I always figured the glasses-on-and-off thing was because you can’t be lighting up cigarettes every five minutes anymore, but you still need something to do with your hands.
Imagin you had a perfect grasp of the English language – except you somehow didn’t know the words “With,” “All,” “Due,” or “Respect.”
You’d conclude that “withallduerespect” means “look, I think you’re an idiot,” right?
Nah. With liquid in the cups, an actor could spill it on their clothing in a bad take, or a stagehand could knock it over on the set. That’s why they avoid using actual liquids as much as possible.
This is reminding me of the scene in the MST3K episode Time Chasers where the Secret Agent Boss is explaining the situation to the Secret Agent and the Girl.
The director chose to film the entire ten-minute scene in a middle shot. The poor actor playing Secret Agent Boss had nothing to do with his hands, so he spent the entire time RUBBING HIS GLASSES WITH A HANDKERCHIEF.
Needless to say, Mike and the bots were absolutely merciless.
“DAMN…DIRTY…GLASSES!!!”
On shows that want to be more risque, they’ll start a scene with a couple in bed just finishing an act of sex. They break apart, have a bit of dialog, then hop out of bed… and they’re both wearing underwear. :dubious:
Horatio Caine, anyone?
YEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
I wear glasses, and tend to take them off when talking with someone. I feel I’m socially hiding behind them, and would rather be more “there”, and I feel that way talking with someone with my glasses removed. Also I just get tired of wearing glasses on my face constantly.
One would hope that, at some point, he milked the giant cow.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MilkingTheGiantCow
Same. I have glasses at work for screen-based use. If I’m talking to someone I take them off as everything beyond normal screen distance is slightly blurred.
As interpreted by Jim Carrey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo
Indeed. I couldn’t help noticing that in Sex and the City, while having a wild old time in the stables with some hunk, Samantha never took her vest off. Sensible girl - she could have caught her death of cold.
Another annoyance is the “I’m so angry, I’ll just sweep everything off every available horizontal surface and collapse in a heap” trope.
Or, here’s a tip for spotting the murderer: who is the first person to say (far too early) something like “What do the police think?” or “Who do they suspect?”
And of course, the time-honoured - “But there’s one thing I don’t understand, Inspector…”
The best thing you can do for an inexperienced actor is give them something to do with their hands. Make it unobtrusive and consonant with their character.