Single Camera Drama

Task 1-Understanding single-camera productions

The prospect of single camera and multi camera formats are simple. Single camera uses one camera and multi camera use 2 or more.

Single camera formates gives a director more control over a shot, however it is more expensive and more time consuming as a shot has to be planed throughly giving actors correct timing in which to step into a shot.

Multi camera formats also have there advantages. Such as being useful for live TV as they show different perspectives of actors, showing body language and facial expressions. They are also used in talk shows as they can show the live audience to get a sense of audience participation that can't be achieved by a single camera.

Single camera formats are often used in films joining an array of tracking and panning shots. They are useful in films as they circulate the room and set the scene for the viewing audience.

Multi camera formats however are used in programs suck as panel shows, talk shows, sketch shows and live sporting events.

Task 2-Understanding single-camera productions

TV always falls in either a series format or a serial format. The prospects of each are very simple.

A series is a collecting of episodes that run under the same title, all ending the story at the end of each episode. Examples of these are things such as panel shows and Drama’s like the bill. A serial however, is entirely different. In a serial drama the story has a continuous story line that flows onto the next episode. Examples of these are soap opera’s such as Coronation Street as each episode has an open end, in order to attract an audience for the next viewing. Some programs use a mix of the two by having a serial story line continuing to the next episode. They become a series however as they are show in sets of episodes, usually six. Examples of this are things such as friends and two pints.

Finally there is a single drama, which is exactly as it sounds; a one off drama with a beginning middle and an end.

Task 3- Narrative 

Part A

There are several different types of narrative. From linear to non-linear. It's important to know where each narrative is used and what type of effect it has.

In 80's series Dallas, each season has an open ending also knows as a cliffhanger. This effect draws viewers in to the next season in order to grasp a wider audience to end the mystery. Popular endings in Dallas are death and divorce.

Other programs such as Family Guy use different techniques to achieve their effects. Family Guy uses flash backs to achieve the comical effect that’s it's trying to achieve. Although Family Guy has a linear narrative the flash backs make it non-linear as it reverts from the usual Todorov theory of Equilibrium, Disruption, and Resolution.

Other shows use different techniques to achieve their desired effect. Peep show for example uses a subjective narrative. This is where point of view shot's are used to relate you to certain characters. It helps you get inside the characters thoughts and you can share their sight, hearing and emotions. Films can also use this effect. Cloverfield for example uses a subjective narrative. Juxtaposed to a subjective narrative there is an objective narrative where external behaviors are viewed. This is a more popular technique in Films and TV dramas.

Finally, there are restricted and unrestricted narratives. Restricted narratives are where the audience see's events as the characters see them. This is a very popular format in most films and dramas.

Restricted narratives are less popular. These narratives are where the audience knows the ending all along. This type of narrative is normally used in factual films such as Titanic and Pearl Harbor.

Task 3- Narrative

Part B

Films also use these techniques. Mr Deed uses various narrative structures. It uses Todorov theory as it has an equilibrium, Longfellow deeds living happily in new Hampshire running a pizzeria; Disruption, his uncle dying and him investing Blake media, a 40 billion dollar company; and a resolution, a closer heir being found and him taking home 1 billion dollars.

However, the narrative is multi strand as it has other stories occurring along the way. For instance, Longfellow Deeds falls in love with with Pam Dawson, school nurse from Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa, however, Pam is actually named Babe Bennett, a New York News Reporter. This in a way creates an unrestricted genre as we see evens unraveling before the characters in the Film.

The Films has a narrative pattern of a journey following the Prop’s theory of hero (Long Fellow Deeds) Villain (Chuck Cedar) villain’s helper (Anderson) and damsel in distress, which seems to be Pam Dawson. However, the stereotypical Narrative structure is subverted as at times Longfellow Deeds appears to be the Damsel and Pam Dawson A.K.A. Babe Bennett appears to be the Villain after tricking Longfellow for footage. Other character narrative changes include the villain’s helper (Anderson) standing up to Chuck Cedar at the end therefore becoming a hero.

In terms of camera techniques, the film uses an objective narrative as it’s from outside. Therefore it doesn’t display the characters thoughts and feeling. These feelings however are portrayed through the initial narrative.

Finally, as previously stated, the film ends with a resolution of Longfellow Deeds returning the New Hampshire with billion Dollars. This is therefore a closed ending as the story is resolved. This gives the reader a deeper understanding of what events have occurred as there is no enigma or cliffhanger. The only down side if this is that this leaves know room for a sequel unless the directors where to use an entirely different story line just keep some of the original characters.

Another Adam Sandler classic, Happy Gilmore, uses similar narrative structures. It also uses Todorov but subverts its features. It starts with a collecting of diversions; Gilmore not making the hockey team; Gilmore’s Grandmother having her house repossessed; Gilmore’s girlfriend leaving him. Then, equilibrium occurs, Gilmore playing professional golf; Gilmore dating a girl; Gilmore’s grandmother plodding along in a rest home. The film ends with a resolution. Gilmore winning the golfing championship; Gilmore winning his grandmothers house back; Gilmore moving in with is girlfriend.

Throughout this multi strand narrative a further diversion occurs for each three narratives. In terms of golf, Shooter McGavin becomes Gilmore’s enemy and pays someone to put him off his game. This culminates when he pays someone to run Gilmore over and disrupt his four hundred yard drive. In terms of his love life, disruption occurs when his date doesn’t want to date a golfer. Finally in terms of his grandma, disruption occurs when she is bullied by her carer at the rest home and when shooter buy’s her house leaving Gilmore having to win it back in a golf match.

Other narrative techniques are used. For instance, prop’s theory is used to its full effect with Shooter being the villain, a fan of Shooter’s being his helper. The grandma is the damsel in distress and Gilmore is the hero. Gilmore also has a helper in Girlfriend Vergina Vennit.

In terms of camera techniques, the film uses an objective technique surveying a wide range of shot. However a subjective point of view shot is used on the ball. This is for two reasons. One, to exemplify how far the ball has traveled and two, because a golf ball would be hard to track on a regular camera.

Finally, the restricted genre has a closed ending. Just like Mr. Deeds this gives the reader a deeper understanding of what’s happened but again leaves no room for a sequel.

Task 4-Understanding Single-cam techniques

The piece opens with blurred titles, which are signifiers that connote the genre to be either a horror or a thriller. This connotation is deepened when a red seven occurs. This strengthens the idea of a horror theme. When the red seven appears we here the ambiance of a train. This train could connote either the setting, as it’s in a railway station, or it could enhance the fact that we, as the audience are about to go on a journey.

As the opening titles end we are faced with an establishing shot of an empty train station. This long shot is on a titled frame that creates an enigma, which straight away makes the piece confusing. We are then up fronted with another establishing shot of two boys leaving a car. The movement of these two boys is caught in the reflection of a puddle. This is an example of clever camera work, using reflections as camera shots.

After that we see an extreme close up of the girls face. This shows her emotions and makes the audience feel sympathy for her. At this time, she appears to be the damsel in distress. After this we a confronted with a low angled shot followed by a flash back.

The flash back appears with a relatable sound that is used every time to signify that a flash back is about to take place. Another relatable effect is the use of black and white. As well as letting the audience know that it’s a flash back, it also dulls the mood to show that these flash backs are of unhappy memories. The empty swings and park gate creates a fear an anxiety amongst the audience. The fear is strengthening by the ambiance of a heartbeat. Shots are then made in beat with the heartbeat as we see a dead girl and some pills. The fast cutting overlaps the two and creates a link between them. This link is a message. The sound then plays to signify the end of the flash back.

After the colour’s re saturate we are faced with a two shot. “Where are we heading” The flash back sound then plays and the colour de saturate back to black and white. We then see a girl on a bench as she shuffles over when another girl sits down. This shuffle is a signifier, which connotes either a fear from the girl sat down, of the need for isolation. She is handed a book, which contains some drugs and a message. Which reads, “ Free, remember who your friend is” To me this shows the friend to be the drugs. This connotes that the drugs have become a part of her life and they have become important to her; all the features of a stereotypical friend.

In the next flash back we see the words drugs and death and killer. All these words carry negative connotations that therefore create more apprehension in the audience. The newspaper in which these words are read from is then dropped on the floor. We see a low angled shot of someone walking over the newspaper. This shows that the person has power over the words that were read from the newspaper and it shows that the person is willing to fight them. The flash back ends.

We then see an over the shoulder shot of the police detective interrogating his suspect. The women has a stronger character as the detective has to resort to aggressing, pinning her against the wall. Despite a detective being the obvious good guy, from shots like these we see him as the villain with the other detective being his accomplice. The accomplish theory is then instantly ruined as we see him pull his colleague off in an effort to stay professional.

We then go into another flash back. This flashback is important as we see a girl in the direct centre of the screen. This shows her to be the main character. She is wearing a black hoodie, which has its connotations. The colour black in this case shows lack of fear and heartlessness. The hoodie connotes violence and crime due to the negative media approach to them. The shot as a whole creates another enigma. Who is she? Where is she? These questions are then answers as we see a medium shot of her knelt at a grave. The grave shows that she’s experienced loss and the negativity that radiates off her could be due to her grieving this loss. I admire what this flash back connotes as it helps relieve some confusion from the entire piece.

After the flash back we see a moving shot, zooming into the girls face; then an extreme close-up of her eyes. This close up strengthens the fact that she is the damsel due to the fact that she is looking up. This shows that she is smaller that the man giving her less physical power therefore making her more vulnerable. The interrogations continue.

In the next flashback more truth is revealed. With all the transactions in time with the heartbeat we see the word death and suffer written on a gravestone. We then see a repeated shot of the girl on her knees grieving and the one of the pills in the book. In the next shot we see the pills in the dead girls hand. It’s all coming together as we now know that a girl has died of a drug overdose and that the other girl on the park bench and in the graveyard, is trying to fight the trauma. This just leaves one last enigma. Who is the girl?

After the flash back we see the detective again using his physical strength trying to break the girls indestructible character. The dramatic music intensifies and a bell sounds. This bell could signify a train approaching. We see a long shot showing the difference in lighting in and out of the station. It becomes apparent that the station is a more depressing place as the sun radiates outside. We then see the girl enter the track and a two shot of the detectives struggling; all in time with a flash that occurs. This flash is usually seen in the flash backs so the mood drops. The flashes are accompanied by the sound of a camera flash to help make the scene more intense.

We then see a final shaking shot. This shot is a subjective shot from the train’s perspective. The shaking of the shot shows disruption, as the girl is about to die. Just before impact the shot slows down for one last close up. The emotion on the girls face shows that she’s prepared for the impact and that it’s what she wants. The shot then fades to the opening title sequence with the same train ambiance. This connotes that the journey is over. The type of ending will depend on the viewer’s intelligence. Some would say it’s an open ending as it’s left on a cliffhanger, as the train doesn’t technically hit. I however see this as a closed ending as the final enigma is solved.

From my perspective I see that the girl in the flash back is the girl on the station and that her friend has died due to a drug overdose. Perhaps she has committed a crime, which is why detectives have interviewed her. The words in the newspaper could signify the media’s response and the words on the grave could signify the family’s response. The shots of her grieving could justify why she jumped on the track at the end. I think it was to end her life, to be with her friend and to escape the drug addiction, which is within her. This is also where her solid character comes from as death effects people in many ways.

The reason this film is so powerful is due to the dramatic music bed and ambience of heartbeat in the flashbacks. Also the cutting in time with the beat creates anxiety within the audience. All these things help create the enigmas and make the piece difficult to understand.

Task 5-Audiences: Technology and Categorisation

Even though we may not know it, the world of media is changing. Technology is developing; resources are expanding and entertainment as we know it is becoming more and more apparent. This fundamentally has affected the way people watch TV and made it more difficult for TV companies to reach a broader audience. As media develops more options are becoming available for an audience making it difficult for companies to draw large audiences. For example, 20 years ago there were channels one to five; nowadays there are 1000’s. Sky for instance has over 1000 channels in over ten genres. It also offers sky plus. Sky plus makes life easier for viewers meaning that they can record TV onto a hard-drive and watch it at their convenience. This lowers viewing audiences for particular programs meaning that families no longer have to sit together around a telly as they can simply watch the program later. Sky plus is a luxury and comes at a price. However, normal sky offers channels that come with convenience as they have a plus one feature. This is simply a channel repeating its programme’s just one hour later removing the urgency to watch. This is becoming a problem for TV broadcasters as, even though their programmes are being watch, family time at the TV has become a thing of the past and will result in TV slowly killing its self off.

Audience’s don’t even have to own a TV to watch TV these days as channels such as BBC, ITV and Chanel 4 have there own online TV broadcaster. This again is showing technological development, which is ruining TV family time. It’s so much better though as its convenient and easy to use. You simply type in the program you want to watch and there it is, you watch it. No need to buy a TV guide and wait until the time in which it’s on.

In conclusion this information shows that TV revolves around convenience for the audience making it difficult to reach wider audiences at one time. However it’s not really a problem as the programmes are still being watch by around the same amount of people just at different times.

Task 6-Audiences: Technology and Categorization

Task 7- Hardware and Software 

I will be using several devices and programmes in order to create my single camera drama. First of all the program will have to be filmed. To do this I will be using a Panasonic DVX-100-B video camera. These cameras are ideal for me as they are portable and hand held, easy for doing point of view shots.

To make my product I will also require audio equipment to record high quality sound for when using the mental subjectivity technique. The device I will use for this is the Edirol R-09 voice recorder as it has several appealing feature. For instance it allows me to record in several formats such as wav and mp3. This means that I can upload straight into garage band or imovie without having to convert in itunes or audacity. Another appealing feature of this product is the level meters and peak indicators, displayed on the screen. This allows me to keep an eye on the quality when recording. This will keep my audio professional.

As well as recording my product is need to edit it. I will edit the sound using garage band. Garage band is grate audio software as it allows you to cut to 1/64^th of a note making editing very precise. It also allows you to put a range of effects on the audio meaning that the actors don’t have to throw their voice as much. Which is handy, as we don’t have access to professional actors.

For my visual parts I will use imovie. Imovie is a great piece of editing software as it allows me to add effects and transitions making my product very professional. Let me show you how to add a simple effect.

First you put you footage into imovie buy either importing from your camera using a fire wire. Or drag it into any of the boxes on the right. This is only possible when the footage has been downloaded.

This box shows how long the importing has left. This is reassuring if you are working to a deadline and it also gives you a time limit if you were to do other tasks while the importation takes place.

Then you simply drag the clip onto the bar at the bottom. Ensure that the bar is on clip and not the timeline. To do this simply press the symbol next to the clock on the bottom left.

Then you are ready to add your effect, click on your footage then press editing, followed by video FX.

There you will be greeted with a list of effects. Simply select an effect and choose apply. The clip will automatically preview on the left. This shows you what your clip looks like, with the effect on it. I chose black and white.

Task 8- Treatment

Original ideas.

I propose to create an opening episode for a TV series named outcasted?. The title was difficult to decide as its very important as it’s the first thing that the audience sees, and it will create an immediate first impression. As you may have notice, there is a question mark on the end of the title. This question mark is purposely placed, as it creates an instant enigma implying the rhetorical question, why is the question mark there? The answer to this is simple and will be made apparent.

Our program has three main characters. Ryan; a bigheaded six former who is a bit of a fantasist. He makes up stories to make his life seem more enjoyable and sees him self as god’s gift. The second character is called manners. Manners seriously lacks intelligence. His one-dimensional character is very simple and lacks basic understanding of simple things. The third character is Luke. Luke is the intelligent one who is the stereotypical nerd. This will make him unpopular with his fellow pupils. All three characters provide humour at different levels. Ryan, the bigheaded one, has a very dry comical value; Manners’ lack of intelligence makes him funny, whereas Luke will use his intelligence to provide sarcastic witty humour. There is also a fourth character that is a bully. He makes very few appearances. All three characters have problems mingling with the opposite sex. This will provide the structure for our multi strand narrative.

Our narrative is multi strand as there’s the simple story of these three students who are completely out casted from the rest of society. The bully makes very few appearances so his parts will provide us with the second section making it multi strand. Our program follows the narrative pattern of journey as a story is being told. We use elements of the prop’s theory, as all three boys are damsels in distress with the bully being the villain. At times Ryan will appear to be the villain as he often mocks his two friends. As this is only one episode from the series there is an open ending so no hero is introduced. In terms of narrative structure I also use elements of the Todorov theory of an equilibrium, disruption, resolution. The story is mainly equilibrium with disruptions appearing every time the bully enters. As this is only one episode no resolution is introduced.

Another very important point to make when discussing narrative is that the program will be filmed using the subjective format. This means that all camera work will be point of view shots and thoughts will be expressed using mental subjectivity so that the audience can hear them. This restricted subjective narrative allows the audience to see’s this from different perspectives portraying the message that you should value other peoples opinions.

The primary target audience for this program is teenagers aged 13-19 however it as a secondary target audience of middle aged parents. This means that programmes like this can be enjoyed as a family. The audience however all depends on consumer needs and what sort of personality the audience has. This program has the uses and gratification values of diversion as it takes you away from your normal life. Personal relationship as your may discuss the program with peers and learn from the message portrayed. Finally personal relationship may be a factor as you may be able to relate to characters in the program and even relate to the story line as it may touch events that have occurred in your life. Personal relationship depends not so much on the audience’s age, but more about the audience’s wealth and life style.

The location for this drama is a school as they are six formers in there normal day-to-day life.

At the opening to this treatment I said that the question mark in the title would be made apparent. The question mark is there so the audience can question weather or not these people are outcasts, or weather this is how normal six formers behave.

Task 9: Storyboard and Shooting Script

Task 10: Production Schedule

Task 11: Health and Safety

Task 12- Production

Task 13- Evaluation