Media Term Thursday #39
/Offscreen space
offscreen sound
The implication that there is a world beyond the screen (or frame). Characters enter the scene from somewhere and exit to somewhere. A filmmaker can imply the presence of a world offscreen in many ways; a character may look or gesture to someone or something offscreen; object/s may protrude part of the way into the frame.
There are six potential zones of offscreen space: the space beyond each of the four sides of the frame; the space behind the camera and the space behind the set.
Offscreen voices or sounds also signal the presence of characters, objects or a world the audience cannot see.
