Breaking the fourth wall

The presence of the fourth wall is an established convention of modern realistic theater, which has led some artists to draw direct attention to it for dramatic or comedic effect when this boundary is "broken", for example by an actor onstage speaking to the audience directly.

This concept has made its way onto the screen, and in some cases, to great effect.

 FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (opening sequence)


(after his parents have left, thinking he is ill) "They bought it. The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom; I'm a big believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony fever is a dead lock, but, uh... you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor's office. That's worse than school. You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school."

Ferris breaks the fourth wall as he talks to the audience. I believe this to be very productive as it strengthens the bond between the audience and him as a character, adding to the already relative storyline (bearing in mind the youthful target audience). It's as though you are one of his friends.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

His point is even emphasized in the quote, separating the subjunctive word groupings with a bigger word grouping. This includes the words 'around' and 'while' which, involving vowel sounds, lengthens the group of words. Meanings such as this take greater effect, due to the concept of breaking the fourth wall.


I did not wish to use the 'Breaking the fourth wall' technique as i didn't believe it would captivate my chose target audience in reference to the genre. In addition, this technique is very hard to pull off and would, in my point of view, require a far more cheery genre and an excellent performance on the actors behalf.