PRE-PRODUCTION: Research into 'The Office' & Producer Ash Atalla

Ash Atalla was born in Cairo but moved to London when he was four years old. He has polio and is in a wheelchair.

"I met Stephen Merchant while he was a BBC trainee fetching props and driving the talent around. He told me a mate of his at the London radio station XFM did an impression of a character called Seedy Boss and he wanted to film it as part of his 10-minute trainee project. I saw it and said I'd back it. That was the start of David Brent and The Office". (Interview with Michael Odell, 2007)

The Office (UK) is a mockumentary-style show, about an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary crew follows staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives.

The Office (UK) & Producer Ash Atalla

Ash Atalla on what a comedy producer does:

"Comedy is a producer and a writer's medium. More so than a director's medium. In the world of film, a producer is a finance person...The producer's job in comedy is to sometimes come up with the show, then you employ the director, often at the last minute. So we are at the heart of the creative process. At my company now, Roughcut, we often come up with shows and then go and look for writers that might work. It's not a passive process. I'm always thinking about where I would like to see a comedy. What backdrop would be interesting to me?" (Bish, 2016)

Ash's quote above basically defines what a producer does during the making of a film. The producer is a finance person - I already know that the producer of a film works alongside the budget, especially on a small production like ours. I will be adding things onto the total amount and taking others away. Ash explains that the producer may employ the director and therefore they are at the heart of the creative process. This isn't quite the case for our project as Alex already knew he wanted to be the director for VET-MAN: On the Road. Nevertheless, I will still be at the heart of the creative process. I found that I will be in charge of sourcing the most appropriate props, costumes, crew and locations. Finding these to fit best with our project is my creative input into the film. Without this job we may not have the correct props or costumes to match the script. We may also have a bad crew which would put even more pressure on us during the filming period, and we may not source the perfect locations for our film to add to the believability of it. Luckily, now I know how important all these are, I am aiming to gain the most realistic locations, props and costumes in order to make the film look real for the audience. As Ash says, I will be constantly thinking about the film and what may work better than others. I may even get inspired by something when I am out. Location
The location was very important in The Office. How could Ash create a successful sitcom about employees at a workplace if the location wasn't believable enough. The audience wouldn't take the show seriously and if it wasn't a real location they also wouldn't be able to relate to it, which is what sitcoms are supposed to do. They make light-hearted jokes at an everyday situation so the people who come home from their stressful lives can relax and enjoy laughing at someone else's humorous misfortune.

The idea of creating The Office was to show people what working an office is really like. Most television shows and films portray a workplace as a shiny and upbeat place, however it may not be like that in real life. Office's usually have dull lighting and are made up of small rooms, a very unnatural place for people to spend the majority of their day. As a result of this, the setting for The Office had to be realistic and believable to be an office. If the location didn't have the simple props such as desks, chairs and filing cabinets, then the viewer wouldn't believe they were in a real office. The lighting played a key part in creating the world behind The Office. As I mentioned before, Offices tend to have dull lighting within grey walls. Even though this is a comedy show, by using the dark and dull colours can bring the element of sadness into the programme, the sadness of each of the employees lives while working here. The photos below show real offices and then screenshots of The Office to show that they have managed to create their surroundings and lighting very similar to real workplaces. 

Realistic depiction of the office workplace

Screenshots from IMDb of The Office (UK)

Costume
Similarly to locations, costumes need to look just as believable. If the audience were seeing people walk around in everyday clothes or inappropriate clothes for this type of workplace then the authenticity of it would be lowered. It was essential for Ash to ensure the cast were wearing the correct costumes to add to the realness of the show, again for people at home to relate to. 

The costume choices in The Office are pretty predictable, because the show was about employees working in an office they wore smart clothing. This adds to the believability of the show for the audience. These clothing choices meant that they would have been easily sourced because office wear doesn't go out of style. This also means that the show will probably never feel dated (apart from the quality of the footage) because it's involving a workplace that is always going to be around in people's careers. The only thing in relation to the clothing that may change is the way the clothes fit. The trousers and jackets worn in The Office were baggier than the suits that are in fashion now. The main change is that fashion now is fitted and more flattering than in the 2000's.

Clothing in The Office (2001-2003) v's fashion now (2015-2018)

My thoughts:
- Before researching into producers, I thought their primary job was to fill out paperwork and budgeting and to be the sole organiser of a production. I've learnt that the producer also has a creative overview of production. They're involved with the directors view and how they want the show to look. I will make sure to get involved with Alex's ideas and give out my own. I will also liaise with Alex to find what exactly he wants from this production. I will try my best at each aspect of production in order to gain the most realistic things in order to help build on the authenticity of VET-MAN. 

- It'll be my job to get locations on board which depict a realistic version of what we want to bring across in the story. For example, if our vet helps an animal at a wildlife park then we would actually need to film at a wildlife park rather than on a field or other grass area. 

- The location is what we lacked on slightly in the previous unit. We didn't use a real vets, although I think we did a good job with posters for the waiting room and consultation room, and the low-lit background for the surgery, however it would have looked more realistic with a real vets waiting and consultation room and surgery. This is my motivation in order to get the right locations on board for our final film. We knew the locations could have been better in the previous project, I don't want to feel like this after this project.

- The costume choices are just as important as the locations, we cannot have our vet in a proper animal sanctuary but in shorts and a t-shirt as if he's about to go to the beach. He'll need to wear scrubs, trousers, shirts similarly to how vet's and doctors dress. This is the same with props, he'll need a real stethoscope and other vet tools to create a believable film.

References:

- Interview with Michael Odell. (2007). This Much I Know. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jan/14/broadcasting.observermagazine. Last accessed 30th September.

- Bish, J. (2016). An Interview with Ash Atalla, British Comedy's Master Puppeteer. Available: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vd8xym/ash-atalla-q-and-a. Last accessed 30th September 2018.

Images:

- https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-02-20/india-is-the-latest-country-to-get-its-own-version-of-ricky-gervaiss-the-office/