This video is going to be used as my example. This video is a montage of moments seen in the The Office.
Narrative Structure
To start off with it's hard to explain the order in which everything happens in The Office. There are storylines that happen within time. For example the romantic relationships we see in the office bloom through time. We know it is set at present time but that is about it. The Office unlike the other two media pieces I have analysed takes into account other things that may be considered more important.
This is a completely different genre to the others. The Office is a comedy television show. Comedy has completely separate conventions to other genres, for example dramas and romance, which may have slight similarities in their content. The good thing about The Office is that it is not a hybrid comedy (mixing two genres together, for example rom com's) It's pure comedy and it has those conventions (for example kind of tasteless gags and stupidity by some of the characters) However The Office is known for it's unique style. Which it certainly has. I will go into detail more about how it is filmed when looking at the technical aspects, but for the time being it's also good to talk about when it comes to looking at other parts of it's narrative structure.
The cool thing about the show is the way it is shot. It makes the show look real. I also think the setting and the colour of the show gives of a realist perspective. However the content within, unlike This Is England and United 93 is completely non-realist. To start of with, This is a comedy. We live in a century of film and television series where anything is possible. And now a lot of films and Television shows can come off as real by dialogue, emotions and elements like that. However pure comedy has never been like that. The Office is pure comedy. It follows the conventions of that old fashion-type comedy style that is pretty rare to see these days. Therefore the way the characters act and the way their personalities come across are completely non-realistic. A good example is the character of Dwight in the show (the guy with the glasses) If you watch the clip above. Connecting to this point is the setting of the show. It's set in an office, and in all reality, a real office would not have people acting as unprofessionally as the people do in this office. So in conclusion, the show is completely non-realist.
But the show also has a unique way of putting together a structure. Something that really stands out in The Office for example is the character development and their connections. Sometimes, both things are done by them verbally talking to each other, but another way it is shown is by interviews with the characters, for example in the clip, you can see from the 05:30 - 05:36 marker. They are used for just about everything, They help develop the story in the particular episode, They tell us their opinions and they also sometimes (depending on the episode) bring the show to an end. They are small, and last no more than a minute. But it's a really good tongue and cheek way to bring lots of different conventions of the show together.
This is a completely different genre to the others. The Office is a comedy television show. Comedy has completely separate conventions to other genres, for example dramas and romance, which may have slight similarities in their content. The good thing about The Office is that it is not a hybrid comedy (mixing two genres together, for example rom com's) It's pure comedy and it has those conventions (for example kind of tasteless gags and stupidity by some of the characters) However The Office is known for it's unique style. Which it certainly has. I will go into detail more about how it is filmed when looking at the technical aspects, but for the time being it's also good to talk about when it comes to looking at other parts of it's narrative structure.
The cool thing about the show is the way it is shot. It makes the show look real. I also think the setting and the colour of the show gives of a realist perspective. However the content within, unlike This Is England and United 93 is completely non-realist. To start of with, This is a comedy. We live in a century of film and television series where anything is possible. And now a lot of films and Television shows can come off as real by dialogue, emotions and elements like that. However pure comedy has never been like that. The Office is pure comedy. It follows the conventions of that old fashion-type comedy style that is pretty rare to see these days. Therefore the way the characters act and the way their personalities come across are completely non-realistic. A good example is the character of Dwight in the show (the guy with the glasses) If you watch the clip above. Connecting to this point is the setting of the show. It's set in an office, and in all reality, a real office would not have people acting as unprofessionally as the people do in this office. So in conclusion, the show is completely non-realist.
But the show also has a unique way of putting together a structure. Something that really stands out in The Office for example is the character development and their connections. Sometimes, both things are done by them verbally talking to each other, but another way it is shown is by interviews with the characters, for example in the clip, you can see from the 05:30 - 05:36 marker. They are used for just about everything, They help develop the story in the particular episode, They tell us their opinions and they also sometimes (depending on the episode) bring the show to an end. They are small, and last no more than a minute. But it's a really good tongue and cheek way to bring lots of different conventions of the show together.
Techinical Aspects.
Here in technical aspects I am going to talk in more detail about the camera work and like I said about, the uniqueness of the show. To recap I said above how unique the way The Office is filmed and how it makes the show look like it's documented. From looking at the clip you can probably see what I am talking about. It's mainly done by the camera work. The camera is almost hand held. It's similar to the style of United 93. Just used in a different context.
I also talked about the colouring and setting of the television show briefly. I personally think the colouring on the show is very natural. We get those natural beige colours and those natural browns, of an office. It's not just the setting around them that gives off the colour but it is actually also how the people are dressed, to go with the colour of the setting. It's like a complete contrast to it's narrative structure of how the people really act. The setting, minus the colour, also is casual as well, for example, the clip you can see starting from 2:19. They are in a play park. It's not a swank area, it's not a business tight area, and it gives us the impression that they are playing normal people. So I think the technical aspects really bring out the narrative structure, Unlike the last two I analysed, it's nice to see a show sandwich these two components I have to analyse together.
Lastly is the Dialogue which I also talked briefly about. The Dialogue is very casual, and not thought of that much. Was this done on purpose? of course it was. From everything I have talked about above it makes perfect sense that the dialogue is casual as it gives us the feel that they are real people. It also makes it funnier and more realistic. The scripting must of been like two office buddies talking. The Office is very different to the last two films in analysed in the most retrospect but when it comes to dialogue I would agree it's very similar to the last two films. In the sense that it is not heavily scripted, if anything, knowing already that the show is comedy and contains famous Hollywood comedians, it's probably the most part improved.
Here in technical aspects I am going to talk in more detail about the camera work and like I said about, the uniqueness of the show. To recap I said above how unique the way The Office is filmed and how it makes the show look like it's documented. From looking at the clip you can probably see what I am talking about. It's mainly done by the camera work. The camera is almost hand held. It's similar to the style of United 93. Just used in a different context.
I also talked about the colouring and setting of the television show briefly. I personally think the colouring on the show is very natural. We get those natural beige colours and those natural browns, of an office. It's not just the setting around them that gives off the colour but it is actually also how the people are dressed, to go with the colour of the setting. It's like a complete contrast to it's narrative structure of how the people really act. The setting, minus the colour, also is casual as well, for example, the clip you can see starting from 2:19. They are in a play park. It's not a swank area, it's not a business tight area, and it gives us the impression that they are playing normal people. So I think the technical aspects really bring out the narrative structure, Unlike the last two I analysed, it's nice to see a show sandwich these two components I have to analyse together.
Lastly is the Dialogue which I also talked briefly about. The Dialogue is very casual, and not thought of that much. Was this done on purpose? of course it was. From everything I have talked about above it makes perfect sense that the dialogue is casual as it gives us the feel that they are real people. It also makes it funnier and more realistic. The scripting must of been like two office buddies talking. The Office is very different to the last two films in analysed in the most retrospect but when it comes to dialogue I would agree it's very similar to the last two films. In the sense that it is not heavily scripted, if anything, knowing already that the show is comedy and contains famous Hollywood comedians, it's probably the most part improved.
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