The terms off-screen, off-camera, and off-stage refer to fictional events in theatre, television, or film which are not seen on stage or in frame, but are merely heard by the audience, or described (or implied) by the characters or narrator.
While this served to meet Motion Picture Production Code standards, which dictated that "brutal killings are not to be shown in detail", Browning's offscreen action also maintains the macabre mood of the film.
In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), during the murder of Ivy Pierson, director Rouben Mamoulian focuses his camera on a statuette of Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, which acts as an ironic commentary on the action.
[2] Offscreen action is often used in sex scenes, with the camera panning from the beginnings of a romantic encounter to a symbolic replacement object, such as a roaring fireplace, a lit candle at first tall and then shorter to show the passage of time, or (in parody) a train entering a tunnel.
In his 2006 film Offside, he critiques traditional norms upheld by the Islamic Republic of Iran, notably by empowering women and challenging established gender roles.