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DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall

How is the effect of breaking the 4th wall different to voiceover?

31 JUL 2024

Show Notes

As part of our series on how filmmakers can directly communicate to the audience, we finally examine the most blatant tool of them all: when character look directly down the barrel of the camera… and thus look directly at us, the viewer. Chas, Stu and Mel take the craft tools/levers they identified in previous episodes and use them to examine the tv-version-of HIGH FIDELITY (“Top Five Breakups”), ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (“Attack Ad)”) and - of course - FLEABAG.

By examining how “in-world” the camera is, who is talking, and whom the character is talking to (i.e. who we are in the relationship), we end up discovering how breaking the 4th wall can involve the audience in the emotional present of the character and also grants the character a degree of narrative control (a craft lever that can be dialled in and out).

Separately, in a Backmatter to this episode (which can be found on our Patreon page), Mel and Chas answer a listener question and take a deep dive into how breaking the 4th wall changes the RELATIONSHIP between you - the viewer - and character.

This episode brought to you by (drum roll) ArcStudio: go to $30 off a pro subscription! Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.

"It’s not trying to hide what the characters are feeling. It’s doing quite the opposite. It really wants us to be involved in the character’s emotional state."

— Chas Fisher  |  DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall

Like this episode? Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon.

Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Paulo, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Khrob.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

Resources

Transcript

Read the transcript for this episode.

Chapters

  • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:16 – What is "barrelling"? or Breaking the Fourth Wall
  • 00:05:32 – › Narrative control as a resource in fourth wall breaking
  • 00:09:50 – › How voiceover levers apply to barrelling the camera
  • 00:13:44 – HIGH FIDELITY: "Top Five Heartbreaks"
  • 00:19:59 – › Fourth wall breaks as emotional present, not flashback
  • 00:25:21 – › Rob's narrative control and unreliable self-knowledge
  • 00:35:19 – › What Rob wants from the audience she's confiding in
  • 00:37:32 – ABBOTT ELEMENTARY: "Attack Ad"
  • 00:44:37 – › What each character wants when addressing the camera
  • 00:49:27 – › The documentary crew's agenda and point of view
  • 00:54:01 – › How the mockumentary form is extended and played with
  • 00:59:29 – › Format rigidity compared across mockumentary shows
  • 01:01:27 – Sponsor: Arc Studio Pro
  • 01:04:09 – FLEABAG:
  • 01:05:22 – › Establishing Fleabag's conceit and season two structure
  • 01:09:28 – › How fourth wall breaks become intrusive and uncontrolled
  • 01:20:12 – › Running from and returning to the camera as emotional avoidance
  • 01:31:45 – › Need versus want: what Fleabag seeks from the audience
  • 01:37:34 – › Why breaking the fourth wall externalises the internal
  • 01:40:54 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
  • 01:43:38 – › Why granting narrative control limits fourth wall breaking
  • 01:50:48 – Thank You Patreons!

Shows

Shot Zero Deep Dives

Episodes in the Talking Directly to the Audience series

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