Answers.Body: <blockquote>
  <p>TV trope name for monologue to unexpected off-camera recipient?</p>
  <p>Theres a definite technique where the cameraman is focusing solely on character A who is speaking to character B, and character B is not within view for the TV viewer. Then, when it is revealed who person B is, it is completely surprising and often to comedic effect.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>It is close to the <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrickDialogue" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Trick Dialogue</a>, with a bit of <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SubvertedTrope" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Subverted Trope</a>, not a <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourthWallPsych" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fourth Wall Psych</a>.</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Trick Dialogue:</li>
  </ul>
  <blockquote>
  <p>A subversion of the most fundamental aspect of Dialogue: whether a character is talking to someone else or not.</p>
  <p>Commonly, a character will appear to be making a brave confession, and then be revealed to have just been practicing before a mirror. Or, he will seem to be explaining his life to someone, and then be shown to be talking to a gravestone.</p>
  <p>Alternatively, a character will clearly be talking to himself, but we find out that someone just happened to overhear. (Bonus points if it was the intended recipient of a difficult request.) This can follow on the first kind for a <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DoubleSubversion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Double Subversion</a> of dialogue.</p>
  <p>Visual media typically use a <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RevealShot" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Reveal Shot</a>, often a Close-Up on Head, to execute Trick Dialogue. Compare <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourthWallPsych" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fourth Wall Psych</a> (where the character appears to be speaking to the audience but is actually talking to another person). See also Not So Dire.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>Subverted Trope:</li>
  </ul>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Basically, this is playing bait and switchnote  with a trope. A work makes you think a trope is going to happen, but it doesn't.</p>
  <p>But how could people know a trope is going to happen? Well, tropes live in the minds of the audience. As such, sufficiently Trope Savvy audience members can predict a familiar trope coming based on the hints dropped by the writer. So when the writer decides to build on this expectation, only to reveal that the expected &quot;trope&quot; was a Red Herring while an entirely different situation results, you have a Subverted Trope.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-07-24T04:34:14.993Z
Answers.Text: Great answer. And can someone add a tag for trope? It’s not an available tag.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sridhar Sarnobat
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-07-24T04:41:40.727Z
Answers.Text: @Sridhar-Sarnobat - Thanks. Apparently I have [enough Rep to create a Tag](https://video.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/create-tags)  so I will add it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Rob
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-07-24T04:32:40.270Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-07-24T04:32:40.270Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-06-17T09:53:03.607Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Rob
Body: <p>Theres a definite technique where the cameraman is focusing solely on character A who is speaking to character B, and character B is not within view for the TV viewer. Then, when it is revealed who person B is, it is completely surprising and often to comedic effect.</p>
  
  <p>I'd like to read more about this technique, but without a name there is little to search for. Is there one?</p>
  
  <p>There are 2 examples where I see this semi-frequently:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Simpsons: (I may not have this accurately recalled) Homer Simpson is giving a stern warning that her daughter's radical behavior will not be tolerated in this house. Then the footage cuts to what turns out to be Maggie, the baby.</li>
  <li>WWE: at least every couple of weeks, there is a wrestler backstage and he is talking to someone off-camera about something very specific and serious with the storyline he's involved in. But when the camera pans to the recipient, it's someone unexpected (e.g. a midget, a female valet etc.) which is funny but still makes 100% sense by the speaker.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Does this technique/trope have an name?</p>
  
Tags: <transitions><shooting>
Title: TV trope name for monologue to unexpected off-camera recipient?
UserDisplayName: Sridhar Sarnobat
ThreadText: # TV trope name for monologue to unexpected off-camera recipient?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-24)
  
  Theres a definite technique where the cameraman is focusing solely on character A who is speaking to character B, and character B is not within view for the TV viewer. Then, when it is revealed who person B is, it is completely surprising and often to comedic effect.
  
  I'd like to read more about this technique, but without a name there is little to search for. Is there one?
  
  There are 2 examples where I see this semi-frequently:
  
  * Simpsons: (I may not have this accurately recalled) Homer Simpson is giving a stern warning that her daughter's radical behavior will not be tolerated in this house. Then the footage cuts to what turns out to be Maggie, the baby.
  * WWE: at least every couple of weeks, there is a wrestler backstage and he is talking to someone off-camera about something very specific and serious with the storyline he's involved in. But when the camera pans to the recipient, it's someone unexpected (e.g. a midget, a female valet etc.) which is funny but still makes 100% sense by the speaker.
  
  Does this technique/trope have an name?
  
  **Tags:** transitions, shooting
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-24. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
  
  > TV trope name for monologue to unexpected off-camera recipient?
  >
  > Theres a definite technique where the cameraman is focusing solely on character A who is speaking to character B, and character B is not within view for the TV viewer. Then, when it is revealed who person B is, it is completely surprising and often to comedic effect.
  
  It is close to the [Trick Dialogue](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrickDialogue), with a bit of [Subverted Trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SubvertedTrope), not a [Fourth Wall Psych](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourthWallPsych).
  
  * Trick Dialogue:
  
  > A subversion of the most fundamental aspect of Dialogue: whether a character is talking to someone else or not.
  >
  > Commonly, a character will appear to be making a brave confession, and then be revealed to have just been practicing before a mirror. Or, he will seem to be explaining his life to someone, and then be shown to be talking to a gravestone.
  >
  > Alternatively, a character will clearly be talking to himself, but we find out that someone just happened to overhear. (Bonus points if it was the intended recipient of a difficult request.) This can follow on the first kind for a [Double Subversion](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DoubleSubversion) of dialogue.
  >
  > Visual media typically use a [Reveal Shot](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RevealShot), often a Close-Up on Head, to execute Trick Dialogue. Compare [Fourth Wall Psych](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourthWallPsych) (where the character appears to be speaking to the audience but is actually talking to another person). See also Not So Dire.
  
  * Subverted Trope:
  
  > Basically, this is playing bait and switchnote with a trope. A work makes you think a trope is going to happen, but it doesn't.
  >
  > But how could people know a trope is going to happen? Well, tropes live in the minds of the audience. As such, sufficiently Trope Savvy audience members can predict a familiar trope coming based on the hints dropped by the writer. So when the writer decides to build on this expectation, only to reveal that the expected "trope" was a Red Herring while an entirely different situation results, you have a Subverted Trope.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Great answer. And can someone add a tag for trope? It’s not an available tag.  
  > **username_1**: @username_0-username_0 - Thanks. Apparently I have [enough Rep to create a Tag](https://video.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/create-tags)  so I will add it.  
  
  ---
  
  