The terms offscreen, off camera, and offstage refer to fictional events in
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, or
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
which are not seen on
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
or in
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
, but are merely heard by the audience, or described (or implied) by the characters or narrator.
Offscreen action often leaves much to the audience's imagination. As a narrative mode and
stylistic device
In literature and writing, stylistically elements are the use of any of a variety of techniques to give an :wikt:auxiliary, auxiliary meaning, ideas, or feeling to the literalism or written.
Figurative language
A figure of speech is any way of ...
, it may be used for a number of dramatic effects. Like a deleted scene, it may also be used to save time in storytelling, to circumvent technical or
financial constraints of a production, or to meet
content rating
A content rating (also known as maturity rating) rates the suitability of TV shows, movies, comic books, or video games to this primary targeted audience. A content rating usually places a media source into one of a number of different categories, ...
standards.
Uses
In
ancient Greek drama
Ancient Greek theatre was a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, was its centre, where the theatre was ...
, events were often recounted to the audience by a narrator, rather than being depicted on the stage.
Offscreen
voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
narration continues to be a common tool for conveying information authoritatively.
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
made use of offscreen action to humorous effect. In a deleted scene in ''
Shoulder Arms
''Shoulder Arms'' is Charlie Chaplin's second film for First National Pictures. Released in 1918, it is a silent comedy film set in France during World War I, the first of three films he made on the subject of war. It co-starred Edna Purviance ...
'' (1918), Chaplin's character is berated by an abusive wife who is never seen on camera; her presence is merely implied by household objects hurled in Chaplin's direction.
In
''The Kid'' (1921), his character
The Tramp
The Tramp (''Charlot'' in several languages), also known as the Little Tramp, was English actor Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. ''The Tramp'' is also the title of ...
is asked the name of the baby he recently found abandoned. He quickly ducks into a nearby building, emerges seconds later smoothing the child's blankets, and announces, "John" – implying that he had not even determined the child's sex, much less given it a name, until that moment.
In ''
City Lights
''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...
'' (1931), Chaplin's Tramp is preparing for a boxing match. He asks another boxer a question which the audience is not privy to. He then follows the man's direction off screen, before returning moments later and asking the man to help him remove his boxing gloves – the implication being that he was going to the bathroom. Later, it's shown that he was merely looking for a water fountain.
In the
horror genre, placing action offstage or offscreen often serves to heighten the dramatic force of a scene. The
Grand Guignol
''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...
theatre in Paris made much use of this technique; in 1901's ''Au tėlėphone'', the violence is presented at the remove of a telephone connection.
In 1931's
''Dracula'', director
Tod Browning
Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of vari ...
uses offscreen action to avoid showing scenes of murder, and obscures the action of Dracula rising from his grave. While this served to meet
Motion Picture Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
standards, which dictated that "brutal killings are not to be shown in detail", Browning's offscreen action also maintains the macabre mood of the film.
The choice of what the audience is shown in place of the elided action can also contribute to the sense of horror through its symbolic value. In
''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1931), during the murder of Ivy Pierson, director
Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Zachary Mamoulian ( ; hy, Ռուբէն Մամուլեան; October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theatre director.
Early life
Mamoulian was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire, to a family of Armenian descent. H ...
focuses his camera on a statuette of ''
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss
''Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss'' ( it, Amore e Psiche ; french: Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour; russian: Амур и Психея, Amúr i Psikhéja) is a sculpture by Italian artist Antonio Canova first commissioned in 1787 by John ...
'', which acts as an ironic commentary on the action.
Offscreen action is often used in
sex scene
Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or hav ...
s, with the camera panning from the beginnings of a romantic encounter to a symbolic replacement object, such as a roaring
fireplace
A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.
...
, a
train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
entering a
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
, or a lit candle at first tall and then shorter to show the passage of time. This trope is often
parodied
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
.
Offscreen action may also be used when a scene would otherwise require costly
sets,
locations
In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...
,
makeup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
, or
special effect
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...
s to present convincingly.
Filmmakers use offscreen space as a stylistic device that allows the narrative to push forward, while circumventing certain technical or financial constraints relative to production but also used to save time in storytelling. For example, it is common for an implied event to take place in the offscreen space, and could have been a means of reducing the financial impact.
See also
*
Deleted scene
A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...
*
Diegesis
Diegesis (; from the Ancient Greek, Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fictional, fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which:
# Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are reveale ...
and
mimesis
Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including ''imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act ...
, alternate modes of storytelling
*
Dissolve
References
Further reading
*
{{Cinematic techniques
Narrative techniques
Film and video terminology
Television terminology
Cinematic techniques
Theatre