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Laa Unit 20
Laa Unit 20
Camera
What is a Single Camera Production?
A single camera production is a piece of work
that will typically use one camera to record
most, if not all, of the footage. Shots are typically
filmed in an order that works with the schedules
of everyone involved or an order that makes
sense based on the sets being used.
Every shot used in single camera production is filmed individually and filming usually takes
place over a few days. Single camera productions also require a lot more attention when
editing; you need to keep the flow of the shots looking natural and not just include random
jump cuts.
The reason single camera is used over multi-camera is because its a lot more versatile and
allows a director of an advert, film, drama and so on more control over what is actually
being shown. For example, lighting is easier to maintain and control with a singular camera;
if you were to use multiple cameras all rolling at the same time, you’d have to keep the
lighting very basic and equal in all of the cameras.
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Camera Shot Types.
First of all, what are ‘Manual Settings’?
You will see below that some of the images I have taken are
labelled with ‘Manual Settings’ but what actually are they?
Well when we use auto settings, it will automatically set up
the shutter speed, ISO and aperture for us, but if we don’t
like what it does, we can switch to manual settings.
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Extreme Close Up.
Auto settings Manual Settings.
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Close Up.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Baby Driver
Close ups are similarly used
as Extreme close ups are.
The camera is brought close
to the actor’s face, but this
time focuses on the actor’s
whole face. This gives us a
lot more emotion and helps
us recognise a character. In
this image from Edgar
Wright’s Baby Driver, we are
given a close-up on Baby.
Baby’s facial expression here
shows us that he is focused
on what he is being told,
however the earphones in
his ears and the toy car in
the bottom middle shows us that all he really wants to do is the two things he loves
most, drive and listen to his I-pod.
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Mid-Close Up.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Misfits
Mid Close ups are
used very similarly
to its
predecessors in
that it is used to
show emotion, but
this time it
includes some of
the background. I
believe this
screenshot is from
the channel 4
show ‘Misfits’.
While I haven’t
watched this one all the way through, you can tell that this character is nervous. He’s
looking off to the side and up at something or someone. He also looks slightly angry,
perhaps he just figured out that something he was told is a lie.
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Mid Shot.
Auto Settings. Manual Settings.
Umbrella Academy.
Mid shots are
probably the
most common
shot in media,
at least to my
knowledge.
They are used
to show the
gestures of
the characters
and the
settings they
are in. For
example, in this scene of Umbrella Academy, we can tell that the character, Ben, is
sat on something because his shoulders are slightly raised, and his back is very
slightly hunched. The setting he’s in seems to be some sort of commercial area,
maybe a bowling alley.
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Long Shot.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Thor.
Long shots
will usually
be used to
show of the
sets and the
costumes of
the
characters in
the film. For
example in
Thor, we can
see that the
set and the
costumes
are rather
medieval,
but Thor’s
cape is
bright and saturated, meaning its probably more modern than we think it is.
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Extreme Long Shot.
Auto Settings Manual Settings.
Spiderman: Homecoming
Extreme long shots
are mainly focused on
the backgrounds. You
can’t really pick out
any details in a
character’s expression
or costume in an ELS.
They are most
commonly used in
establishing shots or,
in the case of Spider-Man, to show of large action shots. They are also commonly
used in Kaiju films such as Godzilla to show off the large creatures in the films. In
this spiderman screenshot, we can see that he is holding two halves of a ship or a
ferry together. The only way we’d be able to see this effectively is through an
extreme long shot.
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Two Shot.
Auto Settings Manual Settings.
Pulp Fiction.
Two Shots are, to put it
simply, used to show
two people at a time.
They are most
commonly at mid-shot
length which allows us
two see their gestures.
Them being in the same
shot also allows us to
see their on-screen
chemistry. For example,
this shot from pulp
fiction shows these two
characters aiming their
guns at the same thing.
This could tell us that
they both are thinking
parallel to each-other and usually think along the same path.
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Over the Shoulder.
Auto Settings Manual Settings.
Spiderman: Homecoming
Over the shoulder
shots are mainly
used for
conversations but
can also be used
to see what a
character is
looking at as if we
were next to them,
looking at the
same thing. In this
shot of Spiderman
Homecoming, we
can see
spiderman having a conversation with a criminal that he had come into contact with
previously. The criminal, Aaron Davis, looks confused, signifying he may have no
clue what Spiderman is talking about. Two shots allow the characters reactions to
conversations to be clear as well as what they are saying.
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Tilted/Canted Shot.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Harry Potter.
Tilted shots (aka
Canted or Dutch
angle shots) Are
normal used to
depicted
drunkenness or
showing if a
character is
dazed or
confused. They
are also used,
like in this
example, to
show a character
peeking around a
corner. The
camera simply
tilts, nothing more, and yet the amount of meaning in Tilted shots is astounding.
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High Angle Shot.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Avengers: Assemble
High
angle
shots are
normally
used to
make a
character
look
smaller.
For
example,
in this
shot of
Avengers,
we can
see Thor
and Captain America looking up at the camera. Their faces are worried, so we can
assume that the thing they are looking at is quite big and probably won’t be easy to
fight.
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Low Angle Shot.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Batman.
Low angle shots are
used to make the
subject look larger
and more
empowering, an
obvious opposite to
High Angle shots. In
this shot from a
Batman movie (not
sure which one)
Batman looks
imposing and larger
than he is, coupled
with his all black
costume makes us feel more intimidated by him even as the audience.
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Birds Eye View.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
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Worms Eye View.
Auto Settings Manual Settings
Breaking Bad
A worms eye view
is the opposite of
a birds eye view.
Its when the
camera is directly
below the
subjects, allowing
them to look huge.
Its usually used
to show the inside
of something like
a bag or, in this
example from
Breaking Bad, a
barrel. In this shot, we can see Walter and Jesse about to pour something into the
barrel we are taking the perspective of. In this example, the liquid would seem as
though it’s pouring onto us. This would allow for interesting transitions as well as it
just being an interesting perspective.
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Other Shot Types.
We’ve seen all the types of close-ups and long shots but what about those that don’t focus
on people? Things like Establishing shots; Establishing shots are shots of the location that
the characters are in, like a drone shot of a cityscape (as seen below) or even a shot of the
outside of a shop, this can also be described as a master shot,
There are also cutaways. Cutaways are when the camera cuts away from the main action
taking place on screen to another shot that could give the audience some extra information.
There’s no easy way to give a visual example as I’d have to add a video to this text
document, so I’ll do my best to describe. Let’s say we have a scene of two people talking,
they’re on a time limit and have to go by a certain time; during their conversation, the
camera will cut to a shot of a clock to tell us how much time they have left then cut back to
their conversation, the audio will not have been cut usually, it is mainly a visual only cut.
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Textual Analysis
Baby Driver
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masks and enter the bank, passing the camera. The camera then cuts back to Baby with a
side on mid-shot of him watching the trio enter the bank. The fact that the camera never
goes directly into the bank and stays with Baby establishes him as the main character. Then,
as Baby begins to dance along to the music playing, the camera performs multiple arc shots
around the car while keeping Baby in a mid-shot, showing all his gestures as he performs
along to the diegetic soundtrack.
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then cuts to an arc movement as Baby drifts into the same lane as the cars and continues
into a tracking shot as he pulls in in-between them. The camera cuts to a helicopter and a
bird’s eye view of the three red cars as they go into a tunnel. Then it cuts into the tunnel as
the camera tracks backwards to follow Baby’s car as it switches the positions, this further
cement Baby’s skill and also shows the audience that he is a quick thinker. Cut back to the
bird’s eye view with the helicopter and the cars seem to not have changed.
The amount of quick cuts, tracking and crabbing camera moves and the close ups of focused
faces in these scene shows us just how action packed and thrilling this must be for the
characters in this and it makes us almost feel a part of it.
As the footage slows down again it becomes clear that this is Vanya.
The camera continues to track the shell as Vanya puts her hands
out and dismantles the shell with her powers, causing it to explode
in front of her. The explosion blocks the view of Vanya for a second,
but as the camera arcs around to behind Vanya we are shown that
she blocked any damage with a force field of some sort. Another
pan reveals Klaus, and as
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the camera arcs around to in-front of him, an army of ghost soldiers are seen behind him. If
you didn’t know Klaus’ power, you could still connote that he was the one who summoned
them as he is centre frame and his hands are out towards the camera. His facial expression
also connotes that it takes some effort to summon them, as he is open-mouthed yelling as
his hands strain. The soldiers then walk through Klaus and the camera tracks backwards
following them as they attack the Russian soldiers in-front of them. The camera arcs back
around to Klaus and reveals that a soviet soldier is aiming a rocket launcher at him, but a
quick tilt upwards reveals Luther jumping in. The camera tilts downwards to follow Luther’s
land as the rocket is shot and hits his back. The camera continues the arc it was performing
previously to show Klaus and Luther as the rocket explodes.
In the background of that, as Klaus is thanking Luther, a blue
tentacle reaches from the top of the frame to grab a soldier. As the
soldier is pulled up the camera tilts up to follow and reveals Ben on
the top of a roof. As Ben continues to pick up and throw soldiers
with his tentacles the camera tracks to in-front of him, giving us his
facial expressions, which contains a rather grim smirk, telling the
audience that he may be
enjoying this. Then, as Ben
throws another soldier, the camera tilts up and
pedestal’s downwards as the body hits the floor.
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family as they stare into the sky. Then another cut to a long shot behind them as the
explosion travels towards them, decimating the street. The camera then tilts up to show the
mushroom cloud turn into an umbrella shape and reveal the title card.
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he’d be living if his band blew up. It cuts back to the previous scenery, and Weekes’
movement appears to be slower and more dejected, perhaps showing us that he was
imagining being rich and famous and he did not really like the idea of it.
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like he was “having a good time” he decided to make the lyrics true to himself and tell the
audience that he does have a good time, but perhaps when he is performing alone. Then, as
the music kicks in, the camera cuts on every crash made by the cymbal to the rooms that
we’ve seen before, the fireplace, the second flight of stairs—in which the camera is now
crabbing left and pedestalling downwards – and the hallway – which is now tracking
forwards as Weekes walks backwards.
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performing and the camera slowly tracking backwards. It then makes a small cutaway to a
static shot of two paintings hung either side of a wall lamp.
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The camera then cuts to a completely empty ball room. The camera pans around the room
but a shot of Weekes and Seaman performing cut it off. We cut to the archway room again,
but now the camera is tracking forward to Weekes as he picks up a microphone. Then we
cut to the room full of people as Weekes continues performing, then it continues cross
cutting between the two shots as Weekes performs the line “But if the lights don't stop me/
No one's got control of what I do” then, on the line “’Cause it’s a good time” it cuts back to
the archway room where the camera now has a low angle shot of Weekes as it slowly tracks
towards his face. He then falls backwards out of frame and the camera cuts to a birds-eye-
view of Weekes lying on the ground,
looking up at the camera as he performs
the line “When I’m With You.” And the
camera spins around him. It cuts to the
hallway again where Weekes is walking
backwards and the camera tracks
forwards. Another cut to a mid- shot of
Seaman performing, a close-up of Weekes
performing
then a mid-shot of Weekes and the mirror. A quick cutaway
to the bird’s eye where Weekes is upside-down in the
camera as he sings “Ooh!” and the camera pedestals
upwards away from him. Then, the song finishes on a shot
of Weekes and Seaman surrounded by smoke in the room
previously full of people. After the end, the camera cuts to
the outside of the building as the camera zooms out of the
window that we had zoomed into previously.
This video has a strange air to it. The description of the video reads “‘Thought Reform’ was a
series of corporate propaganda films produced and distributed by Telex International before
their sudden dissolution in the late 1970s. This is believed to be the only remaining copy in
the series. The rest having been lost to time.”, of course this isn’t a real propaganda film, but
it still feels fake. Almost every shot is composed very symmetrically which gives the
audience the sense that this is all fake, made by someone to feed us information. This is
backed up by the subtitles that appear on screen throughout the video. I only mentioned 2,
however those two are important. “Séance” out-right says that this video is trying to
promote something malicious or satanic, but “Mandatory reflection time” is one that is
strange. The shot it appears in shows Weekes and Seaman sat on chairs in a thinking pose,
connotating that they have actions that they have done that they need to reflect on, but
making it mandatory almost makes this video seem cult-ish. Overall, the sporadic cuts, the
symmetrically composed shots and the strange lyrics come together to make an eerie music
video, however it is still a fun experience.
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Keeping Continuity.
Continuity is a very important thing when using single camera
production. Continuity is the idea that keeps shots looking
natural. When dealing with continuity, we’re looking at props,
make up, costumes, actor positions, clock syncing, dialogue, and
the 180-degree rule. The 180 degree rule is an imaginary line
drawn on the set, to keep things looking natural, you must keep
the camera within 180 degrees of that line, the only time you
may pass it is if the passing is filmed and you have a new line.
Passing the line with a cut makes things look off, as if the
characters have suddenly switched positions.
Another thing you need to keep continuity is making sure props are consistent through-out
different shots. Misplacement of props can occur if filming takes place over multiple days, a
good thing to do is to watch back the footage you have already recorded and study the
props. This is usually done by a continuity editor. Continuity editors also take notice of the
costumes between shots; are the ties the same? Is there a cut on one of the collars that
shouldn’t be there?
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Another thing they look out for is time continuity. Time continuity is keeping every clock in
the scene on the same time unless there is a specific reason for them to be different. Time
continuity is also making sure that the scene taking place makes sense within the timeframe
of a movie; a 2 minute conversation cant take place over an hour.
Make-up continuity is also important to look out for. If a character has a specific dirt pattern
on their face, keep it through-out the filming. It may be tedious to constantly keep the same
patterns but to keep your shots looking consistent it’s a sacrifice you have to make.
Keeping your actors positions the same within shots is key. If an actor randomly teleports
across the room during a cut it does not look natural. This also relies on the 180-degree rule,
actors cannot randomly switch positions in a conversation during a cut.
Any movements, make up changes, crossing the 180 degree rule, moving props and
anything else mentioned previously MUST be done on camera or after an obvious time jump
for it to be look natural and for it to make sense.
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on screen; costume and set design, lighting, camera shot types, camera movements and the
editing all come together into one art piece, full of meaning and soul.
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