A term used to describe the disruption of disbelief between audience and the cinema screen. The actors communicate directly with the viewers, including them briefly in the action or emotion, to create new meaning. It's highly entertaining, possibly a guilty pleasure, but can also lead to philosophic approaches to life on screen. This was my pitch presentation for my mixed media dissertation at university.

1. Bridging the gap between cinema screen and audience

2.  Invisible barrier
 Communication between audience and filmmaker
 Main categories divided into intentions
1. To engage the audience
2. To make the audience laugh
3. To make the audience reflect about the ‘behind the
scenes’

3. •Characters talking
to the
Character camera/audience
narrators
•More engaging &
intimate
•Identification
process
•Examples:
Annie Hall’ (1977,
Allen)
‘High Fidelity’ (2000,
Frears)
‘Fight Club’ (1999,
Fincher)

4.  Interrupts the fiction
 Creates a documentary feel
 Can be short and sweet ‘Amelie’ (2001, Jeunet)
 Have a powerful impact ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989, Lee)
 Other characters‘ relation to the audience ‘Whatever Works’ (2009,
Allen)

5. •Mocks filmmaking
techniques
•Critisizes conventions
Comedy and rules by breaking
them
•Makes audience
aware of the
filmmakers
•Examples
Monty Python and The
Holy Grail (1975,
Gilliam)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
(2005, Black)
Spaceballs (1987,
Brooks)

6.  Shows the presence of behind camera people
 Criticise conventions by taking them to the extreme Kiss Kiss Bang
Bang
 Seems like an interactive dialogue with the audience Ferris Bueller’s
Day Off (1986, Hughes)
 Self-awareness of cliches Hot Tub Time Machine (2010, Pink)

7. • No obvious wall-
breaking
•Overall theme is a
breach of the wall
•Provides an insight
into the filmmaker’s
mind
Self-reflexive •Examples
8 ½ (1963, Fellini)
Le Mepris (1963,
Godard)
The Player (1992,
Altman)

8.  Meta-film - film about a film - Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York (2008)
& Adaptation (2002)
 Challenges the suspension of disbelief
 Close to Brecht’s view
 Distant and analytical
 Ideological purposes Breathless (1960, Godard)

9.  How real is cinema?
 New media – digital age
 Audience more difficult to trick
 3D as a breach of the wall