Tropescilloscope: Framing Device

Story within another story... (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Death Seeker Four-Temperament Ensemble Historical Hero Upgrade Genre Throwback Dumb Blonde Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Playing Gertrude Stylistic Suck Not So Above It All Car Fu Stepford Smiler No Name Given Those Two Bad Guys Cloudcuckoolander Dull Surprise Meaningful Name Wicked Cultured Sinister Minister Authority Equals Asskicking Redemption Equals Death The Atoner Spiritual Successor Offscreen Teleportation Big Applesauce The Stoner Rich Bitch I'm a Humanitarian Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Kill 'em All The Great Depression Instant Death Bullet Hell Is That Noise Mama Bear The Ditz B-Movie Adaptational Attractiveness Abusive Parents Unreliable Narrator Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Spell My Name with an "S" Well-Intentioned Extremist Dramatic Gun Cock Book-Ends The X of Y Getting Crap Past the Radar Eiffel Tower Effect The Ace Humiliation Conga My God, What Have I Done? Horror Comedy Tranquil Fury Affably Evil Chewing the Scenery Take a Third Option Adaptational Badass Drill Sergeant Nasty Developing Doomed Characters Central Theme Star-Crossed Lovers Morality Pet Due to the Dead Military and Warfare Films Parental Substitute Straight Gay Crazy Jealous Guy Villain with Good Publicity Artistic License – Biology Apocalypse How Fun with Acronyms Psycho for Hire Super Strength Dark Action Girl Half the Man He Used to Be Cowboy Cop Unwitting Instigator of Doom Deus ex Machina Laser-Guided Karma Distracted by the Sexy You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Chiaroscuro Knight Templar Narrator Index of Film Westerns Male Gaze Sports Stories Empathic Environment Retcon Stealth Hi/Bye Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Award-Bait Song Real Life Dissonant Serenity Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Ripped from the Headlines MacGuffin The Film of the Book Faking the Dead Brainless Beauty Romantic False Lead Not Even Bothering with the Accent Bad "Bad Acting" Imagine Spot Older Than They Look Improbable Weapon User NO INDOOR VOICE Historical In-Joke Hypocritical Humor Beauty Is Never Tarnished Beta Couple Room Full of Crazy Break the Haughty Small Name, Big Ego Evil Cannot Comprehend Good The Bad Guy Wins The Starscream Children Are Innocent Celebrity Paradox Evil vs. Evil Red Shirt Not Quite Dead A Date with Rosie Palms Actually Pretty Funny Malevolent Masked Men Retirony After the End Black Comedy Accidental Murder In Name Only Freeze-Frame Bonus Sadistic Choice Non-Indicative Name Plot Hole Arc Words Ironic Echo All Just a Dream Disney Death Cat Scare Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Dramedy Sci-Fi Horror Meaningful Echo Scenery Gorn Adaptational Heroism Fiery Redhead Martial Arts Movie Danny Peary Cult Movies List It Will Never Catch On Action Prologue Obviously Evil The Remake Badass Boast folderlabel Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Alliterative Name Bolivian Army Ending As You Know Unusual Euphemism This Is Gonna Suck Artistic License – Physics Not So Stoic The Vamp Amoral Attorney Fate Worse than Death Depraved Bisexual Meaningful Background Event The Faceless Darkest Hour World of Ham Villain Song Handicapped Badass Disney Villain Death Woman Scorned Insane Troll Logic Australian Movies All There in the Manual Camera Abuse Based on a True Story Betty and Veronica The Ghost Face–Heel Turn Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Made of Iron Parental Abandonment All There in the Script Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Bond One-Liner For the Evulz Catch-Phrase Brick Joke Reality Is Unrealistic Expy "Shaggy Dog" Story Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Defrosting Ice Queen Ms. Fanservice The Musical Hypocrite Bland-Name Product Pyrrhic Victory Corrupt Corporate Executive Italian Films Hate Sink Ambiguously Gay Animal Title Index Anachronic Order Not So Different Chekhov's Skill Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Dying Moment of Awesome Rule of Cool The Lancer No Celebrities Were Harmed Every Car Is a Pinto Mind Screw Mundane Made Awesome Disproportionate Retribution I Need a Freaking Drink Breaking the Fourth Wall Police are Useless Crapsack World Arranged Marriage Black Best Friend Mistaken for Gay Everyone Has Standards Badass Longcoat Karma Houdini Not What It Looks Like Fish out of Water Totally Radical There Is No Kill Like Overkill Race Against the Clock Anti-Hero Shut Up, Hannibal! Laughing Mad Reality Has No Subtitles Determinator aka: The Determinator Superhero What You Are in the Dark Video Credits Failed a Spot Check Bar Brawl N-Word Privileges Call-Forward Our Vampires Are Different Off with His Head! Does This Remind You of Anything? Would Hit a Girl Gory Discretion Shot Ambiguous Ending Offscreen Moment of Awesome Music Stories Corpsing I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Logo Joke Actor Allusion Drives Like Crazy All Men Are Perverts Serious Business Conspicuous CG Awesome, but Impractical Deconstruction Affectionate Parody Mighty Whitey Overprotective Dad Cool Car Femme Fatale Kick the Son of a Bitch Public Domain Feature Films Pragmatic Adaptation Reasonable Authority Figure Domestic Abuse Eagleland Chekhov's Gun Monumental Damage Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Parental Neglect Heel Realization It Can Think Vacation Films Unspoken Plan Guarantee Suspiciously Similar Substitute Country Matters Documentary Heroic Sacrifice Loophole Abuse Rule of Symbolism Bring My Brown Pants The Cavalry Adaptation Dye-Job Let's Get Dangerous! Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Insult Backfire Did Not Get the Girl Ascended Extra Beard of Evil Names to Run Away from Really Fast Homage Genre Savvy Serial Killer Disappeared Dad Exact Words Gainax Ending Self-Deprecation Reality Ensues Fourth Date Marriage Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Rule of Funny Red Herring Dramatic Irony The Dragon Freudian Excuse Psychological Thriller Easily Forgiven Evil Counterpart Kubrick Stare Screw the Rules, I Have Money! As the Good Book Says... Foregone Conclusion Hair-Trigger Temper Say My Name Stock Footage The Cameo And Starring Undying Loyalty Disguised in Drag Rated M for Manly Death by Sex It's All About Me Poor Communication Kills Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? The Dog Bites Back Here We Go Again! Title Drop Mooks No OSHA Compliance Asshole Victim Bond Villain Stupidity Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Adaptation Distillation Double Entendre Anyone Can Die Only a Flesh Wound Pretty in Mink As Himself Bloodier and Gorier Wham Line Twist Ending Woman in White The Mafia Big Fancy House Early Installment Weirdness Interrupted Suicide Historical Villain Upgrade Victoria's Secret Compartment Curb-Stomp Battle A God Am I The Mole Novelization Jerkass Refuge in Audacity In the Back Cool Old Lady An Aesop Sexy Discretion Shot Bait-and-Switch Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Dropped a Bridge on Him The '60s Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Anguished Declaration of Love Faux Affably Evil Product Placement Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Alas, Poor Villain Dwindling Party Hero Antagonist Punch-Clock Villain Mad Scientist Gratuitous English Immune to Bullets Broken Aesop Big Bad Extreme Doormat timeperiod Fire-Forged Friends Guile Hero Casting Gag Unusually Uninteresting Sight Lock and Load Montage Big "NO!" Black and Gray Morality Intrepid Reporter He Who Fights Monsters Scenery Porn Brother–Sister Incest Heterosexual Life-Partners Crazy-Prepared Hero of Another Story As Long as It Sounds Foreign I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Fanservice Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene British Films Genre Shift Evil Plan Riddle for the Ages Wretched Hive Leaning on the Fourth Wall Demonic Possession Idiot Ball Moment Killer Shower Scene Never Found the Body 20 Minutes into the Future Jerkass Has a Point Adaptation Expansion Destination Defenestration Spared by the Adaptation Character Development Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Auto Erotica Anachronism Stew Missing Mom The Hero Dies Skewed Priorities Kids Are Cruel Attempted Rape Villain Opening Scene Death by Adaptation War Is Hell And I Must Scream Anti-Villain Epic Movie Manic Pixie Dream Girl Calling the Old Man Out Epic Fail The Power of Love Outrun the Fireball Mexican Standoff Heroes Want Redheads Leitmotif Men Are the Expendable Gender Improvised Weapon I Did What I Had to Do BFG Blatant Lies Soft Glass Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Blackmail Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Artistic License – History Bad Boss Red Right Hand Drugs Are Bad German Films Tagline Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Get Out! Sacrificial Lion Plucky Comic Relief Good Is Not Nice Dark Reprise Never Trust a Trailer Setting Update Pragmatic Villainy Silent Movie Adults Are Useless Whole Plot Reference Once More, with Clarity! Even Evil Has Standards Improbable Aiming Skills Fan Disservice You Killed My Father Slasher Movie The Quiet One Pimped-Out Dress Foreshadowing Badass Bookworm Never My Fault Fatal Family Photo Left the Background Music On Film Noir Ass Shove Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Mystery and Detective Films Department of Redundancy Department Does Not Like Shoes Facial Horror Only Sane Man Blood from the Mouth The Sociopath Honor Before Reason Love at First Sight Cat Fight Age Lift Took a Level in Jerkass Major Injury Underreaction Alpha Bitch Parental Incest Bilingual Bonus Motor Mouth All for Nothing Random Events Plot Famous Last Words Fainting Fatal Flaw The Voiceless All Girls Want Bad Boys Dirty Cop Jerk Jock Those Two Guys Stalker with a Crush Bottomless Magazines Neck Snap Intergenerational Friendship Hong Kong Films You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Dogged Nice Guy Put on a Bus Meet Cute The End... Or Is It? Bullying a Dragon Redshirt Army Author Appeal May–December Romance Token Minority My Greatest Failure Artistic License – Military Big Brother Instinct Soundtrack Dissonance Pay Evil unto Evil Really Gets Around Precision F-Strike Arch-Enemy Wrong Genre Savvy Fantastic Racism Made of Explodium Despair Event Horizon Informed Ability Adorkable The Load Together in Death Shout-Out Fake Shemp Fantasy Films A Father to His Men "Well Done, Son!" Guy Naked People Are Funny Catapult Nightmare Maybe Ever After Death by Irony Black Comedy Rape Slashed Throat Television Movie Index Real Life Writes the Plot Exactly What It Says on the Tin Closed Circle Up to Eleven Dies Wide Open Make It Look Like an Accident Dark Is Not Evil Jerk with a Heart of Gold The Big Guy Impaled with Extreme Prejudice "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Be Careful What You Wish For Recycled IN SPACE! Slap-Slap-Kiss Bald of Evil Funny Background Event Oh, Crap! Smoking Is Cool Big Eater Funny Foreigner Aluminum Christmas Trees Flashback Love Triangle Lighter and Softer Off-into-the-Distance Ending Friend to All Children Enemy Mine Police Brutality Chuck Cunningham Syndrome My Beloved Smother Mr. Exposition Kill It with Fire Covers Always Lie Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Crucified Hero Shot Face Death with Dignity Badass Grandpa The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Papa Wolf Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Action Girl Deadpan Snarker The Smurfette Principle Aside Glance Black Dude Dies First Dark and Troubled Past Ominous Latin Chanting The Dreaded "Awesome McCool" Name Mood Whiplash Flipping the Bird Dutch Angle Beware the Nice Ones Psychopathic Manchild Dual Wielding Have a Gay Old Time Ungrateful Bastard Card-Carrying Villain Artistic License – Law Broken Pedestal Paper-Thin Disguise A.I. Is a Crapshoot Sanity Slippage Roaring Rampage of Revenge Fat Bastard Canon Foreigner Contrived Coincidence Shirtless Scene Important Haircut The '70s Comically Missing the Point Creative Closing Credits Leave the Camera Running Pet the Dog Shipper on Deck Hope Spot Diabolus ex Machina Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Broken Bird Advertised Extra Earn Your Happy Ending Truth in Television Smug Snake Author Avatar Mythology Gag Race Lift Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism The Oner Line-of-Sight Name Green-Eyed Monster Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Silence Is Golden Adaptational Villainy Sole Survivor No-Sell Spanner in the Works The Chick The Stinger Villainous Breakdown Hoist by His Own Petard Creepy Child Cain and Abel Extremely Short Timespan Shell-Shocked Veteran Creator Cameo Russian Films Adult Fear Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Worthy Opponent The Place Canadian Movies Villain Ball Hooker with a Heart of Gold Romantic Comedy Chekhov's Gunman Rape as Drama Retired Badass Vomit Discretion Shot Killed Mid-Sentence Japanese Films Time Skip An Arm and a Leg Final Girl Animated Credits Opening The '80s What the Hell, Hero? Bowdlerise Agony of the Feet Politically Incorrect Villain Daylight Horror Deal with the Devil Driven to Suicide Decoy Protagonist Sassy Black Woman O.O.C. Is Serious Business Christmas Movies Index Manly Tears Cool Shades The Alleged Car Too Dumb to Live Fanservice Extra Villain Protagonist One-Man Army Curse Cut Short Demoted to Extra Cluster F-Bomb Bunny-Ears Lawyer Your Cheating Heart French Films Implacable Man Armor-Piercing Question Irony Hidden Depths Better to Die than Be Killed Man on Fire Bury Your Gays Cold-Blooded Torture Our Zombies Are Different Obstructive Bureaucrat No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Shown Their Work One Steve Limit Karmic Death Spiteful Spit Blood Knight Madness Mantra No Ending Very Loosely Based on a True Story Becoming the Mask Fingore Back from the Dead Ambiguous Disorder Zombie Stories Evil-Detecting Dog Biopic Jitter Cam Deliberately Monochrome Sealed Evil in a Can Revenge Big-Bad Ensemble Brutal Honesty Big Damn Heroes Double-Meaning Title Humans Are Bastards The Alcoholic One-Word Title Thriller I Have Your Wife Air-Vent Passageway Would Hurt a Child Heroic BSoD Coming-of-Age Story The Casanova Ship Tease Stuff Blowing Up Adapted Out Tempting Fate Historical-Domain Character Gone Horribly Right Works Set in World War II Badass in a Nice Suit Unresolved Sexual Tension Butt-Monkey Mugging the Monster Took a Level in Badass Determinator Ghost Fiction Downer Ending Even Evil Has Loved Ones Grievous Bottley Harm The Smart Guy The '50s The '90s Nothing Is Scarier Bound and Gagged From Nobody to Nightmare Groin Attack Rewatch Bonus Evil Is Petty Eyepatch of Power Married to the Job Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Amusing Injuries Eldritch Abomination La Résistance Eureka Moment Daddy's Girl True Companions Male Frontal Nudity Dirty Coward Babies Ever After Overly Long Gag Antagonist Title What Happened to the Mouse? Action Genre Scare Chord The Reveal Didn't Think This Through Frame-Up Taking the Bullet The Un-Reveal Running Gag Lampshade Hanging Hollywood Darkness She Cleans Up Nicely Bloodless Carnage Defiant to the End Bittersweet Ending Only Known by Their Nickname Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Ax-Crazy Foil Credits Gag Happily Married Throwing Your Sword Always Works Rasputinian Death She's Got Legs Light Is Not Good '80s Hair Peek-a-Boo Corpse Suspiciously Specific Denial Break the Cutie Re-Cut Dirty Old Man Nice Hat Boom, Headshot! Manchild Tap on the Head Insistent Terminology Sequel Escalation Death of a Child Training Montage Vampire Fiction Evil Is Hammy The Brute Belligerent Sexual Tension No Antagonist Sequel Hook Yandere Dressing as the Enemy Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Drowning My Sorrows Those Wacky Nazis Camp Gay Bare Your Midriff "The Reason You Suck" Speech Show Within a Show Red Eyes, Take Warning Loads and Loads of Characters Neck Lift Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Accidental Misnaming Gender Flip Annoying Younger Sibling Translation Convention Only in It for the Money Artistic License – Geography Pre-Mortem One-Liner Shoot the Shaggy Dog Wham Shot Punny Name Combat Pragmatist Word of God Vitriolic Best Buds Hollywood Law Berserk Button For Want of a Nail Reckless Gun Usage The Lost Lenore More Dakka Adaptation Name Change Bloody Hilarious Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Last-Name Basis Match Cut Take That! Storming the Castle Pretty Little Headshots Large Ham Captain Ersatz Death Glare Manipulative Bastard Evil Laugh Posthumous Character From Bad to Worse Trailers Always Spoil Gorn It's Personal The Hero Horror Films Scary Black Man Properly Paranoid Mercy Kill How We Got Here Guns Akimbo Eye Scream Almost Kiss Deliberate Values Dissonance Body Horror Noodle Incident Cool Old Guy Darker and Edgier Market-Based Title Same Language Dub A Minor Kidroduction Bi the Way Suddenly SHOUTING! Nice Guy Cruel and Unusual Death Taking You with Me Call-Back Bavarian Fire Drill Captain Obvious Gilligan Cut Evil Brit Naïve Newcomer Kick the Dog Continuity Nod Grey and Gray Morality Cassandra Truth Chase Scene The Stoic Science Fiction Films Only One Name Not Using the "Z" Word Evil Sounds Deep Jump Scare Henpecked Husband Slasher Smile Expository Hairstyle Change Protagonist Title Damsel in Distress Rule of Three Sir Swears-a-Lot Your Head A-Splode Film Noir Index You Have Failed Me Film Series Red Oni, Blue Oni Animal Motifs Cool Guns Badass Normal The Chessmaster Wounded Gazelle Gambit Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Gold Digger Early-Bird Cameo Obfuscating Stupidity Stealth Pun Costume Porn Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Composite Character Toplessness from the Back Batman Gambit Establishing Character Moment And the Adventure Continues Needs Wiki Magic Love Vomit Indiscretion Shot In Medias Res Abhorrent Admirer Knife Nut Action Survivor Mr. Fanservice Heel–Face Turn An Axe to Grind He Knows Too Much No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Greater-Scope Villain Visual Pun Big Bad Duumvirate Artistic License – Gun Safety Rousing Speech The Bully Five-Man Band Framing Device