Page "The Body (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)" Paragraph 26

Katy Stevens notes that the dialogue in " The Body " was recorded with microphones very close to the actors, making variations in their voices — cracks, rises, and whispers — more prominent to the audience, to close the distance between the actors and the viewer.

Conversely, the scene in which Dawn is told of Joyce's death was shot through a large classroom window, muffling Dawn's emotional reaction, to isolate Buffy and Dawn from the class and the audience.

Several moments of silence follow this scene.

Whedon shot the conversation up close several times, filming over-the-shoulder and reaction shots, but eventually went with a more distanced point of view.

Michelle Trachtenberg later said of this effect, " obviously you know in the end result there was no sound and I thought that was actually one of the most brilliant ideas ever had because it allows everyone to sort of attach their own emotional plug into whatever might have happened in your life.

I think it allowed the audience to really connect with Dawn for the first time.