Diegetic perspective or “gaze” is expressed in terms of how the audience is being asked to look at the content or subjects on screen by the director e.g. what is being emphasised through the use of close-up. A good example of a film which uses this technique is Bladerunner(1982, Scott).

In the snapshot above there is the opening scene of the film, it’s a clear example of the Director trying to create and reinforce the idea of the dystopian world featured in the film, done well this can invest the viewer much more since the world is appealing as more realistic to them now.

The intra-diegetic gaze is when the audience are put in the place of a character and being asked to see things from their viewpoint e.g. through the use of subjective camerawork in films like Jurassic Park(1993, Steven Spielberg). In Jurassic Park there’s a certain scene where a T-rex is attacking a car, that car being where a woman is hiding. The cinematographer/Director used an intra-diegetic gaze to portray both the perspective of the T-rex and the woman.

The extra diegetic gaze is when someone on screen addresses the audience directly by looking directly down the lens of a camera- sometimes known as “breaking the 4th wall” . A film which uses this well to emphasise the protagonists awareness, and to add to the comedy aspect, is Deadpool(2016, Tim Miller). Deadpool is an Action/adventure/dark humour feature film within the marvel cinematic universe. In both the original and the sequel the protagonist, Deadpool, is always breaking the 4th wall to break the tension in sometimes tense situations, breaking the tension with a sense of comedy doesn’t lose the viewers attention or interest as using an extra diegetic gaze has a risk of doing.

In the snapshot featured above, Deadpool is listening to music while drawing a picture of the main antagonist of the movie, this gives the movie an element of context, and also gives an insight to the personality of the protagonist. Later on he speaks to the audience through an extra diegetic gaze and then literally jumps off into the first action/fight scene of the movie.