I have noticed more and more instances in movies and tv where you are expected to be able to read a text message or a written note. I have fairly good eyes but unless I was watching on a HUGE screen, I can’t usually read the message or they show it so fast, I don’t have time to read it all the way through. Thank goodness for Pause!
Yeah, I agree with this. I blame it on me getting old and kids today having spent most of their lives with screens being able to parse on-screen text waaay more quickly than I can.
Now, I’m going to go get an onion for my belt and yell at clouds.
I’ve noticed this as well, while watching movies on my tablet. I’ve gone back, paused, and zoomed in to read what was originally shown for a half-second.
“This is just a stunt text message. Unpause the damn movie.”
If the film makers wanted to be kind, they’d include the message text in the closed captioning.
I really hate this too. Happens a LOT on tv shows I watch. Even if I paused, I still wouldn’t be able to read them without getting up from the couch. I “only” have a 42-inch TV.
I don’t mind if characters text but if the content of the text is integral to the plot and the only way to know the text is to read it, that’s terrible writing.
Some do. I use closed captioning all the time. Often it is excellent, sometimes only fair.
Scribblecore is the new Mumblecore
Great, right now I can read them okay, but that’s something to look forward to as I age. They do already make text extra large, especially on computer monitors.
I sometimes half-watch TV, so I’m doing something else (like reading this message board) while listening to and occasionally looking at the TV. So if critical information is provided via a smartphone screen, I might miss it.
Ah, I getcha. I have the same problem with unexpected subtitles.
One reason I still like to see movies at the theater is that I’m forced to pay attention. It’s a dark room, my phone is silenced and in my pocket and there really aren’t any distractions.
The only problem is the local multiplex added “luxury loungers”, which are powered reclining seats with a lower back heater. The combination of darkness and warmth tends to lull me to sleep.
Closed Captions: a character will speak in a foreign language, for which the movie will provide subtitles. Which the closed captioning system will cover up with
“-speaking in foreign language-“
Yes! I was trying to watch “Everything Everywhere All At Once” a couple of weeks ago, and every time someone spoke Chinese the CC saying “Speaking Mandarin” or “Speaking Cantonese” completely covered up the subtitles of what they were saying. Sometimes it went away quickly enough that I could read the subtitles, but most of the time it didn’t.
Very true. No way can I read those tiny blurred, and usually half turned away little things.
I have no problem reading text messages shown on screen.
Agreed. The modern convention seems to be to show the characters’ text messages in large bubbles on the screen. I have never had any trouble reading those. Is that what people in this thread are complaining about? Or when the camera actually zooms in on the character’s phone screen? That I could see how some people might have trouble reading.
It’s the latter.
Like you, I’ve mostly seen were they display the word bubbles on the TV screen.
But even those sometimes disappear too quick.
You can usually change where on the screen the close captions are, so they don’t conflict with subtitles.