What's a "single-camera" show?

[tdn]

So a single-camera show is a filming style, not a narrative style. Got it.

Is there a name for quasi-mockumentary semi-improvisational comedies? Such as Arrested Development and Reno 911?

[jimpatro]

Haven’t seen Arrested Development, but Reno 911 is a mockumentary (documentary if it was real) and some would also say it’s shot reality tv style or run 'n gun. Again usually shot single camera with a boom mic.

[mobo85]

@Walloon

Three 35mm film cameras originated with I Amos ‘n’ Andy in the summer of 1951, several months before the debut of I Love Lucy, which is often credited with the innovation.

Indeed, Desi Arnaz is often attributed as the inventor of the three-camera system.

[Nonsuch]

@tdn

Is there a name for quasi-mockumentary semi-improvisational comedies? Such as Arrested Development and Reno 911?

Arrested Development isn’t even a semi-mockumentary, in that there’s no awareness at all on the part of the characters that they are participating in making the show. It’s just an uncommonly well-scripted sitcom filmed single-camera style, with little or no improvisation that I am aware of. Curb Your Enthusiasm, however, is heavily improvised IIRC.

I think your question does serve to underscore the fact that single-camera sitcoms are almost becoming a genre unto themselves, with a density of gags and a fast-cutting style that the 3-camera shows can’t match.

[Walloon]

@acsenray

There’s also an audio component, isn’t there? Soap opera v. three-camera sitcom v. one-camera show — I notice significant differences in the sound atmosphere between the three.

The soundstage big enough to accomodate a live audience will have different acoustics than the more intimate studio where a soap opera is videotaped. Otherwise, the sound recording media are the same.