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Played out tropes in TV and Film


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On 20/09/2020 at 00:39, Fullerene said:

People order a drink from the bar but just as it arrives they have to leave.

Is there not some sort of rule that actors can’t be seen drinking alcohol on screen? I might be havering here, but I remember watching a programme that was behind the scenes on either Eastenders or Coronation Street, and they said that when you are watching scenes from inside the pub everyone will have a drink at their table or on the bar, but they never actually drink it. That might be a lot of nonsense, but I’m trying to think of a time I’ve seen someone take a drink out a pint and I can’t recall any. 

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18 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

Is there not some sort of rule that actors can’t be seen drinking alcohol on screen? I might be havering here, but I remember watching a programme that was behind the scenes on either Eastenders or Coronation Street, and they said that when you are watching scenes from inside the pub everyone will have a drink at their table or on the bar, but they never actually drink it. That might be a lot of nonsense, but I’m trying to think of a time I’ve seen someone take a drink out a pint and I can’t recall any. 

I read somewhere years ago that in Corrie the beer was watered down, so much so it was undrinkable! And the reason actors nibble chips and pour miniscule cups of tea must be due to having to do several takes. They'd all end up weighing 20 stone or else be rushing to the loo every 5 minutes. 

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Plus it would make continuity a nightmare. A scene lasting a minute or so could take half an hour or more to film. For a feature film, it could be 1/2 a day or longer. The scene is often shot multiple times with the camera on one character, the the other, then both and so on. The editors then splice the clips they want, which may not play in the order they were filmed. Dining scenes are a challenge for the same reason.

But to @BigFatTabbyDave  's point. Often you'll see actors pretending to drink coffee from mugs which are obviously empty. The Sporanos was terrible for this. You can't see the liquid in it so just put some water in FFS.  

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4 hours ago, Shotgun said:

 

But to @BigFatTabbyDave  's point. Often you'll see actors pretending to drink coffee from mugs which are obviously empty. The Sporanos was terrible for this. You can't see the liquid in it so just put some water in FFS.  

This is one of my biggest bugbears in TV and Film.  As you say, sticking some water in it is such a simple fix that there must be a reason why they don't do it.

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The convention in zombie films and shows of never saying "zombie". 

The protagonists exist in a world which is identical to our own in all respects except that no one has ever come across a convenient and commonly understood word for a reanimated corpse that eats people. 

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Have you noticed how quickly people answer the door in films?

Someone could be knocking on the entrance to a mansion but the resident opens the door within 3 seconds.

If they aren't waiting by to answer almost instantaneously, it's time to knock again but louder and more frantically.

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12 hours ago, coprolite said:

The convention in zombie films and shows of never saying "zombie". 

The protagonists exist in a world which is identical to our own in all respects except that no one has ever come across a convenient and commonly understood word for a reanimated corpse that eats people. 

I noticed that when I was stunned at someone in Anna and the Apocalypse just blatantly shouting "IT'S A ZOMBIE!" rather than talking about viruses or some shit.

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What about "World War Z"?  A global pandemic occurs because of a virus that turns everybody into zombies.

I know it is only supposed to be fiction but how do I know it is not phase 2 of any global pandemic?  I think I will work from home just in case.

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20 hours ago, KnightswoodBear said:

This is one of my biggest bugbears in TV and Film.  As you say, sticking some water in it is such a simple fix that there must be a reason why they don't do it.

On the Scrubs podcast, there was an episode where Zach was clearly raging because he had noticed himself carrying a "fresh cup of coffee" which clearly had nothing in it. He made the point that not only could he not have carried it in the same way, he'd probably have burnt his hand off if he tried.

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On 19/10/2020 at 13:31, coprolite said:

The convention in zombie films and shows of never saying "zombie". 

The protagonists exist in a world which is identical to our own in all respects except that no one has ever come across a convenient and commonly understood word for a reanimated corpse that eats people. 

The first and to my knowledge only time the word Zombie was used in Romero's films was in the fourth, Land of the Dead. I believe Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) growled "zombies, I hate em" or something along those lines.

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On 19/10/2020 at 11:23, KnightswoodBear said:

This is one of my biggest bugbears in TV and Film.  As you say, sticking some water in it is such a simple fix that there must be a reason why they don't do it.

I seem to remember hearing that it's because actors are cack-handed clowns who can and will f**k up any time they have to interact with props, so generally they try to limit the potential for dipshittery, and dropping containers of liquid is an obvious, messy, and time-consuming example of potential risk. Somebody worked out how many tens of thousands of pounds per hour it costs to keep an average-sized crew kicking their heels on a paid-to-scale set, and I forget the figure but it was fucking terrifying. No wonder they don't want to risk having to mop the floor while Benedict Fumblebatch changes into a dry shirt.

However, it's no fucking excuse for grown adults forgetting how to operate door handles, walk in a straight line, or drink from a cup just because a camera is pointed at them.

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The Terminator films.

Terminators are supposed to be cold, calulating killing machines. They are robots with no emotions. They are experts on human anatomy (as confirmed by the T-800 in Terminator 2).

Yet throughout the Terminator films we see them chucking folk around. If a Terminator was close enough to touch you in any way, let alone be able to throw you, you'd be dead in a second. They could sever your spine with a single blow. They could punch a hole in your heart. They could quite literally punch your fucking head off. We even see models that can turn their arms in to blades that could do any of the above. Those fuckers could decapitate you with a single swing.

But no, we repeatedly see them chucking around main characters. Minor characters and background folk are dispatched very quickly, but the main characters, even the ones they've been sent back in time to kill and have been programmed to never stop until this is achieved, don't go for the instant kill. They don't buy a sniper rifle and kill their target from a distance. They don't rig a huge bomb and chuck it their target. They don't in fact do anything logical for the most part. 

No wonder the humans keep beating their daft metal arses.

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The Terminator films.
Terminators are supposed to be cold, calulating killing machines. They are robots with no emotions. They are experts on human anatomy (as confirmed by the T-800 in Terminator 2).
Yet throughout the Terminator films we see them chucking folk around. If a Terminator was close enough to touch you in any way, let alone be able to throw you, you'd be dead in a second. They could sever your spine with a single blow. They could punch a hole in your heart. They could quite literally punch your fucking head off. We even see models that can turn their arms in to blades that could do any of the above. Those fuckers could decapitate you with a single swing.
But no, we repeatedly see them chucking around main characters. Minor characters and background folk are dispatched very quickly, but the main characters, even the ones they've been sent back in time to kill and have been programmed to never stop until this is achieved, don't go for the instant kill. They don't buy a sniper rifle and kill their target from a distance. They don't rig a huge bomb and chuck it their target. They don't in fact do anything logical for the most part. 
No wonder the humans keep beating their daft metal arses.
Similarly, the amount of times folk are in fight to the death with their mortal enemy then they wi the fight but walk away without finishing them off.
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Characters always have to follow text on a letter/note/newspaper/etc or computer screen with their fingers, like a small child learning to read. They'll often punctuate this by pointing at the bit of information they need/want.

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