Linear editing has helped create one of the funniest few minutes in the history of television: “The Lesson on Fire” scene from The Office. The strength of the comedy, often dry, is the realism in how it is delivered in the faux reality style show.
This scene opens with Dwight preparing the office for the “simulation emergency” with his explicatory narrative. We see him open his desk, revealing his “fire safety kit”: a blowtorch and kerosene. It then cuts to him sealing off the exits by breaking keys in the locks, jamming the doors closed, and heating the doorknobs. After he lights a fire in the closet and the other employees see the smoke and panic, the camera does fast motion sweeping shots and there are quick cuts in the editing. People run toward the camera as they look for exits, going so far as knocking the cameraman over. This creates a sense of frantic fear while making their actions funnier as we watch these salesmen, accountants, and secretaries freak out.
Thematically, scenes appear to be cut when an idea is fully expressed; for example we see them go to a door and discover its locked—cut—we see Oscar stand on a desk and open an air duct to climb into—cut. As shots seamlessly progress with constant motion and with the employees attempting to escape we see them trying to ram a door with a printer—cut—throwing a projector through a window—cut. Finally when all attempts to escape have been exhausted, Dwight blows an air horn and announces, “This has been a test of our emergency preparedness.”
The linear progression conveys this scene in a clear and real way that makes the humor of the actors shine. The panic and fear magnified by the editing makes the scene even more hilarious. It ends with Stanly collapsing on the floor and Michael, the boss, fights through employees holding him back as he tries to give CPR to the still conscious man.
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