# Dealbreaker screenplay clichés **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 14, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002 "2022-03-14T02:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/121 "2022-03-22T23:43:33Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I’m still waiting for well written scripts where smart characters leave phones behind, or send them to alternative locations, etc. to throw off pursuit. I’ve seen a couple where the _pursuee_ (good-guy spy betrayed by his own agency, or just average guy who’s “tradecraft” is brilliant) realizes the bad guys are tracking his phone. At which point, he tosses the phone into the back of a pickup truck, or onto a bus. The first time I saw this, the protagonist dropped his phone into a woman’s rolling suitcase as she got on a bus. They immediately cut to the Evil Conglomerate Execs looking over the shoulders of the Evil Conglomerate IT Guys… “He’s heading down Perimeter Street, now he’s turning onto the highway…” “He’s on the Trailways bus! Quick, he can’t get off til the next town, we can get there first!” Cut back to Good Guy, calmly strolling down the city street… and me cheering. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/122 "2022-03-24T17:44:22Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > …yet it seems every other episode of CSI was doing it. Reminds me of another CSI dealbreaker cliché, maybe the biggest head-slapper they routinely committed: “Enhance video!” (grainy security cam footage of a car parked 40 yards away is enlarged and sharpened until license plate number can be clearly read). I think I even remember one ep where they enhanced a screen capture image of a guy wearing sunglasses until they got a recognizable view of someone’s face in the sunglasses’ lens reflection. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/123 "2022-03-24T17:52:55Z")
They could also remove disguises in security camera videos to reveal the perpetrators’ true faces. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/124 "2022-03-24T18:09:50Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Reminds me of another CSI dealbreaker cliché, maybe the biggest head-slapper they routinely committed: > > “Enhance video!” (grainy security cam footage of a car parked 40 yards away is enlarged and sharpened until license plate number can be clearly read). > > I think I even remember one ep where they enhanced a screen capture image of a guy wearing sunglasses until they got a recognizable view of someone’s face in the sunglasses’ lens reflection. I’ve never watched CSI, but I’ve seen this one a lot in various cop shows. I love it when they “enhance” to the point where they can read the license plate. Yeah, right. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/125 "2022-03-24T18:21:58Z")
[Best version of enhance](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qlmuy) ever. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/126 "2022-03-24T18:25:03Z")
I don’t know. I kinda like the “enhance” scene in the original **Bladerunner** (1982). That software could enhance _around corners !_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hHwjceFcF2Q/hqdefault.jpg "Blade Runner Enhance Scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHwjceFcF2Q) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/127 "2022-03-24T18:27:11Z")
But you can’t beat “uncrop”. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/128 "2022-03-24T19:41:49Z")
My blood pressure became more manageable once I started calling these shows Science Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/129 "2022-03-24T19:44:25Z")
There was. BBC show, maybe Spooks, that once used “computer enhancement” to extrapolate a man’s face from a pic of the back of his head. See? Science Fiction! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/130 "2022-03-24T19:45:40Z")
I once had a graphic design client who gave me a pic of a girl with her hands covering her face and asked to get rid of the hands in Pshop. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/131 "2022-03-24T19:53:51Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I once had a graphic design client who gave me a pic of a girl with her hands covering her face and asked to get rid of the hands in Pshop… Should have sent this back: [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHoKi9pX4AATvxu.jpg) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHoKi9pX4AATvxu.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/132 "2022-03-24T21:52:50Z")
We haven’t even talked about dog cliches. The heroic dog whose barking alerts everyone of the danger. The heroic dog whose barking annoys everyone and they fail to recognize the danger. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/133 "2022-03-24T22:12:48Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > We haven’t even talked about dog cliches. And of course in supernatural stories, the dog can always sense that the normal-looking person who’s just entered is actually a Demon in Human Form (or whatever). (The cat may sense it too, but never bothers to inform its humans of this disturbing fact.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/134 "2022-03-24T22:12:54Z")
Or the dog who barks at the intruder to alert his family and gets eaten by the T-Rex. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/135 "2022-03-24T22:15:04Z")
The fact that a cat-snarl sound effect accompanies the entrance of any cat in any context. Like the metallic _schwik_ made by any steel blade, no matter the circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/136 "2022-03-24T22:27:29Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Like the metallic _schwik_ made by any steel blade, no matter the circumstance. The _Scream_ franchise turns this into a drinking game. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/137 "2022-03-24T22:34:51Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > (The cat may sense it too, but never bothers to inform its humans of this disturbing fact.) [![](https://i.imgur.com/Kf7GYif.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/Kf7GYif.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/138 "2022-03-24T22:36:18Z")
To ThelmaLou- So true! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/139 "2022-03-24T22:59:01Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > The _Scream_ franchise turns this into a drinking game. See also, audible sharpness: > **[Audible Sharpness - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AudibleSharpness)** > > When weapons with sharp and cutting edges are brandished, a vaguely metallic sound effect will be inserted (along with a bit of Lens Flare) to signify just how lethally sharp the weapon is. The tone of the sharpness, as with musical instruments, … ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/140 "2022-03-25T00:50:57Z")
If the dog _stops_ barking, it takes forever for the family to realize something bad has happened (i.e., Fido is dead). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002.md?page=8)