Introduction
Showing and Hiding: Frame, Off-Screen Space and Traces
In this fifth module, audiovisual language is explored through a fundamental tension between showing and hiding. Every image selects a portion of space and leaves something beyond the frame. What remains unseen may nevertheless become perceptible through sounds, objects, empty spaces and visible effects.
The video explores the couple’s everyday life and relationship without showing the central events directly. Viewers infer situations from traces and consequences, reconstructing actions that remain outside the frame. This module examines how audiovisual language can make an absence perceptible and invite viewers to distinguish between what is visible, suggested and imagined.
Part of the Exploring Audiovisual Grammar curriculum, this module offers a practical exploration built around an original video and five audiovisual variations.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
Understand how what remains unseen can contribute to audiovisual meaning.
Identify how framing separates on-screen and off-screen space.
Analyse how traces and clues allow viewers to reconstruct a situation.
Distinguish between an event that is shown, suggested or imagined.
Identify the effects produced by absence, empty space, sound and objects.
Watch the Video
SHOW / HIDE Click the link below to watch the video once without taking notes. Pay attention to the moments when you understand that something has happened without seeing the event itself. Which sounds, objects, empty spaces, movements or visible consequences guide your interpretation? What do you infer, and what remains uncertain?
Watch “Video 5 - Show / HIDE” on PeerTube A still from “Video 5 - SHOW / HIDE”
Video Analysis
An Absent Event, Several Ways of Making it Present
Across five variations, the video shifts attention away from the central events and towards the signs that surround them. A prepared dinner, an unanswered message, changing lights in empty rooms, a packed suitcase and paired everyday objects allow viewers to infer different moments in the couple’s relationship.
Each variation organises these clues differently. Meaning emerges through the succession of images and through changes in objects, spaces, sounds and light. Viewers must connect what they see and hear in order to reconstruct actions that remain outside the frame.
Five Variations
Explore the Five Variations An Intimate Encounter A plate gradually fills with appetisers, while glimpses of a shower, make-up, jewellery and clothing suggest that the couple are preparing for an intimate evening. A speaker, a candle and two glasses of wine complete the setting. The food and wine then gradually disappear, leaving only the traces of a shared moment that is never shown directly.
To observe: The sequence of preparatory gestures and the transformation of the objects before and after the unseen encounter.
Concepts: Off-screen space, ellipsis, trace, suggestion.
Frustrated Waiting An unanswered message asking “Where are you?” establishes the absence of one partner. The person waiting looks through photographs of the couple, repeatedly spins a small object and manipulates a potted plant with different tools. These repetitive gestures make the passing of time and growing frustration perceptible without showing the absent person.
To observe: The unanswered message, the photographs and the increasingly repetitive gestures.
Concepts: Absence, duration, repetition, off-screen presence.
An Off-Screen Argument The camera moves through empty areas of the apartment while changes in light, doors and off-screen sounds suggest a conflict taking place elsewhere. No bodies or faces are shown. The tension occupies the domestic space and must be reconstructed from what can be heard and from the changing atmosphere of the rooms.
To observe: The empty rooms, variations in light and sounds coming from beyond the frame.
Concepts: Off-screen sound, empty frame, suggestion, spatial tension.
A Silent Separation and Departure Clothes gradually fill a suitcase, which is then left by the doorway. Empty hangers, an overturned chair, a single set of keys and changes among the couple’s everyday belongings suggest that one partner has left. The separation is revealed through a before-and-after sequence rather than through a farewell scene.
To observe: The disappearance of clothes and the objects that indicate a newly empty place.
Concepts: Trace, ellipsis, absence, visual inference.
A Reconciliation A second set of keys appears beside the first, two cups are placed together and the couple’s phones rest on top of one another. Light returns to the apartment and a door opens. These small changes suggest that a shared presence has been restored, although the reunion itself remains outside the frame.
To observe: The return of paired objects, the changing light and the opening door.
Concepts: Visual clue, off-screen event, restored presence, suggestion.
What the Video Explores
What is shown: Peripheral details such as objects, gestures, doors, lights and changing domestic spaces.What remains unseen: The central moments in the couple’s relationship, including the encounter, waiting, conflict, departure and reunion.What viewers reconstruct: The events and emotions connecting the visible clues.
Key Takeaway
Audiovisual meaning is not produced only by what an image reveals. What remains outside the frame can become perceptible through sounds, traces, changes and the connections made by the viewer.
Key Concepts
The video introduces two complementary ways of thinking about the unseen. The first concerns the relationship between on-screen and off-screen space created by framing. The second examines how traces and clues enable viewers to infer events that are not directly represented.
Explore the Key Concepts Off-Screen Space: Making the Unseen Present Off-screen space refers to everything that remains outside the visible frame but continues to exist through space, sound or the viewer’s imagination. An image never shows everything: it selects, separates and excludes. What lies beyond its boundaries can nevertheless influence how the visible elements are understood.
The Frame as a Boundary
The frame determines what is included in the image and what is left outside it. However, excluded elements do not necessarily disappear from the scene. A closed door, an empty room, a change in light or a sound coming from elsewhere can suggest that an event is taking place beyond the visible space. Framing therefore organises both what is revealed and what remains hidden.
Engaging the Viewer’s Imagination
When an event is not represented directly, viewers must complete the missing information. They connect visible details, interpret sounds and imagine what may be happening elsewhere or between two shots. Off-screen space therefore gives viewers an active role: they construct a possible situation from incomplete evidence.
Using Sound to Extend the Visible Space
Off-screen space is not exclusively visual. Voices, footsteps, a closing door or noises coming from another room can make an unseen space perceptible. Sound extends the frame by providing information about the environment surrounding the image. A conflict, for example, can become understandable without showing the people involved.
Showing the Edges of an Event
Audiovisual language can focus on what surrounds an event rather than on the event itself. In the video, the camera records preparations for an intimate evening, an unanswered message, empty rooms and the objects left after a departure. These peripheral elements allow the central situations to be understood through their context and consequences.
Key Takeaway: Hiding does not necessarily remove meaning. By combining framing, sound and peripheral details, audiovisual language can turn the unseen into an active space for interpretation.
Traces and Clues: Reconstructing an Absent Event A trace is a visible consequence left by an action, a presence or an event. A clue is a detail that leads viewers towards a possible interpretation. Both allow an unseen situation to be reconstructed without providing a complete explanation.
Traces: What Remains After an Action
A trace does not represent the event itself but preserves evidence of it. In the video, food disappearing from plates suggests that a dinner has taken place, while an open suitcase, empty hangers and a set of keys indicate a departure. Ordinary objects become meaningful because their appearance, position or number has changed.
Clues: Details that Guide Interpretation
A clue suggests a possible explanation without confirming it. An unanswered message may indicate worry or frustration. Empty rooms and changing lights may suggest a conflict taking place elsewhere. Two sets of keys and two cups can imply that a shared presence has returned. Viewers connect these details and formulate their own hypotheses.
Objects as Carriers of Emotion
Objects are not merely decorative. Depending on how they are framed, arranged, repeated or removed, they can acquire an emotional meaning. A single object may evoke absence, while two similar objects placed together may suggest intimacy or reconciliation. Their meaning arises from the relationships created between them.
Empty Space as a Sign
An empty space can express waiting, separation, loneliness or the possibility of someone’s return. When the camera holds on an unoccupied room, a closed door or a silent entrance, the absence itself becomes perceptible. Emptiness is therefore not a lack of information but an active component of the scene.
Building Meaning Through Accumulation
An unseen event is rarely reconstructed from a single detail. Meaning develops through accumulation: an object, a sound, an empty space and then a change in the setting. Each element provides partial information, and their combination allows viewers to imagine a possible event.
Key Takeaway: Traces and clues transform visible details into signs. By connecting them, viewers actively reconstruct events that the images never show directly.
Activities
The following activities invite learners to explore how framing, off-screen space, traces and clues can shape meaning. They progress from observation and interpretation to collaborative annotation and practical audiovisual experimentation.
Explore the Activities Understanding Without Seeing
Type: Group analysisDuration: 45 minutesObjective: To understand how a scene can produce meaning without directly showing its central event.
Materials
The Show / Hide video
A projector or shared screen
A board or collaborative tool
The module’s key concept materials
Instructions
Watch without technical guidance Share initial interpretations What did you understand without seeing it directly? Watch each variation again
what is visible;
what remains off-screen;
which visual or sound clues allow the situation to be reconstructed.
Build a collective conclusion
Trainer’s Role
Help learners distinguish between what is actually represented and what they infer from the clues. Encourage them to justify each interpretation: Which elements support it? What remains unseen? Why does the absent event nevertheless feel present?
Variation
Divide the learners into five groups and assign one variation to each group. Ask them to identify the clues through which the off-screen event becomes perceptible. Compare the different strategies during the group discussion.
Annotating Off-Screen Space: Understanding Without Seeing
Type: Collaborative annotation with Celluloid Duration: 1 hourObjective: To identify moments when viewers understand a situation although the central event is not shown directly.
Preparation
Before the session, import the Show / Hide video into Celluloid and add the following annotation prompt: “Identify moments when something is understood without being shown directly. Describe the visible or audible clue, then explain what you imagine, infer or reconstruct from it”.
Instructions
Introduce the activity Annotate individually or in pairs
What can I see or hear?
What remains off-screen?
What does this clue lead me to understand?
Compare and organise the annotations
material traces;
off-screen sounds;
empty spaces;
missing objects;
signs of presence or absence.
Summarise each variation
Trainer’s Role
Help learners distinguish between three levels: what is visible or audible, what remains outside the frame, and what viewers reconstruct. Ask which clue supports each hypothesis and whether the resulting interpretation is clear, ambiguous or open.
Variation
Compare two annotations referring to the same moment. Discuss whether the learners have interpreted the same clue differently. This comparison demonstrates that off-screen space does not always produce a single meaning but can create an open space for interpretation.
Filming Around an Event
Type: Group productionDuration: 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hoursObjective: To experiment with making an event understandable without showing it directly, using framing, off-screen space, traces, sounds and visual clues.
Materials
Smartphones or cameras
Tripods, supports or objects for stabilising the camera
A simple filming location
A selection of everyday objects
A basic editing application, if necessary
A screen or projector for presenting the productions
Instructions
Choose an event Identify the clues Film the sequence Present and discuss the productions
Trainer’s Role
Help groups avoid showing the event too directly. Encourage them to film its edges and consequences: thresholds, doors, objects, traces, empty spaces and off-screen sounds. During the discussion, distinguish between what is shown, what is hidden and what viewers reconstruct.
Variation
Give every group the same event—for example, someone has left . Each group must find a different way of making it understandable without showing it directly. Compare the strategies used: a material trace, an empty space, a missing object, a sound, a change in light, silence or a repeated gesture.
Further Viewing and Reading
The following films and readings provide further examples of how audiovisual works use framing, off-screen space, sound, traces and absence to make unseen events perceptible.
Explore the References Classic and Landmark Films Tourneur, J. (Director). (1942). Cat People [Film].
Antonioni, M. (Director). (1960). L’avventura [Film].
Wise, R. (Director). (1963). The Haunting [Film].
Buñuel, L. (Director). (1977). That Obscure Object of Desire [Film].
Lanzmann, C. (Director). (1985). Shoah [Film].
Popular and Contemporary Films Haneke, M. (Director). (2005). Caché [Film].
Martel, L. (Director). (2008). The Headless Woman [Film].
Farhadi, A. (Director). (2011). A Separation [Film].
Chandor, J. C. (Director). (2013). All Is Lost [Film].
Lowery, D. (Director). (2017). A Ghost Story [Film].
Triet, J. (Director). (2023). Anatomy of a Fall [Film].
Bibliography Bonitzer, P. (1982). Le champ aveugle: Essais sur le cinéma . Gallimard.
Burch, N. (1986). Une praxis du cinéma . Gallimard.
Aumont, J. (1989). L’œil interminable: Cinéma et peinture . Librairie Séguier.
Mondzain, M.-J. (2002). L’image peut-elle tuer? Bayard.
Didi-Huberman, G. (2004). Images malgré tout . Les Éditions de Minuit.
Niney, F. (2009). Le documentaire et ses faux-semblants . Klincksieck.
Suggestions for Trainers
Select excerpts in which the central event is not immediately visible. Begin with a simple question: What did you understand without seeing it directly?
Then identify the elements that produced this understanding: a sound, a closed door, a displaced or missing object, an empty room, a change in light, a repetition or a material trace. Encourage learners to distinguish carefully between what the excerpt shows and what they infer.
You can also compare two ways of presenting the same event: showing it directly or suggesting it through off-screen space and clues. Discuss the different effects produced, such as intensity, ambiguity, restraint, suspense, mental projection or critical distance.
Conclusion
This module has shown that an audiovisual work can make an event understandable without representing it directly. Framing defines what remains unseen, while sounds, objects, traces and transformations of space guide the viewer’s attention and interpretation.
Learning to analyse off-screen space also means recognising the viewer’s active role. Meaning does not reside only within the visible image: it emerges from the relationship between what is shown, what is withheld and what each viewer reconstructs.
The ‘Exploring Audiovisual Grammar’ Curriculum
If you would like to explore more within this ‘Exploring Audiovisual Grammar’ curriculum, click here to go to the next module: “Exploring Audiovisual Grammar - CHOOSE ”
