Unit 22 - A1 - Single Vs Multi Camera Productions

Unit 22 - Assignment 1 - Task 1

Single Vs Multi Camera Productions

Dear Short Film Festival. I believe that there are many reasons why a single camera production would be beneficial for you. The advantages to a single camera production are limitless.



Advantages:



One of the advantages of a single camera production is that is extremely cheap and affordable within your budget. There are 4 pieces of equipment which are extremely necessary. Luckily the equipment comes in at an absolute bargain of a price. The first piece of equipment which is compulsory is the digital camera. This piece of equipment is needed because without the camera we can't film anything. Luckily for you the digital camera only comes in at £250 per day. You have to admit that is an absolute bargain for such great quality. The next piece of equipment which is necessary is the lighting. You'll be happy to know that the lighting comes in at a very cheap price being £50 per day. That's not all! The equipment does get cheaper. The next piece of equipment which is needed is the dolly track. You'll be ecstatic to know that the dolly track comes in at only £31 per day. Such a low price for amazing quality. The last piece of equipment which is obligatory is the camera man. Now the camera man happens to be the most expensive piece of equipment coming in at £500 per day, however with that £500 you are getting the best of the best, you won't find better quality anywhere else, it would be worth every penny. All together it would add up to £831. That is an extremely low and affordable price for such quality. There are also some small costs that will needed. We will need £23 per hour to rent an editing suite during post-production.

Another advantage of a single camera production is that it is easier to mend errors. Nowadays in films it's very rare that an actor can get a scene right the first time. Sometimes they can never get it right due to little things. With a single camera the scenes don't have to be shot in order therefore if one scene has an error it won't effect the other scene..

Another advantage of a single camera production would be that it is much easier to focus on one thing. This has a big part to play with the audience because it determines their mood towards the production and it also helps them understand what is important and what they should be focused on. An example would be the actors. The audience would have to watch closely to understand what is happening.



One huge advantage of a single camera production is that the scenes don't have to be shot in order. If one scene has some mistakes it won't affect the other scene. We can film different scenes at any time of any day. Then edit these scenes together and make it look like they were shot all in one day. This means that the actors won't get tired and they will be able to rest so they can come back and be re-energized for the next day.


An additional advantage of a single camera production for the director is that there is no limits on space. Because there is only one camera there will be much more available space and this is useful for the director because it becomes less compact which gives the actors some sort of freedom to use what they have around them.



Final advantage of a single camera production is that it has portability. Due to this it is much easier to move around and set up all the equipment again when needed because it is only a single camera. This means that it will take less to film a scene. It will just make it much easier to film different segments of a film. An example of it's portability would be if we were to change locations then we would only 1 lorry instead of 5 because there is less equipment therefore it would be less consuming.

Having said all these advantages and perks to single camera productions, there are also disadvantages to it.




Disadvantages:


One disadvantage of a single camera production is the different angles of which the scenes have to be shot at. Different camera shots and angles can be very effective depending of the specific type of film we are producing and it's genre. Also because it's only one camera it is more difficult to cover all angles.

Another disadvantage of a single camera production is that it may take longer to edit. Depending on the length of the film. There will be a lot of footage from scenes which have been shot on different days but they will need to be edited so that the film makes sense and everything is in order. There tends to be tiny mistakes which aren't noticed until after the filming is done. When these mistakes are noticed they take time to remove by editing. Also because you are shooting with one camera, you are have edit every shot one by one whereas with multi-camera you could shoot different angles at different times.

Another disadvantage of a single camera production is that there are less realistic reactions. Due to one actor being filmed at a time, the reactions aren't as natural. This is because the actor won't have anything thrown at them by surprise to make them react.

One huge disadvantage of a single camera production is that there is a lot of repetition. Sometimes the same shot will be repeated 3 times so that you can capture each angle because you can only get one at a time, however if it was a multi camera you can capture everything all at once.

Final disadvantage of a single camera production is that it takes much longer to film. Due to the fact that there is only is one camera it will take much longer because the scene's will be shot on separate days whereas with a multi camera you would be able to shoot scenes quicker because there is more than one camera so each camera can focus on a different scene.


Although  I believe that a single camera production is better, a multi-camera production also has it's perks.

Advantages:

One of the big advantages of a multi camera production is that it is a much quicker process. Due to a multi camera set up you can record multiple shots and angles all in one swift process.This is a necessity for films that can’t take their time in filming if they have to output their film on a regular basis.

Another advantage of a multi camera production is that it can also be cheap. This is because with a multi-camera production you can produce a film in a shorter time period which can make it cheaper to set up. It’s generally just less time consuming

A huge advantage of a multi camera production is that you can capture an actors best performance. This is because unlike single camera you don't have to keep repeating the scene. By repeating the same scene it can affect the actors performance. By continuously doing the same scene they made lose interest in the scene and they won't as much effort in to it. Performers tend to put all their effort in to the first few attempts. The acting getting worse as they are being forced to do the scene continuously.

Final advantage of a multi camera production is that there is much more coverage. This is a good thing because the director might pick up on things to extend the film and make it better for the viewers.

Even though there are many perks to a multi camera production it also has it's flaws. 


Disadvantages:

Ironically one of the disadvantages of a multi camera production is that it takes longer to set up even though it's a quicker production. This is because there is more equipment, there's 4 cameras instead of 1. There will be more lighting which will also take long to set up.

Another disadvantage of a multi camera production is that the aesthetic isn't very good. Unlike a single camera where all the equipment is reset after each shot, you must stand by the aesthetic from the start because the equipment is already set up.

Final disadvantage of a multi camera production is the locations. Most directors tend to shoot scenes and get their footage all on set rather than a real location. Due to this it will make the film seem less believable to the audience.

Existing Single Camera Tv Shows:

• C.S.I
• The Pacific
• Sex and the City 
• Spaced
• Lost

Existing Multi Camera Tv Shows:

• X Factor
• Britain's Got Talent
• American Idol
• Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel
• Match Of The Day

For example X Factor would be more suitable for a multi camera production because they need to focus on everything around the room such as the judges, the audience, the singers whereas with single camera they would only specifically focus on one thing and that one thing only.

Another example would be C.S.I. This would be more suitable for a single camera production. This is because in this show they tend to focus on one particular thing during a scene. This helps keep the audience engaged. However if this was a multi camera production you would see more things in scene which can drag your focus away from what is important.


In terms of appeal to audience, most audiences prefer to watch Multi Camera productions. This is because the audience is able to see many more things due to their being more camera's whereas with single camera it can bore the audience because they will get tired of focusing on the same thing. However i believe that it would be better to do a single camera production because it meets the whole criteria of a short film festival.