The Office: Season 1, Episode 1 "Pilot"

The Office: S1, E1 Pilot Camera Angle Analysis

        The Office is one of America's most popular television series' of all time. The backstory of the show premises around a small paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A camera crew follows each employee around the office and the goal is to ultimately make a documentary on the American workplace. This comedic series stars Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the branch manager, Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, the dorky lead salesman, John Krasinski as Jim Halpert, the young prankster of the office, and Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly, the receptionist. Together the cast of the show empowers the definition of comedy and the directors use different forms of wordplay and camera shots to capture the humor. Below I am going to display some examples from the first episode of this series of different camera shots used to create emotion.


Dolly Shot: This shot portrays a cameraman following the subject around. In this case, the camera was following Michael Scott as he walks into the office and introduces the receptionist, Pam Beesly. It was a significant shot in the episode because it not only introduced characters, but it also introduced the setting where the television series takes place. This shot was necessary for the introduction of these items because it shows the audience a wide perspective of the background. 

Choker: This next shot is what is known as a choker. This shot of Michael Scott in his office is one of the very first scenes that the audience sees in the whole show. It not only introduces a main character, but it also gives the audience his personality and emotion. Right from the beginning the audience can tell that Michael Scott is very humorous in his personality and wants people to like him, especially his employers. The choker shot gives the viewers a still shot of him and the camera angles accomplishes a lot in developing his character by just showing his face. 

Close Up: This shot is shown in the introduction and opening credits of a hand pressing the keys of a calculator. The introduction of the show introduces different characters and addresses the setting pretty well. Over the course of the introduction many close up scenes are used to show different items that may be found throughout and office environment. The use of this close up gives the audience an additional perception of what the series may be about. 

Cameo Shot: This next shot of Jim Halpert is a cameo shot. A cameo shot is a camera angle where the subject's face is shown against an overall plain background. Throughout the whole series, whenever the film crew asks questions to the characters, they use cameo shots. In this instance, the crew was asking Jim what he does at his job and they focused on his word usage and facial expressions to capture the whole meaning of what he wanted to say. 

Over the Shoulder: This final shot is known as the over-the-shoulder shot. The name is self explanatory as the camera is positioned over one subject's shoulder in order to capture a conversation between two characters. In this shot, the camera is focused on Michael's conversation with his boss Jan, as they discuss downsizing the office staff. In this minute long scene, the camera crew uses normal two-shots, which capture a conversation from the front, while also using over-the-shoulder shots as well to capture the emotions of the characters.