Bowling for Columbine’

Scenes can maybe be repeated for importance and if the audience need to remember something, but generally repetition isnt used a lot in single camera productions.