History Main / PaintingTheMedium

* The ''GoldenSun'' games tend to avoid this, with the exception of the final battles in both games. Just as the fight starts the screen appears to ''shatter''.

* Radio commercials for Gold's Horseradish over the decades have used several different slogans punctuated by the ringing of a bell. For the last few years, the very Jewish-sounding announcer has been ending the commercials by demanding to know who is ringing the bell and why.

* The children's book ''Literature/{{The Monster at the End of This Book}}'' has ''SesameStreet'''s Grover going to greater and greater lengths to keep the reader from turning the page (as he's afraid of the titular monster at the end of the book). He tapes pages together, attempts to nail them down, builds a brick wall, all to no avail. (It's okay, though, as the monster at the end of the book turns out to be [[spoiler:himself]].)

* ''Dilbert'' once receives a convict serving prison time into his home. The prisoner complains about how cramped it is in Dilbert's house. The speech balloon of the prisoners complaint in this panel obscures Dilbert from view.

** In ''TheDemolishedMan'', telepathic communication is represented by creative typesetting, sentences that can be read up, down, left or right simultaneously, rebuses, fonts and other trickery. Bester seemed very fond of this sort of thing in general.

* Alfred Bester's novella ''Tyger! Tyger!'', later expanded into the full-length novel ''TheStarsMyDestination'', employs this excellently in the final two chapters. As the AntiHero protagonist Gully Foyle experiences synesthesia (a side effect of a nearby bomb blast), the text is written in an illustrative manner which reflects the confusion of his sensory apparatus.

* The [[FanFic fan]][[{{Webcomic}} comic]] ''[[Webcomic/{{Roommates2007}} Roommates]]'' and its SpinOff ''GirlsNextDoor'' does this a lot. Different characters' speech is written in different fonts, and various kinds of speech bubbles are used depending on character mood.

* A few times on the PaintingTheFourthWall page of [[HomePage TV Tropes]].

* The [[FanFic fan]][[{{Webcomic}} comic]] ''[[Fanfic/{{Roommates2007}} Roommates]]'' and its SpinOff ''GirlsNextDoor'' does this a lot. Different characters' speech is written in different fonts, and various kinds of speech bubbles are used depending on character mood.

** Similarly, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon Day Of the Moon]]", seemingly continuous scenes are revealed to have had minutes of forgotten action over the course of a camera change. This comes with a dash of TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou, since the primary threat of the [[spoiler: (seemingly; according to teasers for the second part of the season, they continue to be plot-relevant)]] MonsterOfTheWeek is that [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel you can't remember them when you can't see them]].
*** Also done in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]. While the Doctor and Winston Churchill are walking and talking they, along with the audience, gradually realise [[spoiler:they are fighting off [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel the Silence]] in between the scene and camera changes.]]

* [[http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2011/08/14 This]] ''{{Frazz}}'' strip, in which the title character is literally PaintingTheMedium.

* The scenes that take place in Kansas in ''The Wizard of Oz'' are presented in black and white, sepia in the original theatrical release, while all of the scenes that take place in Oz are in vivid technicolor.

* This is the primary gimmick of the ''ViewtifulJoe'' series, except that the player controls them, and it's cinematic tropes that are used. Slow motion lets our hero dodge attacks and punch more dramatically ([[BeyondTheImpossible and punch bullets]]), zoom in temporarily stuns foes, mach speed lets him move very fast, Sylvia's Replay let's her attack for triple the damage(or triple the received damage, and sometimes Joe will smack foes so had they bounce off the screen.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''WebOriginal/EchoChamber'', the TVTropes webseries, is premised on this. It's about Tropers trying to make a vlog for TVTropes. We can only see what [[CloudCuckooLander the cameraman, Zack]], films. Most of the action isn't in the vlog itself, and therefore [[TheDitz Zack]] [[ThrowItIn should really have turned the camera off]]. Zack is frequently [[LampshadeHanging given excuses]] to be present at times when, really, he shouldn't be there. He [[YourDoorWasOpen hides in Tom's closet]] and tags along on a date with Tom, severely creeping out Tom's date.

* The [[LiloAndStitch Stitch]] summon in ''KingdomHeartsII'' sticks and crawls on the surface of your TV screen... even when you're looking in ''first-person''. And during his LimitBreak, he stands on the command menu.

* In both ''AllStarSuperman'' and ''{{WE3}}'', Morrison and Frank Quitely have used panels where the FourthWall is literally one of the walls of a room that the characters are in.

* Towards the end of ''CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka appears to walk into the camera -- which then pulls back to reveal that he has actually walked into the semi-invisible Glass Elevator...
** This actually happens TWICE..
* I think that musical numbers in movies could count as painting the medium, because in-world, they are simple discussion or self-dialogue; the fact they translate into musical numbers for the viewers is a mere reflection on the fourth wall. At least, it make more sense than the idea they actually break into singing and dancing, at least in most cases.

* HideoKojima's earlier game, ''{{Snatcher}}'', basically had NoFourthWall in the first place. During the light-gun sequences, the player had to suddenly drop the controller and and pick up the light gun. At one point, the player is asked to turn up the volume to listen for a faint noise. When a loud explosion occurs shortly therafter, Gillian complains his ears are ringing. "That's because you turned up the volume," Metal cheerfully replies.

* ''WebComic/BooksDontWorkHere'' has no FourthWall so it does this often. [[http://booksdontworkhere.thecomicseries.com/comics/4/ here]] is an example of OddShapedPanel, and here is where they play around with FlashbackEffects [[http://booksdontworkhere.thecomicseries.com/comics/69/ twice]]

* [[http://www.gocomics.com/lio/2008/10/08/ Here's an example]] of PaintingTheFourthWall from the comic strip ''{{Lio}}'' that is also BreakingTheFourthWall.
* [[http://www.kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php?g2_itemId=3930 This comic]], while not part of a continual series, is a wonderful, if creepy and somewhat depressing example of PaintingTheFourthWall.

** And of course a very similar gag in "Who Shot Mr Burns?" Dr Hibbert points directly at the fourth wall (Uncle Sam-style) and asks if YOU can solve the case. [[FourthWallPsych Switching to the reverse angle]], he actually means Chief Wiggum.
--> '''Wiggum:''' Well I am a cop...it's his job, right?
** ** In ''TheSimpsonsMovie'': Homer calls everyone watching The Itchy and Scratchy movie a "giant sucker" for "paying to see somthing they can watch at home for free" and starts pointing at a random theater audience member...only for the camera to swivel around so that Homer's finger is pointed directly at the fourth wall while he says "Especially YOU!"

* This site (and other wikis, for that matter) itself when it comes to links. [[PaintingTheFourthWall Normal links show up in blue,]] [[LinkDiscussion discussion links or]] [[CutList links to certain pages are in orange,]] and [[ThisIsATestForRedLinks links to nonexistent articles are in red]]. Checking out the new edits gives even ''more'' colors.

By Painting The Fourth Wall, a writer turns a transparent tool -- meant to show the work behind it -- into a part of the work. In a way, you force the audience to notice the wall.

* Two words: ''AnimalMan''. GrantMorrison's run on the title was more or less ''about'' this trope, and one issue featured a Fourth Wall-aware villain literally pulling characters who had been {{Retcon}}ned out of existence (see ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'') out of comic books, with the barriers between panels eventually breaking down.

* The 1941 comedy classic ''Hellzapoppin''' (like the Broadway show from which it was adapted) is built on absolute demolition of the fourth wall in every way. The characters talk to the screen, watch footage of themselves, yell at the projectionist (the frame is compromised numerous times and in numerous ways because the projectionist is trying to score with a rotund dame). Hell, there's even a request for a young member of the audience to find his mother in the lobby -- the film ''stops in the middle of a musical number'' to yell at the child to go meet his mother -- and a silhouette enters the frame, mutters "Aw, man" and departs stage left.

* I think that musical numbers in movies could count as painting the fourth wall, because in-world, they are simple discussion or self-dialogue; the fact they translate into musical numbers for the viewers is a mere reflection on the fourth wall. At least, it make more sense than the idea they actually break into singing and dancing, at least in most cases.

* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' seems to love splattering the fourth wall with blood every time someone gets shot. Sometimes justified in that portions of the film are in mockumentary form, using footage that was recorded in-universe.
* RalphBakshi's animated WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings also blood splattering the fourth wall during battles.

* [[http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2011/08/14 This]] ''{{Frazz}}'' strip ,in which the title character is literally PaintingTheFourthWall.

BreakTheFourthWall and LeaningOnTheFourthWall refer to the same wall, but are otherwise unrelated. Painting The Fourth Wall doesn't require that characters have MediumAwareness of any kind.

PaintingTheFourthWall is modifying the presentation of a story in order to convey information about the story. A comic book might give a character special-looking SpeechBubbles that reflect on their personality. A TV show might change to black-and-white or sepia-tone during flashbacks. A video game might change its GUI to show a change in the player character or the setting.

* The ''{{Disgaea}}'' series is famous for this, with frequent self-references to levels and stats, and even cases of characters hacking their titles. "Do you have some reason to believe you can defeat my father? Like... being level 100,000,000?"