My biggest pet peeve in this vein cropped up on Believe last week: no one who writes TV or movie scripts seems aware of the approximate length of human gestation.
[ul]
[li]Bo, in Believe stated that she is 10 years old in the second episode. The flashbacks to before her birth in the very next episode, with her not-visibly pregnant mother are dated “ten years ago.” [/li][li]The main character’s ex on October Road has a 10-year-old and before discovering she was pregnant he left town - 10 years ago.[/li][li]One of the recent Superman movies had superman gone five years and Lois had a five-year-old when he came back.[/li][/ul]
There are more examples, but these three come to mind…
These characters are not supposed to be too stupid to notice a woman who is nine months pregnant before they wander off, so it is instead that the writers can’t do simple math and add a damn year to their calculations of how long ago something that happened prior to the kid’s birth was. Argh!
Okay, what crops up again and again and ticks you off?
You know, you could add examples from books too, that’s cool.
I hate the “binocular view,” but I understand why they do it.
(It doesn’t look like that when you use binocs, but it is a quick and dirty way to show binoc use.)
Also, the motor drive sound on an older film camera without a motor mounted. Many newer DSLRs get that sound effect too, but that’s okay since many of them actually sound like that (arming the shutter).
Sparks when bullets hit things. I’ve fired quite a few rounds at targets – including cars! (My friend’s parents owned a junkyard.) Bullets don’t spark when they hit.
People sitting bolt upright in bed when they awaken from a bad dream. Try it sometime. Lie in bed, imagine a scary dream, and sit up as fast as you can. It doesn’t work the way it does in movie after movie after movie…
People playing a stringed instrument like a cello or violin without vibrato, when the music they are supposedly playing includes it. Can’t the actors even try to pretend they are playing vibrato? SO annoying. Lack of attention to detail.
I understand the need for shorthand when dealing with the limited time frame for TV shows. Living in NYC, parking a car could be the entire episode, and no one wants to watch the actor scouring the same 8 block radius over and over trying to find a spot on the correct side of the street. So I forgive that. Likewise, trying to hail a taxi on a rainy night, waiting on a bus/train, the time it really takes to make food in a diner, and so many other things that just don’t make good viewing but are real parts of everyday life.
What I don’t forgive though, are unrealistic time frames. 24 was the worst at this, but most shows with local travel through metropolitan areas truncate the true time needed to reach point B from point A. Also, the time frames when it comes to cooking. Actual cooking shows are bad enough at this, but try to tell you the actual time to cook. On fictional TV shows, a 20 lb. turkey cooks in an hour, including full prep and getting all the sides prepared.
Something about guns that I see very regularly that, for the record, doesn’t bother me but I know really bugs other people is fingers on the trigger. For example, something like this. You’ll see a movie poster and the star will have his or her finger on the trigger and there’s usually a few people that’ll say something about it. While I totally get it, I think it looks silly for them to have their finger off the trigger on a movie poster. OTOH (because I just saw this while looking for the other picture), this is kinda scary.
Also, Carl, a small kid on the Walking Dead, firing a big (.45?) gun and not moving his arm at all makes it very obvious all the noise and flash was put there in post. That gun was big enough it probably should have moved his whole body.
I caught a really funny little thing in Divergent - spoiler since it’s newly released
When Tris and her brother and father are riding the train to get back to the Dauntless area, Tris’s father has to push the rifle barrel that Caleb is carrying out of his face. Movies rarely address how people who don’t know how to use weapons actually handle them.
[ol]
[li]Running away from motorized wheeled vehicles - Most people would have a hard time running away from a bicycle, much less a car or a motorcycle.[/li][li]People who are trained in the use of firearms holding the weapons far enough away from their bodies to be grabbed by an opponent - This has actually grown WORSE as a casually observation of television and films shows characters keeping their weapons relatively close to their bodies when holding a gun on someone.[/li][li]People walking around in dark houses - You have lights in the house. Unless you are interested in tripping over something and injuring yourself, why don’t you turn them on?[/li][li]Computers being able access records which would only be on paper - Most documents are not online. They won’t be for many years and some may never be. Yet “hackers” are able to locate records with a few simple keystrokes.[/li][li]Enhancing photos - Even though HD is becoming more common place, even it has its limits. You can only “enhance” an image so much before it becomes grainy or pixilated.[/li][li]Defendants taking the stand - Unfortunately, one the greatest weaknesses of the L&O original series is defendants taking the stand during a trial, even when the prosecution has a weak case. Not only is this not going to happen, the defendant should sue his/her attorney for malpractice if it does.[/li][/ol]
Hm? I do that all the time! My dreams often involve a p.o.v. that is outside my dream-image of myself. It’s like I’m watching from a video camera on a boom behind me or to one side of me.
Or move the bow and their fingers in some fashion at least resembling an attempt to match the notes/rhythm. I’ve given up on anyone ever approximating the correct string (sure, play the opening section of Praeludium and Allegro all on the G string, why not), but that seems doable. I don’t have the slightest clue how to play the flute or trumpet but I think I could pretend to blow and move my fingers in time with the music.
Well, you’re assuming they know what the music’s going to be. It’s often filmed with one song, or no song, and then the producers get the rights to something else that’s put in during post-production.
High school students being played by actors in their 20s or even their 30s. I understand the problems with using actors under 18, but when the point of the show is the character’s immaturity and the need for growth showing people with fully developed faces, bodies, and personalities kills the characters. Worse, it sets up impossible expectations for real teens.
Someone with blood type AB positive needs a transfusion. They have to find a donor with AB positive blood. They can’t accept typo O negative, for instance.
Fire sprinkler systems that turn on all at once either by someone manually overriding them or setting one off with a lighter. Sprinkler heads go off independently when a glass bulb breaks after reaching a certain temperature. You can’t set them off remotely either with some master switch.
