Movie mistakes-do you notice them?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I was watching a movie where the hero meets his true love. They are sitting in a bar, having drinks. When the camera was on the woman, the glasses were full, when the camera was on the guy, they were almost empty. back and forth- full-empty. In "Fried Green Tomatoes", a road was supposed to be in the 1930s and unpaved, but if you looked a bit further, it was paved with two yellow lines down the middle. How closely do you watch movies? Do you catch any errors?
 

Having worked in the Industry for many years, I cannot help but notice historical errors, and Continuity mistakes. It drives me mad, because it spoils a lot of shows or films for me.. .

Only last night I was watching the comedy ''As Time goes by'' with Judi Dench, which I love.. but I counted 5 continuity errors in just 4 shots...
 

Yes, the one I remember best though was a tv program. During a very dramatic confrontation I noticed a couple of tea towels on a radiator behind one of the actors. I totally missed what was being said after that as I watched the tea towels, from scene to scene, one minute there were two, then none, then one, then three .... :)
 
Yes, I'll purposely stop and rewind if I think I catch something.
A different hairstyle, diff clothes.

Also, a lot of times, I'll notice that they've freshened up their make up or fixed their hair when they come back from a commercial.
Like they saw how bad they looked in the first frame..
 
Yes, I've always watched with an eye out for mistakes,
misplacements, of some kind...still to this day on tv now,
cause I don't go out to movies....
 
Those visual details, no.

I do notice unrealistic happenings. My (un)favorite is when a teacher introduces a new topic, and then after about 30 seconds, the bell rings suddenly and the class disperses. Most teachers would spend the last 30 seconds winding up a class, not introducing a new topic.

Also, when the detective goes to an AA meeting to find out more about a suspect or victim. There they find ONE person who runs the meeting, is left to clean up alone afterward, and is the suspect/victim's sponsor as well. Not how it works.

I had a male friend who was always distressed by how shooting and ballistics were represented on TV and in movies. And, cars squealing their tires on soft surfaces.
 
I'll bet it's hard to find decent locations for period films. Big studios with big investors can afford digital editing, but smaller ones are hard-pressed to find underdeveloped locations that are accessible, have pleasant weather, good light....at least in the US.

Inconsistencies have to be blatant for me to notice them. It's a good day when I can follow the plot.
 
I usually do, especially if it's something I have knowledge in. Sometimes when filming resumes the next day, bloopers happen.
Example: In this scene from "Bonnie And Clyde," the bite on a hamburger changes from one scene to the next:
At 2:06, note the bite on the hamburger, then when he says, "Oh, is this supposed to be yours," the bite is a different shape:

Two bloopers in this movie: In this scene from "Dirty Harry," when the actor says, "Hey, I gots to know," Harry cocks & fires the empty gun & the cylinder turns because the gun is broken. On a revolver that's cocked, the cylinder doesn't turn.

And note that after Harry shoots the driver, when the car flips over, you can clearly see the cable in the back of the car that causes the car to flip.
 
Sometimes. Just today I was watching an episode of "The Lone Ranger" and he discovers an outlaw camp by the billowing smoke coming from their campfire. However, when he rides into the camp, there's no smoke.

IMDB allows people to submit such errors.
 
Visual "mistakes" in film happen due to lack of maintaining continuity. Film continuity editing is so the film looks consistent.

Maintaining Continuity (Excerpt from the article below.) > https://www.videomaker.com/article/c14/12988-maintaining-continuity/

"The more you shoot a scene, the greater the risk is that you will have lapses in continuity. Think about it. Actors have to do the same movements, wear the same costumes and move the same places, all over many hours and usually days of shooting. How can you possibly maintain continuity?

The person in charge of continuity on a film set is the script supervisor, who must maintain a record of scenes shot and how they may have deviated from the original script. The script supervisor also creates a continuity report and works with an assistant to make sure continuity is maintained.

The continuity report provides a detailed record of the day's shoot, including crew list, camera settings, weather and the acting, audio and picture quality of each shot. The continuity report also describes in detail the action that occurs and any possible continuity problem areas."

20 Worst Continuity Mistakes In Movie History > https://screenrant.com/worst-continuity-mistakes-movie-history/

Bella✌️
 
Feelslikefar said:
One of my favorites was the British road juction markings on the road
they are jogging on.

Maybe Parris Island was located outside London back then...

View attachment 267672
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The film Full Metal Jacket WAS shot entirely in the UK, most of the combat scenes were shot on the site of a massive de-commissioned electrical power generating station on the south side of the Thames. Why did this happen ? The director hates to fly, so he convinced the producers to shoot the entire film in the UK. True. JimB.
 
Wilhelm Scream! That one sound effect shows up in more movies. I saw an interview with a director that mentioned he purposely includes it in every movie he makes....
 
I notice continuity mistakes and also, in historical dramas, you can often see the actors' very modern underwear underneath their costumes. In the film of Robin Hood, when Mary M. (Maid Marian) turned to go up a staircase, she flashed her long johns...obviously filming was done during a cold spell.
In the tv drama of Robin Hood, the filming was not done in sequence and this was apparent in the finished episodes. In one, the May blossom was out (which is a sign of Spring), but later in the same story it was obviously Summer. In another episode, one of the actors was trying on a suit of armour and was naked, but when he went into battle he was wearing it over his clothes.
 
I don't look for mistakes but glaring ones can take you right out of the story and wreck your suspension of disbelief.

The Bonnie and Clyde clip above reminded me of how much I hate to see drivers in movies watching the road with their left ear. Everyone in that car should have been dead.
 
I remember looking forward to watching the movie, Dunkirk. Right up until the point where I saw the trailer. At 13 seconds into the trailer I was put off by the British flag flying on a vehicle. To me it immediately looked completely wrong. I thought how could all the people on the set not have noticed, including whoever purchased it.

I doubt that the British army during WW2 would have flown a flag that was so wrong. In the end I never went to watch the movie. Not out a sense of disgust or anything like that, but out of a sense of incompetence.

If you pause this trailer at 0:13 you will see what I mean. On the British Union Flag, both wide diagonal white lines closest to the flag pole should be above the thin red diagonal lines. In the trailer one is above & one is below.

The wide white diagonal lines on the side of the flag furthest away from the pole, both should be below the thinner red diagonal lines. There is no way of flying this flag in a way that would make it look correct.

Compare the flag in the trailer to the picture of the flag I’ve posted below the trialer. Am I the only person who notices these things.

How many people might notice a mistake is the American flag was shown with the red & white stripes from top to bottom starting white then red, instead of red white, and with the stars upside down?


uk flag.JPG

American flag with the stars upside down.
us flag.JPG
 
Contrails in westerns, vaccination marks in Roman epics !

My wife would never watch an Air Force film with me because of my constant interjections of "that paint scheme wasn't introduced until two years after this or that aircraft should have had a 5 bladed propeller even during one memorable close up that ammunition is not aligned properly in that belt!
 

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