Contextual Studies Essay: How Does the UK Version of The Office use comedic techniques and genre conventions that are used to support and sustain the comedy?

Question: Discuss a TV Sitcom of your choice with reference to the various comedic techniques and genre conventions that are used to support and sustain the comedy

In this essay I will be discussing a British TV Sitcom “The Office”, a programme that I had never previously watched. I wanted to make sure that I had not seen the show I was going to write about so I that could give the fairest opinion possible with no preconceived ideas.

The Office was a BBC UK TV Show that aired from July 2001 to December 2003. It was critically received as one of the greatest TV shows in recent years.  It had a 98% rating on Metacritic, one of the highest ever. (Metacritic Article, 2001, THE OFFICE UK SEASON 1). It is a show created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and follows a group of staff and their day to day activities. It’s filmed in a mockumentary style which used various comedic devices to make the viewer engage with what is happening on screen. In this essay I will discuss the comedic techniques they used, and indicate which ones I think worked and others that I feel didn’t add much to the show.

As I had never watched the show before I was not sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised about how good the comedy was. Even though the programme is over 15 years old it is still very relevant, and I found the awkward situations they get themselves into are in some ways the funniest parts. Many are situations that we all get ourselves into which means we can relate to them very easily.

The Office is a great example of a Progressive Workplace Comedy, which is a sub genre of TV Sitcom. I think that of all of the Sitcoms on TV, The Office does one of the best jobs of portraying real life situations. The reason why we find awkward situations funny is because we know what it feels like to be in those situations ourselves and we know how bad it can sometimes feel. It may be a laugh, but an awkward laugh because we feel sorry for the character on screen. The office frequently uses this technique alongside various others to create a very interesting TV Sitcom.

A genre convention of TV Sitcom that The Office uses a lot is “The One Liner”, a joke that generally receives laughter from the other people on screen as well as the audience. The one liner descended from Stand up comedy and is normally seen as a throwaway remark but one that, in a sitcom, is relevant to the current situation.

Another genre convention of TV Sitcom is “The Running Joke” (Also Known as The Running Gag) and in The Office that is the tension between Tim and Gareth and how they hate each other but rely on each other at the same time. They are constantly bickering but, much like the awkward situations we talked about earlier, we can relate to it because it is something we have probably all done. One reason why we enjoy this sort of comedy is because it is real - unlike some comedy which seems forced, this is something we easily relate to because, in many ways, we are simply laughing at ourselves.

A great comedic technique that The Office uses to engage the viewer is breaking the fourth wall. Ricky Gervais will often turn to the camera and speak to you as if you are in the conversation with the rest of the group. In a lot of shows like “House of Cards” breaking the fourth wall is used in a way where the other characters don’t know it’s happening, like a freeze frame. In The Office the whole group reacts to you as if you are in the conversation. This is an unusual but great comedic technique because it brings more interaction and intimacy to the moment which in turn makes the laughs even louder.

Something that The Office does and which edges the show into a comedy sitcom is mocking conventions of documentary. It is not classed as a mockumentary but the show is following staff around, something which is typical of the documentary style. The way it is shown on screen tells us that it is a Comedy/Sitcom. The Office mocks some of the main conventions of Documentary. On The Guardian website they said “…many modern comedies and films borrow the unpretentious freewheeling camerawork and jump-cut style of the mockumentary without the full-on commitment of dressing up as real documentaries. The intent is to evoke the same spirit: that the characters you will meet will be slightly caught off guard. You get the fun of peeping through the paparazzi lens, while feeling slightly uncomfortable for intruding.” (Mockumentary hasn’t killed comedy, 2017)

1-     Observing everyday life. As you can see from this picture, the camera is placed behind a desk with some objects in the way. It is filmed as if we are spying on them which is a technique frequently used in documentaries to get a natural reaction instead of one that might be self-conscious due to the camera being placed purely for the sake of image quality. It is, however, mocked because it is made so obvious that the characters know the camera is there (Referring back to breaking the fourth wall)

2-     The use of natural lighting and sound also makes this feel like a documentary. There are no outside sources to make the image quality or sound better, and in a lot of scenes they purposely leave in parts that would normally be cut, possibly mocking the fact that documentaries normally leave the boring parts in to fill up time in the show.

3-     Another example of The Office mocking documentaries is that documentary makers normally do all they can to convince you that what you are seeing is real and true. In The Office they purposely set out to make it appear fake, mocking the documentary makers and their desire to prove a point.

The Reception Theory (Stuart Hall - 1980) makes a lot of sense in The Office because of the way the viewer reacts with the text on screen. I feel most people watching The Office view it in a hegemonic way because they agree with what they are watching. They see it as natural and realistic. It is important that the viewer see’s the text in the same way that the director intended otherwise the show could fall into the trap of offending people and their views. This is something that The Office does well because the situations created and dialogue used leave little room for doubt about what the director intended. The message is clear and unambiguous.

I personally could not see anyone viewing The Office in a Negotiated or Oppositional way because they do a very good job of being harsh with their jokes but making them relative at the same time. As with any show your background and personal viewpoint could very well change what you think of The Office, but for people like me I think it is very easy to relate to.

Something that does surprise me about The Office is that the cast consists entirely of white British actors. By modern TV Standards, including those from the period when the show was filmed, this is unusual because we are used to racial diversity in most shows on TV nowadays. I do wonder if they wanted to keep the whole cast from the same race so that they could make the jokes a little ruder. Maybe if they had a mix of races in the show some of the humour might be self-conscious and possibly not as funny, or might be perceived as offensive. Personally, I like shows with a mix of races and religions because it better reflects modern Britain and it is something about The Office that I feel could be improved. It does, to some extent detract from the realism that is otherwise a key to the success of the show.  Other shows have a diverse cast but manage to keep a broad range of humour without upsetting people.

Whilst the show lacks anyone who is non-white and British, it also lacks proper speaking roles for the female cast. In the first episode, we see a good mix of male and female cast members, but only 2 female roles actually speak. Once again, like the lack of different races, I feel this could be to keep the humour a certain way, one that predominantly the male viewer understands very well. Overall I would rather The Office had more diversity in it’s cast as I don’t think it would take anything away from the show, but I’m assuming the writers were wary about possible punchlines being called racist or sexist. (IMDB, List of Actors, 2003)

The Office has a domestic feel to it, which takes it into familiar territory since many sitcoms are based around families. They are constantly arguing over silly things but at the end of the day they all like each other. They make it seem like a surrogate family with Ricky Gervais being the father figure and everyone else being his kids. This gives the whole show a funny dynamic in that they don’t really care what they say to each other and means that, as viewers, we are sometimes left shocked by what they have said. In many ways, this adds to the comedy because they don’t hang back on what they say. It also makes it very relevant because we have all experienced petty squabbling so know exactly what it is like to be in that situation and means that we find the comedy more amusing.

I think that the Uses and Gratifications Theory (Bulmer and Katz 1974) is very true of the show as well. The active role I see most viewers finding in this show are the “Identify” and “Entertain” parts of the theory. As suggested earlier I feel a lot of people identify with what they see in The Office because they know what it’s like to be in most of the situations portrayed in the show and they enjoy it because of that. The “Entertain” function is achieved through good writing and acting and most people will laugh at the little jokes and gags which appear consistently throughout the show.

Something that The Office has become well known for is the frequent use of bad jokes. Sometimes you laugh at the joke simply because it is so bad and other times you laugh at the fact that they that have dared to use the joke at all. Once again, like so much in this show it’s about how relevant they are to everyday life. We probably all know someone who makes bad jokes, and sometimes you laugh with your friends when they make a joke because you knew it was coming. That is something that The Office does perfectly. It draws us into the joke by mirroring situations that we find ourselves in every day.

After reading some of the book “Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era” (Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones – 2009), I learned a lot more about TV Comedy some of which is relevant in The Office. Whilst the quote - “The rapid spread of the clip highlights satire’s viral quality and cult appeal” - is about another show it is still very relevant to The Office. On the internet, even to this day, GIF’S and screengrabs from The Office are frequently shared even though the show is now quite old. I think this demonstrates how well the comedy in The Office has aged. Whilst The Office does not generally rely on satirical comedy, it uses it from time to time to considerable effect.

The Mediation and Representation Theory (Marxist theory) is very apparent in The Office because we know what the director thinks this office scenario should look like. The reason it was so successful was because it was written, produced and acted so well and felt so realistic to the viewer. We understand what is going on on-screen through semiotics and ideology. We judge people firstly on appearance and then through the way they speak and what they do. In The Office we stereotype the main female character (Dawn) as a slightly ditzy person who looks like she may play up to the boss. As the series progresses, however, you see that she is a smart person who has possibly been made to dress in a certain way to give us a false representation of who she really is. It is bad that we judge people so quickly and through material things, but it’s how a lot of society is. It is another element that the show touches on by potentially making us re-think some of our preconceived ideas.

To conclude, I found it interesting to watch The Office and see how they use stereotypes and awkward situations but keep the viewer entertained through the use of a variety of different types of comedy. Even though a lot of the humour is dry it is carried along by interesting characters with even some potentially boring scenes working well. I have changed my opinions as I have watched it. At first I was unsure if I was going to like it, and whilst it still wasn’t a personal favourite, I enjoyed some parts and many of the jokes were still good even though the show was made over 15 years ago. The comedy has aged well in The Office and is still very relevant to this day.

References

(Metacritic Article, 2001, THE OFFICE UK SEASON 1 - http://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-office-uk )

(Mockumentary hasn’t killed comedy https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/apr/05/mockumentary-british-comedy-tom-kingsley)

(Stuart Hall Reception Theory - https://prezi.com/y8btjn21oiho/stuart-hall-reception-theory-1980/ )

(Running Gag http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RunningGag)

(Bulmer and Katz Uses and Gratification Theory - https://www.slideshare.net/jessbird92/blumler-and-katz-7737839 )

(IMDB, List of Actors, 2003 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290978/fullcredits )

(Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era https://www.amazon.com/Satire-TV-Politics-Comedy-Post-Network/dp/0814731996/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492873754&sr=1-2&keywords=television+comedy)

(The Mediation and Representation Theory (Marxist theory) https://www.slideshare.net/kbamediastudies/mediation-and-representation )

Word count: 2200 Words

Documentary Unit - Shoot Day 2

Day 2 of our Documentary shoot was filmed at Bluewater shopping center. We had been in contact with House Of Fraser, but annoyingly they cancelled less than 24 hours before we planned to shoot - even though we had had this booked for a week at this point. We decided to make the best of a very bad situation and pick up Cailan and Andrew from the station and head to Bluewater and film the one other scene we had planned.I got some B - Roll of the journey incase we need it for some voice to link the scenes.

After arriving at the shopping center we headed to Boots who declined any information on diet pills which was frustrating, we then headed to Holland and Barrett who were much more accommodating and let us film a few shots of Andrew showing the camera some "BooTea Slimming Popcorn". The brand is one that is heavily pushed online through online influencers so we wanted to buy it and then see what it tasted like. We also got some shots of slimming pills that we will overlay later on in the nutritionist interview which we are filming later.

After we had lunch we went on the hunt of a store that would let us film someone from their shop giving Andrew some style advise after House of Fraser left us in the blue with such little time to find a replacement.

After a few shops saying yes and then no (Apparently they had to check with Head Office before they would let us) we got a response from FootAsylum who gave us a nice little interview just on the exit to their shop.

After that break, we caught the big break of the day. John Lewis said yes and gave us incredible access to the shop as well as a very knowledgeable employee in Ryan to talk through everything with Andrew. He showed Andrew both formal and informal wear that would make Andrew look better - This is exactly what we wanted and we owe a massive thanks to John Lewis, because without this scene it would have been a disappointing day.

We got some B-Roll footage that will be useful for the interview/ chat with Ryan as we have three angles from every part and it will be a good way of switching without it seeming forced.

Just before Andrew and Cailan got the train back home we tried the opening sequence again. This one worked a lot better and we feel this is probably going to be our opening shot.

Documentary Unit - Shoot Day 1

Day 1 of our shoot was based mainly in Strood, with a little segment in Maidstone. Unfortunately on Day 1 Cailan's train was severely delayed and he missed us at pole fitness (our first shoot location) by a few minutes which was really unlucky and meant he could not help in the first day.

George and I met up with Andrew at the train station and we went to Pole Fitness just on time! It was a very little area to film in and also the lighting levels were less than optimal as well as a massive mirror. These are challenges we overcame whilst shooting and we got some really good segments, a massive thanks to Brook and Chloe who helped us at Pole Fitness.

We wanted to talk to the guys at pole fitness because we saw it as a slightly different way to exercise than normal, and once you look past the unwarranted taboo, you actually find that it is a sport that is very social and also very good for your body at the same time. We did not film in a chronological order, so we started with Andrew being show how do this exercise and then later we moved on to the opening for the segment.

Brook talking to Andrew about Pole fitness and what it actually exercises in your body - A really interesting piece and one of the more serious parts of our documentary.

We didn't expect Andrew to master the exercise, but he really did try which is good for the viewers. You feel most people would struggle in this sport when they try it for the first time.

Brook and Chloe explained to us that Pole Fitness is much more than a type of exercise - It's a way of meeting people and having a good time at the same time.

After we finished at Pole fitness we went to a field by the Maidstone Studios in which we are doing the exercise part of the documentary. This opening shot is out of focus and we are most likely going to re-film this segment anyway.

Andrew used the field to try a few types of exercise, which will be compiled into a montage with a segment reviewing what he enjoyed most (Which we will film at a later date)

I used my drone and when we re-shoot we should get some better shots - this is a possible establishing shot.

Documentary Unit: Specialist Skills in Documentary Making

Specialist Skills in Documentary Making

Before I started our project I wanted to  look at what other suggested were important factors in being a good documentary filmmaker.

• The ability to keep yourself and your opinions out of the project.

This is important because unless you are trying to show a specific side of a story you always want to remain unbiased. I have seen documentaries that are saying they are unbiased but are so blatantly tainted by an opinion, it makes what they say have no meaning.

• Curiosity about the project. 

When you produce something that you have no interest in, it normally means that the project won't be good as you may only put minimal in. Luckily we had full control in what our project was, so we are really interested in what we are making.

• Being a good story teller.

 Making sure the story makes sense is a massive part of this project. It means the pre-filming planning is vital so that you know exactly what you are going to film. Three minds will be pushed together to make this project have a good story, one in reality we're creating ourselves.

• You have to shoot A LOT of footage.

In reality you will always feel you do not have enough, you'll always probably find certain clips could be improved. So that's why we want to make sure we get more than enough footage so that when it comes to editing, we have much more choices.

• Frame the shot in an interesting way.

Just because you may be in a rush, does not mean that you cannot make the shot look interesting. We will pre-plan so we will know when to be in certain places, but we know some circumstances may be out of our control so we may be behind schedule. But none the less we want every shot to be framed well.

• Get great info through interviews.

Interviews can piece the documentary together, it could be the difference between a good and bad documentary. We have 3 interviews planned and maybe more will come, we should be able to get interesting information to back up the points we found online.

Overall I found these tips interesting online. I think it will make us all think about how we go about this documentary and how we decide to film on the days planned.

Documentary Unit - Final Prep Before Filming

We are starting filming on Tuesday 25th April in Strood with Andrew at Pole fitness. I have been the one that has been replaying all the information with Andrew with of course consolation with the group about what to say. He has been very good at replying quickly and also being very happy with all the experiments that we had planned. We were not sure if Andrew would be happy with some of what we had suggested because it could potentially be embarrassing, but he is a true professional and is willing to undergo all we have planned to make it an interesting and hopefully funny documentary.

We will be having a skype call on Monday to finalise every last detail and make sure we all do something in the last few hours on the night before our first shoot day. I will be collecting all the equipment on Monday and driving to Strood - I'm hoping to be there at 9am and going to go as quickly as possible to strood. Work-It have given us an hour which has been moved to 11:30 and we should be able to get all the footage we need in that time.

We will aim to meet at Strood station at 10:30am and get some opening shots to open up our show. We have our script in place and will talk through it with Andrew and see what he would like to change. We have written it in the way we speak, so we know Andrew will give us valuable feedback on the script. After we have all of the planned introduction parts, we will go into Work It and film the whole sequence which we cannot really script and then move onto the exercise in Maidstone.

The second day we will meet near Georges home and then travel to Bluewater shopping center to film the scene at House of Fraser and then buying the diet pills that we plan to use in a later sequence, as well as filming the public's reaction to diet pills and hopefully finding someone who has used them in the past.

We have all the equipment booked with Ferg but we plan to use some of our own equipment as well to make sure we were covered incase something happens with the equipment from Ferg. I have 2 4k Cameras which I plan to bring and have got good experience with so i think it would be a good backup.

We are confident on how the project is going and feel once we start filming a lot of our little worries right now will go away. We plan to film for 4 days and have one day recording audio / voiceover.

We also have our contextual studies deadline next week so we will have a few days of not filming anyway because Andrew is busy so we will put the final touches on that essay on those days.

Documentary Unit - Documentary Filmmaker (Michael Moore)

• Michael Moore 
• Age: 63
• American Resident 
• Directed 18 Documentaries 
• His most famous documentaries include "Fahrenheit 9/11" & "The Awful Truth" series and the infamous "Bowling for Columbine"
• He's a writer/director/producers/presenter in most of his shows which is very unique.
• He is a controversial figure who likes to make sure he finds the truth of what happened.  

The reason why I wanted to research into Michael Moore is that he makes interesting pieces and also is involved in most parts of the production process, a lot like ourselves. Whilst we made the decision  to hire an actor and not present the show ourselves his work is still interesting as we are doing the rest of the project ourselves.

Whilst I have watched numerous Michael Moore documentaries, I have not seen one in a while so I decided to re-watch Fahrenheit 9/11.

What inspires me about Michael Moore's documentaries is that he is a presence in his own documentaries - He appears on screen as pieces to camera as well as doing a lot of voice over commentary work, I like this as it makes the documentary very personal to him and it also shows he cares deeply about the subjects he talks about otherwise he would not put his face to it.

Something that Moore does which is a inspiration to me is that he really makes you think, should you really be doing this or that? When talking in Fahrenheit 9/11 he says a lot about the conspiracies that go on, and that it is very hard to believe everything that you are told. I think a good documentary can be defined on how much it makes you think - in Moore's Documentaries he does a fair job at explaining why he thinks a certain way. In the most part he has an agenda in which he is trying to prove, but he does sometimes look at the opposing view to see what others are thinking.

In Fahrenheit 9/11 Moore does not appear on screen that much, however when it does it is powerful and interesting. It in a way, is cementing what has been said in voice over with a face that is trying to prove the truth.

He does also add comedy when it's needed. He hired an ice cream van to drive around with the loud speaker blaring facts to prove what he is saying.

The way Moore speaks is always in a curious way, he is always leaving it slightly open to the imagination of the viewer, even though he may have a preconceived idea on what he wants to say.

Moore's work inspired me because of the way he comes across, it always feels real and that he wants the viewer to uncover facts that have been hidden from us. It's similar to what we are doing with our documentary, we want to try and show the audience that the world around them is possibly twisting the truth around body image. I think that I will take a lot of the points that Moore uses in his films into ours because I find all of his shows interesting to watch. 

Documentary Unit - Confirmed Locations and Interviews

Over the last few days we have confirmed a few more locations and interviews.

1- I got in contact with Pole Fitness via their website contact form and they asked me to phone them to talk through it further, unfortunately when they were free to talk was when I was working so George did a good job and we have now secured 90 mins with them to get Andrew to try the exercise as well as an interview with the staff on their thoughts on this type of exercise.

2- George got in contact with House of Fraser and we have got 2 hours with them to film a scene where they pick out the best clothes for Andrew and that will hopefully give us time to interview the Personal shopper on her thoughts on the media's perception of what we are all suppose to look like.

3- The Running and Cycling we had planned will take place near the maidstone studios on a field as well as the roads surrounding it. It will be a good location to film without much distraction, I have scheduled to film this scene after the pole fitness segment.

4- Whilst at Bluewater we will pick up some diet pills and we plan to ask the public about their thoughts on if they would ever have considered using them to make themselves look thinner. We will hopefully find someone who has used the pills and get their thoughts on what it actually did to them - We will also use these pills to take to the nutritionist.

5- George has been in contact with a photography student in Rochester and we will be doing a photoshoot of Andrew, possibly trying out new poses and using a slimming vest which is another way we have found that people use to look thinner without actually doing anything.

6- We have a day scheduled to go to Cailan's and record all the sound for our shoot, he has a good microphone so this will improve our quality - This will be after all of the video has been shot. We plan to do this at the start of the edit week. We will script the audio after the video is shot so we know what we need to record.

7- One thing we have struggled with is finding a Nutritionist so I have messaged around 20 people in my area, Currently 1 has replied saying they cannot make it but hopefully we will hear something back very soon.

Documentary Unit - Documentary Activities Being Booked & Shoot Schedule

George got in contact with House of Fraser who have a personal shopping service. They said that they are happy for us to film and they have a personal stylist who is also happy to take questions for our documentary and will be our second interviewee.

We will hopefully only be a few hours in total with this scene so we need to schedule it in with something else otherwise it may be a bit of a wasted day if we only use 2 hours. We are doing a shooting schedule via Google docs which I'll mention in a minute.

Whilst George was talking to House of Fraser I was getting in contact with the Pole fitness company in Strood. They got back to me via email after I used their contact page on their website and they said we should talk over the phone more about our ideas. I will do this in the next couple of days.

I feel already that we have too much content but it's better to have too much than too little so we will go ahead with all of the original plans and cut what we like the least in the edit.

Finally today I started the Google doc of the shooting schedule. I have sent the link to the whole group so we can edit it with any additions or bookings that they confirm. It worked well for the script development so I thought it would be good to use it again.

I'm sure the style of the document will develop as we add more and realise it needs more of certain things but the base one looks like this:

I have removed all weekend days we are busy and so is Andrew and have also blanked out Thursdays as Andrew works those days just to make sure we don't accidently book anything on those days.

We hope to get the table finished by the end of next week but post production may have later additions,