A single camera production is when only one camera is used on a shoot rather than multiple cameras. This is likely to be used on the set of a short film as they tend to have short scripts, or it could possibly be due to a small budget or the equipment that is available to you. Using Multi camera means that shots can edited together quickly, providing the viewer with something new to look at. This can be achieved on a single camera production too, but a scene will have to be shot multiple times from different angles to achieve the same look. Using single camera also means that time can be taken to construct the scenes well.
As you will know there are numerous formats of media: series, serial, drama and films to name a few, but it can be difficult to work out whether they are single or multi camera productions. First of all, I will look into Series; television series typically follow a continuous story line that spans the entire series, which is made up of numerous episodes. Popular series include Glee, Sherlock and Dexter, which tend to be ‘open ended’ meaning, that there is a cliff hanger at the end of an episode but also that a new audience can not start watching from the middle of a series and understand what is happening in the plot. Television series typically tend to be multi camera as this allows the filmmakers to cover more action quicker, hopefully saving money, and catching all the emotion from multiple characters in the same shot. However, Dexter is a series that has pushed against the norm, using only single camera, allowing each scene to be lit individually so that the episode reaches its full potential.
Dexter is well known for being a hybrid genre; therefore the narrative structure features codes and conventions of crime and mystery genres. Romeo Trione, Director of Photography on Dexter was interviewed in High Def magazine in 2009 and explains the kind of camera angles and techniques they use to create this genre. “There is a distinctive look to Dexter…it is a graphic novel…and we really try to keep it that: low wide angle lenses, lots of movement in the camera…” (Trione, 2009) The techniques used in Dexter helps to explain the narrative structure and Dexter’s personality. Romeo Trione uses techniques such as low camera angles looking up at Dexter, as seen in the clip below. Despite him being a serial killer, he is an anti-hero so the camera looks up at him to portray his power, making him seem God-like. Close ups are also used so that we can see the reaction and emotion on Dexter’s face.
In this clip we also see an example of the 180° rule, which is when you have an imaginary line on set, which you do not cross with the camera. This provides one side of the screen to one character, and the other side to the other character, meaning that the audience does not get confused and disorientated with where the characters’ are standing in relation to one another.
Flashbacks are used regularly in the series as we see in the clip below when he remembers his mother.
Flashbacks of his father occur in every episode in order to support Dexter and justify his actions to the audience.
Using these techniques makes the audience feel closer to the character, almost as if we know and understand them.
The use of colour is also important in this series; as we can see from the images for the series, blood is a main feature running throughout all of the series, as he is a blood expert and knows how to kill.
The importance of contrast in colour is also heavily portrayed in the title sequence.
For instance when he cuts himself shaving and blood drops onto the white sink. A contrast like that is memorable, so even if a viewer doesn’t enjoy it, those images will stay in their heads due to the techniques used.
Lighting is another technical aspect that goes remains unnoticed when you watch this series, however that means it is creating the mood and atmosphere it is supposed to be creating. Lighting is used as an art; to cast shadows over the character, Dexter when he is about to kill his victim to create mystery and intrigue as the audience wait to find out more. Or is used as a tool to interrogate his victim while they are on his operating table, as we can see in this next clip.
There are two types of editing that may be used, linear and non-linear; linear being where you physically cut the film, whereas, non-linear editing allows the editor to cut footage digitally. This means that footage does not need to be shot in chronological order, instead you could shoot the middle, then the end and then the beginning. It all depends on when your actors, location and equipment are available and what works best for you and your production. Productions tend to use one or the other technique; Dexter however, did use both. When asked to describe the production of Dexter by High Def magazine, Romeo explains that Dexter is a hybrid show which was shot on HD and film, “Sometimes it became complicated going back and forth between one and the other…” Meaning that he got a new camera and they now shoot everything in HD. “…the latitude on it is so broad I feel like now I have to light it more like film…”. These kinds of series are well known for producing hour-long episodes, the fact that each shot is lit individually means that each episode looks and feels more like a film than a television series.
Unlike television series, sitcoms such as Friends tend to be ‘closed’ episodes. Despite the fact that they feature a continuous storyline, many sitcoms are ‘closed’ episodes, meaning that a new audience can watch a random episode and understand who each character is and their relationship to one another. However, they do tend to be shot using multi camera as it is in front of a live audience. Another media format is webisodes, this is a modern way to watch shorts featuring characters from your favourite televisions series. It is an up to date format as online demand for short films and episodes is increasing as people spend more time online now. I recently emailed Adam Woodhall, online producer of the webisodes for the well-known television series Skins who was happy to answer my questions about, whether they used single or multi camera for the shoot of their mini episodes. He replied saying, “For the webisodes we almost always shoot single camera. Reasons being the scripts are generally quite short and therefore manageable and we can take our time constructing the scenes using only one camera.” This links back to Dexter, that a producer may want to spend more time constructing and lighting the scene so it looks believable. He then goes on to talk about a specific episode in which it features a large group of people dancing, “That being said, on the zombie webisode we did shoot multi camera on some scenes such as the zombie fight sequence and dancing on the counter top, there was a lot to cover.” Using two cameras instead of one would mean they could cover more action, quicker. However, a short film would generally only include a few characters, “Another reason we normally use single camera for webisodes is that they normally have a smaller number of characters.” Meaning that it should not take too long to shoot a scene more than once in order to get different angles.
There are disadvantages to a single camera production, such as doing so many takes of the same scene in order to get different shot sizes, camera angles and camera movements. It is much easier using a multi camera set up to get all of this shots in one take, this means shooting gets done quickly and efficiently and the cast and crew do not get over tired. However, Dexter promotes the advantages of single camera production extremely well due to the techniques that Romeo Trione uses. Using single camera on a production like Dexter means that the story is told artistically, they not only rely on characters but also on technical aspects such as lighting, colour and camera angles to portray the story and create the emotions they want the audience to feel. It creates a much bigger feel to the production and brings life to scenes, which may not have had as much impact if it was not lit in so many different ways just for thirty seconds of footage.
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Bibliography:
- High Def (2009) High Def [Online]. Available from: http://www.highdef.com/magazine/archive/HighDef_2009_1JanFeb.pdf [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
- SHOWTIME (2006) Youtube [Online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77f7OhcMof4 [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
- The Dexter Blog (2010) Youtube [Online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYiEh7D2_Gw [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
- The good world (2012) Youtube [Online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK7RCyMRdxs [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
- SHOWTIME (2006) Youtube [Online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4 [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
- Poke It Away (2008) Youtube [Online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsd9V1abNqg [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
- Skins Season 6 (2012) Youtube [Online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8SCKSaMAfE [Accessed: 2 June 2012]
Gemma Hall's TV & Video 