The cinematographer for the majority of the episodes throughout the four series was Jamie Cairney.
Cairney's cinematography gives the programme an unmistakable style - using handheld camera to follow the characters and in shot crash zooms to enhance the actions within the scene.
As Rebecca Front (Minister for Social Affairs, Nicola Murray MP in TTOI) notes; "There's an unmistakable house-style, which is in no small measure created by the extraordinary work of Jamie Cairney and his team of guerilla camera operators. They nip in and out of rooms, hide in corners and frequently run full pelt to catch a particular moment. It's impressive to behold, and what makes it more impressive is that you frequently don't behold it. They seem to be invisible. Like Jeeves, they shimmer in and out of rooms, only very occasionally crashing into a filing cabinet. The upshot of this is that when you're doing a scene, you really feel as though you and the other actors are alone in the room. This meant that scenes, particularly with Peter Capaldi, had an intensity that I hadn't expected. I never quite knew where emotionally we would end up. This is what acting should be like; it's as close as TV ever gets to live theatre, because Armando never allows the mechanics of making a programme to get in the way. And all of that informs what you see on screen. The pace of the jokes, the pressure of the situations all stem from that sense that Armando and the crew create of this being real and now and ghastly and funny and true. " [1]
From Rebecca's insight into the production of the show, it is clear that this handheld style is intended to make the action unfolding on screen appear natural and authentic. The style of cinematography makes the audience feel as if they are observing the action as it unfolds - they are being placed in the moment - making all the comedy seem more immediate and therefore allowing it to have its full desired effect. This has also given me some tips into how I should shoot VET-MAN. The fly-on-the-wall / observational handheld camera style almost gives the show a documentary style - it feels as if they audience is watching events that could very much be real - this style is achieved by the camera almost being invisible. When shooting VET-MAN, I should make every attempt to go unnoticed by the actors - allowing them to deliver a very natural and real performance which lets the intensity of the situations take full effect - the camerawork will then be used to supplement the actions and emotions being displayed (i.e. by using crash zooms at key moments to emphasise certain parts).
I decided to look in-depth at the first episode of TTOI to see how Cairney establishes his style from the start. I thought it was a good idea to look at the first episode as this is where series tend to define their style.
Immediately, the handheld camera style is used to follow the character out of the car positioned in front of the social affairs building. This long shot serves to both introduce the character the audience are following and establishes the location of the events. Cairney uses a couple of different angles to show the character getting out of the car - this handheld, jumpy style establishes the informality of the camera style and introduces the theme of authenticity. This also allows the audience to identify who the character is as the camera switches from a shot of the back of the character, to a shot of the side of the character. Following this, a close up shot of the characters face is shown as he walks into the building - reinforcing to the audience that this is a relevant character in the episode and that we will be following him in the following scenes.
Cairney would have had to work with the director to block this scene. Armando Iannuci would have needed to direct for the police characters to stand in those certain positions so that they could be captured, as well as the sign of the building and the character getting out of the car, within Cairney's frame as all of these elements combined help to set the location and theme of the programme. Collaboration with the director is important so that you know which characters need to be positioned where so that it makes sense to both the narrative and the framing of the shot. The blocking of a scene needs to work so that the audience can follow the narrative and so that all the necessary information can be captured within the shot.
One of the defining features of Cairney's cinematography in TTOI is the use of crash zooms. As demonstrated below, often Cairney zooms from a mid shot of a character to a close up shot - this puts the emphasis on this character and their facial expressions. This, therefore, highlights this to the audience and brings this to their attention. The same technique is also used when there are multiple characters within the shot - however, instead of purely being used emphasise expressions, the zooms are also used to focus on which character is talking and also the reactions of the other characters. These crash zooms add to the informal camera style as these zooms take place in shot. Cairney also combines this with jump cuts which jump from mid shots to close up shots as well - this creates a sense of unpredictability which helps create the sense of authenticity - in real life you don't know how things will unfold and the same is true of Cairney's camera style. This handheld, informal camera style helps to suggest that the audience are just observing natural behaviour - it creates a fly-on-the-wall style which makes it feel like the cameras are just capturing real life.
Cairney uses a variety of different shot types - ranging from extreme close ups to wide shots. This long shot is used to once again establish location of the production - but this time establishing the interior location. This scene gets quite heated and intense between the characters and the camera work reflects this. Cairney switches from long shots which establish the setting to mid and close up shots of the characters as they argue. Occasionally Cairney crosses the line but because of the sporadic nature of the camerawork, this doesn't affect how the audience reads the situation - the narrative still makes sense. Cairney also pulls back out into these long shots so any confusion in the close up camerawork is quickly rectified as these long shots help to display where the characters are during the heat of the argument. The slight crossing of the line also helps add to the natural nature of the camerawork - it feels more immediate as it seems that the cameras are just trying to capture all the action without analysing the rules of cinematography too much (although, obviously this crossing the line is intentional to add to the intensity of the situation, it is not a mistake).
In VET-MAN I will not be crossing the line as I feel if it is not pulled off successfully, it can just look like a mistake in the production. To ensure no crossing of the line occurs, I will shot list and storyboard the script so that the camera movements are already pre-determined. I will then be relying on the handheld nature of the camera and the crash zooms to make VET-MAN seem more informal and observational in style.
The colour grading of TTOI is all kept very natural which is consistent with the natural handled camera style. The skin tone of the characters is consistent with what would be seen by the human eye - it is a warm peach tone. The walls within the office spaces are given a cream / grey colour to reflect the dull political office environment. Other colours apparent in many scenes are dark dull blues, browns and greys - colours which are naturally seen in business / office environments. The natural colours and dull colours of the office space give TTOI and authentic feel - like the camerawork, it makes the audience feel as if they are observing natural / authentic action and behaviour. This helps to establish the programme as a satirical comedy as opposed to a 'laugh out loud' comedy as it appears to be portraying real life (with comedy coming through the events and dialogue) with a hint of satire being used to poke fun at the political parties and government.
Within scenes in vehicles, Cairney still maintains the handheld style whereas other shows would typically use a fixed camera in such scenarios. The camerawork changes between using jump cuts and zooms to focus on character talking. When zooms are used, the camera zooms in and out to show when the attention should be on that character and then when this attention is no longer required. This shows how this handheld style can be used on any shot type (i.e. this is a 3 shot but the same technique has also been successfully used on single shots of characters, 2-shots and also medium / long shots where multiple characters are present). Like in the exterior and interior scenes of the department of social affairs, natural lighting is still being used - there doesn't appear to be any addition of artificial light which, like the other scenes, makes the action more immediate and natural as it feels more authentic to the viewer.
Continuing with the natural feel of the programme, this late night office scene appears to be solely lit by the overhead lighting - creating a dark green / orange tone. This is representative of real-life working environments where the lighting appears the same, making the scene look authentic and real. During the conversation between the characters, like with the rest of the scenes, a mixture of the signature handheld zooms following the character speaking and jump cuts between medium and close-up shots are used. This successfully continues the informal nature of the cinematography, achieving the effect of the action appearing normal and natural to the audience.
As well as the cinematography being used to make the scenes seem authentic and natural, Cairney would have had to work with the set design team to ensure this was as effective as possible. This would have involved dressing the set with office equipment to ensure the office environment was accurately depicted. It would then have been Cairney's job to ensure the necessary features of this set were captured in order to successfully portray the office environment. I will need to work with both the director and producer in VET-MAN to ensure that the set is dressed correctly and that the blocking of the actors allows the necessary information from the environment to be captured through the camerawork.
What I have learned through this research:
Filming handheld is very effective when attempting to portray natural and authentic behaviour. It gives the production a sense of being observational and almost fly-on-the-wall in style. This is something I want to achieve with VET-MAN as this and TTOI are in the same satirical sub-genre of comedy. TTOI shows that it is important to commit to this type of camerawork and to make sure it is consistent all the way through - this means using handheld even when it doesn't seem to be the obvious choice (e.g. for scenes in vehicles).
TTOI also shows that handheld camera doesn't just have to be used when following characters through different locations. It can be used for shot types which are typically filmed on a stationary tripod (e.g. shot reverse shots of characters during conversations). In these scenarios, TTOI uses a mixture of panning to transition between the characters and hard cuts in shot reverse shot style - the camera work is chosen on what feels most appropriate to that conversation (e.g. heated conversations feature more shot reverse shots, whilst other conversations lean towards the panning technique).
TTOI shows how colour grading helps to set the tone of a programme. Cinematic colour grading immediately makes a production look more formal as it looks more processed and polished. TTOI used very natural colour grading to maintain natural colours within the environment. This helps the suggestion that this is a natural environment featuring natural behaviour from the characters which is complimented by the informal nature of the camerawork.
Collaboration between the other departments of a production is key in order to ensure all necessary information and elements are captured in the frame. The director of photography must work with the set design team to ensure the set is depicted in the way it is intended and that it works with the camera to portray all the necessary information about the environment. The DoP must also be aware of the director's blocking to ensure the planned shot types capture all intended actions.
TTOI doesn't use any soundtrack or laughtrack, this keeps with the natural, observational style of the programme - making it appear to depict real life. Using either background music or laughtrack would immediately signal to the audience that they are not just observing natural behaviour and that this is a structured programme. Whilst the programme is indeed structured and planned, it does not come across this way to the audience. I would like to achieve the same result with VET-MAN, there will be no soundtrack or laughtrack as this may detract from the natural, observational style of shooting.
Sources:
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/2009/10/rebecca-front-on-being-in-the-thick-of-it.shtml
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