Unit 21 - Single Camera Techniques

Doctor Who ‘Gridlock’ Analysis
The format of Doctor Who is a multi-strand, hybrid genre drama. Doctor Who is mainly sci-fi along with elements of comedy, crime, mild horror, action and time travel. The narrative structure is fairly complex in terms of the many different characters in the episode and the different races and personalities involved. Going on the Todarof theory the equilibrium is at the start where Doctor Who and Martha are discussing where and when they could visit and just general conversation. However these is a disruption before this in which two people are mysteriously killed on the ‘fast-lane’, this is sort of a prologue and sets the viewer up for what’s to happen later in the program. The main disruption is when Martha is kidnapped by a desperate couple who are trying to get to the ‘fast-lane’. The resolution is when the doctor revives the city. The story is somewhat multi-stranded with there being about 2 maybe 3 strands going on at the same time. The program runs in a linear format with no flashbacks which is surprising for a program based on time travel. There is a clash of realism and anti-realism because the people look and talk just like us yet they drive flying cars and the program involves giant crabs creating a commonly used juxtaposition which gives the piece a high level of generic verisimilitude.

The program ends with a resolution, the resolution being the doctor saving the city, but there is a subtle cliff hanger when ‘The Face of Boe’ tells the doctor that he is not alone, assuming he means that he isn’t the last time lord he though he was which leaves the episode open-ended. I think that through the entire episode there is frequent use of high-key lighting. There are a few occurrences of low-key lighting when the pair are in the under city and in the car when they turn the lights off. I think that in a sci-fi drama it’s a typical convention for there to be high-key lighting because it makes it more visual and brighter therefore you can see the advanced technology better. The sounds in a sci-fi drama are endless, from space age doors to space ships to aliens. The vast majority of the sound in this episode is diagetic although there is non-diagetic sound such as the music bed or the background music.

The editing is normally paced; it accelerates in the action scenes and slows down in the extended conversation like any other drama. There are no real transitions from scene to scene they just cut from one to the other. To separate the actual program from the ‘what’s going to happen next week’ part the Doctor Who logo flies across the screen anchoring what were watching and establishing corporate identity. The camera shots are many because the show includes animation so there are some amazing tracking shots of a flying car barely evading the gaping claws of giant crabs. Shots like these can keep the audience watching and enthralled in what they’re watching. The rest of the time there’s just the normal shots that you’d have in any drama; Long shot, middle shot, close-ups and a few extreme long shots. This variation of camera shots is important to keep the audience watching and prevent them from getting bored. I think the primary target audience for this particular program would be people who are interested in sci-fi between the ages of 14 and 40 and the secondary target audience would be a wider age range, maybe 10 and upwards and they don’t have to be particularly interested in the sci-fi genre.


Task 1: Use the links below to help you write a few paragraphs that answer the following questions. (P1, M1, D1)

In a single camera program, primarily one camera is used and shots are often taken out of order, although more than one camera can be used at one time. Whereas in multi-camera productions several cameras are employed and they simultaneously record or broadcast a scene. An advantage of using the single camera format is that you can give your viewer more of a feel for the setting of the scene by following the character(s) as they navigate them. The single camera format is also cheaper to use because you don’t have to have more than one camera. Whereas an advantage of the multi-camera format is that it’s often more interesting to the viewer seen as the pace of the production seems faster and maybe more upbeat. Another advantage of using the multi-camera format is that it’s easier to create things like tension and/or suspense because of the pace you can create from switching between different cameras.

An example of a single camera production is Malcolm in the Middle because of the way the camera ‘follows’ Frankie Muniz. An example of a multi-camera production is Friends because it switches to different shots frequently even in the scenes where the characters are in the apartment. The single camera format may want to be used when the director wants to give the viewer more of a feel for the setting. Whereas the multi-camera format may want to be used at a part in a production that is fast paced and sets out to create tension.

Task 2: Write a short paragraph explaining the differences between series, serials and single dramas. Write about four TV programmes from different genres and explain which category they fall into and why. (P1, M1, D1)

Made In Britain
Made In Britain is a 1982 single drama about a 16-year-old white power skinhead named Trevor. The drama is often mistaken for a film because it basically is one. It was originally broadcast on ITV as part of the ‘Tales Out Of School’ film series and features strong language, violence, racism and carries a heavy anti-establishment feeling[1]. It’s a single camera drama and there is lots of shots following Trevor from either behind or walking with him filming him from the front. It is also probably filmed in a single camera format because the film aims to depict English working-class life and this is done better through using a single camera to make it look more budgeted to emphasise the lack of money.

Lost
Lost is an American television series that falls into the Adventure Drama genre but there are elements of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Thriller in there too[2]. Its about the lives of a set of people that survive a plane crash on a tropical mysterious island. The show has quite a rigid structure because each episode consists of a primary storyline, which is set on the island, as well as a secondary storyline from before the crash in one of the character’s lives. So the main story is in a sequential narrative but there are elements of non-linear narrative thanks to the flashbacks and the recent involvement of time-travel. It’s a multi-camera drama because tension in very frequently created and the endings are always open and often major cliff-hangers.

Prehistoric Park
Prehistoric Park is a six-episode docu-drama with a science fiction twist that premiered on ITV. The show is made by the same people who brought you Walking With Dinosaurs. It stars Nigel Marven and the fictional element is that Nigel goes to various time periods through a time portal and brings back live specimens to put on exhibit at Prehistoric Park[3]. Even with things like time travel included in the program the dinosaur re-animation is fact-based because they’re trying to illustrate how dinosaurs would have lived at that time as well as entertain us. The narrative structure is very tricky here because it involves time travel and when you start playing about with that it gets a bit complicated. It is an anti-realist show with some realist aspects to it for example the way they try to re-animate the dinosaurs natural behaviour at that era.

Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers was a UK sitcom starring John Cleese, Connie Booth and Prunella Scales. I have chosen this program because I think it’s close to being a serial because they only ever made 12 episodes whereas most sitcoms make loads of episodes. The show is set in a fictional hotel named Fawlty Towers and the owner is Basil Fawlty (John Cleese). The show is in a realist format and is in a strict linear narrative. We have an unrestricted bank of information on Basil’s doings whereas his wife (Sybil) often doesn’t which creates the tension and some of the best parts in the storylines.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_In_Britain

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_(TV_series)

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_park

Task 3: Based on a discussion of the three clips below, this link and your own knowledge of film and television, use specific examples to explain where different narrative structures occour and why they are used. (P1, M1, D1)

I’m going to talk about the narrative structure in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction. The structure is non-sequential because the stories for each character(s) ‘cross-over’ at different points. The film is set out so that we see a story for each character(s) however they’re not in order and we often see the character(s) stories cross paths which fills in plot holes as the film goes along, a common narrative structure for Quentin Tarantino. I suppose the information we receive is both unrestricted and restricted because sometimes we get an outside view of what’s really going on but there’s also times when we see things from the point of view of the characters and new information is found so the film is both subjective and objective.

The effect of having a non-linear narrative is that the viewer has to think about what’s going on more because it is nearly always unclear. This type of narrative is for a more active viewer rather than the kind of passive viewer who enjoys linear production more. Non-sequential narratives are usually a more challenging type of narrative to interpret for a lot of people which is why most films operate in the linear narrative. An advantage of the linear narrative is that they make the production easy for the audience to understand whereas a disadvantage is that the linear narrative can have constraints because you have to keep things in order and follow a strict structure. People’s brain’s these days are trained from an early age to understand programs in a linear narrative because its just how most productions are presented therefore this is probably the reason most people would prefer a production with a linear narrative. Flashbacks are a great way of creating different emotions in a film/TV show. Flashbacks can bring elements of; comedy, mystery, realization e.t.c. into a production, they can also fill plot holes.

Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium – Disruption – Resolution is more likely to be used in order in sequential narrative because it creates a more rigid structure and it’s easier to follow. It is common in non-linear narrative structures for the director to mix up the Todorov theory to throw the viewer somewhat and play around with the usual conventions. Personally I really enjoy films and TV shows that take the usual conventions and destroy them with a metaphorical sledge hammer because it makes a more individualist production and also shows initiative to create something original without guidelines, constraints or barriers. Films such as Fight Club and Donnie Darko execute this technique of challenging conventions beautifully in a way that only the most creative directors can do.

Task 4: Using the information below write or record a commentary of the following clip. Explain how the following are used to good effect. (P1, M1, D1)

After the opening credits there are two establishing shots followed by an extreme close up of the woman to show a tear trickling down her face. In one of the establishing shots we see two men leave a car and come and stand either side of the woman. These first few shots help establish that the woman is central to the scene and that the events at hand revolve around her in some way. When the flashbacks are playing they are shown in black and white to illustrate that something negative or morbid is happening/going to happen. In the flashbacks the edges of the shot are blurred to make it obvious it is a flashback to an earlier time. Quite early on it becomes apparent due to the information the flashbacks grace us with that the woman gave some drugs to another female, consequently the other female overdosed and we are made to believe she is dead. We receive more flashbacks of the woman reading newspaper headlines using the words; Illegal Drugs and Death. When going in between the flashbacks and reality there is a sharp sound that signifies we are switching between the two tenses.

The lighting in the shots in reality is made to replicate daylight and normality. In the flashbacks the lighting is in a higher key and it makes things look more unclear but interesting at the same time. The diagetic sound in the clip would be the speech from the characters because they can hear it themselves, whereas a non-diagetic sound would be the heartbeat in all the flashbacks. The heartbeat in itself helps create tension and suspense that builds throughout the entire sequence.

In the closing sequence of the clip the editing techniques are really quite brilliant. There’s a close-up shot of the woman’s face on the right of the screen with the two men out of focus to the left in the background when the woman walks forward to step down to the train tracks, after this we see a shirt series of white flashes in which the editing picks up pace considerably and flashes between the woman getting down onto the train tracks and one man holding back the other away from the tracks. The last shot we see is a point-of-view shot from the train but it’s heavily distorted as if the camera’s been shaken about then speeded up, this adds a rugged, original look to the finish of the piece that would be marvelled upon by anyone who enjoys that individualist twist.

Task 5: Watch the clip. What are some of the differences in technology available to modern audiences? With the advent of new media, why has it become more difficult to reach a broad target audience? (P1, M1, D1)

Audiences in today’s media have a much wider variety of sources from which they receive their entertainment. Just to name a few; The Internet, iPhone, Netbook e.t.c. This new technology is generally centralized around the internet since you can do just about anything on it, you can watch TV, listen to the radio, play games, and re-watch your favorite programs. Once upon a time your family all bought the same newspaper, listened to the same radio station and all watched the same Television in the same room. But like everything home entertainment evolved, so nowadays your average home could have a TV, radio and a computer in almost every room. This enables each household member to develop their own tastes in what they want to view and listen to instead of all watching the same thing on the same television.

Even television in itself has expanded vastly. With a package like Sky+ you can browse hundreds of TV channels, pause and rewind live television and even have your own planner where you can set programs up to record even when your Sky+ box is switched off. You can even select something called ‘Series Link’ which enables your planner to record an entire series with you only having to set one episode in the series to record. I think that people who own television networks fear people on the internet who record episodes from TV and then upload them to the web for everyone to watch whenever they want. The people who own the TV networks then get the copyright laws involved which can sometimes spark off massive court cases.

I think that as time has gone on and the media has expanded little by little the average viewer or listener has diversified in general. 50years ago you might have been able to line up 10 people against a wall and they would all like the same music and watch the same TV programs. These days you could do the same thing with another 10people and their tastes could all be entirely different. I think this evolution is a combination of people generally being increasingly adventurous with what they watch and listen to and the media industry expanding to meet their new markets.

Task 6: Create a media consumption profile for a person fitting the A criteria in the NRS Social Grades classification. Comment on the type of programming they would consume from TV and radio in addition to commenting on newspaper's magazines and the internet. Complete a similar profile for someone of your own age but of the opposite gender. (P1, M1, D1)

A Criteria Profile
A person in the A criteria of the NRS Social Grades classification would typically consume a more high brow set of television programs, maybe along the lines of; Newsnight, The Late Show and Yes Minister. This person is likely to read a newspaper, maybe a broadsheet like The Financial Times or The Guardian. They are likely to have an internet connection in their home and surf topics like; Sport, Travel, Finance, Business and News1. If I was going to pick a general radio station for the person it would probably be BBC Radio 4, from research I can see that these people listen to radio mainly for Sport and News.

This person is obviously going to be attracted to mainstream shows such as Scrubs and The Simpsons even though they might not be regular viewers. If this person was to buy a magazine it would be something like Men’s Health or a higher brow lifestyle magazine. This person will prefer a routine lifestyle therefore they will typically entertain themselves at certain times of the day and more often on a weekend. Due to this routine style of viewing the network owners can coordinate themselves more efficiently to meet this demographics’ needs. Over a quarter of these people have access to a wireless network in their home and may perform activities such as; online banking, shopping, financial transactions and work.

17 Year Old Girl Profile
A girl of my age might enjoy mainstream programs like; The X Factor, Big Brother and Lost. From research I have found out that young women have an incredibly broad set of media tastes and preferences, in fact more than any other group. She wouldn’t be a massive consumer of the news although she loves magazines such as; Heat, Glamour and Grazia. She enjoys the radio especially stations like Virgin and Kiss. Her favorite program is Desperate Housewives which she watches religiously. When she’s tending to her little brother she may engage in CBeebies or children’s programs on other stations, this is a typical viewing characteristic of a lot of women. In terms of the internet she uses it heavily for social networking and as a source of music, she also uses it for her homework she receives from school so has to use educational websites aswell as the BBC’s and her school’s.

Footnotes

1 http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.914

Task 7: Write a report with screen-shots detailing the equipment and software you will be using and how you intend to use it.

Equipment

For our camera we are going to use one of the school’s Panasonic AG-DVX100B camcorders. It contains a 3-CCD image sensor system, with 410,000 (380,000 effective) pixels each[1]. It features manual and servo zoom, with a second zoom control and record button on top of the handle for recording from low angles. This will be useful if we need to do any low angle shots. On the underneath of the camera there’s a fitting so that you can attach it to a tripod, which is going to be essential. The DVX100 also features two XLR audio inputs, which will be useful because we plan to use a voice recorder.

This brings me onto the voice recorder we plan to use, The Edirol R-09HR voice recorder by Roland. We hooked this up to the camera and recorded the sound to achieve a better audio quality (24 bit/96kHz)[2]. Since the audio was a separate track we had to manually line it up with the recorded footage on iMovie after we had recorded everything. We’re going to use a tripod to put the camera on. It helps to give a steady clear shot while being maneuverable aswell.

Software

To edit our film footage we’re going to use Adobe After Effects, which primarily is a digital motion graphics and compositing program published by Adobe Systems[3]. The program works on a layer basis, meaning that each individual media object occupies its own track. The main interface consists of several panels, three of the most commonly used panels are the Project panel, the Composition panel, and the Timeline panel.

iMovie is a video editing program, which allows Mac users to edit movies. You can import footage directly onto the application through a Fire wire. We don’t plan to use iMovie that much. Maybe we’ll use it for lining up the audio with the film and adding credits but I don’t think we’ll be using it for much more than that. We think that Adobe After Effects is a superior program in terms of editing video.

People

The only actors in our film will be ourselves; Me, Eddie and Danny. In fact we will only need one other person to help in the making of our production; a door technician. In other words; someone to open the garage door when Eddie strolls out at the end of the film to make it look like an automatic door. Eddie will be doing the majority of the filming (when he's not acting).

Props, Costumes & Locations

One of the few props we will using is a suitcase that the entire plot revolves around. Another prop is Eddie's samurai sword that will be used in Danny's ninja scene and the scenes in the garage where Danny and me are pulled away with the sword at the neck. The costumes are going to be an integral part of the production. In the flashback scene you will see me dressed in a white shirt, black tie, black trousers, black shoes and a black trilby hat, you'll be able to see Danny at the bottom of the screen in his black ninja outfit, only revealing his eyes and fingers. In the next scene Danny will be dressed smartly like a 1950's gangster with sunglasses and a trilby hat. These costume choices are essential to the genre and entire storyline. There is only two locations; My garage and Post Hill, this simplicity will allow us to elaborate more on the storyline. Post Hill will be used as the location for the ninja scenes and in one scene we plan to have Danny as the ninja in a tree stalking me as the suitcase possessor. My garage will be Eddie's place where he talks to the people who work for him.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic_AG-DVX100

[2] http://www.edirol.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=332&Itemid=390

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_After_Effects

Task 8: Write a treatment and script for your single-camera production.

Objective: We’re going to make a short film based on the genre of film noir with our own creative input. The objective is to make the film and correspond with the basic conventions of the genre.

Setting: There is only going to be 2 settings; my garage and Post Hill. We know it’s set in Yorkshire from our accents.

Time Duration: about 3 minutes

Description: This short film is going to be based on the genre of film noir, this will include the dress, the style of camera work and the basic conventions. The film will start off with a flashback which will be set in Post Hill on the edge of a rock in which you will see me with my feet dangling over the edge in my shirt, tie and trilby hat. In the bottom right of the shot we see Danny as the ninja emerging in an attempt to steal the suitcase that I’ve got. The importance of the suitcase is going to be made apparent right from this opening scene because it’s the only item I have in my possession apart from a cigarette in my mouth. When I stand up to walk out of the shot Danny will recede and I will walk off camera. The film will then cut to a man played by Danny dressed in a black and white suit with sunglasses and a trilby hat sitting in a room talking to a man whose face we never see. You get the impression that this man is of higher power because he’s standing and pointing at Danny’s character and then orders his death. The conversation is going to revolve around the suitcase and Danny’s failure to deliver it to the mysterious man. After this scene we are now into Post Hill where my character has been sent with the suitcase to go meet someone in some sort of ‘deal’, little does my character know that the same man who sent him has sent the ninja to kill him and take the suitcase back to him, so Eddie’s character is playing both sides. After we establish my character has been ambushed by the ninja we’ll cut to me sitting in the same place that Danny’s character did going through exactly the same thing. After my sudden dismissal and death Eddie’s mysterious character will put my trilby hat on his head, and triumphantly stroll out of the garage with the suitcase in hand.

Task 9: Create a storyboard for your production.

Task 10: You must create a production schedule, this will help you set some targets and will also keep everybody who is in the production informed of what is happening when.

Task 11: Complete the relevant health and safety paperwork.

Task 12: Creating your single-camera production.

Task 13: Evaluation.

I think we achieved our purpose very nicely. We produced a great single-camera drama and we used the creative input that we wanted to. We’ve played the drama quite a few times to various people, pretty much always getting positive feedback maybe with a slight improvement suggestion. When we played it for the class our comments were;

We seemed to get some laughs when we had the contrasting music in the ‘chase’ scene, although I don’t think we intended that part to be funny I suppose the contrast of music along with mine and Danny’s costume is quite comical. We weren’t biased about anything and I don’t know what message our film, if any would portray. Our film only included our three group members and we are all boys. We don’t have any different ethnic groups in our film unless you consider a ninja to be of another ethnic group. Our music track was an important element in our short film. The scene where I’m making my way down the hill and Danny’s running to my location is where we cut between two contrasting songs, then when we are both in the same vicinity we have a heavy drum beat to create suspense and tension before the ninja ambushes my character. The locations were important because Post Hill serves as the perfect quiet meeting place for the transaction involving the briefcase that never happens. The garage is Eddie’s character’s base of operations for the duration of the drama in which he questions and orders the killing of two people, we are under the impression that this garage is left behind at the end because Eddie takes everything he wants from it: The briefcase and the hat. Eddie then triumphantly strolls out of the garage as if he is leaving it for good. The language was appropriate for the target audience because we just talked how we usually would; I think we might have pronounced our words a bit better. We have been told that our film looks quite real and I for one think it looks very real due to the believability of the costumes locations and plot in general.

The levels were tricky in places because we had to use a high quality voice recorder to record the sound in my garage because the camera we were using wasn’t picking it up that well. We had to align the audio track with the video perfectly or else it would have looked and sounded out of sync. We did the garage scenes in continuous shots so that we wouldn’t have as much trouble lining up the audio with the video. The scenes on Post Hill were taken individually because if we did the shot wrong we had to go back to our original positions which took some time and if we’d have done a continuous shot it would have taken up excessive amounts of film tape. Eddie did all the camerawork on Post Hill and I think it was executed perfectly. Our editing was key to the success of our drama. Eddie did the editing on a program called Adobe After Effects CS4. This program enabled us to do things that iMove didn’t such as add a glint of sunlight reflecting off of Danny’s ninja sword. The saturation was reduced to add to the film noir effect but not just put it completely in black and white because we have elements from modern movies such as a ninja. The scenes in my garage are in black and white because these set out to capture the full film noir effect.

To comment on the typical conventions featured in film noir; Black & white, small light leaks (Blinds, slightly drawn curtains e.t.c.), classic 1950’s American gangster attire e.t.c. Enigma is a key element in creating the whole atmosphere surrounding our movie. Two main things are always shrouded in enigma throughout the movie; Eddie’s character and the Suitcase. If the audience knew about both of these things they would have much less incentive to watch the film. The audience carry on watching because they seek information about these two things, our goal as a group and film production team was to make these things as interesting as possible in order to give the viewer a reason to watch. Whilst our film is non-sequential it is single strand narrative.

In terms of my personal performance and skills learnt I think that now I am more prepared for organization or at least aware of how important it is to the success of a production. The organization of the outfits and venues was crucial to our success as a group and production team and I think that when I’m part of something like this again I will make sure to be well organized because it makes things a lot easier. I might have argued my points or suggestions if I thought they were going to be beneficial to the group and/or production but I was always prepared to listen to the opinions of my fellow team members, as always. I feel that I was a good team member because I provided a crucial venue for the garage scenes and a chunk of the clothing that made up the costumes. I contributed wherever I could, although when it came to the editing I couldn’t do much because I didn’t know at all how to work Adobe After Effects like Eddie did, but I was present for the editing process, there to offer opinions and suggestions. If I were to do the production again I would get the costumes organized better and give the characters more of a profile because when the time came for them to speak we didn’t have an sort of dialect or accent we just spoke how we usually do, I think that an accent and/or dialect would have improved the viability of each character apart from the ninja because he doesn’t speak. There is a section in the Ofcom codes called; The Involvement Of People Under Eighteen In Programmes. I don’t think we are in direct conflict with this code because we had full creative control over ourselves and our production therefore could not be mistreat by higher up people because there weren’t any.