"The Office" style of shooting

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pulp

Active member
Does anyone else get really tired of seeing this kind of jerky, jumpy shooting, where the zoom is constantly being played with mid interview or mid b-roll shot? That's the kind of stuff I cut OUT of work, where as more and more, even in commercials, it seems like it's something people are trying to add to the shooting. I wonder if there's a name for this. Why is this getting so popular?
 
I liked it's use in the office, but am bummed to see it so widespread and copied now.

I actually think Arrested Development did it better than the office
 
Alex H. said:
Because of "The Office". Though, to be honest, you can even trace it back to "This is Spinal Tap".

It's documentary/cinema verite style.
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I don't remember that many jerky mid-dialogue zooms and pans in Spinal Tap, or really in anything prior to the past 10 years.

The worst is when it's someone of distinction and they don't seem to have any respect for the subject, or they're telling a heartfelt story, crying on camera, and the operator is jerking the zoom back and forth like a tool. Very distracting.
 
To be fair, the idea behind the shows that come to mind that are shot like this (Office, Parks & Rec, Modern Family, to name a few) is that for some reason (often never defined) a documentary crew is following around the characters and simply grabbing what they can, when it happens. There isn't supposed to be a script. The camera crew isn't supposed to know where people will be standing from one moment to the next, where they're going to move from what moment to the next, or what's going to happen at all. Therefore, in the shows' world, the cam ops are running around rearranging themselves into whatever position they can get, and reframing as quickly as they can, so the result is somewhat sloppy. Reality probably wouldn't be that different, although, true, one doesn't need to "micro-reframe" one's shot every two seconds for no reason.

Like any other stylistic choice, if it's appropriate to the story, it's good.
 
Josh Bass said:
To be fair, the idea behind the shows that come to mind that are shot like this (Office, Parks & Rec, Modern Family, to name a few) is that for some reason (often never defined) a documentary crew is following around the characters and simply grabbing what they can, when it happens. There isn't supposed to be a script. The camera crew isn't supposed to know where people will be standing from one moment to the next, where they're going to move from what moment to the next, or what's going to happen at all. Therefore, in the shows' world, the cam ops are running around rearranging themselves into whatever position they can get, and reframing as quickly as they can, so the result is somewhat sloppy. Reality probably wouldn't be that different, although, true, one doesn't need to "micro-reframe" one's shot every two seconds for no reason.

Like any other stylistic choice, if it's appropriate to the story, it's good.
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Actually, if you rewatch an episode of The Office or Parks & Rec a time or two, you'll see that some of the more subtle humor is communicated in the background. These shows aren't sloppy, they know exactly what they're doing. Unfortunately, not everyone who attempts this style of shooting does know what they're doing, which is why they do it.
 
You youngsters won't remember a miserable epoch in the 90s called shaky-cam, but basically every commercial has this shaky look, some features, and just about every corporate doc I worked on for a couple of years... why are people imitating the look of The Office? Because that's what people tend to to when a fad comes along.
 
When I first saw The Office doing this, I'm not going to lie, but it really pissed me off. But after some time I really came to like it. It doesn't work for everything, but man they really make it work. It's perfectly aligned with the comedy, watch how the camera becomes a comedic character itself and responds to the other characters and situations. The Hurt Locker also uses this approach (although more dramatically), and it works fantastically. Although many haters will just flame The Hurt Locker for it's deep depth of field and camera movement.
 
Been watching Friday Night Lights and I actually love the way it's shot. Makes you feel like you're in the room for real. Doesn't get tiring for me, but everyone has their limit I suppose. :)
 
In the UK, there is a new series running called Life's Too Short. It's a continuation of Extras and originally the Office. Anyway, I watched the repeat last night and found myself studying the choreography of script and camera. Anybody who thinks that this is sloppy camera work, really needs to study it a bit more. The timing of every camera movement punctuates the comedy perfectly.

I do agree though, the style has been a bit over used recently. Camera movement in general seems to be pretty gratuitous now. In nearly all TV drama I've watched recently, there seems to be a constant need to move the camera in nearly every shot.
 
Firefly and Serenity did it well (more used in Serenity), but that was back then when it was still sort of new.

Meh, shakey cam > handheld > blue/teal colour grading > random zoomyness > whatever's next.... It's all just another new thing in the long line of new things.
 
AdrianF said:
In nearly all TV drama I've watched recently, there seems to be a constant need to move the camera in nearly every shot.
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That's actually a rule on CSI:NY. Dan Ayers, who's a steadicam op on that show, was our DP on Canyon Road, and he said the camera always has to be moving. It's actually kind of interesting, if you think about it. Though, honestly, I think some of the better shots I've seen from TV dramas have been locked down.
 
The Shield was doing this (on 16mm shoulder-mounted no less) years ago. Some people hated it, but it gave the show a real "Cops" ride-along feel (especially when the cameraman would leap out of a cruiser and follow the characters on a foot chase). A number of shots would be out of focus, shots would be reframed with a zoom, exposure would be blown when they stepped outside followed by unedited correction.

It was interesting to see that Clarke Johnson directed both pilot episodes of The Shield and The Wire; and how the choice of photography reflected the overall tone of those two very different shows. While The Wire dealt with people confined by the system (with similarly restrained photography), The Shield dealt with cops living on the edge and totally out of control; just like the photography. The shaky cam/verite style works so long as it has a real reason to be there, as a genuine artistic choice.
 
Firefly did everything well.

Agreed that one felt very present in the Shield because of the filming style. If you bought the DVDs and watched several episodes in a row, it could become a little too apparent but overall I loved it.

I think like many other techniques it has to be done for a reason, and carefully.
 
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