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Helicopters in films where the pilot is injured or shot dead, and the instruments start talking “head up, terrain..terrain..danger, terrain..”
Out of interest what is wrong with that? I've certainly been in a light aircraft that did that. Pilot wasn't shot, but we did land on a private strip that wasn't on the map so got terrain warnings all the way in.
All those shooting scenes where characters are protected from the bullets by hiding behind a car... Good luck with that in real life! 😉
It compliments skin tone – so for as long as the humans in films have skin on them the sets are going to be orange and teal
If your cast is oompa lumpas maybe, or you're filming TOWIE.
I know exactly WHY they do it, it's just really tedious, artificial and incredibly overused.
All those shooting scenes where characters are protected from the bullets by hiding behind a car… Good luck with that in real life! 😉
Here you go (although it does also expose the movie lie of people being able to hit the target with a handgun when stressed 😉
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ENuxT_7SvAE
Database searches for fingerprints or facial recognition etc where the screen flashes an image up of every single record until it finds the one that matches. Like the computer was flicking through an album.
Pretty much any film with a computer hacking scene in it
bikebouy
Subscriber
Noise and explosions in space
Well, both Gravity and Interstellar fixed this gaff and to mighty good effect too…
and then First Man ruined it with Gemini 8 sounding like a turbofan starting up every time something happened to it
All those shooting scenes where characters are protected from the bullets by hiding behind a car… Good luck with that in real life!
I think the point is that the other guy can't aim at you if he can't see you. It's kinda like hiding behind a hedge or bush. It won't stop a bullet, but your chances of being hit are much lower if the other guy can't see you. For example:
Pretty much any film with a computer hacking scene in it
Oh my lordy! How could I have forgotten the one thing that bugs me most in films!
Computer noises! beep bi beep bip beep every single time something appears on screen! Every single sodding film! beep bip bipbi bi beep bippity bip! HAve you EVER seen a computer screen that does this?? I bleeding haven't! Why oh why!?! It's so stupid.
Only exception I know of is those "Unfriended" horror films. They were nonsense, but I loved them purely cos the only thing near to screen beeps was occasional clackety clack of typing.
Pretty much any film with a computer hacking scene in it
Eddie Izzard did a great take on this. "Hacking in to the Pentagon computer... double-click on 'yes'... "
(NSFW warning, contains swears)
DezB
Only exception I know of is those “Unfriended” horror films. They were nonsense, but I loved them purely cos the only thing near to screen beeps was occasional clackety clack of typing.
Matrix Reloaded has a fairly accurate hacking scene. SSH exploit (pause at 00:03) :
More on guns: people using AK 47 or AR 15 and emptying entire magazines into a car or shed for example, only for the goodie to step out and take out the baddie with a snub nose .38 or .22. (or worse... someone takes a round from a AK47 in the leg for example and walks away, that is a big fn calibre and will shatter bones!)
Not only from a distance are these things woefully in accurate but there are plenty of real life reports of people being shot multiple time with .38 or even bigger and managing to flee the scene.
+1 for car chase downshifts, ending phonecalls without saying goodbye or similar, blip blip car alarms.
Short barrels generally means a lot of power loss and much worse accuracy. There are tales* of wet army greatcoats being able to stop the 9mm rounds from a Sterling SMG. I'm not sure I would want to try it, but you get the idea.
One thing that really started to annoy me was the way that travelling is depicted in most Hollywood films' cutaway scenes. It's always in one direction... Cars , trains, you name it, all seem to go left to right.
Matrix Reloaded
Trust the Matrix sequel to provide the gritty realism we so desire. Bip bip bippity sqwauk
Pretty much any film with a computer hacking scene in it
Cue scene of character stating intently at the screen while a reflection of lines of scrolling code can be seen in their glasses. They're always wearing glasses.
More on guns
Do you realise how you "I know more about real gunz than everybody else" people come across?
I'll give you a clue. One of the earliest internet memes, before memes was even a word. You're fat, you're hairy, you're lying on a bed carressing your big rifle*.
*I misremembered - it's a lovely pistol resting on your hairy thigh.
a Sterling SMG
The most inaccurate firearm in the entire Galaxy.......
Computers that beeb and burble: This dates from the days of teletypes, I think, where they made noises (remember the football results one?). A combination of this and low-speed serial transmission that you could hear via short wave radio.
Flashing lights: This goes back all the way to ENIAC I think, where the output from its programs was displayed on a panel with rows of lights that lit up to display numbers in binary. It amuses me that in Alien which is otherwise a great looking film despite its age still their ship computer has a display like this 🙂 Of course entirely understandable; there's no excuse these days.
I think there are a few reasons why computer screen still show rubbish even in an era where everyone uses computers.
1) TV shows still make money with product placement, so they won't show someone using actual Google for free. If Google haven't paid up they'll have a mock-up which looks just like Google but isn't.
2) Movies and TV obviously can't be fully realistic - they have to convey plot points quickly and economically without labouring it via the dialogue, and also they need to show the actor's faces at tense times and so on. So you get (for example) a spaceship scene which is a long shot of the bridge with the crew shitting themselves and the computer is reading out status messages like 'shields at 15%' or similar. If that was a close-up of a computer screen it'd be rubbish to watch. So in real life, you'd input a picture into a facial recognition database and it would say 'thanks for your submission we will notify you when potential matches are found' via a boring text interface and it'd eventually give a load of dodgy looking results which you'd have to sift through. If you did this in a typical TV show it'd totally kill the pace and you'd have to create a scene just to move the plot on. If you just show faces flashing up on a screen then going 'beep beep match found' then in a second you know what's happened, and it hasn't cost the company any money or time.
But this raises a wider point about the meta-language we use in storytelling generally, both visually and in books. It's built from cultural references, shared history and established conventions. If someone in a conversation makes a reference to tumbleweed in the Anglophone world we all know what it means despite most of us not having ever seen a real tumbleweed. Another similar one is the call of (I think) a Red-Tailed Hawk signifying wilderness and desperation, although this is pretty hackneyed now. But there are loads more. When a TV show cuts to a new scene in a different building they *always* show the exterior of the building first so you know what's happening.
But they do similar things with the actual plot as well not just visuals. They build the story in a way we're used to it being built. This is how we are able to half-watch a typical show whilst doing something else and still follow it - we are able to pick out the important bits - e.g. we know when they are doing a recap scene and we will look up from STW for it.
If you watch foreign TV, the conventions, references and tropes are different, which is why it can be fascinating. Once you start looking out for all these tricks and cues you'll see them all over the place. The burbling computer or the status bar (like the virus uploading one), the screeching of tyres to show urgency, the pointing of guns at faces (despite them never going to be fired) and so on are all visual cues. Other things like the maverick cop, the geeky but brilliant young female recruit, the nerd, the old cop a week from retirement, the shouty black police chief, they are all there deliberately to make everything familiar so we can piece the story together without really having to concentrate much.
I love this topic!
Pretty much any film with a computer
hackingscene in it
they are all there deliberately to make everything familiar so we can piece the story together without really having to concentrate much.
No, they are all there so lazy scriptwriters can piece a story together without really having to concentrate much.
In any period piece with a night-scene, there are aways a load of miraculously bright candles already burning in any room entered by the characters. Not only were candles really, really expensive, you've have to be a complete idiot to leave one (never mind a dozen) burning unattended by the curtains in a timber-framed house.
In Goldeneye: the giant satellite dish under the lake in Cuba...…..
Bond films are so ridiculously cartoonish that I wonder why any sensible adult watches them. I recently saw part of one where Bond and the token 'girl' escaped through tunnels while a rocket launched directly above them. Good job they could run quicker than a rocket backdraft moves.. Also, one of the recent ones where the villains are using the London tube network to do whatever. By the magic of modern technology the goodies managed to watch the baddies on CCTV all through the network, but couldn't turn off power to the trains stranding the baddies in a tunnel.
In any period piece with a night-scene, there are aways a load of miraculously bright candles already burning in any room entered by the characters. Not only were candles really, really expensive, you’ve have to be a complete idiot to leave one (never mind a dozen) burning unattended by the curtains in a timber-framed house.
But in Wolf Hall, when they tried to show dimly lit candlelight scenes there were loads of complaints because viewers' screens were so dark.
If your cast is oompa lumpas maybe, or you’re filming TOWIE.
Actually theres another reason. If you've got any visible light sources they'll almost always be orange or giving off a orange cast - table lamps, candles, fire brands depending on the era you're depicting. So even if nothing in the room is orange one of the colours on screen is and that needs to be balanced. Sometimes the set isn't teal either, some of the shoots I've worked on the set is actually a mid grey but once its lit with a mixture of practical lights (light sources that are in vision) and 'natural' light (the 6KW lamps shining in through the windows) and the various other lights that are modelling the space they appear to be teal on screen. You read the room as being painted white but the play of light and shadow means actual colours on the screen will be orange and teal.
Star Wars is kind of hilarious. In a technologically advanced galaxy they have guns where the projectile is so slow (and bright red) you can see it coming and dodge...
blip blip car alarms.
Ubiquitous in the US, I don't think I've been in a car in recent times that didn't go "blip blip" when you lock it.
I think there are a few reasons why computer screen still show rubbish even in an era where everyone uses computers.
Honorary shout-out here to Mr Robot, all the tech they use is real. I read an interview with the director(?) once, he said that if a situation arose where the tech and the plot clashed, they amended the plot.
Bond films are so ridiculously cartoonish that I wonder why any sensible adult watches them.
He who is tired of Bond, is tired of life.
Samuel Johnson 1777.
No, they are all there so lazy scriptwriters can piece a story together without really having to concentrate much.
A bit of both, but it's also so the audience doesn't have to concentrate much. Realistic romance novels are available, but the public still massively buys the stupidly clichéd ones.
Re hacking. It also occurs to me that they don't want realistic hacking portrayed as people might actually be able to learn from it. Likewise forensic science. I suspect there are deliberate mistakes in stuff like CSI to throw people off...
Any film* or tv programme which to tries to include the characters playing football. Just don't. It always looks pathetic.
* Except Escape to Victory which is of course brilliant. Especially Pele's overhead kick with a broken arm.
Bond films are so ridiculously cartoonish that I wonder why any sensible adult watches them.
They're shit, but they're Storyville compared to Fast & Furious films.
Another one - why, when there's a red alert, does everything go dark and red? I mean the 'red' part of red alert is surely metaphorical? Why, when people presumably have to rush around doing things on an emergency basis, would you dim the lights?
Another one – why, when there’s a red alert, does everything go dark and red?
...because if they went to purple alert instead it'd mean changing the bulb?
Star Wars is kind of hilarious. In a technologically advanced galaxy they have guns where the projectile is so slow (and bright red) you can see it coming and dodge…
But shirley most Hollywood gunfights have guns that fire bullets that travel so slowly that hero has time to duck down behind a wall before the bullet ptwang's against said wall (as if baddie had actually aimed to hit the wall rather than the hero)?
Star Wars is kind of hilarious. In a technologically advanced galaxy they have guns where the projectile is so slow (and bright red) you can see it coming and dodge…
Tell that to Greedo.
That pause before someone kills the hero. Or doesn't cos they paused, or monologued and gave the hero a chance to grab a nearby pistol/knife/piece of glass/shoe/hamster and defend themselves with it.
It also occurs to me that they don’t want realistic hacking portrayed as people might actually be able to learn from it
Finding information about hacking isnt exactly overly difficult. Anyone so motivated could get started in less time than it takes to watch a movie for inspiration.
Bond films are so ridiculously cartoonish that I wonder why any sensible adult watches them.
They’re shit, but they’re Storyville compared to Fast & Furious films.
Everyone agrees that F&F films are rubbish. People seem to take Bond seriously, as if they mean something. They have news reports about Bond films, and media discussions about the next Bond actor. Concerts of Bond music. Mind you, they do that for Star Wars as well. 😁
here is a good one:
Frogs going "ribbit ribbit" there is only one species of frog in the world that does this - the rest go "croak" Where does that one species live? Hollywood! But now everyone thinks all frogs go "ribbit ribbit" so anytime you need a frong sound it has to be Ribbit ribbit not croak !
Finding information about hacking isnt exactly overly difficult. Anyone so motivated could get started in less time than it takes to watch a movie for inspiration.
But many people might assume it's hard until they see it done realistically in a movie. By making hacking so ludicrous in movies it preserves a bit of mystique I think.
The bomb ALWAYS gets disarmed with one second to go. Oh! the tension...
But many people might assume it’s hard until they see it done realistically in a movie. By making hacking so ludicrous in movies it preserves a bit of mystique I think.
Except, it's rather the opposite isn't it. Hacking in movies is portrayed as easy, any teenager can do it whilst simultaneously being fellated by Angelina Jolie and having a gun pointed at their head by John Travolta. "Nope, I can't do it" said no on-screen hacker ever.
I'm fairly confident that it'd be possible to portray something if not 100% accurate then at least vaguely plausible rather than outright Hollywood ludicrousness. It's the difference between making a phone call by dialling 555- and making a call using a banana.
Hacking in movies is portrayed as easy, any teenager can do it
Only in the ridiculous fantasy sense, in the same way Superman finds it easy to fly.
If they showed some kid Googling for scripts, that'd link it to something that you could actually do yourself. The also never show bombs being made from common household ingredints either. They just show that some really clever person could do it, but you're never as clever as that person cos they are a plot device.
Movies and TV shows generally aren't about realism, of course.
there is only one species of frog in the world that does this
Hahha, Yes! the pacific Tree Frog. it does have a very distinctive call. Same as the Wilhelm Scream
The also never show bombs being made from common household ingredints either. They just show that some really clever person could do it, but you’re never as clever as that person cos they are a plot device.
MacGyver, quite routinely, used to omit one chemical or ingredient from the "what I happened to make with random shit lying around" for fear that people would copy it. They were OK with some of the less dangerous stuff - Mythbusters have proved a few MacGyver-isms over the years - but bangy things usually missed one key component somewhere along the line.
Why do people on screen never get their sleeves caught on door handles?
Why do men never catch their bits in their zip when pulling trousers on?
After sex, why is there always a handy sheet to wrap around the nakedness?
Hacking in movies is portrayed as easy, any teenager can do it whilst simultaneously being fellated by Angelina Jolie and having a gun pointed at their head by John Travolta.
It was a good film, even if it wasn’t Angelina Jolie in that case.
All those shooting scenes where characters are protected from the bullets by hiding behind a car… Good luck with that in real life!
In real life your supposed to be behind the engine block as it stands some chance of stopping them.
After sex, why is there always never a handy sheet beaker to wrap around the nakedness? dunk your junk in?
That bit in never ending story where there was a 200 foot long golden retriever. That could fly. Totally unrealistic.
A movie that portrayed hacking as it actually is would probably be quite dull for the majority of the population to watch.
Okay so I just watched...
...oh dammit I just figured it out.
Except, it’s rather the opposite isn’t it. Hacking in movies is portrayed as easy, any teenager can do it whilst simultaneously being fellated by Angelina Jolie and having a gun pointed at their head by John Travolta. “Nope, I can’t do it” said no on-screen hacker ever.
Ow, mixing movies!
But you're wrong. Merlin in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
False. WarGames is awesome.A movie that portrayed hacking as it actually is would probably be quite dull for the majority of the population to watch.
A movie that portrayed hacking as it actually is would probably be quite dull for the majority of the population to watch.
False. WarGames is awesome.
Given your username I don't think you're in a position to speak on behalf of the majority of the population on this point 😉
Submarines that ping... They listen using a hydrophone array which is towed behind the ship, it doesnt make a sound.
Also in the film The Rock, sean connery climbs in through the fan and unlocks the door from the inside, why did he not just do that when he escaped Alcatraz the first time instead of climbing out through the fan?
Passive sonar = no ping.
Active sonar = ping.
Yeah, but as subs have got more quieter, active is making a comeback. You can also still use active to range if you want to make sure.
You can also still use active to range if you want to make sure.
One.
Ping.
Only.
Why do people on screen never get their sleeves caught on door handles?
Why do men never catch their bits in their zip when pulling trousers on?
After sex, why is there always a handy sheet to wrap around the nakedness?
Great first point see also coffee going everywhere but your mouth, thinking you've beeped the car unlocked only to find when you wrench it open you practically rip your arm off and tripping over NOTHING.
Point two though never happened to me i just fold it away carefully?
Point three its the L shaped nature of the sheet that confuses me. Do they jump up and get it out of the cupboard?where do you even buy a Postcoital modesty sheet in left or right configuration.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Postcoital+modesty+sheet&ref=nb_sb_noss
Sadly no serious hits on Amazon for Postcoital modesty sheets. I have to assume that they are a custom order from somewhere, or are made by specially trained nuns in a convent in Switzerland.
Women who keep their bra on during sex. Or put it back on after.
Women who keep their bra on during sex.
Exabtky. Obviously that’s the mans turn to wear the bra.
It was a good film, even if it wasn’t Angelina Jolie in that case.
I may be mixing my metaphors for comedic effect.
False. WarGames is awesome.
See also, Sneakers.
Both films have a good degree of... shall we say "creative licence" but both do a lot of things right. I think my favourite line in War Games is when Lightman has his computer wardialling, Jennifer asks him "isn't that expensive?" and he replies simply "oh, there's ways around that." Glorious.
For all their faults, they both portray the hacker mindset beautifully. As opposed to Hackers, which needs to die in a fire aside from the gratuitous nudity scene.
Recently I've noticed that when someone receives a text it's the first text they've had from that person, there's never any conversation history on the phone screen.
More of a TV show thing, but my newest one is how serenely silent MRI scanners are in use...
Mine's numberplates. Specifically the wrong format or typeface for whatever country they're supposed to be in. Marvel are utterly terrible at this.
Chase, or just travel, scenes that make no sense bug me as well. See Trainspotting 2 or The Hitman's Bodyguard.
Talking of Trainspotting, TGV somehow in Kent heading for the Eurotunnel in Mission Impossible. Far more irritating than the concept of flying a helicopter into it.
Hordes of bad guys swarming the hero and then attacking him/her one at a time. See all 3 blade films for details.
Punches that send the recipient flying through the air. If you can punch that hard then you’ve killed the punchee instantly and turned your knuckles into dust.
The text overlay that announces where they are: such as Paris, France. As opposed to what? Paris,Tennessee?
Done entirely for the benefit of idiots. Stop it.
No, done entirely for the benefit of people in the US that may or may not have a grasp of geography. For example, the US audience may assume that Newark is in New York State, instead of, for example, Lincolnshite. Same with Ipswich (Suffolk or Western Australian?) and a bunch of other places.
Thsi goes back to the other points about making things really, really simple for people to pick up on and not wanting the audience to have to think too much about details. Which is an annoyance in itself.
You lot are so going to love Hobbs and Shaw...
No, done entirely for the benefit of people in the US that may or may not have a grasp of geography.
Its not a 'grasp of geography'. Anywhere in the New World largely has place names borrowed from the old world. So if you pick any destination for your film to travel to the chances are theres a town/city with the same name in the US
as opposed to what? Paris,Tennessee?
Or Paris, Texas maybe. (Or Paris Hilton)
When they ping off bullets from a magnum in one hand. Those things kick like a cannon and are horribly deafening.
It's also just how Americans routinely refer to places. Ask someone where they're from and they'll tell you "Louisville, Kentucky" rather than just "Louisville" (unless they're from somewhere else). It's not hard to see why either, what if you're from Springfield?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield
As opposed to what? Paris,Tennessee?
Paris, Texas.
When cars crash into anything.....but especially through buildings and just keep going as if nothing has happened.
Meanwhile, the building / wall / barrier / whatever has disintegrated.
In reality, a moderate speed impact on a garden shed will likely immobilise most vehicles when the airbag goes off.
Willard
Same with Ipswich (Suffolk or Western Australian or Queensland?)
FIFY 🙂
Last night I watched the first John Wick film. So how come he spent the majority of the film killing every bad guy in sight when out numbered and outgunned, yet the whole film is based on his revenge for the killing of his dog by 4 lightly armed punks who manage to get one over on him without him even putting up a fight? On the evidence of the rest of the film he should of been able to kick their asses with one arm tied behind his back.
On the subject of number plates, what about cars with none fitted? Often see it on TV nowadays. Isn't there a number plate equivalent of the "555" telephone number?
I fired a 38 Special in an underground shooting range once and even with ear protection it was deafening. So when you see people shooting indoors anywhere .... its nonsense.
Places named San Francisco:
San Francisco, Córdoba, Argentina
San Francisco, Pichilemu, Chile
San Francisco Glacier, Chile
San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile
San Francisco, Antioquia, Colombia
San Francisco, Cundinamarca, Colombia
San Francisco, Putumayo, Colombia
San Francisco de Dos Ríos District, San José Canton, Costa Rica
San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic
San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
San Francisco, El Petén, Guatemala
San Francisco Zapotitlán, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala
San Francisco El Alto, Totonicapán, Guatemala
San Francisco, Atlántida, Honduras
San Francisco, Lempira, Honduras
San Francisco de Opalaca, Honduras
San Francisco de los Romo, Aguascalientes, Mexico
San Francisco del Mezquital, Durango, Mexico
San Francisco, Nayarit, Mexico
San Francisco Cahuacúa, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Cajonos, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Chapulapa, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Chindúa, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco del Mar, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Huehuetlán, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Ixhuatán, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Jaltepetongo, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Lachigoló, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Logueche, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Nuxaño, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Ozolotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Sola, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Telixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Teopan, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Tlapancingo, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Coacalco, State of Mexico, Mexico
San Francisco Tetlanohcan, Tlaxcala, Mexico
San Francisco de Campeche, Mexico
San Francisco de Cuapa, Nicaragua
San Francisco, Panamá, Panama
San Francisco, Veraguas, Panama
San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines
San Francisco, Bohol, Philippines
San Francisco, Cebu, Philippines
San Francisco, Quezon, Philippines
San Francisco, San Pablo, Philippines
San Francisco, Southern Leyte, Philippines
San Francisco, Surigao del Norte, Philippines
San Francisco, Bilbao, Spain
San Francisco Station, Madrid, Spain
San Francisco, Colorado, United States
San Francisco, Minnesota, United States
San Francisco Peaks, Arizona, United States
San Francisco volcanic field, Arizona, United States
Mission San Francisco Solano, California, United States
Mission San Francisco de Potano, Florida, United States
San Francisco Plantation House, New Orleans, United States
San Francisco, Puerto Rico, United States
San Francisco de Yare, Miranda, Venezuela
I can't believe they shot up a Saab 900 in the Heat street shoot out. Bastards.
Why are forests always brightly lit at night?
the “555” telephone number?
In the uk theres a batch of regular geographic telephone numbers set aside for film use so you can feature normal phone numbers for the city your drama is set in on screen without fear of smart arses phoning up some innocent. Weird its never occurred to the epicentre of movie production to have not considered that.