LO1: Single Camera TV Formats

Hennah Ashraf

Single Camera TV Formats

Introduction

Within this written assignment I will be focusing on single camera television formats, such as series, serials and single dramas. Single camera filming all use one camera for all of their shots. Different angles and shot size are filmed and edited to bring life into the story. Close ups, long shots, medium shots and extreme close ups are some of the shots which can be taken using a single camera. Also, I will be looking at how genuine examples, from mainly British television, evolve around single camera shots. Some of the examples which I will be analyzing are, Eastenders, X-factor, Prison Break and Duel.

Close up, long shot and medium shots have individual purposes and hence some types of shots are better suited than others. If the producer requires a shot to portray the feelings and emotions of a character, they are most likely to use a close up. On the other hand, long shots are used to set the location, during a programme, whereas, medium shots are used to show one or more characters in the scene. Over the shoulder shot is more familiar when shooting conversations, where little body language needs to be seen. Establishing shots give the audience information about the mise en scene.

Series

A series is as a set number of episodes, which continue, perhaps having the same theme, cast or format.  Series are usually broadcasted using the same characters however, they tell a different story in each episode. The following examples of single camera formats are X-factor, Eastenders, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

X-Factor is an example of an interactive reality television programme, which opens its doors to many talented musical voices. It is an interactive reality television talent show, which has an extremely big audience and three rather strict judges, who decide whether or not a contestant should proceed to the next stage. The genre which this programme comes under is “interactive reality show”, however it contains elements such as humour and sarcasm. Its target audience is almost everyone, as it can be watched by the entire family, together, as it does not contain adult scenes and strong language. X-factor is produced months before it is aired, however only the finals are broadcasted live.

The reason for why I believe that this genre is, what it is, is because it viewable by everyone, it is not offensive but rather funny and exciting to watch. It also reveals hidden talents, on a national basis, and some aspects of it are emotional. X-Factor, is a complete family package. Reality is defined as the state of things as they actually exist. Therefore, the whole point of this reality show is to share with the rest of the nation, the talented people among us all, hence it falls under the category of reality show.

Father Ted is an example of a series programme. It is an Irish comedy sitcom series that was broadcast on Channel 4 from April 1995 until May 1998, airing 25 episodes in total over a three part series. This series has a running time of approximately 24 minutes and was successful because it was a sitcom which allowed the audience to sit back and enjoy.

In addition to this, Eastenders is also a well-known soap opera series. The series is primarily based on the lives of individuals living at Albert Square and as the years have increased it has become one of the UK’s highest rated programmes, appearing near or at the top of the week’s BARB’s ratings. Eastenders target audience is people, roughly aged between sixteen and forty years of age. This is because some of the story lines and content within the episodes are quite heavy for young people, as they reflect real life situations. Prostitution, underage pregnancy, divorce, homosexuality, rape, unemployment, racial prejudice are all some of the story lines, which Eastenders is based upon. These types of episodes appeal to the adult audience and are inappropriate for the younger generation, as it influence is negative. In reflection of this, it is appropriate for the adult age range, because they are more responsible and understand the context of the soap.

Eastenders had its first ever broadcast on February 19th, 1995, hence it how now been running for 17 years from its initial start date. Four episodes are broadcast each week, with each episode being repeated at watershed times and an omnibus edition at the weekends. Eastenders has had 4548 episodes as of 14th December 2012 holding an average audience of between 35 - 45% of the British population. This British television soap opera has won 293 awards and 772 nominations over the period of time. It has been most popular and successful among its audience due its dramatic story lines, mainly of which were based around affairs.

Another justification for the particular age group audience for Eastenders is due to the fact that individuals between the ages of sixteen and forty are more likely to have had experienced the problems which are being broadcasted. From doing this, producers create a rapport between the characters in the soap and the audience, as the audience does not feel alone when they are in a similar scenario. Oppositely, Eastenders may just be watched for entertainment purposes, hence not relating to the previous point which I have made.   

Doctor Who has been running on television for not long however it has during the meanwhile broadcasted 789 episodes to it's audience with seven series since. After many throwbacks and failures of the original Doctor Who in 1996, Doctor Who relaunched itself in 2005 with series one. In comparison to Eastenders, Doctor Who received only 127 winning awards and 229 nominations. Doctor Who was given the award for Best Children's TV Script which was written by Phil Ford.

Doctor Who, is British science fiction television series, broadcasted on the same channel as Eastenders; BBC One. The doctor within the series explores the universe in his time travelling machine, facing enemies, while working to save civilisations and help ordinary people. Doctor Who is specifically categorised as “science fiction drama.” This is because it includes themes and locations outer space, time travelling and aliens, which have all solely been known as space inventions which are unreal, and therefore it contains science and fiction, bringing it to be called science fiction. Fiction has purposely been designed to entertain the viewers and to add to the enjoyment and adventurous events within the series, through the use of visual effects. It is very rare to find visual effects within normal series, serial and single dramas, however it is acceptable to use visual effects, to enhance the product.

Due to the unrealistic settings and structure to Doctor Who, it has appealed to a lot of the younger generation. Age ranges that may show interest to this type of series are children between the ages of five to fifteen. However, the beautiful thing about science fiction is that, it can appeal to anyone outside these ranges too. Despite saying this, children below the age of five, may find some scenes upsetting and intimidating, as it may be too petrifying for them. Nevertheless, the target audience for Doctor Who, could be anyone at the age of five and over.

This brings me to my final example of series; Coronation Street. Coronation Street has become the world’s longest running television soap opera in production, being on the air for over 51 years. Similarly, like Eastenders, Coronation Street is also a soap opera series and has a lot of the same story lines; hence its target audience is likely to be similar. It is based on a fictional set, in Manchester, whereas Eastenders is based at Albert Square, as well as it characters being based on archetypes.

Serials

Serials are serializations of a book or event such as Great Expectation. Serials have between one and three episodes, such as Prison Break, Sherlock Holmes, Boardwalk Empire and Twin Peaks.  They are examples of restrictive narratives, which reveal the story episode by episode to keep the viewer’s interest, usually resulting with cliffhangers.

Prison Break was broadcasted on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from August 2005 up until May 2009. In total there were 81 episodes over the four seasons which were roughly 42 minutes long.  This serial achieved an average of 876, 000 viewers in Canada and 1.4 million viewers nationally for the first season. 

Prison Break is an American television serial drama, which covers the following genres: action, crime and thriller. These three individual genres are quite similar, but some have more to offer in different contexts. This serial is based around the lives of two brothers; one who has been sentenced for a murder he did not commit, and the other, who comes up with an elaborate plan, to help his brother escape from prison. Prison Break, is rated an age twelve, due to its scenes. Action is involved in this movie, when the both brothers use a clever tac-tic to escape from prison, supposedly fighting against cops, guards and other rivalries, whereas, the thrill and crime would be captured when the murder takes place, which the brother has been accused of.
 

Due to the storyline of this movie, it is particularly important that nobody under the age of 12 tries to view the serial. This is because aspects of this serial drama, may contain blood, drugs use, crime and more so, which can be quite disturbing and may affect a child’s brain. However, as the genres of this serial are quite appealing, it will have very little effect on the production team. A twelve rated movie may be suitable for children slightly younger, depends on the genres they prefer and as this serial is action-packed they may feel encouraged to watch it.

Single Dramas

Another television format is single dramas, which are a one-off story for television that is appropriate to television than cinema. It is seen once and aired once only. Producers of single dramas create and broadcast dramas based on topical issues like Dirty War, Duel and the Holy Flying Circus.

Dirty War, is an example of a single drama. This drama is about terrorism, and how a miraculous plan is reaching its final stages in a terrorist operation. The duty of the bomb disposal teams are to protect London and to stop this terrorist attack from taking place, although it is too late. Dirty War asks whether as a nation are we prepared to face such an attack. Referencing from Rotten Tomatoes website, Dirty War, falls under the thriller genre. The reason for why this movie falls under thriller is because it causes an adrenalin rush and builds up suspense throughout the movie, and the problems crash down hard. It becomes an overwhelming experience, in the seat of the viewers and inter-links with real life situations, following the 9/11 attacks. Supposedly, the movie genre is very specific and fits very well with the dramas storyline. 

Duel is 74 minutes long as a television broadcast but 90 minutes long as a theatrical cut. This is an example of a restrictive narrative because the audience is not aware of what is going to happen, this is because it is a 'mystery' hence it requires drama and suspense. If the audience is given the information then there will be no suspense, drama and thrill to the serial.  

On the other hand, Duel is slightly unrealistic in comparison to Dirty War. It is a PG (parental guidance) rated, horror and mystery movie, which appeals to a wide audience. The captive slogan for this movie is “…fear is the driving force” which implies that this drama is related to driving and vehicles. The storyline of this drama is of a terrified motorist stalked on a remote and lonely road by the unseen driver of a mysterious tanker truck. It is a thriller movie, because of the freakishness within it; being stalked by someone, is the last thing someone would want happening to them, and therefore this drama portrays the experience of a rider being stalked. This in itself is a really interesting topic to pose a drama about. As it is rated PG, I assume that this drama is suitable for people of all ages to watch, maybe not the faint hearted though, as some parts of the drama may appear jumpy or too overpowering. Nevertheless, the amount of action and suspense this drama has to provide to the audience is incredible and hence the drama is fit for purpose.

Holy Flying Circus, on the contrary, is a comedy drama, with an age audience of fifteen or over. This was a dramatisation of the blasphemy row that surrounded the film Monty Python's Life Of Brian. As this drama is a comedy there are a lot of issues which divert and cause tangents, however the drama is not meant to offend anyone religion or their beliefs. It is a silly drama and the comedians bring up any and every topic which could go bring humour. For example, they joke around about how little children carry out copycat crucifixions on their friends. However, some people may find this offensive as this insult or mocks their religion, but the pure principal of this drama is to entertain the viewers. Holy Flying Circus is rated fifteen, which implies that the jokes may not be understood by young children and that the language used might not be appropriate. This makes complete sense, as most comedies use adult language.

Conclusion

Inclusive of the examples for series, serials and single dramas, I can say that a single camera has been used for most, if not all of the examples provided above. Hence, this means that further on from this, I can produce a variety of television programmes, using a single camera. Following from this, I will use different types of shots within my production, to make sure that I produce a masterpiece work, which will be suitable for its purpose.