Multicamera Camera Techniques

James has assigned me to write out a piece of work on the base of analyzing a studio set sequence. The shows I have chosen to talk about are Eastenders for a soap evaluation, Two Broke Girls as a sitcom evaluation and Take Me Out as a games show/competition.

A TV Soap Opera is an ongoing or concurrently series of dramatic fiction that is formatted on radio and also television. The genre of a soap opera is dramatic and deals typically with daily events in lives of the same group of characters.

A sitcom is short for 'situation comedy' which is in the genre of comedy featuring characters that share the same common environment with humorous dialogue.They are originated in radio but are also found almost exclusively on TV as one of its dominate narrative forms.

A game show is a radio or television program in which contestants answer questions or participate in a game in order to win prizes. These can be games of knowledge/chance or can be for entertainment purposes only. The genre of a game show is entertainment. 

I will begin by talking about my chosen TV Soap opera Eastenders. Eastenders is one of the most popular soaps on TV. It was published in 1985 and has been running ever since; it airs on BBC1, BBC three (as a replay) and also available on BBC iplayer. The target audience for this is 10 year old and older. Eastenders are both genders males and females also the genre is drama. It is pre- recorded a week before and it appears on TV 5 days a week, this is the schedule.

EASTENDERS	BBC ONE	BBC THREE	BBC I PLAYER
Monday	20.00 till 20.30	22.00 till 22.30	7days
Tuesday	19.30 till 20.00	22.00 till 22.30	7days
Thursday	19.30 till 20.00	22.00 till 22.30	7days
Friday	20.00 till 20.30	22.00 till 22.30	7days
Sunday	13.00 till 15.00	-	7days

This is a close up of Lauren. Close ups are used to show deep emotions of a character and also to see their reaction to a situation. Close ups are used to often emphasis the emotions and make them seem more realistic. 

This is a long shot of Lauren approaching the other male. Long shots are often used on camera to show us the location and atmosphere of the characters and we can usually see from head to toe of a character. It also allows us to see what movements or actions are being done. Long shots can often also emphasis how big a location is and exadurate how the whole scene looks.

In this shot, they have used what could be called a low shot but depending on how much we can see it may also change into a birds eye view. A birds eye view shot is often from above and allows us to look down on anything that is happening but is also used for bigger views e.g City scapes or a whole country. In this low shot it shows us this character on the floor showing us shes been hit to the ground and as we are looking down on her it makes us feel a little more sympathetic towards her. 

As the two sisters argue, they use a medium shot to put both characters in view however dont want to focus on location, more on what they are both doing which in this case is arguing. Medium shots are used to show yet not emphasize. 

This is an over the shoulder shot. Over the shoulder shots are used to show two people but from an outside perspective. It shows us the talker and whom the talker may be talking to. It is more realistic than using a close up because we can also see how the other talker is reacting to the speaker. Not expressions but actions eg shrugs, head shaking or looking down or away.

My next topic will be Sitcom. In this evaluation, I will be using '2 broke girls' as my chosen show. It is an american program aired on E4 and is usually on TV on Thursdays at 9.30pm. It is about two individual girls. One whom use to be rich and lost all her money and one whom has always been broke. They meet at work and decided to work together on a business making cupcakes but struggle as they come across unfortunate events on their journey. This is the scheduling for '2 Broke Girls'.

THURSDAY	E4 21.30 till 22.00	E4 + 1 22.30 till 23.00	4OD 44 days

They pan over the two girls and finish on a mid shot of the two girls reading a letter. Mid shot again shows us more of the actions of the characters rather than focusing on act of place or setting. They open up this episode with this shot revealing already what most of this episode will be about.

This is now a long shot of the girls as we want to see place of location as they are opening up the store they both work in and also gives an opportunity to introduce any new characters into the scene. We can see they are at work and what it is they are doing. The shots also continuously pass over each other in mid shots as they both converse with each other. It is at a mid angle because again this is not a very large shot eg; beach or actual location so we do not need to emphasize the atmosphere they both are in.

This shot is just after the long shot and allows the episode to introduce new characters in the scene. As it is not an important setting and we want to focus on change of atmosphere with this new character all they needed to use was a medium shot to show the previous characters along with the new character.

These two shots can both be side shots and over the shoulder shots. These side shots are used to show again, a conversation but instead of just showing the actions of the other characters, we can see the reactions also because it is a side angle.  It is more effective than an over the shoulder shot because it makes it more realistic and as though we are in the scene with them but also adds more emotion.

Finally, these use pan shots to show us any movement or change of location on set. They have panned from the main dining restaurant to inside the kitchen which also reminds us where they are and what it is they're doing which in this case it is work.



Finally I will evaluate my chosen Games show which is Take Me out. This is a Games Show hosted by Paddy McGuinness and Airs On ITV. The aim of the show is for a man to choose a date to go on holiday with him by choosing from up to 22 girls by completing tasks and asking questions both the ladies and the man looking. 


Take Me Out                             ITV                                     40D

Saturday                          18.00 till 19.00                        7 days 

We start off with a pan showing us the whole studio and live audience then we have a few cuts to the host of the show Paddy McGuinness. This is to introduce the host and show us the setting and location of where this Game show is being held and also who else is in the studio. We see the host come out from the lift and have a wide shot as he gets 5 seconds to do something of his character eg A quick dance showing us the character of this host. 

We then have a medium shot after this of only the host introducing himself, opening the show and telling the audience (us) how to play the game and the aim of the show. This again keeps us interested as we see some facial expressions from the host himself and giving us an insight of what we can expect on the episode. By talking direct to the camera this makes it more engaging to the audience and keeps them interested. 

Here we have a birds eye view of the contestants up for winning the lucky date with the man. The birds eye view is to keep the angles interesting and to also show us more of the audience in the shots and also the set up of the studio. It emphasizes how big the location actually is and how many contestants there will be on the show. Using a birds eye view shot just gives it a more dynamic feel to watch. 

This is a medium-long shot of the girls walking out onto their panels and ready to compete with each other. This shot is used to show us the contestants, how they look and introduces them individually without doing so on a separate part of the show as that would be time consuming. So instead of introducing the contestants they bring them out in two's and give us different shots and angles to show us what they look like and give you the chance of choosing your favorite contestant. By using this medium-long shot we also see the audience's reactions to the girls and them cheering them on. 

Here, they have used a wide shot to show the contestants and the contender playing the games. In this part of the show, the lucky gentleman choosing the girls, does so by turning lights off or keeping them on. As the girls are stood in one long row, they use a wide shot to get as much action as they can by panning and following the actions of the contender choosing. By doing this and cutting back to close ups of the reactions, it makes it more exciting to watch as cut shots always make things visually exciting to watch and adds more drama making it tense. 

Finally, we have some close ups of the contestants (being the girls) reactions as some have been turned down and some have been lucky. By using a close up it emphasizes reactions greatly and we can see the different expressions from each girl. 


I will now conclude my essay by talking about Single camera and Multi-Camera and also comparing the pros and cons of the two. Both Multi and Single camera work well however with Single Camera the advantages are, that it is easier to work with. It's direct meaning the maximum people you would need to work this is 2. By having two people work on single camera you wouldn't have to hire as many people on set meaning less work when editing and saving money too as it is cheaper having less camera men as you cut cost for running. Single camera is very beneficial for small projects or making Pilots etc. However, with Multi Camera this can not be. Although, By having Single camera there are also a few weakness. Some of these are by having Single camera, it will take longer in the filming process especially if you may need different angles and shots to keep the footage looking interesting. It is possible that this may add up to be more expensive because longer filming time means paying for staff for longer, hiring equipment and location for longer and is very time consuming. 

Multi-camera's are excellent when it comes to shooting productions that are studio based and more beneficial than Single camera. Multi-cameras are also perfect to use for live shows as you may have an audience that you want in the shot or a pan of the studio, the presenters and guests are in different positions so you must be able to capture all of that too and by using Multi-camera, all of this is possible. By having all these different angles and shots, you have more to play around with in the editing process and will always have extra footage. However, there are some disadvantages in Multi-camera. You will need a bigger crew on set as well as runners as there are many people on set that need assistance. You will also need to hire more equipment as well as collecting footage and audio from many different cameras, meaning the editing would potentially take longer. By having more people on set, this gives it more possibility for problems to arise whereas single camera, there would only be a minimum amount of people working meaning less problems. The director and vision mixer will also, have a bigger job to do as they will always have to stay alert as so much is going on. 

In conclusion, I think budget is what really matters and what type of show or episode is being filmed. When shooting a live show or a games show, Multi-camera is beneficial however, when shooting episodes of a soap where there is minimal action and movement, a single camera is more ideal and works well with small budgets.