A character wants to talk about another behind his back, but is in the same room with them. He assumes the pose of silence. He leans forward in a conspiratorial manner, rendering everything he says perfectly inaudible to the other, even if only a few feet away in an otherwise silent room.
Stage Whispers, where the asides and "private" discussions are held in full voice (loud enough for the audience to hear, obviously) but other characters freeze or act as if they hadn't heard it, are an established dramatic convention in live theatre. A similar convention surrounds soliloquies, where one character makes a speech to the audience but is unheard by any other characters on stage although this is not that trope, you're wanting Thinking Out Loud. These conventions are Older Than Steam, dating back at least to William Shakespeare.
A Room Shuffle can be arranged, to dodge this trope and provide a little action.
Examples
- In the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Ron and Hermione discuss their secret plan which will "break about fifty school rules" while walking down a corridor crowded with students. (In the book, they discussed it in private.)
- Played for Laughs (or something like it is Played for Laughs) in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when the French knight is bawling over the castle wall to Arthur and his knights that they already have their own Holy Grail, then turns to the other knights with him on the wall and whispers behind his hand, "I told them we've already got one!" and they all cover their mouths and guffaw, clearly learning this for the first time.
- In Not Another Teen Movie, the hero, Jake, admits to the bet of turning Janey into the prom queen, when Austin leans into Janey and whispers, "Jake is going to admit betting on you" into her ear.
- A lampshade is hung on this when C-3PO leans over in an "overly conspiratorial" fashion in a Star Wars Expanded Universe novel.
- The most blatant examples of this are from Friends, where it would seem the characters are all deaf, and an invisible soundproof wall was found just behind all sofas.
- And menus when the characters being discussed are sitting at the same table...
- Happened all the time in Married... with Children, typically when the family was mocking Al in front of his back, so to speak.
- Given that it's Al being talked about, he might still be able to hear them. They just don't care.
- The Animorphs TV series had the heroes insanely hold most of their meetings in a crowded arcade/restaurant, where anyone around them could be one of the bad guys. In the books, they logically meet in the privacy of a barn.
- They did this in the books, too, albeit with less sensitive information.
- Used repeatedly on on The West Wing. On Ainsley's first day, she has to meet with two Jerkasses about a stupid thing they did, and suggests that they go out into the hallway rather than discuss it in their open-plan office. Being new, she doesn't realize that the hallway will be as full of people walking and talking as any given room. She leans in and says, "Okay, we'll keep our voices down." One Jerkass leans in long enough to sarcastically say, "Okay," then straightens up and they both spend the rest of the scene in normal poses talking at normal volumes, while she continues to lean and whisper. Can't get no respect, can't get no Pose of Silence.
- Averted a couple of times in Hannah Montana, and even receiving of a lampshade hanging or two.
- Parodied on Seinfeld when George and Jerry go to great lengths to hide their mouths from a deaf lip-reader in order to talk about her when she is sitting at the same table... only to find out she was perfectly aware not only of what they were doing, but what they were saying as well.
- In Community, Troy leans close to Abed to whisper something, while the rest of the study group are gathered around them. Annie subsequently prompts Abed to reveal what Troy said to him. Turns out, it was, "I know you hate when people do this in movies."
