Single Camera Techniques

If it is simplified in a way that is accessible to many, moving image texts really come in essentially two differing flavours. Single Camera and multi camera techniques. Neither of these are perfect by any means, however, in this post I will be focusing purely on single camera productions and what they en-tale and what exactly it takes to produce a single camera production.


How is the camera used and the footage shot?

To begin with single camera productions were the norm in movie production due to there being no way to synchronize multiple cameras at one time. So originally single cameras were seen as a limitation but over time producers and directors have unearthed the positives of using it and it is still commonplace in the industry to use a single camera.

Using a single camera is more time consuming than using multiple cameras but it does offer the best opportunity to maximize artistic flair in the production.

Each scene is filmed separately and is shot multiple times until the director is eventually satisfied with what has been shot.

This allows the Actors, lighting directors, makeup artists and audio people to focus on at one time, this is once again more time consuming but does allow for a more refined final product.

The camera is essentially put in one place and that one camera is used for every single shot and everyone focuses on this and puts their time and effort into it. This as previously stated is time consuming but produces exactly what the director intends to.


A prime example of a single camera production is: The Office.

Here is a clip of this in action.



How is a single camera production lit?


Single camera productions are usually lit using the '3 point lighting system' this is where 3 lights are placed around the person or object who is in shot, and placed in a certain way, this is when 2 lights are either side of the camera and one extra light behind the subject which ensures that they're in the shot as clear as possible. Single camera productions are much easier to light than their multi camera counterparts. This is due to each of their shots being done seperately, which means that if one set up isn't working then it can be shot as many times as needed until the required shot is achieved



What are the advantages/disadvantages of sound in single camera?

Sound in single camera productions offers more flexibility due to it being easy to edit in post production. Since there are multiple takes of a single shot the editor has a lot of freedom to edit and can take sounds from each shots and put them into the final piece, they can also place sounds in from other sources into the final piece to make once engaging, final shot, this is easier to do and in much more refined detail due to it only being on one piece. This is a big positive for the sound crew and editing team as they are able to focus all of their time and effort into one piece and make that one piece perfect. On the other hand, multi camera productions aren't able to do this as they have alot more issues to worry about and often the sound is hindered by this as they have multiple cameras and often characters to worry about in every single scene so often there may be several problems with sound that will need to be tinkered with in post production.

However, sound in single camera productions does have it's drawbacks, as there's only one camera it can be hard to hide to get the correct audio quality, however these issues can be tampered with in post production, some of the audio quality may however be lost in the process.




How is a single camera production edited?

A single camera production is very difficult to edit, this is due to the fact that a 5 minute scene can often have over an hours worth of footage in it, this will need to be cut down and have all the sound and video altered in the editing which is a very time consuming process. Therefore the editorial team have alot of work to do, but however it is easier to edit than multi camera productions due to there being multiple cameras, audio channels and other things to incorporate. In that respect, single camera productions are easier to edit.