Single Camera Production

When a TV program of film is being shot with just one camera it is known as a single camera production. Most TV shows or films use the multi camera technique to save time on things such as editing because they don’t have to film the same scene over and over from different angles, whereas single camera has to.

 

In single camera, if a scene requires a back and forth conversation or action between characters, the director will usually shoot the scenes with one actor in a sequence and then shoot the other actors scenes in sequence and then edit and cut them together in post-production. This is called “shot reverse shot”. 

 

Breaking Bad (Single Camera)

A very successful American TV show called Breaking Bad (as seen above) is al shot using the single camera technique. When I first found out that it was filmed using single camera I found it very hard to believe as the editing is floorless.

 

Plot:

Your everyday science teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) receives news that he has lung cancer and only has a short period until he dies. With this information in mind he starts to cook crystal meth with an ex-student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). They come across cartels and the DEA on their journey and fight drug lords to keep their product as number 1.