The single-camera setup is a method of shooting films and television programs. A single camera either film or video is employed on the set and shots are often taken out of order. An alternate production method is the multiple-camera setup, which uses two or more cameras running simultaneously. As its name suggests, a production using the single-camera setup generally uses just one camera. (Additional cameras may be used simultaneously on occasion, usually in order to save time shooting a dialogue scene or to film a stunt that would be impractical to stage more than once.) Each of the various shots and camera angles are taken with the same camera which is moved and reset to get each shot or new angle. In addition the lighting set-up may be reset for each new camera set-up. By contrast the multicamera setup, with its multiple cameras, has the cameras arranged to take all of the different shots of the scene. Each camera of a multicamera setup covers its own angle of the scene and is switched-to in order to switch the perspective to a new camera angle. The single-camera setup gives the director more control over each shot, but is more time-consuming and expensive than multiple-camera. The choice of single-camera or multiple-camera setups is made separately from the choice of film or video. That is, either setup can be shot in either film or video. However, multiple-camera setups shot on video can be switched "live to tape" during the performance, while multiple-camera setups shot on film still require that the various camera angles be edited together later. The single-camera setup originally developed during the birth of the classical Hollywood cinema in the 1910s and has remained the standard mode of production in the cinema. In television, however, a multiple-camera setup is just as common.
