History Main / TalkingHeads

Compare TwoGamersOnACouch. Compare and contrast the TalkShow. For animation, especially action-focused ones, compare InactionSequence and BattleOfTheStillFrames. If this trope is [[Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad pulled off particularly well,]] it can be an example of MundaneMadeAwesome. See also {{Infodump}}, a prime causer of this trope.

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talkingheads_twopanel_6101.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''Calvin and Hobbes'' goes meta.]]

->''"It's eighty-seven minutes of a raving talking head--mine."''
-->-- '''Spalding Gray''' on the film ''Swimming to Cambodia''

The term was originally coined in the 70s to describe advertisements shot in this style. Talking Heads has since been used as a criticism for media that relied heavily on dialog.

As American Television and Hollywood became more "cerebral" in the early to mid 90s, the media became noticeably more Talking Heady: Complicated police procedural and legal dramas popular at the time relied on interviews and testimonies, while comedy aped the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' and Film/PulpFiction style of rambling, slice-of-life dialog.

* Wally Wood's ''[[http://www.flickr.com/photos/warrenellis/4043479776/ 22 Panels That Always Work]]'' is a guide on how an artist can spice up a potentially visually boring scene of two characters talking. Some of the examples are of the Talking Heads variety, others aren't.

Not to be confused with ''literal'' talking heads. For that, see LosingYourHead. If you're looking for the band that did "Music/OnceInALifetime", [[Music/TalkingHeads here's how you get there.]][[labelnote:Note]][[WaxingLyrical Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down...]][[/labelnote]]

* In his ''WebOriginal/EveryFrameAPainting'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOzD4Sfgag essay]] on Creator/EdgarWright, Tony Zhou expresses heavy criticism of how American comedy films have become too reliant on this trope to deliver jokes, and then shows how Wright uses all the creative tricks to keep things fresh.

Not to be confused with ''literal'' talking heads. For that, see LosingYourHead. If you're looking for the band that did "Music/OnceInALifetime", [[Music/TalkingHeads here's how you get there.]]

Creator/BillWatterson complained that NewspaperComics are moving in this direction, probably due to a combination of CerebusSyndrome and {{Lazy Artist}}s, though ''he'' blames [[ExecutiveMeddling restrictions]] placed on them by newspapers.

* ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'': The epilogue is pretty much Mikiya and Shiki discussing the secrets of the universe for 24 minutes with pretty headshots littering the scenes to attract the viewer's attention.

* When Creator/ChannelFive started as the UK's fifth terrestrial channel, the idea of terrestrial TV had already been rendered obselescent by the advent of satellite and cable. A fifth free-to-view TV station was no longer as exciting as it might have been if there were ''only'' five available channels. Five therefore set about attracting viewers by sensationalism, promising a lot of explicit content. Viewers read this as "free porn". many viewers were not amused when (the occasional AwfulBritishSexComedy aside) the "porn" turned out to be home-made and imported documentaries about the porn business and its stars. There might be a ten or fifteen second establishing scene demonstrating that porn was in fact happening and showing who and what was involved - and then the visual content would switch to "talking heads" who would talk, at length, about the sociological, economic, moral, health, gender-political, feminist, or other, aspect of the business. Viewers got disillusioned quickly.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
%%* ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'' by Creator/MattGroening often has this, with simple full body shots barely differing from each other
* As mentioned, Bill Watterson felt this way about modern newspaper comics, and brought it up once in a strip of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' that had Calvin telling Hobbes how [[AuthorFilibuster his grandfather feels that modern newspaper comics have just become a bunch of "Xeroxed talking heads"]]. The joke, of course, being that [[LampshadeHanging the particular strip consists entirely of images of Calvin and Hobbes' heads]]. Gets even more meta when you look closely at each panel and notice Watterson actually took the time to redraw each one.
%%** Charles Schultz previously did a similar gag in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', with Charlie Brown dismissing the criticism as "preposterous".
[[/folder]]

In animation, this trope was quite prevalently used as a form of LimitedAnimation before the creation of digital art programs became prevalent. Since traditional cell animation required sketching, inking, and then cutting cells out by hand, the process to add subtle movements to characters 'idling' was far more taxing and resource-intensive than it is today. As such, in an attempt to prevent UncannyValley from setting in during an extended talking sequence and to save on time and resources, it was common practice to have a 'zoomed' shot of a character's head while they were talking. Since the advent of digital animation and the ease it puts on resources and attention to detail, this trope has become increasingly rarer for newer animated shows.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'': As a series that follows the adventures of a traveling merchant, much of the tension and conflict largely concerns itself with transactions and agreements. As such, the plot's far more concerned with the finer aspects of economics than action. This extends to Holo's interactions, where the potential antics of an attractive wolf girl and the FanService that implies are downplayed in favor of the witty back and forth chemistry between the leads.

* Lily Tomlin quickly followed Spalding Gray with a film adaptation of her one-woman show ''The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe''. In that, she performs as several different characters, talking about life and society.

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DrKatzProfessionalTherapist'', due to limitations of the SquiggleVision program.

* A lot of the traditionally animated episodes of WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons tended to linger on close-up shots of the character's faces when they started talking. Sometimes it would do this back to back.
* The WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} frequently did this in their traditionally animated episodes as well.
* WesternAnimation/TotalDrama utilizes this through the Confessional, where they sit in front of a camera fixed to one spot. There are also many instances of characters talking being shot from the waist or chest up.
* The works of Creator/SethMacfarlane almost always use these shots in heavy doses. WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy seems to become more and more reliant on them as seasons go by. Although WesternAnimation/AmericanDad often uses far more dynamic angles and shots.

Compare TwoGamersOnACouch. Compare and contrast the TalkShow. For animation, especially action-focused ones, compare InactionSequence and BattleOfTheStillFrames. If this trope is [[TropesAreNotBad pulled off particularly well,]] it can be an example of MundaneMadeAwesome. See also {{Infodump}}, a prime causer of this trope.

* ''Film/TheWidow2020'': The movie begins with people being interviewed about people disappearing in the woods near St. Petersberg.