DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall

Listen to understand how breaking the 4th wall directly involves the audience in a character's emotional present.

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.

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

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→ Read the transcript for this episode.

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"She's trying to work herself out in some ways. Like it's the reason a lot of people write in their diary or self-talk or do have a running monologue or encourage that. Like she's trying to understand and explain herself and in doing so maybe hopefully help herself." — Mel Killingsworth @ 00:35:50

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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

HIGH FIDELITY 1x1 "Top Five Heartbreaks" — Jeffrey Reiner, Jesse Peretz (d), Sarah Kucserka, Veronica West (w)

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY 2x7 "Attack Ad" — Matt Sohn (d), Justin Tan (w)

FLEABAG 2x4 — Harry Bradbeer (d), Phoebe Waller Bridge (w)

LINKS

Sponsor: ArcStudio - $30 off a pro subscription!

EPISODES IN THE TALKING DIRECTLY TO THE AUDIENCE SERIES

DZ-109: Talking DIRECTLY to your audience

DZ-110: Voiceover

DZ-111: Unreliable Narrators and FIGHT CLUB

DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall

DZ-113: Tools For Filmmakers To Talk To The Audience

RELATED EPISODES

DZ-109: Talking DIRECTLY to your audience

DZ-110: Voiceover

DZ-111: U