Formats of multi-camera techniques:

The set up for a multi-camera shot involves several cameras’ that simultaneously record scenes, often with different cinematography per camera. Multi-camera production enables multiple shots to occur without the action seizing making filming more efficient, cutting down on time and reducing complex continuity. Multi-camera techniques are often used in filming live footage for events such as sports, festivals and stage productions; Live filming for broadcasts involves a lot of pre-production and communication between the crew in order to broadcast seamless footage to the viewer.

Below is an image of a football pitch and it’s camera set up, there are eight camera’s in total which will all film concurrently; the layout for these camera’s enables the viewer to follow the match as though you’re present in the stadium, this is known as either ‘live’ or ‘as live’ filming. The use of multiple cameras gives coverage of all angles meaning that all of the action can be shot as it happens, an example would be that sky sports use around 24 camera’s to ensure full coverage of the pitch and the crowd reactions.

Other area’s where multi-camera production is used would be during game shows, chat shows or magazine news events such as fashion shows. The advantage of filming these types of shows with multiple camera’s means that multiple shows can be filmed in one day as the show will not have to be repeated to get a different shot, resulting in possibly several productions being shot in one day.

Below is an example of a talk show camera set up, it shows three camera’s covering the different shots of a talk show host and their guest, there are two camera’s static at each side to catch reactions and speech and then a camera that is central stage to fall back upon and catch and other action such as the audience or wide shots shout the guest or host move.

An example of a talk show would be the British ‘Jeremy Kyle show’ which is an ‘as-live’ multi-camera production, the camera’s main focus is to follow the host as he moves around the stage with his guests (with a great deal of audience reaction from the drama) meaning that the above set up would be ideal as camera 2 would follow the action and the other camera’s can pick up guest and audience reaction. The green in the diagram shows where camera 2’s main focus would be, the orange arrow shows the focus of camera 3 and the blue for camera 1.

The general call of shots from the Jeremy Kyle show seems to follow an order of a close up of the host to wide shots from the far right then a close up from the centre (normally of the guest) followed by a mid shot of the host and guest speaking; this sequence of shots is an establishment to the talk show, introducing both host and guest, after this the camera’s follow the action from movement and speaking.

The show also has a camera that follows the action from backstage, focusing on the guests that haven’t appeared on the stage yet in order to catch their reaction to the drama as it unfolds, this camera is not static so it can follow the drama if it moves from the stage and main camera’s.

The Jeremy Kyle show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1mm-3KfTbw

Advantages:

There are many advantages to shooting with multiple camera’s, the first being that all of the angles are covered which enables variety in the shots, another is the fact that none of the action has to be paused as the camera changes position. Other advantages include the fact that the camera’s are already positioned meaning that set’s won’t need to be altered with certain angles, the lighting and the sound is easier to predict during filming (and possibly edit once filming is done) as the camera’s remain static. The biggest advantage of multi-camera production, in my opinion, is that the action filmed is more realistic as the reactions are captured along with the action and cannot be re-filmed afterward. The final advantage is that the filming, if live, can be broadcast instantly meaning it is less time consuming in the long run as there is no room for error when filming and there is only one take.

Disadvantages:

There are a few disadvantages to this form of filming, which include the cost as there is a great deal of kit involved, including a vision mixer, talk back system, multiple camera’s, lighting and sound; this is more expensive that filming single camera productions which need only a fraction of the kit. Other down sides are that some productions need the use of a studio, which can take away from the desired portrayal and realism of a setting, along with this there is the slight chance that, due to location and setup, the equipment may be in shots. One of the biggest disadvantages is the consumption of time it takes to set up equipment and the studio space, all of the wires must connect to the vision mixer which needs to be isolated from the action but the studio needs to accommodate all of the action so a great deal of time must go into the planning of setups.