Modern Family
As mentioned in The Office and People Just do Nothing posts, I am currently researching cinematic styles used within Mockumentaries that convey some similarities to DownStage. This will focus on the following aspects:- Camera Movement
- Camera Shot Sizes/Angles
- Interview Setup
- Lighting
- Sound
- Exposure
Modern Family is a 7 part series that first originated in 2009 up until this year in 2015. This American mockumentary follows the lives of some families who are living in Los Angles, particularly focusing on Jay Pritchett and his family. Nonetheless, the mockuementary has proven to be a success and has won an emmys for 'Outstanding Comedy Series', 'Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series' and many more.
Camera Movement
In terms of camera movement, to me it seems that Modern Family conveys aspects of all of the examples of Mockmentaires I've currently looked at. It has this idea of long-winded frames likewise to The Office (US), has a relaxed and smooth approach like People Just do Nothing, and only uses a few camera movements such as tracking and panning like The Office (UK). All in all this seems to be quite effective - it seems realistic as the camera is relaxed and seems natural, whilst at the same time it manages to capture all of the action without having to cut to many different cuts (in most cases it uses a single cut).
What also interests me is how the camera almost reacts to when we reach a climax within an episode - the camera does seem to pick up pace, include more tracking and panning and faster zooms when the narrative reaches a moment where tension is released. For example, Episode 4 Series 7 has a moment where the characters are playing rugby indoors, in which the camera constantly tracks and pans the ball, making it fast paced like the pace of the characters.
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| The camera zooms in much faster than normal at a moment of dramatic intensity, wich is emphasised by the actor looking directly into the camera (very similar to The Office US) |
Camera shot Sizes/Angles
After resarching this and my 4 other examples, I can safely say that it remains conventional for Mockumentaries to shoot wide likewise to documentaries - to make sure they get the 'safe' shot and o prepare in case there is any unexpected action that may be off screen or hard to capture if the shots were to be tighter. This is evident within Modern Family, however likewise to The Office (US), the camera can be seen adjusting to the movement and reaction of the characters, following this idea that the camera is dependent on the action, instead of the action dependent on the camera. This can be shown in the two images below.
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| The camera is slightly wider than expected |
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| The camera then zooms in slightly to adjust to the character's positions. |
The lack of camera angles too seem conventional - it seems that Mockumentaries like Modern Family only use eye level shots and rarely use low/high angles so that the documentary remains neutral and natural.
Interview Setup
In my opinion, the interview setups within Modern Family tend to be quite effective. They remain loyal to the documentary conventions by using still shots, often a medium close up and a background that has relevance to whom is being interviewed, or helping to understand the setting of the narrative and locations. Following on from this idea of having the background, this is very effective within Modern Family as we get to learn more about the characters because the interviews are in their house, meaning the background is from their own natural habitat. For example, the image below shows the character's living/dinign room, giving a better insight about perhaps the personality of the character.
Lighting too seems natural within interviews as shown in the image below. What makes it even easier to understand is how it is set in a character's home makes it easier for an audience to relate to, thus making it much more realistic.
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| A typical interview shot. Although slightly wider, we learn about the character by seeing what his house looks like in the background |
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| This follows the same approach as the interview screen shot above. |
Lighting
Throughout, lighting is clearly naturalistic otherwise it is likely to be obvious as all of the audience can relate to the lighting within the house. The lighting seems generaly slightly lower-lit but in a way this helps to reinforce the realism as this is adjusted from when the program is set during the day and during the night (they simply use lamps and ceiling lights to brighten up the room, showing that it is now nighttime).
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| Here we can see what looks like naturalistic lighting glimmering on the wall in the background |
Sound
Sound too remains convenitonal to the other examples which I've researched by following this idea that we don't see any clip mics or boom microphones in shot. Thus, this can enable me to conclude that Mockumentaries aim to hide all sound gear purely to enhance this idea of what we're watching being realistic and natural.
Exposure
The key difference which I've noticed from Modern Family is the use of exposure. It seems conventional for the program to focus on depths of field that are generally quite sharp - they are used within interviews and discussions between characters, giving the Mockumentary a nice cinematic feel. Nonetheless, this can be criticised as using a sharp depth of field can be hard to perfect constantly, meaning it may hint to the audience that the show has been rehearsed (even though it has) which could disrupt it's natural and realistic feel. Below is an image from an interview and in action shot showing the sharp depth of field.
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| Shot showing the character in sharp focus, making the background blur slightly |
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| Another example of a sharp focus |
Simiarlities to other Mockumentaries (Conventions)
- Naturalistic lighting
- Conventional interview setup, however slightly wider than normal
- Long-winded length of shots
- Use of tracking/panning and zooming, however at a smoother and slower pace
- Hiding of sound equipment
Difference with Modern Family
- Much sharper use of exposure
- Increasing the camera pace when tension is building/at a climax
- Character development through the use of backgrounds in interviews
Conclusion
All in all, my research on Modern Family has been very beneifical. I feel the way that the cinematographer increases the camera pace when tension increases could be incorporated into Down Stage and works in an effective manor. Additionally, this idea of revealing aspects of a character with props in the background too could be useful for when we see interviews of John in his car, as the audience could learn from his car more about his personality i.e. if he has a messy car, then could show John to be unorganised for example.
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