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Unreliable Narrator

Every episode covering Unreliable Narrator.

"Sometimes there’s such a huge emotional impact that you might overstate how big the tonal shift is in memory."

— Mel Killingsworth  |  DZ-117: Pulling Off Tonal Shifts

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DZ-111: Unreliable Narrators and FIGHT CLUB

How does the unreliability of a narrator impact the way a story is told?
AI✦Stu and Mel dissect what makes Jack an unreliable narrator and how his control over the storytelling fundamentally shapes what the audience believes they’re witnessing.✦
⏱ 55h 26m
2 JUL 2024
Listen to learn how unreliable narrators shape storytelling through voiceover, structure, and control.
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In this episode, Stu and Mel (sans Chas!) take a deep dive into FIGHT CLUB and its use of the unreliable narrator. This is a bridging episode between our previous episode on VOICEOVER and our forthcoming episode on TALKING TO CAMERA as Fight Club does both.… →

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DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling

How does Film Noir show us terrible people doing terrible things without endorsing it?
AI✦Easy’s voiceover in Devil in a Blue Dress gives you access to his motivations such that you’ll jump over narrative hurdles, but it also conceals his complicity in covering up murders--the narration shapes what you believe about him.✦
⏱ 1h 10m
30 JAN 2026
Listen if you need audiences to root for characters who do terrible things
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DZ-117: Pulling Off Tonal Shifts

How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story?
AI✦Swiss Army Man’s tonal shift hinges on introducing Sarah’s POV for the first time, breaking free from Hank’s unreliable fantasy and forcing the audience to reckon with what’s actually true in the world.✦
⏱ 2h 8m
31 MAR 2025
Listen if you want to write tonal pivots that land on the page without a director's toolkit.
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Following on from our episodes on establishing tone through action lines and through character, this is what we have been building up to: how to pull off a tonal switch… that does NOT throw the audience out of the film. And, in particular, how to pull that off on the page when writers don’t have framing, lighting, music, editing, etc. at our disposal… →

DZ-110: Voiceover

How can you use voiceover without it feeling like a cheat?
AI✦The Backmatter question about a twist relying on the audience believing the narrator is a different character until Act III hinges on how voiceover can deceive through voice recognition and casting choices.✦
⏱ 1h 41m
31 MAY 2024
Listen to explore how voiceover can set tone, reveal character, enhance empathy, and create tension.
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DZ-109: Talking DIRECTLY to your audience

What are the different ways a filmmaker can ask something of the audience?
AI✦The hosts examine reliability as a key question--what does the person talking know?--using The Usual Suspects and Fight Club to show how an unreliable narrator’s limited or false knowledge shapes what the audience believes.✦
⏱ 1h 20m
1 MAY 2024
Listen if you've wondered what a character actually wants when they're talking directly to the audience!?
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DZ-53: Antagonists! 5 - vs Audience

What if there is no antagonist?
AI✦F for Fake and Sans Soleil use narrative deception as their primary antagonistic force, making the audience question what they’re being told and by whom.✦
⏱ 2h 26m
26 AUG 2018
Listen to turn narrative uncertainty itself into the engine that keeps viewers compelled.
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It’s time. The Epic Deep Dive(TM) into Antagonists has reached its shuddering conclusion. And for this Part V - by choosing films that have no obvious singular antagonist (and in some cases no obvious narrative either) - Stu and Chas realised there was indeed a final category of antagonists: the films themselves. Where the film (and the filmmaker) are engaging directly with the audience. Where the films are... VERSUS AUDIENCE… →