Film Language Tag: single-camera (single-cam)
Relating to a work mainly shot with one camera at a time. The production may employ multiple cameras over the length of the shoot, but only one is used at a time for principal photography. Second units and action, stunt, and special effects shots are exceptions and may involve multiple cameras, even on works that are otherwise considered single-camera productions.
USAGE: Programs (particularly sitcoms) shot on a stage using multiple, simultaneous cameras are routinely referred to as multi-cam, but other types of programs (including episodic television programs) that are not shot on a stage before an audience are commonly referred to as single-cam even if they regularly employ multiple cameras.
Cesare Abducts Jane (The Somnambulist’s Awakening), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Under the hypnotic control of Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss), the somnambulist Cesare (Conrad Veidt) awakens from his coffin-like box and sneaks into Jane’s (Olga Belajeff) bedroom. Ordered to kill her, he hesitates, mesmerized by her beauty, and instead carries her into the distorted streets of Holstenwall.
The Visit: The Grotesque Presentation, The Fly
Veronica (Geena Davis) visits Seth Brundle’s (Jeff Goldblum) loft-laboratory, and he presents his fly-like transformation to her, as they bond through the abject and despair of his physical and psychological disintegration.
