Editing (Discussion)

Single camera vs. multiple camera

1. What is the difference between the two modes of production?
   • What is it about this scene from As The World Turns (see frame grabs and QuickTime clip) that marks it as a multiple-camera production?
2. In which situations is single camera preferred? In which is multiple camera preferred?
3. List four single-camera TV shows and four multiple-camera shows, but don't use the examples in the textbook.

Definition and sample use

Provide a definition of these terms describe how it is used in the Mad Men excerpt.

Group 1

1. Establishing shot
   • Re-establishing shot

Group 2

1. The shot-counter shot editing pattern (also known as "shot-reverse shot")

Group 3

1. Match cut
   • Match-on-action
   • Eyeline match
2. Jump cut

Group 4

1. 180° rule
   • Screen direction
   • How/when might this rule be broken in a TV program?

Each student individually

1. Do a sample decoupage of the Chevrolet commercial, as explained on pp. 212-214.
   • Start with an overhead view similar to this one.

Decoupage

1. How is the scene’s space, the area in which the action takes place, introduced to the viewer? Does an establishing shot occur at the start of the scene (or later in it)?
2. Skip.
3. Do these angles adhere to the 180° rule? Is screen direction maintained? If not, why is the viewer not disoriented? Or if the space is ambiguous, what narrative purpose does that serve?
4. Skip.
5. Is an alternating editing pattern used? Is shot-reverse shot used?
6. How does the camera relate to the character’s perspective? Are there point-of-view or subjective shots? If so, how are those shots cued or marked? That is, what tells us that they are subjective or point-ofview shots?
7. Is match-on-action used? Are there jump cuts?
8. How does the last shot of the scene bring it to a conclusion?
9. Skip.

Seinfeld exercise

• Pretend you are director Tom Cherones and map out the camera positions for this scene.

http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T311/SeinfeldSetMiniature.jpg

Set miniature by Charles Brogdon.

Bibliography

1. Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007.

External links

1. Seinfeld scene breakdown materials