Research Texts

Silent Witness 'choices' Episode.

In the opening episode there is a drive by shoot out, targeting a local club. The use of a single camera is vital here due to this being an action scene the camera movements are fast pace and include close up and wide angles of those attending the club and those shooting at the club. If this was done with multiple cameras they would catch each other in the shot, a single camera gives the advantage of being able to show the whole scene from different perspectives which heightens the audiences engagement within the programme to see it from a range of angle and analyse exactly what is happening in the scene. The opening scene was set outside a nightclub, while bouncers were letting a queue of people into the club one by one. There is no sound of what's occurring in the scene but there is an over music track, this music corresponds with what is happening in the scene, the scene is in slow motion. Once the black vehicle appears the camera angle comes from the perception of what those in the car are seeing and what those at the club are seeing, this is why a single camera is important here as it is able to show both sides, unlike with multi camera where it would pick up each camera with the different angles. The characters in the opening scene included a male who arrives at the club with his suggested girl friend (we can assume because of the way they act towards each other in the car they approach the nightclub in), the girlfriend waves to another female character when approaching the club, this suggests that there is a familiarity with this club, they have been here before. Wearing a suit we can assume the male character from the car is an important character as well as he is the main character we first come into contact with in the opening scene. There is also extras which are outside the club, there is a close up of the bouncers, which could suggest significance as the episode progresses. The drive by shooting in the car includes characters, we can assume there is more than one person present as there is a driver and the gun comes from a character in the back, therefore the audience can suggest the car is full and could be a gang related conflict. As the episode progresses there are other factors which contribute to using a single character, when a character in a wheelchair, wheels forward to make a statement to another character, he hits an exact light to create a specific feel to the scene, this would not be able to be done with multi cameras because they would pick up a different light from a different point of view they were facing, this is why single camera can be argued to capture more emotion within a scene. 

Edge of Darkness: Compassionate Leave.

In the opening scene is set in a conference hall, the detective is confronted by what we can assume as his chief detective. The chief is lecturing the detective about what he needs to focus on, and what his job is to take care of the current inquiries that are occurring. However the detective is arguing that this election fix is what his priority is to sort out, the chief stresses that there is no importance to focus on this because it was only a few votes that was included in the fix. The chief is asking the detective to delay the inquiry for two weeks, the detective does not think this is a priority to be focusing on. The use of single camera in the opening scene, in the conference hall, is effective because it can show a master shot of what the setting of the character are, then it can go over the shoulder of the chief and the detective. With a multi-camera this would be difficult because one camera would capture another if the wide shot and close ups were occurring at the same time. Another scene that can be considered indicative of a single camera production is where the shooting occurs, the female character, the detectives daughter walks into a particular light before she gets shot, therefore the audience can assume something is going to happen as they are focusing the light on that particular camera. This would not be doable with the use of multi-camera because there would be different shots, from different angles and the light would be in a different area of the character.