OK, simple answer is one show uses one camera, another uses several. But what I don’t get is why it matters enough to signpost a show as single or multi camera. How would a viewer know whether a different camera is being used for some shots and what does it matter? I’m clearly missing something here but I’m unsure what.
What kind of show? For a drama of some kind, a single uncut view means the cast have to learn their lines as if performing on stage, which is artistically admirable.
Lots of the old sitcoms were single camera. By the 90s, it fell out of fashion. Then shows like Arrested Development brought it back. For lack of a better definition, single camera shows are generally “classier” as of late. Wikipedia page: see the list of shows at the bottom, then compare with other contemporaneous shows. Like obscenity, you know it when you see it.
Not the same thing as single-shot (or edited to look single-shot) filming, such as Birdman or that one Always Sunny episode where Charlie is somehow the most competent character.
They aren’t talking about a “single uncut view”, but rather two different ways of making the standard multiple-angle edits.
“Single camera” uses only one camera, so to get multiple angles you have to shoot the same scene over and over, each time moving the camera to a new position. “Multi-camera” (usually “three camera” uses several cameras in different places to capture the desired angles in a single run-through.
So let’s use a simple scene as an example: two men (Alan and Bob) are talking. We’ll want close-ups of Alan, Close-ups of Bob, and a wider shot showing both of them as they talk.
If we have three cameras, we set them up so each one gets one of the shots we want, and then we have the actors run through the scene, filming all the angles as we go. This is often done for shows that film in front of an audience.
But if we only have one camera, we have to film all of Bob’s lines in close-up, then all of Alan’s lines in close-up, then the whole scene in wide view.
Using just one camera means all of the actors work three times as much (basically), but using three cameras at once means having three camera operators and three cameras, plus more lighting and sound guys as you are having to light the scene (and place mics) so that it works for all three camera angles at once, instead of optimizing for one, then another.
So often the choice of single versus multiple cameras is based upon whether your cast costs more than your crew.
Moderator Action
Moving thread from General Questions to TV Land, er, Cafe Society.
The way I have always understood it, single-camera shows are filmed like movies. Multi-camera shows are usually filmed on a set with an audience/laugh track.
Multi-camera shows are virtually always shot in a studio, often with a studio audience and/or a laugh track. Single camera shows more often have scenes outside and rarely/never have a laugh track.
Multi-camera shows have an easier time building up comedic momentum because the actors get to react to each other in real-time. With single camera shows they tend to leave pauses when reacting to each other so the editors can cut between different takes from different angles.
Compare the look and feel of something like Cheers (the fixed set always seen from the same direction, the stagey overhead lighting, the “live” feel, the audience laughter) to something like Parks & Recreation (multiple locations, the even, movie-like lighting, the “edited” feel, no laugh track) - the terms are used to characterize the overall vibe created by the particular approach, the number of cameras that are literally used is really beside the point.
Given the answers above it seems strange that any producer would opt for a single-camera show, yet scanning Variety’s list of new pilots it’s pretty evenly balanced between single and multi camera.
This site indicates that single vs multi camera is an ongoing discussion in TV.
.
It also states there that Parks & Recreation is single-cam yet I’d never have guessed from watching it.
Still confused.
I don’t see what is so confusing about it. Single-cam shows follow characters around, go outside, etc. Multi-cam shows are static, the set feels staged, you rarely (if ever?) see outside locations.
Maybe the confusing part is that there are some shows, like Seinfeld, that have parts that are filmed in standard sets (e.g. Jerry’s apartment) in front of a live audience, but also parts where the characters are outside in different locations.
But Parks @ Rec goes outside and follows characters around. Or doesn’t it?
Yes, it’s a single-cam show.
Another way you can tell the difference is that in a three-camera setup, there will be generally be “three walls” and the “fourth wall” will be the point of view of the audience/camera, like in a stage play. In that kind of setup, the type of shots you can get are limited, not only because they have to come from the point of view of the audience, but also because they can’t appear in each other’s shots.
In a single-camera setup, you can film more easily in a “real” environment, with four walls, and shot angles can come from anywhere in any order—a medium two-shot, followed by a POV shot followed by a shot up one character’s nose, followed by a shot from behind the two actors, etc.
Right. It’s a single camera show.
So that’s where breaking the fourth wall comes from. I’ve always know what it meant, but not why.
I’m pretty sure that on Seinfeld that when they went “outside” it was usually if not always still a set. Of course, single-camera sitcoms are often shot on sets as well, but they don’t need an open “fourth wall”.
For the OP, the Wikipedia entry on single-camera setup gives a good explanation of the technique and how it’s come in and out of popularity for TV sitcoms over the years. While I tend to think of single-camera sitcoms as being a relatively recent trend going back only 15 years or so, the Wiki article points out that there were actually a lot of single-camera sitcoms in the 1960s. This seems obvious now that I think about it, but sitcoms that used special effects like Bewitched, Mr. Ed, and The Addams Family would have been difficult to shoot with a multi-camera setup.
Older single-camera sitcoms like these typically had an added laugh track so they seemed more like multi-camera sitcoms shot before a studio audience, while more recent single-camera sitcoms like The Office, New Girl, and Modern Family usually do not have a laugh track.
ETA: I see now that the Wiki article was linked to upthread, so sorry for the redundancy. 
If you want an actual comparison on what the difference feels like, try watching a regular episode of 30 Rock (which was single camera), then watch episode 4 of season 5 (which was shot multi camera in front of a live audience and was broadcast live). It’s a pretty striking difference, even accounting for the fact that A. they were playing up the differences, B. it was broadcast live instead of recorded, and C. it was shot on video instead of film like regular episodes.
If your familiar with the recurring gags they do on 30 Rock, you’ll see how it’d be very hard to accomplish some of them any other way but being filmed single camera.
Perhaps this picture of the set of The Honeymooners will help you understand what we’re talking about by a multi/3-camera setup - note it’s basically a fixed stage set with cameras simultaneously filming from the left, the center, and the right.
If you watch The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Golden Girls, Friends, etc. you can imagine that’s how they’re filmed - watch an episode of MAS*H, Malcolm in the Middle, Arrested Development, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, etc. and you’ll see they must be filmed very differently.
Thanks for all the responses, guys. I have a much clearer idea of what’s going on now.