Ideas

A multi-camera setup is a method of film making that uses several camera's to simultaneously record a scene e.g. game shows like 'The Chase' and chat shows like 'Graham Norton Show'. 

To ensure I fully understand multi-camera productions I looked into the advantages and disadvantages of them and also compared this with single camera productions by looking at the advantages and disadvantages of this.

Advantages and disadvantages of multi camera productions:

Advantages: (LisaGG.MultiCam, 2012)

• Time Saving – If you wish to view the same scene from many different angles, using a single camera set up would require the scene to be acted out three times. With a multi-camera set up footage of all three angles can be recorded at once.
• Live Events – Some events occur live and simply could not be repeated so that they could be filmed from multiple angles. This may include things such as sports matches or concerts
• Live Audience – Sometimes it is beneficial for a television show to have a live studio audience, to provide feedback to the writers and director in regards to the reception of their production and also to provide a laugh track. A multi-camera set up enables the scene to flow and allows the audience to react.
• Continuity – There would be less continuity errors using a multi camera set up as the scene would only be being acted once.
• Editing – It will not be necessary to use time and money editing as this will have been done during production using a vision mixing desk.

Disadvantages:

• Less flexibility – There are limited options on where camera’s can be placed in a scene. For example you may not be able to do an over the shoulder or point of view shot for fear of getting the recording equipment caught on camera.
• Space - multi camera productions take a lot of space as their is a lot equipment needed.
• Lighting compromises – It will take a lot longer to light a multi-camera shoot than it would a single camera production because more of the scene will be on show. A better lighting set up would be achieved if the cinematographer only had to focus on how the scene would look from one camera angle. Also it is important to remember there are more people on set and avoid placing lights in places that could cast shadows across a scene.

• Cost – Initially equipment costs were what prevented multi-camera set ups from being used. However in recent years equipment costs have lowered. Multi-camera may in some cases be the cheaper option nowadays if you consider the amount of money spent on locations, crew, and actors in a much longer single camera production.

Single - camera productions (Production, 2011)

Advantages:

• Cheaper; if more cameras were used, each camera man would cost money and lighting and sound units. With multiple cameras running, the costs increase.
• More aesthetic control; lighting and sound for each shot, enhances the detail and excitement. 
• Don't need both actors/presenters on set at the same time; film the shots for one whilst the other is in their trailer and vice versa. 
• Practicality - you aren't limited in how much space you need to set up your shot. 

Disadvantages:

• It takes longer to set up because of all the cameras and camera men.
• Less realistic reactions; as one actor gets filmed at a time, the reactions aren't as natural.
• Repetition; repeat the same shot 3 times to get each angle as you can only get one at a time, however use of multiple cameras you're able to capture everything at once.
• Editing time; you'll be spending a lot of time in the editing suit because of all the shots that have been taken. With multiple cameras, you could shoot different angles and takes at the same time, using different people for the cameras.

One of the main reasons why multiple cameras are used is so that it can always be focused on the centre of attention in that point of time. For example a game show has a lot happening on screen - you will need one camera on the contestants, another camera on the host and a camera on the audience. With multiple cameras you can then capture all of the action, and switch between the different camera angles - this wouldn't be possible with just one camera. Essentially multi-camera productions cover a lot of area. Another example is a game show like Deal or No-Deal - the contestant could have just been offered a very generous price, so the camera would want to capture their reaction and emotion with a close up.

Multi-camera productions have been used for many years. For example the use of multiple video cameras to cover a scene goes back to the earliest days of television; three cameras were used to broadcast The Queen's Messenger in 1928, the first drama performed for television.  The BBC routinely used multiple cameras for their live television shows from 1936 onward. (Earlytelevision.org, n.d.)

For my multi-camera live project I have had multiple ideas. Here I will explore some of them and list some examples of multi-camera productions that I have looked into:

• One of my first ideas was to create a chat-show similar to shows like "The Ellen Show" as first off all I have watched this show many times and have realised that when she interviews guests, multiple different camera angles are used. Therefore this would be great for a multi-camera project as I can assign each camera to a certain position/angle. Also one of my aim's this year is to improve my interview technique so this format would be really beneficial for me to research and develop this. 
• I thought that I could interview a local celebrity such as local bands. One of the bands that sprig to mind is 'Deaf Havana' who used to attend the College I am currently studying I could interview them about their life and how they got into music. I could have a similar setup to do the Ellen show - two armchairs and an audience to react to what the band are saying. I would then have two camera's - one pointing at me the host and then one at the guests. These would be both medium shots, and then there would be camera which would get both me and the guests in one shot shot which would be a medium long-shot. I would then switch between all 3 camera's so it looks like a professional chat show.
• I have found out that the Ellen is show is filmed in Burbank, Los Angeles in Warner Bros. Studios (Send.ellentv.com, 2019). As you can see its a very large studio, and lots of space for the audience. Unfortunately I would have very little space in the college studio so wouldn't be able to fit as much people as this studio, however I should be able to fit a few. The problem with this is that if there is very little people in the audience - this won't sound very professional.
• Many different camera shots are used such as medium shots to capture both the interviewer and interview's dialogue and reaction, and also Long shots of the audience so the audience can capture their reaction. Furthermore medium close-ups are commonly used on the interviewer and interviewee's - to capture when they speak. As you can tell from my analysis - many camera shots and angles are used in chat shows like "The Ellen Show" therefore making a chat show like this would be very appropriate for a multi-camera production.

(News Cast Studio, 2019)

• Here is an example of an interview with Justin Bieber that I have watched on the Ellen Show:

(The Ellen Show, 2016)

Target demographic: (Guthrie, 2019)

• Age: 25-54
• Gender: Women
• Ethnicity: Non - specific
• Country: USA
• Lifestyle: I believe people that watch this will be in the DE socio-economic group as this group includes the unemployed - these people will be able to watch this as this is a daytime show and people with a job wouldn't be able to view this. I also believe that many mothers on maternity leave would watch this show as they will be off during the day when this is broadcast.

• One of my other ideas that I really think would work well for this project is doing a news show.  First of all I have realised when watching the news the various different camera angles they use when interviewing people and the opening shots of the studio. Furthermore one of my main aims this year was to ensure that my projects that I completed were beneficial to what I want to study at University which is broadcast journalism and as this is a news show this would really help me develop my knowledge. It would also help improve my interview technique as from watching the news I have realised that interviews are a very common theme in this medium. Here is an example of the opening of BBC News - as you can see many different camera angles are used and you can even see multiple camera's positioned around the studio.
• A multi-camera setup is very necessary in news broadcasts as there is a lot that makes up these broadcasts. For example there needs to be a medium-close up of the newsreader, long shots of the studio for the opening of the broadcast. And medium shots when two people are in shot - for example when an interview is taking place. Thats why I really believe that a News Broadcast would work well for this multi-camera project because of the many different camera angles.
• I have found out BBC News is filmed in BBC Broadcasting House in Central London (Higham, 2013). Here is a picture of their studio. As you can its quite large (but certainly considerably smaller than the game show and chat show studio I looked into) and they have lots of different production equipment. You can see on the picture there is a track around the news desk - this can be used to get tracking shots, this is commonly used in the opening shots of the news.

(BBC News, 2013)

(Broadcast Mirror, 2017)

Target demographic: 

• Age: Older audience e.g. 30s to 60's -  I found out the average BBC1 viewer where the News is frequently broadcasted is 61 (Usborne, 2019)
• Gender: Non - specific
• Ethnicity: Non-specific
• Country: UK

I have also found out that according to an Ofcom report BBC News on BBC 1 tends to attract a demographic from a higher social economic group - ABC1 which includes people with higher managerial jobs and professional jobs.  (Ofcom, 2019)

Newround for example on CBBC is target towards 6-12 year olds (BBC Newsround, 2011) as CBBC is a children's TV Channel. Thereore they cover news stories in more simplistic language and less in-depth analysis compared to BBC News.

Here is an interesting interview conducted on a BBC News show called HARDtalk - you can see how they switch between different cameras - just like I am going to have to do for my project.

(BBC News, 2014)

• Another idea that I came up with for a multi-camera live show was to do a game show. This would certainly be very complex as from watching many of them on TV, they are constantly switching between many different camera's and have many different angles. Also many game-shows have an audience that they have a camera pointed on. This certainly would be a challenge however I would learn a lot about multi-camera productions if I produced one. Here is an example of one of my favourite game shows: "The Chase", notice how many angles and camera's they switch between.
• One of my ideas for this is that it would be a game show similar to the Chase where the contestant has to ask questions against the clock to win money.
• To add my own twist to my game show it would start off with multiple people in my college group standing in a line and each being assigned with a certain number. One person would be randomly selected by a random number generator  and that person would participate in the show. I would also add another twist to the game show as I would ensure some of the questions asked would be college themed e.g. when was the college opened? etc.
• I have noticed from watching the clip below that game shows use many different shots. A common shot is a wide shot of the studio from a high P.O.V.  - this shot is probably achieved by using a crane camera (I don't think I would have access to  crane camera in the college studio so this would therefore be very difficult to achieve. This shot also frequently pans.
• Another common shot types include medium close up shots of the contestants to capture their answers and reactions (this is very common in 'The Chase') I would ensure that  I tried to incorporate all of these shots into my piece and frequently switch between them. I would have one camera pointing on the contestant. One camera getting a wide shot of the whole studio and another camera getting a medium long shot of the contestant and me the presenter together in one shot. As you can tell from my analysis from 'The Chase' many different camera angles are used therefore a g show would be another good idea for a multi-camera production.
• I have found out that 'The Chase' is filmed in Elstree Studios in London (Elstree Studios, 2014) Here is a picture of the studio. As you can see just like the Ellen Show studio this is very large. There is also lots of room to fit an audience - as I mentioned before I have very limited space so if I have an audience it will be very small.                      (Richardson, 2016)

(ITV - The Chase, 2017)

Target demographic: (En.wikipedia.org, 2019) (Rowles, 2019) 

Age: 55 and over (En.wikipedia.org, 2019)

Gender: Women (I have found out online 73 percent of daytime television viewers are women (Rowles, 2019) 

Ethnicity: Non-specific

Country: UK

Lifestyle: DE economic groups - this group included semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations and unemployed. The reason why I believe people that watch this will be in this group is because this on during the daytime, and people with jobs would be away at work so many unemployed people will view this. I also believe pensioners that are retired will watch this as they no longer work and can watch in the day.

The multi-camera productions that I have looked at all take place in a studio however you can get locational multi-camera productions. For example the BBC's 'Antiques roadshow' is a multi-camera camera production that takes place in different locations around the UK - not in a studio.

For example this particular Antiques Roadshow took place in Lytham Hall, Lancashire:

(Toledo, 2019)

Target demographic:
Age: 50 to 80
Gender: Both men and women
Ethnicity: White British
Country: UK
Lifestyle: ABC1 socio economic group e.g. managerial jobs. Antiques are known to be commonly expensive therefore I believe Antiques roadshow would appeal to people who have well-paid jobs and that are middle class.

• Many different shots and camera angles are used for this. For example one of the most common is extreme close-ups of the Antiques so the viewers can see the small details of the antiques that are being talked with. There are also many medium shots - to show the antique dealer and the person bringing in the antiques.
• There are also many high P.OV. camera angles that are extreme long shots to show the people gathered at the antique event and also the beautiful 'Lytham Hall'

As you can see this production is shot on location and not in a studio. The problem with having a location multi-camera production is the cost. If i wanted to do a multi-camera locational production then I would have to arrange things like transport and food for example which would be very costly. That is why for my idea I will stick to creating a studio multi-camera production.

News broadcast idea continued

• I have decided that the idea that I am most passionate about is doing a news broadcast piece. The reason why I have decided against the game show is because after watching numerous different game shows I have realised that there are so many different camera shots and angles - that I would run out of time if I tried to produce this in the set amount of time. In fact one of my tutors explained the students that are most successful on this unit are the ones that are most realistic about what they can achieve in the set time. The chat-show idea I like however I feel if I do a news broadcast then I can incorporate the interview that you see in a chat show but also the broadcast journalism aspect that I want to develop this year.
• I would ensure that I use multiple camera's to make the news broadcast look professional and similar to a BBC News broadcast. One of the shots that I have noticed that BBC News broadcast frequently use a a camera that captures a long shot and that pans from right to left - in fact you can see the camera's moving on the track on the BBC News video (Broadcast Mirror, 2017) above. This would defiantly be something that I would incorporate into my news broadcast. They are commonly use a medium close - up shot on the presenter so I would ensure that I used this shot type as well. And as I want to also cary out an interview I would need another camera pointing on the interviewee. I have had numerous ideas for subjects for my main headline story to be on such as health and politics stories as I am very interested and passionate about these subjects. I would therefore have a guest that would come into the studio such as a health/political corespondent/expert and I would interview them - just like they do on the news.
• The way my news broadcast would play out, would be that I would read the headlines (just like they do on BBC News) and then start going into detail on my main story. I would then interview an expert/corespondent and then would bring the news broadcast to a close. It's important that I ensure my idea is not to long and complicated as I want to be able to produce this news broadcast to a high standard and not rush it.
• As you can tell from my analysis of BBC News Broadcast - there are many different camera angles and shots that are achievable with the equipment I have access to and the time available  compared to a game show for example that commonly uses crane camera's to get high P.O.V shots of large studio audiences.
• As my idea is to do a news broadcast I now need to use research to develop this idea further, and understand the codes and conventions of a news broadcast. I also need to research into what exactly I want my news broadcast to be on also identify a target audience.

Bibliography

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