# The "Just Offscreen" issue in Movies (BTTF as an example) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384 "2021-04-04T13:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/21 "2021-04-04T23:33:42Z")
Ah, slipping it into his own (past) wardrobe without (past) him knowing. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/22 "2021-04-04T23:50:59Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Ah, slipping it into his own (past) wardrobe without (past) him knowing. I like it. - (Past) him didn’t know it because it hadn’t happened yet. Brain _hurt!_ ---
**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:** [April 5, 2021, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/23 "2021-04-05T01:31:26Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The helicopters were hidden by being off the edge of the screen. Those CIA soldiers were in full camo. Bond dropped in on them randomly, after he took care of the etire compound. The crisis was over. When exactly were these CIA guys going to get there and contribute? If Bond had’t landed ra domly in the field where they were, would they even know they weren’t needed? ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/24 "2021-04-05T01:58:16Z")
Iirc in the novelization of Goldeneye or some other non-movie thing the Marines purpose was to surround the area to prevent Janus from escaping or the Cubans from interfering. In theory if Bond failed they could have just used their helicopters to stafe the dish itself. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/25 "2021-04-05T02:48:16Z")
Yeah, that scene is stupid for lots of reasons. I could maybe believe that that field was the only clearing in the area, and so that’s where the Marines landed and hid in their foxholes, and James dropped out of the helicopter later. And since Bond had just foiled the Bad Guy’s evil plot he wasn’t being super vigilant and didn’t notice the hiding Marines. And maybe Fidel was having he beard conditioned and none of his inner circle had the nerve to interrupt and tell him that the U.S. military had invaded. But there’s just no way that helicopters are invisible and silent until they descend into the camera shot. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/26 "2021-04-05T05:02:48Z")
If time travel is involved, then causality and consistency go right out the window. It could even be that the Libyans are his friends now. “Marty, twenty people try to kill me every week, and I end up getting high with half of them.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/27 "2021-04-05T08:36:02Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > It could even be that the Libyans are his friends now. “Marty, twenty people try to kill me every week, and I end up getting high with half of them.” I’m pretty sure Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon already had that idea. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/28 "2021-04-05T16:24:44Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > It’s related to another phenomenon I like to call " …and, scene," in which a character asks another character a question, which will have a revealing or dramatic answer, but the scene just ends there, and we the audience don’t get to hear the answer. Sometimes, the show or movie even treats it as if the answer was never given to anyone. Maybe this is essentially the same thing. The answer would take place off screen, so it never happened and it won’t be acknowledged, nor the awkwardness that would have been caused by refusing to answer. Its also related to the [Conversation Cut Trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ConversationCut), in which two characters are in the middle of a conversation/exposition/explanation, then they travel to a different location with a quick cut, and immediately pick up the conversation. Even though the two characters had ample opportunity to finish the dialog during the (often lengthy) travel from location A to location B - because the transit is all off screen, it didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/29 "2021-04-05T17:29:20Z")
Sometimes there’s no conversation, it’s just “There’s no time to explain!” – jump cut to some reveal, that in most cases would have actually taken significant time to get to. But I feel these tropes do get lampshaded a lot now. And even when played straight, characters will use novel dialogue to try to make the trope less blatant. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/30 "2021-04-05T17:59:43Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > Yes, this bugs me, although I can’t think of any examples. It’s related to another phenomenon I like to call " …and, scene," in which a character asks another character a question, which will have a revealing or dramatic answer, but the scene just ends there, and we the audience don’t get to hear the answer. John Carpenter’s **The Thing** does this a few times. I think the question is meant to be significant or provocative if you leave it like that, but you really do want to hear the answer. Or at least how they debate it. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/31 "2021-04-05T18:10:02Z")
In Avengers: Infinity War, Vision is stabbed from behind by one of Thanos’ goons, while Wanda is looking straight at him. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/32 "2021-04-06T03:43:23Z")
In that particular movie, I think it works instead of being ridiculous. In particular when they’re all in the common area and they’re talking about WTF happened to the dogs and they ask Blair for his thoughts. The questions asked either have no answer, or answers that sound way too crazy and paranoid to say out loud. And that’s the look on his face, and then cut before anything is said. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/33 "2021-04-06T15:24:56Z")
Just found the clip [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/k83c1AzGPDs/hqdefault.jpg "Vision gets stabbed - Infinity War") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k83c1AzGPDs) You’re right - that’s a good example. The stabber may have been out of the audience’s/camera’s line of sight, but Wanda must have seen him. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/34 "2021-04-06T15:39:17Z")
I don’t know if this is the same kind of thing, but it is as annoying. And it’s been around for 50 years at least. Two people arguing: “You’re going to do this thing.” “No”. “Yes you are.” “No, I’m not.” “You’re going to do it.” "I will NEVER EVER in a MILLION YEARS do that! NEVER! -jump cut to person doing “that”. Cue audience laughter, It was funny…the first time. (Maybe) But how exactly does the first person persuade the second? Such resoluteness should not be easy to overcome. But suddenly - there it is. It’s a mystery! ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/35 "2021-04-06T15:53:01Z")
In the original Jurassic Park they made a point to show how even a silently approaching T-Rex will make the ground shake and boom. However in the climactic scene that has the folks cornered by several velociraptors in the visitors center who else swoops in from off-camera to save the day but the T-Rex. Both the people and the velociraptors completely oblivious to his presence. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/36 "2021-04-06T16:42:01Z")
One of my favorite low-budget 1950s monster flicks is **The Monster that Challenged the World** , about giant prehistoric snails, who are awakened when the Salton Sea formed and the influx of water revived eggs that had been hibernating. I’m impressed by the way the guys who made the film were able to coax a lot out of their limited budget and effects work, the apex of which was their hydraulically operated Giant Snail. In any event, in one scene the Lonely Old Lock-Keeper hears something splashing by the locks (waterway locks) and thinks it’s kids swimming there and taunting him. He yells at what he thinks are kids… … and suddenly a Giant Snail grabs him from behind and bites his head off! It had already been established that the Giant Snails don’t move very fast – heck, they’re _snails_! And they’re _huge_! They can’t move very fast. But evidently one had the time to creep up silently behind the Lonely Lock Keeper (Another night watchman in a monster movie. They’re as much Marked for Death as a Redshirt in Star Trek) and get him in a death grip. I love it. It’s completely ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/37 "2021-04-06T16:47:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > You’re right - that’s a good example. The stabber may have been out of the audience’s/camera’s line of sight, but Wanda must have seen him. Studying the scene, there was a wall to Wanda’s left, visible at 0:07. He could have snuck along that and lunged very quickly with his polearm. Seeing as he was one of Thanos’s senior henchmen, he probably had superhuman speed and strength. It’s a stretch, but still vaguely plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/38 "2021-04-06T19:36:17Z")
Fair enough. Some of the other examples we’ve mentioned might also be due to people’s hyperfocus in dramatic situations when you really can miss something that would be obvious under more normal circumstances (but that doesn’t apply to the BTTF example) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/39 "2021-04-06T20:07:25Z")
I was just thinking of horror and suspense movies where this is such a trope that your suspense is triggered by the tight camera work. The camera will be close in on someone’s face, or reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror, then the angle changes, or the door closes for a jump scare, with the bad guy right behind the person. About half the time it seems, it’s someone standing behind the soon-to-be victim in a bathroom. How likely is it for a person to be able to get behind you in your bathroom without making any noise, passing through your field of vision, or coming close enough to be noticed? I mean, they use the tight focus for that exact reason, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384/40 "2021-04-07T07:57:55Z")
Actually now I think about it, the exact phenomenon in the OP has been lampshaded many times, at least in cartoons. Eg 1: Homer says he’ll climb the biggest mountain in Springfield and points to it. The other person says that’s not the biggest, its the one to the right. The “camera” pans over to a bigger mountain and Homer is shocked. Then the person says “Yep, just to the right of the one you’re looking at” and the camera pans over again to reveal a ludicrously big mountain that of course would have been the first thing anyone would have noticed. Eg 2 Well, this one is not specific, but I recall on Futurama they did the thing a few times of the professor revealing that he’s already built the spaceship / death Ray / planet he was just describing, and the camera jumping back to reveal they’re already standing on it, in it or in the shadow of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-just-offscreen-issue-in-movies-bttf-as-an-example/939384.md?page=3)