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This book is about producing video content with a multi-camera set-up. The principles apply whatever the form of distribution: digital network, Internet, mobile phone or 'other'. It is intended to be used alongside practical courses or modules, both in teaching institutions and in professional training environments. The book centres on Health and Safety in TV studios, which are potentially dangerous places. It gives a lot of key information about television studios and the people who work in them. The book focuses on exercises to practise some basic principles and shows how to build on these and develop proposals and projects. It goes into more detail on Drama, Music and Action, both in the context of student projects and in the professional world. The book explains detail of television aspect ratios; and a little about the meanings of Continuity. Since many multi-camera video productions use inserts shot on single camera, there are several references to single-camera shooting. The necessary elements in multi-camera production are: a vision mixer (switcher) for selecting the images to be recorded or transmitted; a Director co-ordinating the content; an assistant to keep track of timings and where the Director is in the script; and a Camera Operator for each camera, with a tally-light to show when the particular camera is on-shot.
not discussed. Yet what there is here should be enough to introduce the working practices of multi-camera studios. The content is based on my own observations and experience both of those practices and what newcomers to them generally seem to find useful. The technology is developing fast and I would expect many changes to conventions and practices and to what is possible and affordable over the next few years. The ‘History’ sections show, in part, how much things have changed. You can expect to see as much change in your
This chapter is not about great movie stunts, though these often use a number of cameras so that expensive and destructive effects do not need to be repeated. Each camera runs independently for the entire take, so all the angles are fully covered, but they are not linked through a vision mixer or switcher. Frankly, a multi-camera studio is not the ideal place to try to shoot major action sequences. Multi-camera studios are great for speech-based content and fine, contained detail – demonstrations and the like. They are also great for a range of music
length) will talk about the focal length of the lens. Those used to multi-camera studios are more likely to think in terms of the horizontal angle of view. This was true even before the introduction of zoom lenses on all studio cameras. A zoom lens has a variable focal length, so it has a variable angle of view. Focal length Lenses bend light. They can do this because of the refractive properties of glass. If a beam of light from a point source with parallel rays hits a convex lens, the beams will be deflected and will meet at a point behind the lens. The
Multi-camera studio drama provides some of the most popular programming on British broadcast television, judging by the figures in the weekly Broadcast magazine. As I write, the techniques are usually limited to low-budget dramas such as ‘soap operas’, though they can also be used on situation comedies where there is a live studio audience. Having said that, every so often, at least in the UK, events are staged that feature ‘serious’ multi-camera dramas. In 2005, there was the Quatermass Experiment , which added being shot on location to the stresses of
Until recently, little work had been conducted on television acting per se, let alone the various coalescing factors that underpin and help shape it. This book addresses that lack, utilising a selection of science fiction case studies from the world of BBC television drama to investigate how small screen performance has altered since the days of live production. This then-and-now comparison of performing for British television drama focuses on science fiction case studies to provide a multi-perspectival examination of the historical development of acting in UK television drama. By the mid-1970s, studio realism might be expected to have reached its apotheosis, yet it was by no means all-encompassing as a style of television acting. A new approach was therefore required, with much of the performance preparation now taking place on location rather than being perfected beforehand in a separate rehearsal space: the seeds of location realism. One of the most notable contrasts between early television drama and the modern day is the shift from multi-camera studio to single camera location filming. Comparing the original versions of The Quatermass Experiment, Doctor Who and Survivors with their respective modern-day re-makes, the book unpacks the developments that have resulted from the shift from multi-camera studio to single camera location production. Examining changing acting styles from distinct eras of television production, the book makes a unique contribution to both television and performance studies, unpacking the various determinants that have combined to influence how performers work in the medium.
the ability to work within a team are essential for surviving in this field. Despite television’s changing surface, I believe that most of what is written here will continue to be relevant. This is precisely because a multi-camera studio does need a team to communicate their thoughts and ideas quickly, clearly and effectively. As long as there are multi-camera studios, this must continue to be true. In a conversation with Stuart McDonald, one of the UK’s most experienced Event Directors, he kept returning to the importance to him of teamwork, of knowing the
neglected, and given its commonalities with studio realism (rehearsal process, multi-camera studio production –but with the added ingredient of a live audience) and the more recent move towards a single camera model, this might provide some interesting contrasts and similarities. The particular styles employed for other dramatic formats such as the soap, the episodic drama and the single play also warrant investigation, and given the increased reliance in British drama schools upon Stanislavski –so often confused with the ‘Method’ style of C o n cl us io n 241 241
television itself, its case studies offering a valuable index to the times in which they were produced. One of the most notable contrasts between early television drama and the modern day is the shift from multi-camera studio (initially transmitted live, and later pre-recorded on videotape) to single camera location filming. The consequences of this were felt only gradually, and due to various other contributing factors were in a constant state of flux. However, studio and location provide a useful starting point for analysing both the changing determinants of British
and one camera can be fixed on, perhaps, a group shot. 2.2 A The side of a typical studio camera head; B shows the back. You will find many variations. The pan and tilt locks should allow the head to be locked in any chosen position. If there is the equivalent of a sliding tilt lock, this is for safety and locks the head level. On many heads there is another sliding lock, also to prevent accidental tilting. Mounts There are all kinds of mounts used in multi-camera studios. The cheapest is the rolling tripod – a tripod on a set of (detachable