# Stupid errors that crop up repeatedly in TV shows and movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866 "2014-03-29T23:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/421 "2014-07-02T18:02:27Z")
Any experienced photographer will tell you there are horizontal pics and vertical pics. Cameras are set up as a rectangle not a square (with the exception of some digital and the old Speed Graphics out of the '20s and '30s) so you need to adapt the shape of image (standing person) to the shape of the camera presentation (vertical). Yet you watch most depictions in movies or television and you’ll see them completely do it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/422 "2014-07-02T18:37:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Here’s a specialty one that bugs me. When a character who is signing on TV (and _Switched an Birth_ is guilty, but it just happens to be a show with lots of signing, so I won’t pick on it especially; it happens every time there’s signing), the captions are always a really poor reflection of what is being signed. I’m sure it’s because the writers write, and then the Deaf actors do their own interpretations of the script, some of them making it very much ASL. As a result, there are better English translations than the original script, but the captions are taken from the script, not a reinterpretation of what the characters actually end up signing. I never expect the closed-captions to be accurate in any situation. Those are done by a third-party company, not the production company of the show nor the network, and the people who do that job aren’t really that well trained. They have a very short amount of time to complete a transcription, usually only one run through of the show. And since my sister did that job for a couple of years, I know that they’ll higher any idiot who claims English as a first language. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/423 "2014-07-02T19:26:21Z")
- hire. I guess it runs in the family. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/424 "2014-07-02T21:15:35Z")
I’ve never understood why they can’t just use the script for the show, time permitting. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/425 "2014-07-03T01:19:12Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I’ve never understood why they can’t just use the script for the show, time permitting. I think they must make some changes on the fly when filming shows. I particularly remember one episode of Will and Grace where the closed captioning had one of the characters calling her Hispanic employee “my little taco” (or maybe it was burrito), but the character didn’t say that. I assume that was what the original script said but somebody must have thought twice about that line on the set or in post-production. Another amusing thing I’ve seen is a small town local newscast that apparently uses the newsreaders’ scripts for the closed captioning. It includes directions like “ad-lib until break.” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/426 "2014-07-03T04:11:22Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I’ve never understood why they can’t just use the script for the show, time permitting. Because they don’t have it. Subtitling and close-captioning is done by a third party unrelated to the studio shooting the show, typically at the request of the local distributor of whatever movie or series we’re talking about. The TV channel that airs _True Blood_ in, say, Spain has absolutely zero links with the director who shot the episode \*or \*the American distributor. And no, they can’t “just mail them”, either. There’s also the fact that close captioning must observe strict parameters (length of the title, duration on screen, may or may not include annotations re: tone, or music & sound effects if it’s meant for the deaf) that scripts don’t. 50% of the time a subtitler doesn’t actually transcribe what is said on screen, but a reasonable summary that fits in two lines without losing too much content. (full disclosure : I don’t do subtitles because, as \*\*Sean \*\*says, it’s a mug’s game; but I did and do video game translation… which is also a mug’s game, albeit a different one :). Anyway, when we don’t understand the context of a string, or there’s an ambiguity to be resolved (“is the speaker male or female ?”, “this can mean two things, which is it ?”) or even the proper formatting of something (“is this supposed to be a proper noun & call for caps ?”) the best we Trados-monkeys get to do is jot down a question that will be put in a common pool; which may or may not in time be forwarded to the game’s local publisher; which may or may not then ask it of the game’s writers, who generally are busy writing something else entirely at the time anyway. Most of the time however some anonymous suit at Ubisoft or whatever just decides what the answer is without consulting them.) ---
**Author:** ![Klytus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Klytus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klytus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/427 "2014-07-03T11:19:15Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Of course! When was the last time you visited someone at a government office without having to wait in a huge line? Totally pulled me out of the film. > > [(It got an exemption earlier in this thread)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17248613&postcount=197) The exemption was only for the car-related-stuff. I’d forgotten about the no-waiting-in-line at a government office bit - and agree 100%. It’s almost as bad as _Starsky & Hutch_: no matter where they go in the city, not only do they always find parking, but the **best** parking spot possible. There is a difference between suspension of disbelief, and hanging it by the neck until dead. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/428 "2014-07-03T15:55:26Z")
Not an error per se, but it drives me nuts every time. Apparently, if you have a drink in a cup with a straw, there is only ever about 1 fluid ounce of liquid in it, and maybe some ice. At least, that’s what it sounds like. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/429 "2014-07-03T17:08:23Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > But in most cases the person is facing the mirror at an angle so they are staring straight at the camera while combing their hair or whatever. That doesn’t happen in real life. > > It’s even more absurd when the actor draws something on the mirror framing their face. E.g., a beard made of shaving cream. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed this. To my recollection, I’ve only ever seen a point of view shot where the actor is facing the camera directly, or shots where they’re looking at themselves, but not the camera. Actors rarely look at the camera unless we’re supposed to be seeing someone else’s point of view - it tends to spoil the illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Micahd02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@Micahd02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Micahd02)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/430 "2014-07-04T18:46:07Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > 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. Can on older systems. I don’t have an example (yours, after all) of the scene to which you are referring, but I know I’ve worked in/on many buildings in the 4o year+ old range that had systems in which the fire risers were AIR-pressurized. Each sprinkler location had a low-temperature thermo-link holding the system closed, and when it was melted by a localized fire, the entire system became NO pressure. At that point, the holding tanks on the roof (Is THAT what those tanks were for) would dump hundreds (thousands, in some of the buildings) of gallons of water down into the fire plumbing, and ALL the links would break, at which point the entire system would dump water. Nope, never there when one went. Yep, worked on, and tested them, many times. Glad they aren’t in use any more, as water, at 8 pounds (aprox) per gallon, in a 10,000 gallon tank (several, atop a 5 story building I used to work in in Washington, DC) weighs 40 TONS per tank. I hated having all that weight sitting on the roof of a creaky OLD building I had to work in! OTOH, the nice thing about the system is that all that water MASS fills the pipes quickly, and wets the entire building down fast enough to minimize fire spread. Counter-balance that, though, with the fact that those old buildings were SO flammable you’d better wet them down fast, if you wanted to survive to get out. Wet Heads WEREN’T dead! But fashionable DRY heads WERE! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/431 "2014-07-04T19:59:20Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Nonsense, I know a ship captain who’s been married three times and every time he married a person. > > 😉 True ship’s captains are married to the sea. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/432 "2014-07-07T18:55:38Z")
One I heard recently was on a Law and Order type show. They found a victim in a park or somewhere. There was a cell phone nearby - an older Nokia candy bar phone - and they recovered a few other things. A little while later, they are all in the precinct and some tech comes back and tells them that he “got a video off the smashed SIM card…something something…” I forget the exact wording, but yeah, they could have just said “memory card” and it would have been good. Instead, I just couldn’t help but smack my head. Generally I notice that a large bit of technology speak on shows is oddly off, as if they are trying to cram in semi-recognizable words, but it drives me crazy. Also, I was reading this thread, so I made a note on a sticky and stuck it in the laptop, but wanted to finish reading the thread before I posted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=21)