Using single
camera techniques for adverts means that because of the smaller budgets put
into these projects, people will want to spend as little money as possible, because
of this you can find a ton of adverts using only one camera. They’re trying to put the money on the screen for as small amount as possible.
An advert
such as this would have people that would want to spend as little amount of money.
It wouldn’t make sense if they ask for small donations from hundreds of
thousands of people, whilst spending the same amounts for technical aspects.
They limit themselves to one camera, spending as little amount to say the
bigger thing; it’s an advert that to get the message across, you wouldn’t need lots
of cameras to get the message across.
An advert
such as this, uses one angle on each person with the primary focus being the
brand and bottle; it wouldn’t need more than one camera, the selling point of
the technical aspect is to sustain the same angle on each person. However, this
would take a longer amount of time as they would have to go through each individual
throughout different time and days instead of distributing crews and actors,
they would use one crew and one camera, taking up more time to have it filmed.
The idea of the advert is small enough to justify the use of one camera. They
also want to advertise their product whilst spending as small amount of the
company’s money as they can.
Problems can
occur when filming; equipment could get damaged, the outcome of this problem
means that they would have to spend more money on replacing equipment, defeating
one of the main purposes as for why they use one camera in the first place. It
also means that previous footage can be lost, having to redo everything. If the
camera was blurred or not recording, there is no backup for this failure.
Films also
try to use one camera, a larger and longer process compared to adverts. A film
such as birdman that tries to use one camera, they try to make the film look
like it’s taking place in one take, it adds a unique style to the film. It wouldn’t
make sense if they cut to a different shot with a different camera, breaking
the reason for their use of using the single camera technique. The scene such
as time square where large amounts of people are there, means that they must be
in and out as quick as possible, having minimum equipment, and if done
correctly, looks a lot more impressive set as a sequence shot instead of
cutting to different angles, it also reduces the chance of continuity errors,
if one shot has a darker sky than the other or equipment is left in another
shot.
A show such
as Fred: the show uses this technique in a choice of laziness and cost
reduction instead of style, it is the polar opposite for reason of use. The
reason for the single camera can be justified because, as originally a
character from YouTube using one camera, it makes the experience more personal
and a larger connection to what Fred was. They use simple premises, they don’t need
more than a camera if they are keeping it small scale. They have Fred move
around instead of the camera, not having to replace equipment, it adds a brisk
pace to the scene without having to cut the camera, instead cutting around the
character moving around the room, making it look like a jump cut.
The Office (US)
also uses one camera, but shares both style and laziness, the office uses
simple situations for each character, where nothing happens, there won’t be too
much of a budget hit if something goes wrong in a certain shot that would have
to be redone; nothing can really go wrong if using minimal stake ideas. They
change the shots during takes, zooming into people, changing the shot type for
example, changing a medium shot into a
close up.
However,
sometimes, they put in effort into different shots, having an eventful payoff,
this shows the programme at it’s full potential, in the style of birdman, a
sequence shot that has things happening on a larger scale and the shot type is
just a technical aspect to add exceptionality and interest into the events
being shown, a good reason to use the single camera.
The Blaire witch
a horror, found footage film that follows three student filmmakers on a journey
to find a apparent witch around a local forest. By using one camera, it grounds
the film into reality and the story gives them an excuse to only use one
camera, filmmakers on a budget and makes the footage they have feel more
important, it makes it more like a student film; instead of having an abundance
of equipment. The filmmakers clearly had a budget but had found a way to use
that to their advantage, less money makes larger realism. It adds a personal tone
to the film, as much as Fred did previously mentioned, it adds importance to
what you are seeing, and a story that focuses more on the characters than
situation, having to connect to the characters is a must. The film has clearly
been balanced out for realism and entertainment, not too clear quality that it
becomes fake and not too bad for it to be unwatchable.
Film
festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and the BFI are a good way for unknown or
just starting out filmmakers to have their films shown, it is also a way for
more obscure and artsy films to be given a platform/ existence. Because of
their reputation and lack of money from the industry, they wouldn’t have a lot
of money to afford multiple cameras, meaning that they would have to use one,
and work on a tighter budget. The people that work on the films would have to privately
fund the budget, which is why they wouldn’t have a good budget, they aren’t making
blockbuster films, and is instead a platform for a different kind of cinema.
This is a way for people new into the industry or unrecognised creators to have
their names shown in the community.
Most of the
time, television that uses single cameras are most often sit-coms, such as the
office, Brooklyn nine nine, 30 rock and modern family.
Interactive
digital platforms are able to create a larger variation of programmes, HBO
creates Game of thrones, AMC have made Breaking Bad and the office UK with
adult swim. Positives of digital platforms is that the viewer can say when its
time, you are your own schedule and not restricted to what you want to watch and
when unlike TV, which is a fixed schedule. Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and amazon
prime are some of the main holders of entertainment for digital platforms.
Digital
platforms would have to fund entire season, that could compare to the amounts
that would be given for a Hollywood film, they are more restricted to what money
they can spend for all aspects of the creation of the project, having to lower
their technical piece.
Making a
movie with all the aspects that are going into pre-production, production and
post means that the budget has to sparingly go into each section, lowering
amounts for equipment and spending on props, costume, lighting etc. is necessary
to have a better end product, giving the creator no choice than to spend more
time making the film due to retakes of each scene with different angles. Bending
the single camera technique to become a selling point is what Birdman, Victoria
and Rope did in order to welcome its restrictions. Short films are more often
than not made with one camera because nobody in that point of the industry
would have a large amount of money to spend on an industry, they aren’t in.
Establishing
shots are most of the time used with one camera, they don’t need more than one
shot to set the larger location of the upcoming scene, and therefore means that
they only need one camera up in the air to capture the shot.
One of the only
times using more than one shot to establish a location is with the shining
(however still using one camera). It is used to emphasise the distance and isolation
of their surroundings.
The master
shot is used as a saviour for continuity and to pull in and out of the atmosphere
and emotion of a scene. The master shot is normally the side view, and a way to
capture the entire surroundings and a way to capture unscripted events, shots
such as over the shoulder could then be built around that shot with what
happened in the master.
The tracking shot which is one shot if the character(s) are
walking in a single direction ad can sometimes be used with two shots, the
front and back, however having to do the process twice in order to not have cameras
facing each other, having to use one camera throughout the process.
Close ups
only need one angle, one camera, 2001 a space odyssey is able to use one camera
to have us focus on Bowman’s expression throughout the stargate sequence. Using
one camera and one placement keeps consistency and continuity and a way to
express his emotion without breaking focus from the audience.
Over the shoulder
shots are normally used for dialogue between characters, they use one camera to
not have one in another’s frame, although it achieves both reactions from
characters, it takes twice the amount of directing the actors to emote and
twice its run time in comparison to the final product. A way to keep the
audience outside of the conversation and have a character feel dominant or weak
depending on how tall one character is compared to another.
Eye line
matching works as a point of view shot, introducing a character, having them
look at something off screen and then cut to the shot of what they were looking
at. It introduces the character, the scene and their focus and importance to another
object/ character. When showing the character look at something, its an
unwritten rule that you cut to the thing that has grabbed the persons interest, what they look at
changes the entire effect of the scene, the Kuleshov effect is an easy way to
prove this, the same image of a person and cutting to something different can
describe the characters hunger, lust or sadness.
Shot reverse
shot is a way of recording scenes that are full of dialogue and only need to
have one character talking or reacting to something, making it simple for
smaller or bigger projects and a way, although still longer if not doing it, is
a quick strategy for using one camera to pace scenes. Two shots between two
characters means that it will take twice as long, having to minimalize the amount
of shots, and shot reverse shot is a way to shorten the amount of shots in a
scene/ situation.
It is
riskier using one camera for shot reverse shot =, a character could be eating a
sandwich, smoking, or drinking and the first shot could show them just biting
into a piece of bread, and the next cut to them could be them finishing the
bread. An instance such as psycho has the main character taking a substantial
bite and the others being fake bites, in order to sustain continuity.
The rule of thirds
is a simple way of composition and framing, an appealing ratio and a great way
for framing shots. Instead of centring the characters in the middle of the
frame, you can express emotion and power by lowering them or heightening them at
different points/ lines of the rule. It’s a way to keep track of where to look
in a simple way, cutting to another shot means that unless showing opposite
intentions between characters, is an easy way to follow where a character is
going to be in the next shot. There are no downsides for this rule of
composition and a great way for beginners to make their shots look better.
The leading
lines are the lines on a screen that point towards the direction or area of
intended focus. Kubrick uses the leading lines in one-point perspective shots.
The 180
degree rule is a way to reduce misunderstood placement of characters and
objects, it can pull away the audiences focus, one of the only times it has
been broken for its intended purpose is during the shining bathroom scene, it confuses
the audience about placement and creates a dizzy effect, something the rest of
the film sets up.
The 30-degree
rule is also a way for making shots not look like jump cut, it’s a rule that is
defined by that if you are shooting at a specific angle, arcing around the
subject under 30 degrees makes it look like a jump cut and pulls away a viewer’s
immersion.
Continuity
is an aspect of filmmaking that can be easy to overlook, a shot could show someone
sitting in a certain position or so far in a certain street and the next shot
could show them sitting differently and further down the street; there would
have to be replication between each shot when using only camera, the people
would have to redo shots and movements over and over. Filming outside is another
risk as the time of day and cloud amount can change the atmosphere at any point
and could be changed even during a shot, meaning that if using one camera, the
scenes are preferred to be short and with as small amount of shots as possible.
