Single Camera Production Formats, Narrative structures and Technical elements. Lecturer - Tracy Cullen By Adam McCallion

What is Single Camera Production? What is a single camera production? Single camera production is a piece of media, whether it be a film, TV show, or a YouTube video; all shot on a single camera. When doing single camera, to get the same scene from multiple different angles, the actors must act out the same scene, for the same shot in order to get the impression that there is more than one angle, then in post-production, it is edited together to form a sequence.

The Pros and Cons. PROS CONS One camera is used so there is less budget in terms of buying more cameras. Although only one camera is used, you will have to reshoot the same seen to get different angles. There is more time to focus on the shot, getting it just right rather than splitting your effort and time to set up multiple cameras. A lot of time may be wasted re-shooting the same shot, whereas using multiple cameras on the one take would take less time. The scenes don’t have to be shot in sequence, so more detail can be added in editing such as color grading. If the camera is faulty, or damaged on the day of shooting, you won’t have anything to fall back on. It saves travel costs for the camera crew as there is less equipment. It can be difficult to recreate scenes, which would be easily overcome of you’re using multiple cameras.

Examples of Single Camera Productions. Dexter ~ 2006 – 2013 (Analyzed) Dream On ~ 1990 – 1986 Airwaves ~ 1986 – 1987 An American in Canada ~ 2003 – 2004 Batman ~ 1966 - 1968

DEXTER. Format: Crime/drama series (2006 – 2013). Duration per episode - 50-55 minutes. 12 episodes per series. Total of 8 Seasons Total of 96 Episodes. The Dexter Opening theme, music composer is called Rolfe Kent. I liked the theme so much that I made my own cover of the theme tune. MY VERSION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiGOi1ED_8Q

The Cast. (Sourced from Wikipedia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_(TV_series)

DEXTER – Narrative Structure. Synopsis – My Interpretation After watching DEXTER, I have learnt that it is about a man named Dexter, a blood splatter analyst working for Miami Metro Homicide, who tries to live out a normal live in order to fit in with everyone around him. However nothing stops him from fulfilling his need and want to kill, following his dad’s or “Harry’s code” as he likes to call it, a system made by a psychologist that specializes in psychopaths; in order to not get caught by the law, only killing people that he thinks deserves it. Narrative Structure DEXTER has a Linear (sequential) Narrative Structure. With occasional flashbacks in a realism storyline. The show mainly follows the Narrative in Dexter’s Head as the audience hears what he is thinking, and his logic. The fact that the audience follows along, hearing Dexter’s thoughts and opinions throughout the show, really creates a strong emotional connection with the audience and the character, is one of the coolest parts of the show in my opinion. Not only that, the things that happen in Dexter’s life, seemed to me as metaphors for his emotions and situations that he ended up getting himself into.

Technical Elements CAMERA. The camera plays an important role in DEXTER. Using close-ups to convey emotion when it comes to the characters especially Dexter himself. They use low angle shots to make Dexter look powerful during his kill scenes, and high (sometimes POV) shots looking down on his victims to show that they are inferior to him. EXAMPLE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Icbgv-4qM

Technical Elements LIGHTING. The lighting is another very important factor in DEXTER. The dim lit scenes, during his killings are to make the viewer feel uneasy. Relating to German Expressionism as this is one of the many techniques used in German expressionistic films; that being dim lit, with hard shadows. I seen a scene in the film “The cabinet of Dr. Calagari”(1919) that is similar to a shot in Dexter that fits German expressionism in my opinion. Example.

THIS PRESENTATION IS OVER