Media Glossary : Breaking the Fourth Wall...

The fourth wall is an imaginary "wall", it was first established by live theatre and has been adapted for film and TV. In theatre a three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre through which the audience can see the action of the world in the play. The idea of the fourth wall was made explicit by Denis Diderot, it spread within the 19th century threat with the advent of theatrical realism, this extended the ideas to the imaginary boundary between fictional work and its audience. Shakespeare would often break the fourth wall, but it was also present during Ancient Greek theatre.
Within film and TV to "break the fourth wall" means speaking directly to the audience through the camera, it is a considered a technique of meta fiction as it de-constructs the boundaries normally set up by works of fiction. When a character breaks the fourth wall it means that they have acknowledged their fictionally either indirectly or directly addressing the audience, it can also be seen by the character interacting with their creator (this is more indirectly breaking the fourth wall however). To "break the fourth wall" successfully is difficult and is not used by many directors, therefore as a technique it is commonly used within short films, if it is used it tends to be within a comical film/TV series, below is a few examples of shows/films that have broken the fourth wall :an professional example is the BBC comedy 'Miranda' which I feel is a successful example of breaking the fourth wall, it allows the audience to feel as though they are experiencing Miranda's life and feel as if each joke she tells she allowing the audience in on the secret, therefore by breaking the fourth wall it keeps the audience attention by allowing them to feel included in the comedy side  :

"Miranda"



 

"Miranda" I feel is a key example of the successful use of 'breaking the fourth wall. It is a comical sitcom that was launched in November 2009 and has been running for two successful series, it started with 2.63 million viewers and by the end of the second series it has reached 4.1 million viewers. It is based on Miranda Harts semi-autobiography and won the 'best new comedy' award at the Comedy Awards 2011. The reason why I feel they have captured the technique successfully, is because as an audience member I feel drawn into the action, I feel as if she is letting me in on all the jokes some of which not even the other on-screen characters to see, therefore Miranda is directly addressing the audience member, this especially shown at the opening of the "Teacher" episode which is above.

'Said Susan'

 

 

'Said Susan', is a short broadcasted on virgin media shorts. It is about a woman called Susan who narrates her life, at first we think its just to the audience but then towards the end we are introduced the character Darren, and learn that actually he can hear all that she is saying about him and her life. Therefore this is a key example of "breaking the fourth wall" as the majority of the film Susan is talking directly towards the audience, and it is only at 1 minute 12 seconds that we are introduced to the secondary character Darren where dialogue with the character, in incorporated with direct speech towards the audience.