Brooklyn Nine Nine is another television series which has cinematography similar to the style I am aiming for with VET-MAN.
Brooklyn Nine Nine was created by Michael Schur and Dan Goor and falls into the crime comedy genre. The Director of Photography in charge of Brooklyn Nine Nine is Giovani Lampassi.
Lampassi opts for a handheld single camera style which is similar to that used in The Thick Of It, however, the camerawork is a lot more polished and structured in Brooklyn Nine Nine. This gives the audience less of a natural informal feel (as if they are watching real life) and more of a structured processed feel (as if they are watching a production). This is because TTOI and Brooklyn Nine Nine fall into different sub-genres of comedy; TTOI satirises the political workings of the government whilst Brooklyn Nine Nine is an overt 'laugh out loud' comedy. Both use a single camera set up which gives each programme a natural feel - it is the more polished nature of Brooklyn Nine Nine (through the use of artificial lighting, more enhanced colour grading and more structured framing) that makes it feel less natural and observational than TTOI.
Brooklyn Nine Nine also uses quirky incidental music between scenes, usually when changing locations (i.e. from the precinct to a crime scene) - this adds to the structured feel of the show as the production relies on these aspects to keep the light hearted tone.
In order to analyse the cinematography in more depth, I decided to look into Episode 17 from Season 5 and its iconic opening scene.
This scene has received a lot of attention for its comedy value - therefore I thought I would look into what makes it stand out - most of the comedy comes from the writing and directing of the scene, however, the camerawork really compliments this and heightens the comedy.
The scene opens and closes on the same long shot of the lineup. This establishes where the scene takes place and also what event is occurring within the scene. The lighting is all very natural yet enhanced with cool tones. It is important for the lighting to accurately depict that of a police precinct but also to illuminate the characters enough for a well polished production. The lighting on the detective and witness is quite dark with two in set lights behind them and then light faintly from the front. The use of lighting behind them as well as in front of them makes the rest of the room appear dark - depicting how this setting really appears in actuality. It also ensures that the characters are the ones grabbing the audience's attention. The lighting for the police lineup is a lot harsher and whiter - again, accurately depicting what this situation would be like in real life (just more enhanced). The lineup is lit by a harsh cool toned white light (from in front and slightly above the characters), creating a harsh shadow behind them and signifying the severity of this situation. The colour grading of the shots of both the lineup and the detective and witness is quite natural with an underlying cool tone. The cool tone helps to suggest the police environment as this is typically seen as quite a cold, serious environment (and blue tones help to connote this).
Shot reverse shot is used during conversations with slight zooms being used when anything of weight is said to add gravity to the seen. This shot reverse shot technique is used to just communicate the conversation between the characters, this shows that sometimes standard camera techniques need to be used to move along the narrative of a programme.
The rest of the episode follows similar camera techniques - maintaining the more structured handheld technique all the way through. The camerawork follows a format - wide handheld shots are used to establish the location (usually accompanied by quirky incidental music to uplift the tone of the show), mid shots are used during conversations between characters, closer shot reverse shots are also used during conversations between characters, zooms are used to add weight and emphasis to the dialogue of the characters, zooms are also used as reveals, and the handheld camera is also used for tracking and panning shots to follow characters during moving scenes. The same techniques can be observed in each episode, showing that the show follows a structured format and also establishes a personal style by doing this.
Brooklyn Nine Nine seems to be a lot more structured in its approach than TTOI. Brooklyn Nine Nine opts for more standard, formal camera techniques during conversations (shot reverse shots) and sticks to using one technique all the way through this conversation, whereas, TTOI switches between using techniques such as shot reverse shot and panning between characters during conversations, creating a more informal, unstructured feel. As previously stated, for the audience, watching Brooklyn Nine Nine feels more like watching a structured comedy programme (formatted to evoke humour in the audience) whilst TTOI relies on the audience understanding the satire within the programme. In this sense, TTOI could be seen to be targeted towards a more intellectual active audience, whilst Brooklyn Nine Nine is more appropriate to a wider audience as the humour is more on the surface. This is where I will need to consider the target audience of VET-MAN and how this will impact my camera choices. Whilst the target audience is more determined by the writing and directing of the piece, the camera choices help to compliment this and help to make the tone and style of the show more explicit to the audience.
As mentioned before, wide shots are used to establish the location of the scenes. For the exterior shot of the fictional 99th precinct, the exterior of the actual 78th precinct is used, whilst the inside of the precinct is a purpose built set. This reinforces the idea that the exterior and interior shots of a location do not necessarily have to be the same place in real life. Using the exterior shot of the 78th precinct works effectively to show the show is set in a police precinct, the interior shots continue this idea as the set design reflects that of a police office environment (with desks in the middle of the office for the detectives, a holding area for detainees, break room, evidence room and separate office rooms for superior police positions). The mise en scene (formed from a combination of the set design, costume, props, lighting, colour gradin etc) works to accurately portray a police environment, making the setting of the show believable. The same technique is used for exterior shot of other locations - wide shots are used to establish the location of the scenes. The sound design also compliments the cinematography - especially considering the consistent changing of locations. Non diegetic quirky, upbeat (sometimes tense) background music is occasionally used when changing scenes to help keep the show upbeat as a comedy (it would be easy for this show to become more of a drama than a comedy if the tone isn't kept lighthearted). Diegetic sound effects are also added to scenes within the police office (e.g. elevator bells, phone calls, alarms etc.) to make the setting more believable as a police department office environment. The same is used for other locations e.g. in the restaurant scene there are diegetic sounds of cutlery clinking and background chatter, which combined with the visuals of the scene, establishes the restaurant location.
Whilst I have already mentioned how zooms are used to emphasise emotions within dialogue, they are also used to reveal further action within scenes and therefore make these situations more humorous. In the scene below, the sergeant walks into the captain's office to find him and a detective doing yoga - however, this is not immediately apparent when the sergeant walks into the office. Due to using a mid shot as the sergeant walks into the room, the captain and detective doing yoga are out of sight to the audience. The camera only zooms out once the sergeant notices what is happening, making it seem that the audience and the sergeant are experiencing this revelation together, making the humour of the scene more immediate. Following this, standard camera techniques are used during their subsequent conversation (shot reverse shots), showing that the technique of using zooms as reveals can be woven seamlessly into the production.
The colour grading of Brooklyn Nine Nine follows the same technique as a lot of police themed programmes - natural yet cool toned. As shown by the colour tones of the characters skin, this is very natural and authentic to how their skin tones would be observed in real life - a slight peach tone. However, due to the police tone of the programme, there is an underlying cool tone which reflects slightly on the characters' skin tone resulting in a slight cool pink / peach tone. This cool tone continues through to the colours on the wall and the costumes of the characters - whilst this is more due to the set design and wardrobe, these cool colours are enhanced by the colour grading, drawing these cool blues to the audience's attention. The cool colours are apparent in the highlight tones of the scenes as well - this is shown through the window in the room - what would naturally be a whiter colour appears light blue / grey due to the cool colour grading.
What I have learned from this research:
Handheld camera doesn't have to be informal by nature - Brooklyn Nine Nine manages to maintain a very polished and structured look despite all scenes being shot handheld. This is due to the other elements of production being more processed - i.e. artificial lighting is used, colour grading is used more to enhance the colours, the framing of the shots appears to be more constructed etc.
As also shown by my research into Alan Partridge, zooms are very effective in acting as reveals. This keeps the audience anticipating the entire event occurring in the scene and therefore makes the reveal more effective in evoking humour as it comes as a shock to the audience. Brooklyn Nine Nine has done this effectively in multiple scenes (e.g. showing the sergeant walking into the room before zooming out to reveal the captain and a detective doing yoga) and has the desired effect of making this unexpected scene more humorous to the audience. I am aiming to use a similar technique in VET-MAN by beginning certain scenes on a close up shot before zooming out to reveal the vet doing something preposterous.
A common technique used in both Brooklyn Nine Nine and TTOI is using the handheld camera to zoom in from a mid shot to a close up shot of a character's face to emphasise either the dialogue or the emotion of the character. This is another technique I wish to use in VET-MAN as this is effective in both adding weight to what the character is saying or making their expression more accentuated.
As Brooklyn Nine Nine shows, it is possible to have natural colour grading yet enhanced to connote certain things about the tone and genre of the show. The skin tones and colours of the environments (both interior and exterior) are very natural looking, adhering to what is seen naturally by the human eye - yet there is an underlying cool tone and many parts of the set are dressed in blue to connote the theme of police and crime. I wish to do something similar with VET-MAN - I want everything to look very natural to suggest to the audience that this is authentic natural behaviour, but I will enhance the colours to look slightly more cinematic and introduce some cool tones to suggest the medical theme of the programme. (Although these cool tones will only be slight as VET-MAN is more about the character himself rather than focusing on being a vet, therefore the colour grading will reflect this by maintaining mainly natural to what is seen by the human eye).
Brooklyn Nine Nine also reinforces the importance of establishing the location to the audience, especially when there are multiple locations involved. Wide shots are used to establish exterior locations whilst long shots are used to establish interior locations. Often when cutting from one interior location to another, Brooklyn Nine Nine will use the same type of long shot to begin and end a scene to make it feel like it has come full circle and is complete. This is something I will consider when forming the storyboard and shot list for VET-MAN.
Brooklyn Nine Nine occasionally uses short pieces of music between scenes to maintain an upbeat atmosphere, however, this does make the show feel more structured and less natural and reflective of real life. This shows that as we are aiming for a more natural, observational feel for VET-MAN, music should be avoided between scenes as this would immediately make it feel more structured. Although, I will keep this idea in mind for when it comes to the edit as adding incidental music immediately lifts the mood and tone if we find that some of the scenes in VET-MAN haven't played out as intended or require an extra boost of energy.
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