Why is it that whenever a character on a TV sitcom, take “Everyone Loves Raymond” for example, is watching TV and fiddling with the remote it makes a clicking noise when they press the buttons?
I’ve never had a TV remote that “clicked” since I was child 30 odd years ago. Well, unless you count the time last year when I spilled some Pepsi on my remote and for about 3 months afterward it made a sort of sticky clicking noise whenever you adjusted the volume.
But my point is: Do sitcoms only get really really old prop TVs from the 70s due to budget constraints? Or is this just a sound effect added to the show to give us viewers the impression that the character is actually watching TV? And if it’s the latter, why?? Everyone knows TV remotes don’t click. Anyone have any ideas?
It’s done for effect. I’ve seen 1970s style remotes used; two big buttons, where a press will be more visually distinct than with a contemporary remote control.
Consider this …
Light switches make a loud snap on television, even though most switches found in North American homes are silent mercury switches, Decora-style paddle switches that make a quiet click, or dimmers.
There is the brief sound of static when switching between channels, as if the television doesn’t have squelching circuitry.
New cars have stereos that apparently have analog tuners, with stations quickly fading in and out as the FM band is scanned.
Television depictions of computers almost always include IBM Type M keyboards, with loud spring-loaded “clicky” keys. There’s also the obligatory “beep!” when you hit the [Enter] key, somethng the Type Ms never had. Nobody uses the mouse, either; instead, you type even more commands to scroll througyh a document.
Archie Bunker’s toilet, if you’re old enough to remember.
Very loud power windows in cars, which make a loud industrial “whirrrr” sound when they’re raised or lowered.
Every car on television has a 1970s era Chrysler starter … even high-end luxury models.
Elmwoods answer of “it’s done for effect” is somewhat correct.
The fact is, at one time television remote controls DID actually make a “clicking” noise, though those days are long, long over (thank goodness:)).
Prior to t.v. remotes using infrared (or, in the case of upscale models, 900 mghz.), television remotes used high pitched sound waves to change channels and volume. The remote actually made a “clicking” noise when the buttons were pressed. Thus, the term “clicker” was coined to described the remote control.
Back in those days you could click to spoons together, or even a set of car key, and the t.v. set would change channels. It sounds prehistoric now, but was cutting edge back then. And was still better to get up off your ass to change channels (all 4 of them. This was before most people had cable:p). By “back then” I’m talking pre 1980.
Why do modern t.v. shows have remotes make a clicking sound?
As elmwood said, it’s for effect.
TV exects feel that their audience is too dumb to realize that someone pointing a remote at a TV is actually using it. They seem to think we’ll just assume they’re just pointing a black piece of plastic at a glowing box for artistic expression, but by adding that little click (that doesn’t actually exist) it’ll clear that confusion right up.
On a related topic, what do you think the Sound FX people used to make that clicky sound?
Per pkbites we had a “clicker” remote control circa early 70’s and it made a hell of a noise in that it had a small cylindrical steel bar held between 2 wires that “pinged” at a specific frequency when hit by a small hammer when the button was depressed.
You could occasionally change the channel by jingling car keys.
Yes, it’s just for effect, but I think TridCloudwalker is a little unfair. It’s not really about producers being patronising or audiences being thick. The fact is, every medium (film or TV or whatever) has its own grammar, a set of rules that are more-or-less agreed between the people telling the story and the people watching it about what ‘works’ and what is ‘satisfying’.
We all know that most people’s rooms are not planned around a big central sofa with main doors left and right, but a lot of sitcoms and dramas will use this kind of set: not so high on realism, but very practical for the production team and accepted by audiences. Likewise, explosions in space don’t really make any noise, but when we’re watching a big sci-fi battle we (most audiences, most of the time) find it more satisfying to hear those snazzy laser-weapon noises followed by the big ker-booom!!!.
Sure, this grammar is sometimes a little vague, and sometimes there are shows that try to play aroud with the rules and the conventions. But it exists all the same. And sometimes they put a sound effect in because if it wasn’t there it wouldn’t ‘feel’ right, realism be damned.
These things do change over time, as both producers and audiences get more sophisticated. So perhaps the clicky-clicky remote control will fade eventually.
In all the episodes I saw of Married, With Children, I never heard any noise when Al clicked on the remote (which happened in the show quite frequently.)
Things like the remote control click and boom in space also function as markers to enable “viewers” to follow the show even if they aren’t actually viewing it at the time – in the other room or occupied with something else (or visually impaired, I imagine).
I’ve noticed a lot of video game sounds were from the Atari 2600 pacman no matter what they were playing. Not so much any more but it use to happen quite often.
The reason so many sounds are similar is that a LaughTrack is a specific machine that can add sound effects. Rather than create a special sound each time, they just use one of those already programmed.
In movies though, like Mission Impossible, most sounds are realistically rendered, but then magnified to be more audible, as though you were actually in a room alone hanging from a cable, and super-aware of anything that could give you away.
And the ubiquitous ricochet– Sometimes with every bullet that’s fired, even if the plot demands that the slug stays more-or-less where it strikes. Ah, what the hell. It sounds cool.
Most people watch movies relatively uncritically - few people really appreciate how little of the diagetic sounds in the finished product where produced on set. It’s much more consistent-sounding if the ambient & incidental sounds are rerecorded afterwards, so you don’t have distracting variations in tonality with each edit.
Sometimes this creates some weird effects. I’m thinking of a movie I saw once- (Was it a Robert Rodriguez film? I think it may have been.) One scene showed a woman getting out of a swimming-pool and walking across a deck - the re-recording engineer went ahead and dubbed in her footsteps, the same way s/he had for all the other scenes. Very strange to see a woman padding barefoot and hear the sound of high-heels on concrete with each step.