The Office (US)
As mentioned in my post regarding The Office (UK), I am researching into Mockumentaries that convey similar aspects to our own production. Here I will be researching into the American version of The Office, as well as highlighting the differences between the two to see how American Mockumentaries differ to British Mockumentaries. This will focus on the following cinematic aspects:
- Camera Movement
- Camera Shot Sizes/Angles
- Interview Setup
- Lighting
- Sound
- Exposure
The Office is an adaptation by Greg Daniels of the widely known British version produced by Ricky Gervais. The American version however is 9 seasons long which stretched from 2005 across to 2013. This too follows a single-camera setup and doesn't involve a live audience to stimulate the look of an actual documentary. Nonetheless, the show differs widely in a number of different ways compared to the British version with regards to cinematography.
Camera Movement
Likewise to the British version, The Office consists of frequent long-winded shots which are made due to the camera continuously following the action instead of cutting to different shots. For example, the camera will pan between two characters instead of cutting to them, zoom in or out or pull focus between characters. Nonetheless, the key difference between the two versions would be how the American The Office has more of an emphasis on camera movement - the zooms are faster, the pans are faster and there is generally more movement within a single shot.
Furthermore, this version also follows this third person perspective of filming and frequently makes t as if the documentary crew are 'spying' on the actors. Nonetheless, you can argue that this version is more effective in conveying this - when it doesn't feel like the camera is spying on the actors, the camera is often positioned behind other characters so it looks and feel as if you are actually joining the conversation with the actors, which can be seen in the image below.
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| The camera is positioned behind the other characters, giving a third person perspective |
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| Likewise to the previous caption. We frequently see some parts of other characters infant of the camera |
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| The camera 'spying' through the blinds, conforming to this third person perspective |
Camera Shot Sizes/Angles
This version also follows the same style as the British The Office. The shots generally seem slightly wider than what you would expect them to be so they follow this idea of a 'safe' shot - they purposely leave this room incase there's any unexpected action which can appear in the shot, causing the auditionee/actor to be out of shout. Of course, because this is a Mockumentary and everything is fixed, this happens in documentaries and generally helps to make the shot seem more natural, which is why shows like The Office may purposely do this.
Nonetheless, this version tends to only use these wider than expected shots for a short amount of time as the camera is frequently zooming in and out on actors, where then we see shots that are much tighter and suited. Therefore, it is clear that both of these versions revolve the camera around the actors, instead of the actors around the camera, helping to enhance the realism as you can't predict what actuality will be expected.
Both versions however tend to use little use of camera angles. These are only used mainly when characters are talking but are on different levels and it seems that they aren't used to emphasise on the dominance within a shot. Thus, this makes the shots seem central instead of biased, helping to stimulate the reality of the show.
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| The Office (US) too uses shots slightly wider than expected, however... |
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| ...Frequently readjusted the shot so that the camera follows the actor's movement. As you can see, the camera has zoomed in slightly to seem tighter once the character has moved. |
Interview Setup
This too is similar to the The Office - this version uses naturalistic lighting (or lighting that seems naturalistic), still shots (that are only used for interviews) and a conventional shot size, however not as close compared to the British The Office.
However, one key difference I spotted was how the majority of the interviews will have either a live background or something that remains iconic to The Office. For example, in the image below you can see slightly a character working in 'the office' in the background of the interview.
This image however is effective as it shows how the program helps to convey character relationships by showing a picture frame in the background. Additionally, both of these interview shots are around a mid shot - much wider than The Office (UK) yet however enables the audience to learn that they're in an office and understand the location better.
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| A typical mid shot is commonly used throughout The Office (UK) |
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| We see props that may help to build on character development |
Lighting
There appears to be no noticeable difference in terms of lighting when looking at the US version of The Office - perhaps the lighting is generally lighter due to blinds being open, enabling natural lighting to come through. This version too doesn't use any noticeable artificial lighting, helping to add to the realism of the show. Despite this version having many more locations compared to the British The Office, all lighting is generally kept naturalistic and still remains reasonably high-key and natural looking.
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| Outside of the office - lighting is still generally well lit |
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| Outside of the office. Even inside the shot is still nicely lit. |
Sound
This version too cleverly hides sound gear to remove this idea that a documentary crew is filming. By doing this, it enables us an audience to watch it without being reminded why they may be wearing microphones, thus allowing a more natural and realistic flow to commence.
Exposure
Exposure too is relatively similar - this version uses a variety of low and high f stops to gain a mixture of shallow and sharp depths of field. However, it can be argued that the lens is dominantly a high f stop as this version has many more pull focuses to switch between different characters, as there seems to be more shots with more than 2 characters. For example, the image below shows how having a high f stop enables the camera to focus on just Jim, and blur out the other characters.
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| Having a camera with a high f.stop enables the camera to blur characters and focus on one individual character like so |
What are the Key Differences?
Below are the key difference in which The Office (US) has with The Office (UK):
- Many more moments where characters look into the character. This is to break the 4th wall and
purely for dramatic emphasis, as they usually do it at key dramatic moments.
- Much more use of the camera, generally creating a fast seeming pace as the camera is frequently
changing
- Deeper depth of field to enable more pull focuses to occur
- Slightly higher-lit and more naturalistic seeming lighting, however still no artificial use.
- Wider shots for interviews: typically mid shots or mid close ups.
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