Task 1:- Sit-com Analysis

 I will be analysing the following two sit-coms, they are:-

  • The Inbetweeners (2008)
  • Friends (1994)
Situation comedy’s also known as sit-coms are TV shows that have an amount of series withepisodes of the show filling that series, they have a set cast of characters who appear in every episode of the sit-com who of which always end up in a strange situation which causes a comedic reaction from the audience. Situation comedies have a set of codes and conventions that make a sit-com a sit-com. These are things such as the duration of each episode, a normal sit-com usually runs for around 20-25 minutes per episode. They also have more of a realistic storyline compared to something like a drama which is usually more farfetched. The audience can relate to sit-coms in their real-life as they may have been in similar situations to the characters.

Sit-coms also have a set narrative when watching so the audience can know that there is going to be a beginning where everything is in equilibrium meaning everything is normal and how it should be and then in the middle of the episode there will be a moment of disequilibria where something dramatic happens and the characters are faced with a challenge or situation which is comedic to viewers. And then to finish the episode there will be a resolution where everything returns to the characters ‘normal’.

One of the main codes and conventions you will notice when watching a sit-com is the canned laughter that is included in the edit, this is used to show that the audience should be laughing at certain parts of the show. This dates back to the early days of TV where sit-coms were performed in front of an actual live audience. The canned laughter recreates the feeling of an audience sitting and watching the sit-com play out at it happens.

I will need to follow these codes and conventions when working on my sit-com to ensure that an audience knows that it is a situation comedy.

Both sitcoms ‘Friends’ and ‘The Inbetweeners’ follow these codes and conventions which led them to their success. For example the cast always stays the same in each episode, it being Jay, Simon, Will and Neil in the Inbetweeners and it being Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross in ‘Friends’. In ‘The Inbetweeners’ the cast are boys in sixth form so they are younger then the cast in ‘Friends’ who are set to be in their mid-twenties. This means that the two sit-coms appeal to two different audiences ‘The Inbetweeners’ targets a more younger 16-20 years old audience while ‘Friends’ targets a little older audience of people ages around 18-30.
Both media texts attract their target audience by including things that the audience can relate to such as the boys being in sixth form, the target audience would also be in sixth form at that age so would relate more. The friends target audience could also relate to the friends living together as many people around that age live with friends.

The two sit-coms use very different styles of cinematography, ‘The Inbetweeners’ uses a lot of handheld camera shots, these shaky shots give the whole series a very realistic feel as the shot looks like you are stood watching the characters instead of using something like a tripod which gives a very still shot. While they do use steady and still shots in some scenes handheld shots seem to be the go to shot in ‘The Inbetweeners’ to keep the realistic feel. On the other hand, In ‘Friends’ the cinematography seems to be a lot more studio based with most shots being filmed on a tripod or slider. Classic sit-com over the shoulder shots are used when characters are having conversations.  This gives ‘Friends’ a much more professional studio feel compared to the realistic feel of the ‘The Inbetweeners’.

Both sit-coms follow in the codes and conventions of sit-com by having a set where most of the show is shot with the characters, in ‘The inbetweeners’ this is the sixth form building. We see them doing things such as going to class, talking to girls and arguing with each other, while in ‘Friends’ the main set is a coffee shop called central perk. Both sets have been designed to represent the type of sit-com the audience is watching. For example, in ‘Friends’ the coffee shop has a more relaxed feel with sofas and pillows. In contrast the set of ‘The inbetweeners’ is designed as a classroom and common room. The set includes things such as desks and chairs, which gives a more professional and tense feeling to the audience as sixth form is meant to be a time filled with stress and exams.

Sound is a major part that makes a sit-com, making sure that the audio and dialogue is clear is important for the audience. Both sit-coms have very good and clear audio, this is probably the result of using a directional boom mic. Sit-coms also use various sound tracks and jingles. Jingles are one of the main conventions used in sit-coms, they are used as a transition and played when switching from one scene to another. For example, the scene with people talking about going to a shop finishes and the jingle plays the characters would then be in the shop. In ‘Friends’ they use a jingle sequence between scenes which is made on a guitar, ‘The inbetweeners’ doesn’t do this exactly the same, instead of using a common jingle, they have one of the main characters will be the narrator of the episode. He talks over the split in scenes to create a transition. This gets rid of the need for a sound effect.

The two sit-coms have quite different editing styles, in ‘Friends’ they have a lot of cuts and use of multi-camera set ups. Whereas on ‘The inbetweeners’ they use more longer shots with less cuts and sometimes only one camera in some scenes.



Overall while both shows follow nearly all of the codes and conventions of sit-coms, they both have their own unique style which sets them apart. One sit-com could be very different to another even though they are both technically situation comedies.

Task 4:- Evaluation

Sit-com Evaluation –
‘The Followers’ & ‘Hardly Students’



The aim of this assignment was to produce a situation comedy show, as a production team we did this in the form of ‘The Followers’ and ‘Hardly Students’. These were our two sit-coms that we worked on for this assignment.
We planned and produced these sit coms from an initial idea and pitch to a fully edited one 9 minute and one 20 minute long pilot episodes.


Before getting put into production groups we had to first plan and pitch to an audience our own sit-com idea. Mine was about a couple that live in the city but the twist is that their families hate each other, my pitch went well and I explained clearly my idea to an audience. Though my idea wasn’t picked, the feedback I received was good.


One of the first step in creating our sit-coms was learning and researching about the codes and conventions of what makes a sit-com a sit-com. We needed to understand these in order to make the show feel like a situation comedy to the audience.


I researched sitcoms by watching popular sit-coms shown on TV and analysing them and also by reading up on the codes and conventions and what it takes for a show to be a sit-com.


We then decided as a team the different job roles that we were going to take upon ourselves. We decided that I would be first assistant director and editor of both sit-coms. This was going to be a huge task as the first assistant director is the person who manages the running of the production and the editor makes the final product a reality. Overall, I believe that I handled these roles very well. I manged to run the productions and solve many difficult problems when they occurred. Problems such as actors dropping out, changing locations in the middle of a shooting day and many other things. I think that I helped direct the crew without coming across as bossy or angry. Through this assignment I have learnt what it would take to be a 1ST AD in a real world production job. By using my experience of directing on previous projects I used this to my advantage to help me this time.


I also learnt many new skills while working on this project and being first assistant director and editor, skills such as scheduling and putting together multi-cam footage. This was all new to me but I have now learnt these skills and can use them in the future.


After completing the necessary pre-production paperwork, I created a shooting schedule with timings and dates of when we were going to shoot the sit-coms. Even though that was one of the most stressful parts of production because I had to try and plan to film when everyone was free and when we had access to equipment, I think that I did a good job at this seeing as it was the first time I had ever done a shooting schedule. I did however have to make edits to the original schedule but this was due to problems out of my control.


Overall shooting of the sit-com went okay, we had a few issues but we did end up with what I feel like is a good quality product at the end. As a team we dealt with major issues such as actors dropping out an hour before shooting was meant to begin. Instead of stressing and panicking we stayed calm and had a meeting, changed the script and then re-casted. I think that our quick problem solving helped to keep the production on track.

Despite the problems that we faced, we all really enjoyed being on set and the whole production stage of the assignment.      All team members got on well but when there was problems between crew members they were fixed quickly before they could get any worse.

We all worked together well to create a good final product we took each other’s changes and ideas on set and used them all together to make the production better.


Shooting took 2 weeks and we only had to change the schedule a few times. This meant we were able to hand in our finish project at the correct deadline date.


Health and safety was an important factor onset of the sit-coms, to make sure that the crew was safe we made risk assessments outlining the risks to crew when we are on location and using equipment. We also just made sure everyone was acting profession and treated the set like a real show, this stopped people messing around.



After shooting it was now my job to put all the footage together and edit it into a final piece, editing went well and I used my skills to put all the footage which included over 200 clips together. I added music and Foley sound effects as this was a requirement of the assignment which had to be met. I also had to edit the sit-com to the style that is known as sit-com this means including things like canned laughter Something that I had not done much of before was edit together multi-camera footage, I took this as a personal challenge to improve my skills in this. I think that I did a great job at editing and I am happy with how the final edit looks.

Audio was also a huge part of this assignment, this was quite new to all of us as all of our previous projects to this one had either been silent or had music playing over the top of them which resulted in us not using audio. It was good to learn how hard it can be to get good, clear audio. In our productions we used a mic on a boom pole to get audio as it was the easiest way to capture what actors were saying when they were moving. The audio turned out better than expected and sounded quite good. We had some issues with audio on set such as a buzzing noise in the background but we quickly realized that this was because the mic being too close to the overhead lights which were making an interference noise.


When the final edit was finished we screened our sit-com to an audience, we asked them for feedback through the use of a questionnaire. We asked:-


What did you like about the sit-com?

Viewers in the audience said that they enjoyed the storyline about the teens wanting to be popular but failing as it was relatable to them.


Does it fit the genre?

The audience agreed that the show fit the genre of sitcom as it included nearly all of the codes and conventions of a situation comedy. They could also compare it to sit-coms that have been released for years.


What would you change?

The audience said they would like to of seen more comedic moments in the show but apart from that they enjoyed it.


Can you understand the storyline?

The viewers of the screening said that the storyline was clear and they understood that the sitcom was about teens in the later years of school trying to be popular, throwing a party and it all failing.


Can you hear the audio okay?

Nearly all of the audience said they could hear the dialogue clearly but there was a little of background noise in just some of the scenes but overall the audio sounded good.


Overall I am happy with the feedback we received from the audience as it was better than my expectations. I will take the points raised into consideration on my next project to make sure I improve on areas that weren’t as good as others.


For next time I would improve things like the schedule to make sure that we plan ahead and add more time to the schedule as we now know  how long things like makeup will take as we have learnt this from this project.