Tripods
Tripods add stability to a shot and gives a profesional feel to a production. Not only does a tripod make a shot stable, but also gives the cameraman/director different options when it comes to taking a shot. The tripod allows for more stable zooms, pans and tilts whilst also allowing the cameraman to take low, or high angled shots less awkardly. Shots like close ups and mid shots are best suited to being shot by a camera mounted on a tripod, as unlike a handheld shot can do, the camera will not move around and the actor(s) will stay in shot. Tripods are used commonly during conversations for such reasons.
Working without a tripod can give shaky, handheld effects and can be effective when a director is looking to creat a POV shot, but this should only be done when a director needs a such an effect.
Multi-Camera Shooting Multi-camera shoots are used in TV, they provide multiple angles of one scene, without having to go back and repeat each scene as so different angles can be recorded. High output productions like EastenderS and other soaps use multi-camera shoots as they mean that productions can be recorded more quickly than productions with one camera. This is because it reduces the editing time, reduces the liklihood of continuity errors and also removes the need to go back and re-light, re-adjust etc, shots as to get the angles that a director wants from a scene. Multi-camera shoots are also used for live television, as there is no other way that a sufficient volume of footage from a variety of angles could be filmed. Here's a famous clip from the live broadcast of Eastenders, a show that uses multi-camera even when it isn't live, but had to rely on it even more so for the live broadcast:
