What Is A Multi Camera Sitcom

Method of movie making and video production

Diagram showing a multicam setup

The multiple-camera setup, multiple-camera mode of production, multi-camera or just multicam is a method of filmmaking and video production. Several cameras—either film or professional video cameras—are employed on the gear up and simultaneously record or broadcast a scene. It is often contrasted with a single-camera setup, which uses one camera.

Description [edit]

Generally, the two outer cameras shoot close-up shots or "crosses" of the two most active characters on the set at any given fourth dimension, while the central photographic camera or cameras shoot a wider master shot to capture the overall action and establish the geography of the room.^[1] In this manner, multiple shots are obtained in a single take without having to starting time and end the activeness. This is more efficient for programs that are to be shown a short time after beingness shot as it reduces the time spent in pic or video editing. It is too a virtual necessity for regular, high-output shows like daily soap operas. Apart from saving editing time, scenes may be shot far more quickly as there is no need for re-lighting and the gear up-up of alternative camera angles for the scene to be shot again from the different angle. It besides reduces the complexity of tracking continuity bug that crop up when the scene is reshot from the unlike angles.

Drawbacks include a less optimized lighting setup that needs to provide a compromise for all photographic camera angles and less flexibility in putting the necessary equipment on scene, such every bit microphone booms and lighting rigs. These can be efficiently hidden from just one camera merely tin can be more complicated to fix and their placement may be inferior in a multiple-camera setup. Another drawback is in the usage of recording capacity, every bit a iv-camera setup may use (depending on the cameras involved) upward to four times as much picture (or digital storage space) per have compared with a unmarried-photographic camera setup.

A multiple-camera setup will crave all cameras to exist synchronous to assist with editing and to avoid cameras running at dissimilar scan rates, with the master methods being SMPTE timecode and Genlock.^[two]

Movie [edit]

Most films utilise a unmarried-camera setup,^[three] but in recent decades larger films have begun to use more than i photographic camera on set, usually with two cameras simultaneously filming the same setup. However, this is not a true multiple-photographic camera setup in the television sense.

Some films will run multiple cameras, perhaps 4 or 5, for large, expensive and difficult-to-repeat special furnishings shots, such as big explosions. Again, this is non a true multiple-camera setup in the television sense equally the resultant footage will not always be arranged sequentially in editing, and multiple shots of the same explosion may exist repeated in the final movie—either for artistic upshot or because the different shots can appear to show different explosions since they are taken from unlike angles.^{[ clarification needed ]}

Television [edit]

Live news, such as Al Jazeera, will use multiple cameras for their broadcasts.

Multiple-camera setups are an essential part of live television.^[4] The multiple-photographic camera method gives the director less control over each shot but is faster and less expensive than a single-camera setup. In television, multiple-camera is commonly used for light entertainment, sports events, news, soap operas, talk shows, game shows, multifariousness shows, and some sitcoms, especially ones filmed before a live studio audience.

Multiple cameras can have different shots of a alive situation every bit the activity unfolds chronologically and is suitable for shows which crave a live audition. For this reason, multiple camera productions can be filmed or taped much faster than single camera. Single-photographic camera productions are shot in takes and various setups with components of the action repeated several times and out of sequence; the action is not enacted chronologically then is unsuitable for viewing by a live audience.

In multiple-camera television, the director creates a line cutting by instructing the technical director (vision mixer in UK terminology) to switch between the feeds from the individual cameras. This is either transmitted alive, or recorded. In the case of sitcoms with studio audiences, this line cut is typically displayed to them on studio monitors. The line cut might be refined later in editing, as ofttimes the output from all cameras is recorded, both separately (a technique known every bit "ISO" recording). The camera currently being recorded to the line cut is indicated past a tally low-cal controlled by a photographic camera control unit of measurement (CCU) on the camera as a reference both for the talent and the camera operators, and an boosted tally lite may exist used to indicate to the photographic camera operator that they are being ISO recorded.

A sitcom shot with a multiple-camera setup volition require a different form of script to a single-camera setup.^[5]

History and utilise [edit]

The use of multiple film cameras dates back to the evolution of narrative silent films, with the earliest (or at least earliest known) example being the outset Russian feature pic Defense force of Sevastopol (1911), written and directed past Vasily Goncharov and Aleksandr Khanzhonkov.^[6] When audio came into the picture multiple cameras were used to picture show multiple sets at a single time. Early on audio was recorded onto wax discs that could not be edited.

The use of multiple video cameras to cover a scene goes back to the earliest days of boob tube; three cameras were used to broadcast The Queen'due south Messenger in 1928, the first drama performed for telly.^[7] The get-go drama performed for British television was Pirandello's play The Man With the Blossom in His Mouth in 1930, using a single photographic camera.^[8] The BBC routinely used multiple cameras for their live television shows from 1936 onward.^[9] ^[10] ^[11]

United States [edit]

Before the pre-recorded continuing series became the dominant dramatic form on American idiot box, the primeval anthology programs (see the Golden Age of Tv) utilized multiple camera methods.^{[ citation needed ]}

Although it is frequently claimed that the multiple-camera setup was pioneered for telly past Desi Arnaz and cinematographer Karl Freund on I Beloved Lucy in 1951, other filmed television shows had already used it, including the CBS one-act The Amos 'n Andy Bear witness, which was filmed at the Hal Roach Studios and was on the air four months before. The technique was developed for television by Hollywood brusk-subject veteran Jerry Fairbanks, assisted past producer-director Frank Telford, and starting time seen on the anthology series The Silver Theater, another CBS programme, in February 1950.^[12] Desilu's innovation was to use 35mm film instead of 16mm and to film with a multiple-photographic camera setup before a live studio audition.

In the tardily 1970s, Garry Marshall was credited with adding the fourth photographic camera (known then as the "X" Camera, and occasionally today known every bit the "D" Camera) to the multi-camera set-up for his series Mork & Mindy. Role player Robin Williams could not stay on his marks due to his physically active improvisations during shooting, and so Marshall had them add the fourth photographic camera just to stay on Williams so they would have more than just the master shot of the role player.^[13] ^[14] Soon subsequently, many productions followed suit and now having four cameras (A, B, C and 10/D) is the norm for multi-camera situation comedies.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Sitcoms shot with the multiple photographic camera setup include nearly all of Lucille Ball'south Television serial, as well as Mary Kay and Johnny, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, Three'southward Visitor, Thanks, The Cosby Prove, Full House, Seinfeld, Family unit Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Mad Virtually You lot, Friends, The Drew Carey Bear witness, Frasier, Will & Grace, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, 2 and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, Last Homo Continuing, Mom, 2 Broke Girls, The Odd Couple, Ane Twenty-four hour period at a Time, Man with a Programme, Carol'south Second Act, and Bob Hearts Abishola. Many American sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1970s were shot using the single camera method, including The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Bear witness, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Become Smart, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heroes, and The Brady Agglomeration. The earliest seasons of Happy Days were filmed using a single-photographic camera setup before the series transitioned to a multi-camera setup (which likewise occurred alongside its increase in popularity). These did not have a live studio audition and past being shot single-photographic camera, tightly edited sequences could exist created, along with multiple locations, and visual effects such as magical appearances and disappearances. Multiple-photographic camera sitcoms were more simplified but have been compared to theatre piece of work due to its similar set-up and use of theatre-experienced actors and crew members.

While the multiple-camera format dominated US sitcom production in the 1970s and 1980s,^{[ citation needed ]} there has been a recent revival of the single-camera format with programs such as Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006), Scrubs (2001–2010), Entourage (2004–2011), The Office (2005–2013), My Name Is Earl (2005–2009), Everybody Hates Chris (2005–2009), Information technology's E'er Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present), 30 Rock (2006–2013), Glee (2009–2015), Modern Family unit (2009–2020), The Middle (2009–2018), Customs (2009–2015), Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), Raising Hope (2010–2014), Louie (2010–2015), The Goldbergs (2013-present), Black-ish (2014-present), Superstore (2015–2021), Silicon Valley (2014-2019), Schitt's Creek (Canada) (2015-2020), American Housewife (2016–present), and Young Sheldon (2017–present).

United kingdom [edit]

The majority of British sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the early 1990s were made using a multi-camera format.^[15] Dissimilar the United States, the development of completed filmed programming, using the unmarried photographic camera method, was limited for several decades.^{[ citation needed ]} Instead, a "hybrid" course emerged using (single photographic camera) filmed inserts, generally location work, which were mixed with interior scenes shot in the multi-photographic camera electronic studio. It was the most mutual type of domestic production screened by the BBC and ITV. However, as technology developed, some drama productions were mounted on location using multiple electronic cameras. Many all-action 1970s programmes, such as The Sweeney and The Professionals were shot using the single camera method on 16mm picture. Meanwhile, past the early 1980s the near highly approaching and prestigious television productions, like Brideshead Revisited (1981), had begun to utilize flick exclusively.

By the later on 1990s, lather operas were left as the but TV drama beingness made in the Uk using multiple cameras.^{[ commendation needed ]} Television prime-time dramas are usually shot using a single-camera setup.

See too [edit]

3D reconstruction from multiple images
Camera rig
Circle-Vision 360°
Light stage is a device used for capturing the shape, texture, and reflectance of a target, usually for the purposes of virtual cinematography. Low-cal stages are usually a combination of and multiple camera and structured light techniques, and additionally, polarizers are included to observe the subsurface scattering component of the target's skin.
Omnidirectional camera
Single-camera setup

References [edit]

^ Scott Schaefermeyer (25 July 2012). Digital Video BASICS. Cengage Learning. pp. 189–. ISBN978-i-133-41664-7.
^ Norman Medoff; Edward J. Fink (10 September 2012). Portable Video: ENG & EFP. CRC Press. pp. 65–. ISBN978-1-136-04770-i.
^ Battaglio, Stephen (July 8, 2001). "TELEVISION/RADIO; Networks Rediscover the Single-Camera Sitcom". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
^ Andrew Utterback (25 September 2015). Studio Television Product and Directing: Concepts, Equipment, and Procedures. CRC Press. pp. 163–. ISBN978-1-317-68033-eight.
^ Miyamoto, Ken (21 June 2016). "Single-Photographic camera vs. Multi-Camera TV Sitcom Scripts: What'southward the Difference?". ScreenCraft . Retrieved 13 June 2020.
^ "В Салюте в День российского кино прошел показ немого фильма "Оборона Севастополя" под живое музыкальное сопровождение - Фильмы - КультурМультур". kulturmultur.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-12-10 .
^ "Queen's Messenger". Early Television Foundation and Museum . Retrieved 13 June 2020.
^ Richard Chiliad Elen. "Baird versus the BBC". Baird: The Birth of Idiot box. Transdiffusion. Archived from the original on 2010-04-17.
^ "Alexandra Palace". world wide web.earlytelevision.org . Retrieved 13 June 2020.
^ "The Birth of Alive Entertainment and Music on Television, November half-dozen, 1936". History Boob tube: The Restelli Collection . Retrieved thirteen June 2020.
^ "Telecasting a Play", New York Times, March x, 1940, p. 163.
^ "Flight to the West?" Fourth dimension, March vi, 1950.
^ Anders, Charlie Jane (Dec 2, 2015). "Mork and Mindy Was One of the Most Unlikely Miracles in the History of Television". Gizmodo . Retrieved May 12, 2017.
^ Kantor, Michael; Maslon, Laurence (2008). Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America. K Central Publishing. p. 340. ISBN978-0-446-55575-3.
^ Walker, Tim (February 2, 2011). "The return of the sitcom". The Independent . Retrieved May 12, 2017.