Research Texts - Multi-Camera and Single Camera Comparison

Friends: Season 1 EP 7 and Scrubs: Season 7 Ep 1

The TV shows Friends is a multi-camera production, we can see this due to the characters and the setting being stationary, this means there is more opportunity to use multiple cameras as they wont be in the way and capture each other. This also gives the opportunity to have multiple stories happening within one scene setting, in different parts of the location, due to the multiple cameras they can pick up, at the same time, what the characters situation is. In comparison to Scrubs which is a single camera production, as it was filmed in an actual location in a hospital, multi-cameras would limit this movement from location to location as the amount of equipment needed for multi-camera would take up too much space and restrict the maneuvers. There is also different shots in scrubs, exchanging from master shots to close ups and over the shoulder shots, this is indicative of a single camera production because it gives the director more opportunity to capture the different shots of one situation, therefore capturing a larger perspective of whats occurring in the scene. The TV sitcom Friends was shot weekly, using multi-camera acted as an advantage as there is very fewer re-shoots as there is a higher chance of being able to edit the footage with more options to choose from. Furthermore filming can be completed more quickly as there are more single takes, which reinforces the advantage of a multi-camera especially for a weekly TV show.