Single Camera Examples

1. Examples of Single
Camera Productions

2. Coming Down the Mountain
 In the TV Drama ‘Coming Down The Mountain’ it opens with an establishing bird’s
eye view of the brother’s room. This was used to establish the mise en scene and
the different personalities/ages between the two brothers, which is exampled when
one side of the bedroom is quite childish and the other side is more mature and
grown up. This was due to the fact that one side had toys and bright colours
everywhere whereas the other side had quite minimal and dull colours. However,
as the shot and voiceover goes on the audience receive a close up of the brother,
which indicates to the audience that one of the brothers has a disability. This will
then invite the audience to identify who the other brother was talking about.
Establishing Birds Eye Shot

3.  However, another camera technique that ‘Coming Down The Mountain’
uses is the wide master shot in the family sitting room/ kitchen. This is
used as it sets the scene and invites the audience into a surrounding part
of their personal lives. As the wide master shot happens, many shots cut
to a close ups to emphasis the characters facial expressions and feelings
towards each other and what happens in reality. This will then invite the
audience to identify that this is a realistic representation on what happens
in reality.
Wide Master Shot Close Up

4. Arctic Monkeys- Leave Before
the lights come on
 In the opening sequence of Arctic Monkeys music video, it starts with a point of
view handheld camera of the actor Paddy Considine walking. This is used to
establish a more realistic feel as it allows the viewer to feel like they are walking
with the character in this narrative. Additionally, it also makes the narrative less
glamorous and Hollywood like as they haven’t used a studio to film this but have
used more natural lighting, which represents reality. Therefore, the audience would
then be able to relate and understand what is happening in the narrative music
video. Not only does it act realistic, it also shows the characters emotions and
feelings just by looking at the character.
Point of View
Handheld Camera

5.  On the other, the next camera shot that is used is a shallow focus. This
was used on the female character, while being out of focus on the actor
Paddy Considine to emphasis her feelings and emotions and to block out
the male character. By doing this it invites the audiences to sympathise
with how she is feeling but it could also make the audience relate if
they’ve ever felt this low before. Therefore, by doing this they are making
the audience feel emotion towards her
Shallow Focus

6. CyberBully
 In the film drama CyberBully a high angle shot to show dominance over the character.
This is demonstrated when the voice from the computer is at a high angle, dominating
over Casey crying on the floor. By the use of this high angle shot it emphasises that
Casey is venerable and weak whereas the computer has the power and by doing this it
will heighten the audiences sensation of fear and sadness for Casey. But not only would
they feel sad for Casey but the audience would also be able to associate the voice with a
computer hacker as this can happen in reality.
 However, in Cyberbully maintaining continuity is important for the single camera
production because it ensured that there was consistent scene set up, consistent lighting
and consistent positioning to make the scenes remain the same throughout. As the
continuity throughout the film remained the same it made the whole production realistic
as it took place in a teenager bedroom with similar lighting throughout. Therefore, by
having consistent continuity it allows the viewer to relate to Casey’s bedroom.
High Angle
Maintaining
Continuity

7. Lexus – Poise
Advert/Promotional Video
 In the Lexus Poise advert, at 18 seconds in it uses an extreme close up shot.
This extreme close up emphasises the dancers strengths due to how the
camera has been positioned as well as the particular lighting that has been
used. In this shot, lighting has also been used effectively because the use of
the strong contrast helps emphasis the dancers muscles and strength.
Therefore, the use of this extreme close up invites the audience to identify
with the dancer as they would be able to recognise what she is doing as well
as some audiences relating to her. This then plays on the audiences
perceived idea that ballet dancers hold great strength.
Extreme close up

8.  However, even though the camera techniques and shots are important in this promotional video, so is maintaining
continuity because this plays a huge part in promotional videos being sophisticated, smooth and detailed.
 In this section, I am going to talk about how this promotional video maintained continuity throughout, which ranges
from consistent scene set up and lighting to shot stability and shot positioning. The first continuity that is maintained
well is consistent scene set up because throughout this promotional video the dancer remains in the same set up
and costume, which is seen below. Not only does this remain the same but so does the lighting because it is shot in
the same scene set up, which means the lighting stays the same. However, the lighting does slightly change due to
the close up shots but it doesn't distribute the continuity majorly as in the promotional video it goes fast, which
makes it look the same.
 On the other hand, another maintained continuity is the shot stability. Shot stability maintained because throughout
every shot, the stability has been very still which means the actually action in the shot can speak for itself. But it
also helps bring up the quality of the shot because it implies to the audience that they have really taken their time to
ensure the quality is up to a great standard, as this is what attracts the audience. Therefore, to conclude
maintaining continuity also plays a huge impact in single camera productions just like camera angles and shots do.