‘The Office’: Jenna Fischer Reveals Interesting Details About the Show’s Iconic Opening Credits
You probably know The Office opening credit sequence like the back of your hand, especially the early seasons when just a small number of the cast were featured doing mundane office tasks. Jenna Fischer revealed which episodes the clips of each character were taken from as well as John Krasinski’s role in filming the Scranton footage.
Jenna Fischer shared some details about ‘The Office’ opening credits
During the June 16 Office Ladies podcast, Fischer and Angela Kinsey discussed season 4 of the show, with Fischer sharing some interesting details about the opening credits.
“I want to say there’s a reason why it’s perfectly timed because the credits at the beginning of the show stayed the same all the way through season 4,” Fischer explained. “But as we move into season 5, there are going to be changes and now I’ll be able to point them out because we will have done this breakdown.”
“The visuals. I’m going to break it down for you,” she noted. “The five actors featured in the opening credits with images are Steve [Carell], Rainn [Wilson], John [Krasinski], me, and B.J. [Novak].”
Fischer went on to explain why they were the only actors featured, sharing they “were the actors who had regular contracts when the series started.”
“For all of season 1 and part of season 2 the rest of the supporting cast are listed as guest stars in the end credits,” she added. “But later, when you guys became series regulars, your names started to appear after the main titles as the show begins, where the writers and directors are also credited.”
Here’s where each ‘The Office’ opening credit character clip came from
While breaking down the opening credits sequence, Fischer pointed out which episode each character’s clip came from. Not surprisingly, most were from season 1, but they did swap out a Carell clip in season 2 to reflect how different he looked after the first season.
“Most of the shots of the actors in the title sequence are from the first season of The Office,” she explained. “Dwight’s shot with the shredder is from ‘Diversity Day,’ Jim on the phone is also from ‘Diversity Day,’ the shot of me answering the phone is a deleted scene from ‘The Alliance.'”
She continued, “Ryan on the phone is from the pilot, Dwight flipping his tie and Ryan with his bag of clothes are both from ‘Basketball.’ And the shot of Jim and Pam is from ‘Hot Girl.’ Michael adjusting his Dundie was B roll footage.”
“There is one shot that changed in our opening sequence in the first four seasons, and that is the shot of Steve,” Fischer added. “The establishing shot of Steve in season 1 was from ‘Diversity Day,’ but they changed it in season 2 to a shot from ‘Sexual Harassment’ because they wanted to match his updated image because we changed his look in the second season.”
John Krasinski shot the footage of Scranton that appears in ‘The Office’ opening credits
Fischer also shared that Krasinski took the footage of Scranton that appears in the opening credits. She explained that Krasinski was living in New York when he landed The Office role.
“After he was cast on the show but before we started shooting it, he and his friend decided to drive to Scranton and do a mini-documentary on a local paper company there,” she noted. “And while they were on this trip, they also shot images of Scranton. These are the ones that made it into the credits.”
Fischer confirmed that Krasinski used a handheld camera while his friend was driving around Scranton. “So the shot of the pen, paper and supply building, the Scranton Center on Mulberry and Washington, and the Scranton welcome sign were all shot by John,” she shared.
