The Opportunities and Limitations in Using a Single Camera

The Opportunities and Limitations in Using a Single Camera

In the early days of film making the director would not have the

choice of using the multi-camera setups and editing suites that we

have today. He or she would have just one camera to shoot all the

shots needed and then when it came to the editing process, all the

shots would need to be selected, the different frames sliced apart,

and spliced back together in the desired order. As you can imagine

this was a time consuming process, and although this appeared to be a

big limitation on some television genre's at the time such as sit-com

and live broadcasts, it allowed the film industry to flourish.

The use of the single camera drew the director into a more creative

role leaving open the opportunity to work more closely with actors,

and to get the best results from them. Because of the number of shots

needing to be taken rehearsals are more intense, and need to be

practiced down to a T. Using a single camera you can mimic the look of

multi camera setups by repeating the scene as many times as needed to

get all the angles, generally the shots that are needed are; master

shot, medium shot and close-ups, with any cutaways that are needed

filmed at the end. The rushes are then edited together into the final

piece. Although this method is extremely time consuming, and gruelling

for the actors, it allows the director to push the actors, and to get

across exactly what is in his mind.

Another creative ...