Jakes Level 3 Media Blog (Single Camera)

Community (2009-15) Dan Harmon This scene has lots of different shots in it, whether it's a shot facing Pierce, Jeff, Troy, Britta and Abed, or Annie, there's also a number of other shots, for example at 0:19 which includes Britta, Pierce and Jeff. This shows there is a huge variety of shots within this short 2 minute scene, thus we can indicate that this will have taken a long time to shoot. This is because the scene would have been shot facing, for example, Jeff, then the scene would have to be performed again, this time with the camera facing Abed and Britta. This highlights one of the major negatives of single camera productions, that simply being the time it takes overall to shoot scenes. Although, despite this negative, there is positives to be taken out of it, and that's that there's lots of variety within the scene and we can get a better understanding, especially in this case, of the reactions of all the characters. There is no master shot within this scene, ...

No Church In The Wild (2012) Jay-Z & Kanye West This music video, uses a single camera to shoot it's manic, Prague based, riot footage. There is a vast range of shots per scene, which means this likely took a very long time to film, this is an example of the disadvantages of single camera productions. However since this is a single camera production the varying camera angles and shot types that show different angles and viewpoints of the mobs are very realistic, in that no other cameras or pieces of equipment are noticeable in these shots, that's because there are no other cameras or equipment parts, this helps keep up continuity too. There are also a lot of establishing and long shots used to set scenes and show the large number of people within the mobs, this is effective at establishing the scale of the assaults. In terms of continuity, there is no real errors, the best example of continuity being correctly taken into account is at around 3:18 when a police officer i...

Louis Theroux: Behind Bars (2008) Louis Theroux This documentary uses a singular camera, which is perfect for it, multiple cameras would not be necessary, The camera, at the beginning of the interview starts by showing key details and points to perhaps show the steps gone through to get to the interview stage. This is prevalent in a lot of his documentaries, before the interview truly begins there'll be perhaps a minute or less of shots showing the stages taken to get to that final interview point, for example in Dark States when he interviews a pimp there is about 35 seconds before it begins, these 35 seconds are used to show Louis' journey there, setting the scene and allowing him to explain some background information. During the interview the camera simply moves between Louis and the inmate as they talk to one another, this means not many cuts are required, although some are used, it's not too often. However the cuts that are used don't break up the scene too muc...

500 Days Of Summer (2009) Marc Webb This scene has got 2 shots, this shows the downsides to single camera productions, there usually isn't much variety in shots, this however, isn't necessarily a bad thing. As the scene goes on the camera slowly zooms in with each shot change, this represents the engagement that the characters are going through and that we should be feeling. These shots alternate between a two-shot and an over-the-shoulder shot, these 2 shots help to show the relationship between the characters, as they're always in the shot together, and thus we get to see both of their reactions and expressions, therefore furthering the way we perceive their relationship with one another, as we get two viewpoints, either we see the person who's speaking and can see the way they're saying it and depict their emotions based on the way they're saying it, or we see the person who's being spoken to as the prime subject and can see how they react to what's...

Single Camera productions are very popular, even in some of the largest and most impressive shows like Game Of Thrones , single camera productions use, obviously, only one camera, and this is effective not only for budgetary reasons. They're also effective because other cameras won't accidentally be visible in scenes, therefore allowing more flexibility, it's also easier to gather all the shots together after shooting since they're all on one camera, and not on various different ones. It also allows the director to have more control over a shot, this is because there's only one camera and they can control it much easier than multiple cameras, each with a camera crew. However, despite all these positive points, there are of course negatives, first of all being that after each shot the camera will have to be moved and then moved after that shot, making the whole process a lot more tedious than if there were multiple cameras, this therefore means the whole process i...

Breaking Bad  (2008-13) Vince Gilligan This brilliant drama series is shot using a single camera, and the scene that'll be analysed is the scene where Jesse shoots Gale, this shot is full of close ups of both Jesse and Gale's faces, this is so that we can see their emotions, Jesse's clear fear and sadness tell us he's clearly second guessing himself, and Gale's sporadic head movements and watering eyes show his fear and desperation to live. However despite these close-ups there are more shot types, at the beginning of the scene there is yet another close up shot which has a very shallow depth of field, the only thing in focus is the phone on top of the CD's this is because it's the only important part of the scene so attention needs to be placed on it. There is an Over The Shoulder shot both when Gale opens the door to Jesse and when Jesse pulls out the gun on Gale, this put's us in the perspective of both characters at both different times and shows t...