The authors report on the synthesis of thin films of the BiSrCaCuO family by single-target pulsed laser deposition. The post annealing (ex situ) technique normally leads to very granular films. For Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ delta (2212) films prepared in this way, the resistivity drops abruptly at temperatures in the range 80-85 K. Post-annealed Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+ delta (2223) films could only be obtained in a very narrow annealing temperature window. They all contained the secondary 2212 phase and therefore displayed a two-step resistivity drop at 110 K and 80 K. Moreover, all the ex situ films display a resistive tail at lower temperatures due to their granularity. In situ crystallized films have very flat surfaces, but have poorer superconducting properties than ex situ films. The resistive transitions are broader, but there is no resistive tail at lower temperatures. They suggest that this behaviour could be due to inhomogeneities in the oxidation process during deposition. The first results on the in situ preparation of 2223 show that a substantial quantity of the 2223 phase can be obtained, but the resistive transitions remain very broad. The ex situ results suggest that the deposition conditions for optimizing the in situ formation of the 2223 phase may need to be closely defined.