Multi Cam Analysis

Mutli Cam set ups are very common as much a single camera.  Multi cam is used for studio based productions some will be film lived like the news, sporting events, music events etc. Then you have productions which a pre recorded but have live audience such as sitcoms, games show and chat shows.  So much time and effort is put in to multi cam set ups, the reason for multi cam set ups is so that you can capture every single angle as possible also and so it will run smoothly.  You can have several camera's involved having some cameras on set on to one specific person and then another camera on someone else and then a couple set further back as a wide-shot.  Also if it is a live production like the news you have to rely on the director, camera crew and vision mixer to communicate well so they don't miss anything as if it is pre recorded multi cam set up and there is a mistake they can always go back with a live production you can't go back and then someone will be getting a warning because they weren't all the ball.

News Studio - Sky Sports News

In Sky Sports they will be about 3/5 cameras in the studio and the shot are always the same so sometimes it looks boring and viewers won't stay for long but because it's a sport news maybe the director and producers know people won't view for a long period of time because it's a sport news and not as viewed as worldwide news people just watch for few minutes to see latest on there team.

News shows are done live and so there is no editing done and you can tell this some times because the presenters say things wrong and laugh it off and say it over and have a laugh and joke about it and that because it isn't serious news.  There will be certain things that will have been edited but that won't be the studio side of things it will be the footage on location.  As-well as the live studio based news there will be someone on location like Bryan Swanson at the moment is in Brazil for the World Cup and they will go to him for news on the World Cup.  There will be 3 cameras on the presenter 1 is a wide-shot of both of them and the whole desk and the other 2 will be set as close ups on the presenters.  There are some cut always as well like when there have been new rules stated you will see the news rules in book and you will hear the presenters reading them out or when there is a transfer they won't just talk about the player they will show a short clip of him playing so they know what player they are talking about.  Theses cut aways make it look better because otherwise you will just be constantly watching the presenters which is bland.
This is how I think the studio is set up for Sky Sports news.  You have got your 2 presenters behind the desk and then you will have camera 1 on presenter 1 and and camera 2 on presenter 2 and these will be close ups of the presenter.  Camera 4 is a bit further back the camera 1 & 2 and this is because this camera captures both presenters at the same time a a wide shot.  Then camera 3 will be on another member of the team but not a presenter using the interactive touchscreen TV they tend to use this during the transfer window to show all team activity or when games have finished to show highlights and results but the shot they use is a wide-shot and a long-shot because they need to get the whole screen in and then you see most of the person using the screen apart from the bottom half of his legs.  Sometimes they will have a special guest on the show and the guest will sit next to presenter 2 on their left hand side and the camera is a cross shot so the camera will be on the left had side looking to the right hand side of the desk.  Maybe camera 1 is the camera that captures this action and then camera 2 captures both presenters whilst talking to the guest.

 














https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtbE9mT02so


Alan Carr Chatty Man

Alan Carr Chatty Man talk show will use about 5 - 7 cameras it is a bigger production that Sky Sports and the set is a lot bigger as well so that's why they need more camera's.  The difference between Alan Carr Chatty man and Sky Sport News is that Sky Sports News is aired live but Alan Carr Chatty Man is filmed live and in front of a live audience but is then edited before it has been put on television.

The way that Alan Car Chatty Man is filmed is live and sometimes if all the footage was good enough to go onto TV then they wouldn't have to edit it.  But if there is mistakes or any faults whilst filming at least they can fix the problem there and then and then carry on filming as with Sky Sports News they have to be extra prepared that all the equipment is fully working and they will have to check all equipment during the advert break.  With this particular show as well there is a crane which is used to get footage from a higher angle especially at the beginning of the show where Alan Carr comes down the stairs and the crane pans across the wholes set so you get a view of the set and then you see Alan Carr coming down the stairs.  Even though the show will be edited when it has finished you still have the vision mixer to get all the action so then it will make the editor job much easier and they will just have to then edit out any mistakes that occurred during the show.  Vision mixer is important because he and the director have to see everything visually which makes the multi cam set up.  Having dolly tracks and cranes on the set gives the director more shots to work with and then it looks more entertaining because of the variety of the shots and the audience will be more interested in watching and it will look like a mixture between slow and faced paced editing.  Also with having the main chat show you have and extra space for a performance towards the end of the show and that's why there are a lot more cameras than in a News multi cam set up.

This is how I think Alan Carr Chatty Man is set up you can see that there are a lot more cameras and that is because there is a lot more action to capture.  Camera 1 will capture Alan Carr sitting on the sofa chatting to the host it will either be a close-up or a mid-shot.  Camera 2 will be a wide-shot and you will see both the guest and Alan Carr, then camera 3 & 4 will be on the guests and the reason they use more than one camera is because it might be a group of guests like a band or all the judges from Britain's  Got Talent, they will be close- ups and mid-shots.  Then you have camera 5, 6 & 7 on the music stage and the reason they have 3 camera is so that they can get many angles of the performance, I think that camera 5 and 6 will be on dolly tracks so that the can move around freely and then camera 7 will be on a crane so they can get higher and lower angles of the performance.  Also because camera 7 is the camera on the crane that is the camera that is used at the intro where is pans across that stage at a high angle and then meets Alan Carr at the stage and then film him talking to the audience, this camera will move behind the other cameras so that it is not in shot so they will have to make sure there is a lot of room.  






  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqwAuG7mzoQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P8WtOK30jw


Big Brother

Big Brother is a game/reality TV show and it is one of the biggest multi cam set ups because they use around 50 cameras around the Big Brother house and that is because they need to capture every single thing that is happening around the house during the day and night.  Also they will have one of the biggest crews because they are filming 24/7 they will have to change shifts because they need eyes on the cameras all the time so that they don't miss anything and if there were to miss something it would take a while to get back to because of how much footage there is.  The audio they use isn't on the camera's because they are quite small cameras so every housemate has a microphone which helps the crew out when it comes to editing the show.

Big Brother is constantly filming for 9 straight weeks the camera don't get turned off because they don;t want to miss anything, not every footage in the house will be used because there isn't enough time to show everything so the editors have to pick the most interesting things from the day.  Editors have a very quick deadline because the shows need to be aired a day after it has happened to keep the audience up to date.  Because there are so many different cameras in keeps it interesting because so many topics going on at once.  But the do need all those camera's.  Some of the camera's are drilled in the walls and they just rotate from left to right the house is covered with the majority of these camera's also in the garden they have a small similar cameras and a spider cam which whizzes across the garden to get to the action quicker and then they have camera's behind the mirrors that why there are a lot of mirror's in the house. As well as the show which covers the house action you have a live show on a Friday night which is eviction night.  The difference between the two is that one can get edited and other can not because it is a live stream going straight to the TV's at home so there is no room for error so they need to be prepared.  Again they use several camera's because there is so many positions the host goes to. So there will be about 6 to 7 camera which nothing into comparison of what they use in the house.  They do use a crane on the lives shows because they are a lot of high and low angles shot's.  For both sets of crews have a hard job because of the live show there was to be minimum mistakes or errors and then the crew for the house footage they can't miss a single thing because it could be something good.  Even though its pre recorded they will have vision mixers but they will probably have more than one they might have one for every single room in the house because it would be to much responsibility for one person to handle especially because there is more than one conversation going on at a time and would be in separate rooms.  They way it would be set up is there would be about 10 cameras in each room including living area/kitchen, garden, bathroom, bedroom and then the odd few camera's in the toilets, task rooms and dairy room.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFO8gpe-GFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePIVzQin_gg&index=11&list=PLStfADnXKh8oVEHYCuDWcohWsIIZjP6xH


All 3 shows I have analysed are 3 quality multi cams and it is all down to the crew behind the scenes because if it wasn't for the crews who work behind the scenes non stop these shows wouldn't be as successful as they are.   

    

Job Roles/My Job Roles

Camera - The job of the cameraman is for him to follow the action of the performance and to listen to the director to give out the instructions for to tell you who to follow at that time.  If you haven't been given any instructions by the director just try to follow the main characters in scene at the time.  The camera operator has to make sure also that the camera they are operating is in focus at all time.  

Sound Mixer - The sound recordists may often record the audio straight through the microphones on the camera instead on using something like H2 or using a boom.  Sometimes a separate copy will be made so that the editor has more than one option to use and the other recording may have extra audio that the camera couldn't pick up.  So if the audio on the camera didn't sound good enough you always have a back up.

Vision Mixer - The vision mixers job is to be with the director and he will have to watch the screens in front of him to see which shot is the best to use at the right time, they need to make sure they are on the actor that is active at the time, but if there isn't a person with the correct shot maybe he goes to a camera with an actor who is reacting to what is being said. 

Lighting Desk - The lighting technician is the person who will be controlling what lighting to use in the theatre.  They will control the intensity of the lights depending on what kind of scene it is.  The lights will sometimes be moved to match the patterns of the performance.

Floor Manager/Talk Back - The floor manager is in charge of the whole floor and making sure all the crew is ok and to make sure all of the equipment is ready and working to go, if something happens during the performance they have to be on the ball for example if one of the talk back systems isn't working or has ran out of batteries the floor manager has to be there to fix the problem so that nothing is missed or they haven’t missed any instructions.  

Graphics - TV graphics help the narrative depending on what type of production is so its the news and there is a special guest, they work with the producer and director so they know when to add the graphic, putting the graphic in at the right time is important you don’t want to add it as soon as you see the guest you will wait 5-10 seconds.

Director - The director is one of the biggest roles within the production it is his job to instruct the camera operator to tell them who to follow at the right time and to make sure if anything is running smoothly, he is the one that has to have the visual he has the screens to look at and if he doesn't like a certain shot or there isn’t a specific shot he was to be verbal and tell the camera operator to move to the shot that he wants.

My Job Roles 

During the production of Fame I had to do 2 job roles so that everybody got a chance to do at least 2 job roles.  The 2 job roles I had were being a camera operator and then I went on the vision mixer.

The first 20 minutes of the production I was on camera 4, this was the camera on the left hand side of the stage, it was the camera closest to the sound and lighting technicians.  Whilst I was on this camera I had a lot to do.  Originally the camera I was on was only supposed to see the action of the right hand side of the stage but it was changed and I followed the active actor at the time and I had to make sure that move the camera smoothly but not move it to fast that it looked rushed.  At times I changed from the active actor because the director told me to change and I followed my instructions, if I didn't have any instructions I stayed with the main active actor. 

Once my job was over on the camera for the next 20 minutes I was on the vision mixer and I has nervous going on the vision mixer because I had never used it before and was afraid that I would mess up.  But I had help at the beginning so that I knew what I was doing so for the first 5 minutes I was told what the best shots were to use. After the 5 minutes I was comfortable with using it.  So on the vision mixer there was A, B, C, D.  A was camera 1, B camera 2, C camera 3 and D camera 4.  So being sat next to the director I was looking at the screens to see what was coming up and from that I had choose the best shot and make sure I was choosing the shots that had the right actions at the right time and made sure I tried not to miss anything.  I found myself towards the end really comfortable using the equipment and I found myself asking the director for specific shots that weren't on the cameras.

My 20 minutes were up and I had already done my 2 job roles after being on the vision mixer I want to camera 3 which was the one in the middle as the wide shot so there was really that much to do and soon after that it was the interval.  I then had my break so every body else could get there 2 jobs done.  The last 10 minutes I went on camera 1 on the right hand side the camera had a fault on it because it was really over exposed and I couldn't seem to fix the problem and there was nothing really I could do so I still listened to instructions but after that the vision mixer didn't use that camera because it looked to bad.  

Overall I had a great time filming the production of Fame it was a great day and I learnt a new skill with the vision mixer which I didn't think I would of ever have done. 

   

Health & Safety

When working in the Media health and safety always has to be considered before starting any production.  The day we decided that we would be filming Fame, the Location/Floor manager Beth Ford went down to the Performing Arts Theatre and see assessed all the risks that could occur during filming, she also had to make sure it was safe for all the equipment we are using and make sure it was safe for all of the crew.  After she returned and told everyone about the risks, I then created a risk assessment about all the risks and had to figure out a solution to solve all of them.  I had to notice any heavy lifting, height, flammable material etc.  The risk assessment was based on the specific production which we was filming which was Fame and that you have to asses if with all the equipment in there set up like a multi cam production.

As we arrived at the theatre we had to remove to back row of chairs so that there was enough room for every piece of equipment and with moving the row of chairs it meant that there was enough room to move about without struggling.  Moving all the equipment into the theatre we had to be careful because there was some expensive equipment but also some of it is quite so you have to carry it properly because otherwise you could injury yourself.  Once everything was plugged in there were a lot of wires so we then used cable protectors and when there was no cable protectors left we used Gaffe tape, when this was done all wires were out of the way and it was safe so we wouldn’t trip up.  We had to check all equipment was working by double checking everything and we left the cameras on for half an hour to see they were fully working and make sure nothing over heated.  Once all equipment had been double checked and everything was working we spoke to the director to see if any of the cameras were in the way of the performers and once we had the all clear from the director we were ready to start filming.

When considering health and safety you have to look into every single detail because if there is one little thing it could end up ruining the production and it would have been a waste of time after all the effort that had been put in.

Once the performance had finished we had to pack everything away and we had to make sure everything was put away back in the right bags and boxes and made sure it was put in safely and that nothing got broken whilst putting the equipment away.

Floor Plan & Camera Plan

Below is the floor plan of the Performing Arts Theatre with out any cameras and which was set up by our location and floor manager Beth Ford.  With the audience only being on one side it gives more space for the actors and dancers to move around freely.

The floor plan below now includes the cameras, crane and the dolly track.  The dolly track with track across the front of the audience and the crane will get some good shot and a high a low angle.  The cameras behind the audience will cross shoot the camera on left will capture action on the right of the stage and then then the camera on the right will capture on th left of the stage.  

The floor plan below was the on we actually used, I think we couldn't rely on the dolly and crane because they could of easily been in shot a few times.  The camera on the left was used for action on the left and the right of the stage instead of just on the right using close up and midshots and that was the same as the camera on the right.  The camera in the middle was used as a wideshot to capture the dance scenes and to use if there wasnt another camera on a specific person.  We relied on that middle camera aswell for when we was switching roles.

Risk Assesment

Recce

This recce was taken by Location/Floor Manager Beth Ford

Equipment List