multicam1

Two kinds of productions

Multi camera means, a set up of several cameras that simultaneously record or broadcast a scene. There are six main genres of TV programming that use multi-camera, these are; sports, concerts, public events, game shows, chat shows, and studio-based sitcoms. There are advantages and disadvantages of using multi-camera. The advantages are; there is a lot more footage to chose from as it has been filmed on numerous cameras and all the shots are filmed at one therefore they will all be in sync and nothing will be out of time or changed. However, the disadvantages are that there i a lot of equipment to haul around with you if you are filming in numerous locations, it will always cost more money to hire or buy more cameras. I am going to talk about two opposing multi-camera productions. The first example i am going to talk about is 'Mrs Browns boys', this is a studio-based sitcom. These are classed as multi-camera because even though they're scripted, there will be shots that the cameraman aren't expecting. Which means they have to be ready to catch the action. This is why they use numerous cameras to get shots from all angles. If this was shot on single camera, the shots that are improvised wouldn't look professional and may sometimes be missed. Having numerous cameras gives them a better chance to catch every single piece of footage needed, in the best ways. In Mrs Browns boys she always walks out of the set and into the audience as, it is performed live, using multi cameras is good because when watching it on TV we always get to see her going into the audience. However, if they didn't have more than one camera, we wouldn't see this. When you watch Mrs Browns boys, you often see the cameras around the set, they do not hide anything that is happening on screen. This is because they have an audience watching therefore they will all get to see what is happening anyway. I believe this is good because you know that even if they do something wrong they don't edit it out they just carry on and make up what they are saying. This makes the production so much more enjoyable to watch. The other example I have is a live sports event. These are filmed in multi camera because there is so much going on and a lot of footage needs to be caught. In a There would be no way that a sports event could be filmed on one camera. Such as the Olympics or the commonwealth games. These are both examples of big sporting events that could never be filmed on one single camera. There are so many events going on at one time that if we only had one camera filming then we would only see one of the events that is happening at that one time. It is so much better for sporting events to have multi-camera because this means they are able to switch back and forth to different events so that everyone watching at home gets to see each event that is going on. When watching these events on TV you will be able to see how many cameras are being used, for example, when watching a race (100M) you will notice you get to see the whole race from each point of the track. This wouldn't happen if there was only one camera filming. They will switch to each different camera around the track as the runners go round. I will chose one type of sporting event that is big but not a sporting event like the Olympics. Lets take a football match for example, you see all the cameras around the edge, when you are watching it from home on TV, you notice it zooms in, and shows us footage from all different angles of the pitch. If they had only one camera trying to show you everything that is going on in the game, you would be watching it from one angle the whole way through. One camera wouldn't be able to catch the goals, free kicks etc. Depending how important the football match is depends on how many cameras they use, however they range between 14 and 23 cameras. When you are watching a football match, you can hear the commentator talking about certain players etc and you will notice that when they do this, the camera will zoom in on that certain player to emphasise what they are talking about, with one camera they wouldn't be able to find him, zoom in and zoom out in time. There are many similarities of the two, these are that they both use numerous cameras, as they are both multi cameras. There is also the similarity that both of these multi cameras have more than one actor to follow. Mrs brown's boys includes 9 main actors, then there are also members of the cast that don't have speaking lines but we often see in the pub. Then you have a football match which includes two teams of 11, then there is the manager of each team, the crowd and bench members etc. Therefore in both of these multi camera performances there are a lot of people to follow which is also why being a multi camera performance is important. Another similarity of these two shows is that they both have a live audience. This makes the shows more realistic because we know that whatever is happening on screen is what is actually happening as you can see people watching it at that time. In both of these performances, You often see them breaking the fourth wall. The fourth wall is an imaginary wall between the actors and the audience, in which the actors pretend they cannot see or hear the audience. However in both of these performances, they  connect with the audience or the camera, you will see them look directly into the camera numerous times. As i said before, in Mrs browns boys, she breaks the fourth wall by walking into the audience during the show and connecting with them. On the other hand, in a football match, the players often go to the audience for cheers etc after scoring a goal, another time they address themselves to the audience is when they walk on or there has been a substitute and they clap to each stand in the stadium. However, there are also some differences. These are that Football matches will use more cameras than a studio based sit-com, such as Mrs Browns Boys. This is because there are far more angles to get shots from than being in a studio where there is only one front. Another difference is that a football match is live, it will be streamed directly to our TV screens or online, meaning a live edit will take place so nothing will be missed. As well as these two differences, there is a big difference in these two types of productions. This is that when filming something like Mrs Browns Boys, the cameramen will often have read the script so they know when each character is going to move or come into the scene etc. They might not know the script by heart but they know certain movements and things that are going to happen. Whereas in a football match, the cameramen have no idea what is going to happen in that match. They have to be quick and good at what they do as they will have to know reach player to be able to zoom in on them. They are very clever in the way that they are able to capture every single moment on the pitch. Lastly, Mrs Browns Boys is not streamed live, therefore certain parts of the production will be possibly cut out to fit the time scale they are allowed to have on the network, whereas a football match doesn't cut anything out so watching it is just like watching it from the stadium with a few extra edits, like 'zoom in/out.
 Here is a picture of Mrs Browns Boys being filmed.

As you can see, there are plenty of camera spread across the front of the stage in front of the audience. This is to make sure every part of the show is caught.

Here is a football match being filmed.

Here is an example of how the cameras are set up in a football match. There are plenty of cameras spread around and getting shots from numerous directions to make sure the audience at home is not missing anything that happens. 

There are Pros and Cons with each of these productions being multi-camera. In Mrs browns Boys, some people will say it is not as professional as other TV programmes as you see the cameras, behind set and the performers going wrong. This would be a Con of this show, however there will be people to argue against this. These people will say its much more enjoyable to watch a show like this because it doesn't just make you laugh but feels more relaxing to watch that something like 'Eastenders'. This is because when you talk to someone in real life there will be plenty of times that you say the wrong things or make all sorts of mistakes. Being able to see the cameras as the filming is happening is exciting for some viewers as people like to be able to see how everything works. Plus they know that what they are watching is exactly what happened because they know there is an audience there, therefore they are seeing the same thing as the audience. These could also be pros and cons of a football match. People get to see what is actually happening rather than something tat has been made up just for the TV. The good thing about a football match being multi camera, as i said before is that there is a camera filming from every angle of the pitch so nothing is missed. However sometimes this could be a bad thing because with all the cameras that are capturing footage, there is a lot for the editor to edit in order for it to go on TV correctly. Sometimes with things like this you will mistakes in the edit where something doesn't link up. This is because there are so many camera to operate and take footage from that something is bound to go wrong. There is a lot of footage for the editor to keep up with.

Finally, i think that both of these productions are better off by being multi-camera because it means that every single action is being filmed/caught on film therefore people watching on the TV aren't missing anything. It is easier for the cameramen and the editors in certain circumstances because they know that each camera has their own view on the certain scenes etc. Here are two examples of the productions.