Single and Multi Camera Production

What is single camera production?

Single camera production is a piece of media recorded with a single camera. It is more commonly used in things such as music videos, short films and low budget movies. The pro’s of this is that it is a lot more manageable to use and is more flexible for the type of shots that are available without worrying of the obstacles in the way such as other cameras. More pro’s of this production is that it is a lot cheaper on the budget during the production. This however is not a perfect way of filming as it means that the camera has to stay in the same area to film all the shots before moving to a different area for a different scene. Another negative fact about single camera production is that it is more time consuming due to the fact of there being only one camera recording with one memory slot per card plus the time it takes to move the camera and other equipment such as lighting and sound equipment around for the different scenes. Productions that use this technique of recording are drama shows with a set amount of episodes from the get go. The reason for this is that it is low budget and is a more manageable way to watch ratings for the shows to see it if it worth continuing the series. Examples of these kind of shows are ones such as Game of Thrones, Scrubs and House MD. It is more common to see single camera productions in shows that have different locations or time lines compared to shows that are in the same area or scenery for most of the show.

What is multi camera production?

Multi camera production is a piece of media that is recorded with multiple cameras. The cameras are usually set up in certain places throughout the recordings and do not move from their spots, only rotate. It is more common to see this kind of production in things such as talk shows and the news, things that are designed to be aired on television live. The pro’s of this is that it can get a lot more different angles for the recordings which would take less time to create compared to single camera production. Another pro is that as it takes less time to move stuff around to record the different angles and shots, it takes less time to edit footage for pre recorded shows such as soap operas. A con to this way of production is that it is a lot more expensive budget wise this way due to the equipment costs and manpower needed to operate it all. Another negative is even though there are more cameras on the set that can get more angles and shots, they are less flexible than single camera production due to the fact that they are limited to the amount of shots they can get. There is risk that they can catch other cameras in the shots as well as stage lighting, sound and other production members.

What is a Series, Serial and Single Drama?

Series – A series is a sequence of episodes in a television program that has an ending. An example of this is Friends.

Serial – A serial a television show that has no ending / continuous story. An example of this Eastenders and Hollyoaks.

Single Drama – A single drama is a single plot story with no continuation. It is considered as a one off special. An example of this is the BBC drama 7.39

Genres and Sub Genres?

Period Drama – A period drama is a drama show that is set in a certain time or era. An example of this is Downton Abby

Drama Documentary – A drama documentary is a documentary on a real life event such as World War 2 or the events of

Crime Drama – A crime drama focuses on people that work within the forces such as police and hospitals and shows their daily jobs and events from car chases to swat raids. An example of this is the TV show is Traffic Cops. Another example of crime dramas could be a mystery show where the main character is a detective. An example of this is the television show Castle.

Soap Opera – A soap opera is a serial television show that has no ending based on a fictional setting but follows the lives of certain characters. An example of this is Eastenders.

Comedy – A comedy television show is designed to be funny and humorous. It can be based of live stand up or a comedy sitcom such as Friends.

Horror- A horror television show is designed to be scary and thrilling with jump scares and fictional nightmarish horrors such as the television series Scream

What are genres?

Genres is the style of the product. It labels the show with the kind of content that is within it. So if something was labelled with the genre of comedy that lets the individual know that it is a show that was created to make the watcher laugh. Genres are important because of how it lists the program into its own category. It also lets people see similar or recommended shows that are within the same genre of the show that they watched.

The most popular type of genre that was on television in 2016 would be the genre of adventure and action. The examples of the type of television shows would be shows such as The Walking Dead, Arrow and The Flash. These shows often have a singular or a group of main characters with a load of side characters around them with us following them on their journey and any obstacles they may encounter. This information was obtained by

Statista. (2017). Most popular TV show genres in Europe 2016 | Statistic. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017].

Sub Genres are television or films that have more than one genre within it. For example, the movie Deadpool is classified with the genre of action but also has the genre of comedy. So both genres are put together to make it an Action/Comedy which is a sub genre. The positive thing about sub genres is that it appeals to more than one type of audience.


Single and Multi Camera Production

One thought on “Single and Multi Camera Production

  1. An excellent understanding of single and multi-camera products, pros, and cons of both. It is also evident that you have done a good amount of research into different type of TV genres and have given correct explanation and examples of each. It would be useful if you did add some images as well.


Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Google+ photo


Connecting to %s