Ever since I read an article about sloppy film making, I look for more in a movie than a good story line and top-notch acting. I subconsciously scan for mistakes.
courtesy: jawsmovie.com
The easiest mistakes to catch are in “Jaws” , an otherwise brilliant 1975 film considered the world’s first “blockbuster”. The suspense is long gone, today the motorized rubber shark can’t even scare a six year old. No, the only thing that jumps out is the changeable weather. The rapid deterioration and improvement in the weather, sometimes within a 30 second conversation between two people makes anything happening in the skies over Syracuse seem temperate by comparison.
Check out any exchange on board Quint’s fishing boat. Aboard that fateful mission to find the Great White shark, sometimes Quint speaks in the sunshine and Police Chief Brody responds in a gray fog. Back and forth they go, sun and clouds, sun and clouds, waves and glass. How could that pass for good film making I wonder, though I admit the first five or six passes had the intended effect of scaring me out of my wits as a teen.
Earlier this year I watched a contemporary film on DVD. I don’t recall the name of it, only the careless error that occurred in a New York City street scene set in the 1960s. Behind the vintage auto carrying the leading man, among other cars from the 60s, was modern Cadillac escalade in the distance. Oops.
I can’t seem to escape this subliminal mission of mine, and thanks to DVD’s, audiences can scan old TV shows for mistakes and inconsistencies too. With DVD’s losing ground to digital recordings, a New York Times columnist applauds the fact he’ll no longer have to watch his beloved 1960′s TV shows in slow motion anymore. He tried it once then couldn’t stop.
Neil Genzlinger describes the strings you see in full view holding up bottles that are supposed to be shot in mid-air, a businessman’s hat that pops off from fright, only in slow motion you see two sides of the brim rising up before the rest of the hat; more strings. What makes Genzlinger’s article so clever is his claimed loss of innocence in learning these masterful tricks performed by TV stars in the 1960s were really just tricks played on the audience. Plus, he asserts, his family thinks he’s become a little obsessed with this stuff.
Loss of innocence is a common theme lately, the whole Santa thing, a guy who tries to blow up a Christmas Day flight with his underwear, Tiger Woods turning out to be a dog, and a crush of Op-Ed pieces dissing the decade that’s about to end even though people fell in love, babies were born and we elected this country’s first black President.
No one likes to grow up faster than they want to. It all makes me want to escape into an old movie.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Maureen
When in Toronto about 4-5 years ago for a culture weekend, I stumbled upon a movie being shot. It was The Man, with Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy. It was a street scene and I stood mesmerized for about 3 hours watching what turned out to be about 30 seconds in the finished movie. With all the changes they did in those 3 hours, plus the changing day, I amazed that there aren’t 1,000 easily noticeble “mistakes” in every movie.
It was fun to watch, and an eye opener for sure. Movies are like sausage…not to watch being made….for me it takes some of the “magic” away.
Don
Don that’s neat you watched a film being made. And I just love the comparison to the sausage. Well put. I’ll have to rent that movie and look for the Toronto scenes.
Maureen-
The movie is actually set in Detroit, but they filmed some of the street scenes in Toronto…..gee, I wonder why?
The scene I saw filmed had Samuel Jackson “rescuing” Eugene Levy, who is in the middle of the street with his pants down….you’ll have to see the movie for the details! It’s an ok movie…nothing extra.
The filming lasted lots longer than the 3 hours I saw…one of the extras told me that as we were chatting between takes…amazing how long it takes to put just 30 seconds in a film.
Don
Thanks for the info. Don. I’m not exactly a contemporary film buff, but ask me about Classic Films and I do OK. That film-to-air ratio sounds pretty accurate. In my old local TV news days we shot about 10 minutes of video for every minute that was edited and made the air. Happy New Year.