Single Camera

In this assignment I am going to explain the techniques employed in the creation of drama using single camera production.

There are several formats in dramatic story telling, such as Serial, series, single drama, and soap opera.
A serial format is when a single story is broken into several episodes over a series, contrasted to a series format which has many storylines over the series, in different episodes. Thin Blue Line is a serial format, whereas Sherlock is a series format. 
Single drama is a format in which a single storyline is explored in a longer style episode, such as a 'made for tv' special. An example of this is Moorside, a drama about the so called abduction of Shannon Matthews.
Soap opera refers to TV shows such as Eastenders, Coronation Street, and Emmerdale, in which the storylines exaggerate negative 'real life' situations, such as murders, and other illegal activities.

The different narrative structures which can be used to carry the storyline are as followed:
Linear structures are chronological and usually have a beginning, middle and end to the production. Linear structures are easier to 
understand as they are less confusing and don't contain flashbacks or dreams.
In contrast, Non linear narrative structures can also be used, which would mean that the production contained flashbacks or dreams, and could be used to confuse the audience about a character's intentions, by revealing a backstory for them. This type of narrative structure does not strictly have a beginning, middle, and end.
Realism is a type of narrative structure which aims to convince the audience that what they're watching is real. Hand held camera could be used, as it is a more realistic filming method, and the storylines include real life situations that people can relate to. 
Alternatively, non realism is a type of narrative structure that the audience are not supposed to believe is real. This type of drama could be a sub genre of fantasy and include unrealistic characters, settings, or scenarios. 

The technical requirements which are applied to storytelling in order to build a story or scene 
include lighting, sound, editing and directorial style. 
Lighting can be used to create an atmosphere/ mood within a scene. An example of this would be dim lighting to show that something bad is about to happen or that an evil character is present. Realist narrative is more likely to try and use natural lighting to make the scene more believable. 
Sound can have an extreme impact on the audience, with the most known example being the shower scene in Hitchcocks' Psycho. At the beginning of the scene, the only sound is the diegetic sound of the shower running, until the shower curtain is pulled open and the murder begins, which introduces a high pitched siren like noise, which blends with sound effects of the woman screaming. There is also sound effects of the knife slashing which are synchronised with the siren noise. The sounds used would be effective as they enhance the implied violence.
Editing can be used to achieve a different response from the audience. The most commonly used form of editing is continuity editing, which is simple and means that all the clips flow together, and usually does not include flashbacks. Continuity editing is normally slow paced, and an alternative to that is flash cutting, which includes lots of short length shots together in a scene, which builds pace and can make the media more interesting and more tense for the viewer. 
Directorial style refers to the way in which two different directors would tackle the same type of film. For example: Edgar Wright tends to stick to fast paced, comedic films such as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, whereas Steven Spielberg is more acquainted to big Hollywood blockbusters such as Jaws, and Saving Private Ryan. As a result of the two directorial styles, they would direct a completely different version of the same film/ same genre of film.