‘The Office’ Assistant Who Caught Cameraman Randall Einhorn in This Dangerous Shot
The Office is a comedy, but filming it sounds as intense as action-packed shows like 24 or NCIS. Randall Einhorn was a cinematographer on the first six seasons of The Office. Einhorn helped make the camera a character on ‘The Office,’ and therefore the cameraman too. With his experience in reality TV shows like Survivor, Einhorn brought new innovations to the faux documentary format. Sometimes those innovations put Einhorn in harm’s way.
Einhorn was a guest on Brian Baumgartner’s Off the Beat podcast on June 22, 2021 to discuss their work together on The Office. Baumgartner remembered a precarious scene and prompted Einhorn’s memories of the camera assistant who saved the day.
Brian Baumgartner knocked ‘The Office’ cameraman down but 1 assistant picked him up
Baumgartner remembered the fire drill episode of The Office. His character, Kevin, used the chaos to pillage the vending machines for snacks. In his immersion into character, Baumgartner took Einhorn out.
“There’s a shot where Kevin, me, I’m running through the office, running through the kitchen,” Baumgartner said on Off the Beat. “I’ve just raided the vending machine and I’m running through the kitchen and I shoulder you. I nudge you. You go down on your ass, on the ground. Chris Workman who is the camera assistant, huge, beefy, very strong guy, reaches down, picks you up by the shoulders. You stand back up with the camera and keep filming. That stayed in, oh man, I was so proud of that. More of me, but of you.”
Chris Workman saved this shot in ‘The Office’
Had Workman not been ready, Baumgartner would have had to do the whole run over again. Thanks to Workman, you saw that very shot in The Office.
“I was really proud of Chris,” Einhorn said. “He picked me up. I’m not small and the camera is not small. He just picked me up with one arm and I’m like, ‘Did I fall down?’ We kept rolling and it’s in the show and it’s great. It felt so real.’”
Randall Einhorn refused to let a grip guide him
Normally, cinematographers are not on their own when it comes to difficult shots. There are other members of the crew available to support them. Not all cinematographers serve as cameraman themselves, but Einhorn tried to wing it on The Office, so he was glad Workman was there to save the shot.
“I remember I’m backing up, backing up, backing up, backing up, not fast enough, boom, I’m up again,” Einhorn said. “Thank you, Chris. It’s funny because on normal TV shows, there’s always a guy who’s guiding you backwards [but] I never wanted it. I was always weirded out by someone guiding me to where I should be. I always half look behind me and half look through the viewfinder. Normally it’s a grip who’s doing that. I never wanted that and never allowed it. But Chris was there that day. He totally caught me. I think maybe he was opening the door for me as well.”
