‘The Office’ Cameraman Randall Einhorn’s Favorite Direction Treated the Cameramen Like Actors
The Office cameramen had a tough job. Since the show was presumably a documentary about Dunder Mifflin, they had to film every episode like a documentary. That got cramped in the real office and even the soundstage they built, and sometimes camera operators risked injury. But, the camera became a character on the show and was even directed as such.
Cinematographer Randall Einhorn was a guest on Brian Baumgartner’s Off the Beat podcast on June 22, 2021 to discuss his work on The Office. Einhorn described the directions that made him feel like another character in the Dunder Mifflin world.
‘The Office’ directors would tell cameramen how to feel
When new directors would come to The Office, they would direct the actors like Steve Carell, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer. They would also direct the cameramen.
“I definitely feel like the camera was a character on the show,” Einhorn said on Off the Beat. “Some of the best direction I ever got from directors was the type of direction you would give an actor. You feel this, you’re worried about this, you’re curious about that but you know this. It was a similar type of direction you’d give an actor and that was some of the best inspiration as a camera. The camera always had a point of view. It had an agenda, it had its own stories it wanted to tell regardless of what the characters on the show wanted to tell.”
Watch how ‘The Office’ characters each react to the camera
As evidence to how the camera was a character on The Office, Einhorn points to his relationships with each of the cast members. Each character viewed the camera differently, whether it was Jim (Krasinski)’s sarcastic looks or Pam (Fischer)’s smiles.
“It was so much fun,” Einhorn said. “I remember doing scenes, I think at any given time, the camera would have a different relationship with the characters just like another character would have a different relationship with the characters. I would look at Jenna and Jenna would smile and I would smile back.”
The characters who weren’t too fond of the camera
The camera was more of an antagonist to Michael Scott (Carell) because it always caught Michael when his plans failed or he said the wrong thing. That made the camera a character on The Office too.
“At times I think I was probably somebody who was invasive to Michael Scott’s privacy,” Einhorn said. “Or when you caught Michael Scott in an embarrassing moment and he really wishes you weren’t there. That’s where I think so much of the fun is, or when Rainn thinks he’s going to pull one over on Jim and you’re like okay, I’m going to go along with this with you because it’ll be fun and it’ll make a great TV story. It definitely felt like I had relationships with everybody on that show.”
