ABSTRACT
Picturebooks are comprised, initially with text and images as represented sequential enunciation. These, however, are achieved using graphic ellipsis: this refers to that related to enunciation, which representation avoids, due to the selective nature of the frame and the discontinuity between images required for serialization. Off-screen is a spatial ellipsis which excludes a scenic portion (characters, decoration, sound or atmosphere) which is signifi cant for the story (e.g., Gómez 2003). Strictly speaking, any unframed reality would remain off-screen with regard to the selected one; however, in this case the concealment of the known or knowable that can have a relationship with the story is the only aspect of interest. As such, it would be more appropriate to speak of a process of metonymy with regard to the representation of the whole with one part, since in off-screen the blank space in itself is not used but rather how it relates to what has been selected. In addition to verifying the succinctness of means obvious throughout the selection, an attempt will be made to defi ne off-screen, to ascertain how it is established and to determine under what conditions it has greater narrative effect.
