Stops it from being a boring, constant shot of the three guys talking about politics and keeps it centred around who is talking, audience reactions and keeps each point being made the focus of each shot.
Coverage of Action:
Close-ups of each person. (3)
Two-Shot of Josh and Alex on a sofa together. (1, could use
one of the close-up cameras, but the cutting between suggests a separate camera
was used for this shot)
Long Panning shots of the studio. (1 or 2, hard to tell
where the cranes and/or tracks are from the shots)
Pans over just the audience. (1, but could also use one of
the cranes for the whole studio)
There may also be at least 1 other camera just showing the
three comedians with little studio/audience, and another 1 or 2 for when a
guest comes in and sits on the sofa by Josh and Alex.
Visual Style:
The visual style of the show is particularly crafted to give an accurate presentation of “Whoever’s talking gets to be on screen”, if Adam has something he wants to say, it’ll show Adam, but if Josh or Alex are saying something it shows them, and it makes it look like they’re 3 funny guys in a conversation about politics, disabilities and the news, the visuals show this as it keeps it fairly eye level on each of the three except for when it cuts to the audience, which it will do when somebody says when they’re reacting. In this particular clip, Josh announces his new disability of having glasses, it cuts out far away and shows the audience as it wants you to know that the audience is reacting to what Josh said, but while Josh was saying it the camera was focused solely and entirely on Josh, showing that he was talking, allowing you to keep up with what’s going on in the conversation, let you know when something interesting was said and who is talking without specifically implying that the viewer is unable to keep up with this, by simply just showing what is going on in the studio.
The visual style of the show is particularly crafted to give an accurate presentation of “Whoever’s talking gets to be on screen”, if Adam has something he wants to say, it’ll show Adam, but if Josh or Alex are saying something it shows them, and it makes it look like they’re 3 funny guys in a conversation about politics, disabilities and the news, the visuals show this as it keeps it fairly eye level on each of the three except for when it cuts to the audience, which it will do when somebody says when they’re reacting. In this particular clip, Josh announces his new disability of having glasses, it cuts out far away and shows the audience as it wants you to know that the audience is reacting to what Josh said, but while Josh was saying it the camera was focused solely and entirely on Josh, showing that he was talking, allowing you to keep up with what’s going on in the conversation, let you know when something interesting was said and who is talking without specifically implying that the viewer is unable to keep up with this, by simply just showing what is going on in the studio.
Maintaining Viewer Interest:
It likes to cut around, even when, for example, Josh is talking, to other people nodding along or laughing at what he said, so as to make people not get bored of just seeing Josh’s face, unless Josh is trying to imply something using his face. An example is that when Adam is putting on his glasses it specifically showed Adam as his glasses were the important part, but when Alex was talking about being embarrassed about wearing glasses it cut around as he wasn’t doing anything particularly interesting with his hands (for obvious reasons).
It likes to cut around, even when, for example, Josh is talking, to other people nodding along or laughing at what he said, so as to make people not get bored of just seeing Josh’s face, unless Josh is trying to imply something using his face. An example is that when Adam is putting on his glasses it specifically showed Adam as his glasses were the important part, but when Alex was talking about being embarrassed about wearing glasses it cut around as he wasn’t doing anything particularly interesting with his hands (for obvious reasons).
Communication of Meaning to Viewer:
In, for example, Game of Thrones, there’s a scene using a lot of fast cuts whilst Arya Stark was running away from somebody else, it was fast paced for a high action scene. In comparison, something like The Last Leg is very, very slow and calm as they’re having a calm conversation with a few jokes, so the meaning is that whatever they’re saying isn’t serious, it’s laid back and it’s fun, and to represent it, unlike in Game of Thrones, it’ll keep on its shots for a few seconds until something more interesting or relevant is needed to be shown, so it results in this calm atmosphere that is communicated and shown to the viewer so as not to convey any action that isn’t happening to the viewer, and shows exactly how it’s happening.
In, for example, Game of Thrones, there’s a scene using a lot of fast cuts whilst Arya Stark was running away from somebody else, it was fast paced for a high action scene. In comparison, something like The Last Leg is very, very slow and calm as they’re having a calm conversation with a few jokes, so the meaning is that whatever they’re saying isn’t serious, it’s laid back and it’s fun, and to represent it, unlike in Game of Thrones, it’ll keep on its shots for a few seconds until something more interesting or relevant is needed to be shown, so it results in this calm atmosphere that is communicated and shown to the viewer so as not to convey any action that isn’t happening to the viewer, and shows exactly how it’s happening.
