Anachronism in a movie

There are people who seem to spend their lives noticing such things...

I thought I was picky, I'll give that guy my crown.

Anyone with a particular interest (cars, railways, computers, etc...) will often find anachronisms from their particular field.

Continuity errors are in the same area - Bruce Willis' famous vest being white in one scene and khaki in another in one of the Die Hard movies for instance. (My brother made me watch them.)

steve

My sister writes books, and in each new one I find one or two small inaccuracies that I know come only from innocent superficiality, so it could be that artists simply don't care too much.

Yet, it seems to me that the recreation of a period finds its liveliness in small, exact details..

It is not very important, though, is it?

M.

quote:

My sister writes books, and in each new one I find one or two small inaccuracies that I know come only from innocent superficiality

What fun to be a fly on the wall at your family parties.

quote:

Originally posted by David Scott?:
What fun to be a fly on the wall at your family parties.

What's being >a fly on the wall<? I don't think you mean the old AC/DC album...

M.

The movie world is full of anachronisms, continuity errors and all sorts of other stuff, from ancient Roman gladiators with vaccination scars, Zulu warriors wearing watches, vapour trails in the sky above ancient Greece, etc. It can sometimes be fun spotting them but best not to be too obsessed or it spoils the movie.

A fly on the wall is an unnoticed observer. I was just wondering how your sister reacted to your pointing out her innocent superficialities.

Shutter Island is full of them...

What, flies on the wall or anachronisms?

quote:

Originally posted by David Scott?:
A fly on the wall is an unnoticed observer. I was just wondering how your sister reacted to your pointing out her innocent superficialities.

How do you know that I pointed them out to her?


M.

You can lose yourself inthe Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) though. What a great free resource, and not just for the 'goofs' page they have about pretty much every movie, but honest reviews/summaries, statistics and facts. If you really want to see a collection of ubër-anal observations look at the goofs page for 'Titanic'. Quite hilarious at times.

At the end of the day, if the film draws you into the world it creates then that should be all that matters.

It is slightly surprising of the Cohen brothers, but at the end of the day there will always be someone who has better knowledge of some details than you, and it is a drama, not a documentary, in which case inaccuracies would be unforgivable.

One piece of film music that really annoyed me, and also won an Oscar for best score, was the use of Elgar's Nimrod, from the Enigma Variations in the film 'Elizabeth'. I would suggest that Nimrod is a very specifically Victorian piece of music, and not Elizabethan, certainly to someone brought up in England. My partner felt this quite strongly too. Obviously the films makers felt differently, but the director was Indian and so maybe it just signified England in general to him.

Working in computer graphics, it is very common to have to remove, or add, things that should not be there either for period accuracy, or continuity. Film crews work very hard on set, but some shots have to be squeezed into a hectic schedule, or the continuity person may be away for some reason and error happen.

I did enjoy watching a friend work on the matte paintings for 'Shakespeare in Love'. Much of the river material was shot near Barnes, the tall modern buildings had to be painted out, and period architecture put in. I thought he did a lovely job on that film.

Personally the thing that puts me off movies, and does not seem to bother a lot of people is the CG generated stunts that are just beyond belief. The trailer for the first 'Mission Impossible' film had a shot of Tom Cruise being blown off a helicopter by an explosion which threw him towards a train travelling at speed, which he grabbed hold of. I don't see the point in watching a film where things happen that are so obviously not possible.

Speaking to a stunt man, there are things that have become accepted, but are not possible. If you fall one story on a building, your fingers are not going to be strong enough to stop the momentum of your body (several stones) by grabbing a ledge on the next story.

I guess it comes down to what you feel is acceptable in a story. I enjoy sci-fi, but I feel the physics of the world they are in have to be justified in the plot. Too much sci-fi these days just seems to say 'science will let us do anything' and so we get dumb plots that do not make any sense.

My other pet peeve is what I would call bi-plane dogfights between spaceships that can travel faster than the speed of light. The battles, or even encounters between ships, are done as if they had slowed down from light speed, to about 200mph, have a fight, or fly past, then speed up again. Dumb as much of the film is, the dogfights in 'Top Gun' are one of the very few times an aerial battle has happened at more than the speed of a bi-plane. 'Babylon 5' did one battle that broke this cliché brilliantly, two fleets of spaceships picked each other apart from either side of a planet firing into what looked like infinity, then showing the other fleet, and it was really dramatic. Sadly the exceptions re rare.

Also on the same subject, have you noticed that all spaceships that blow up have huge stores of oxygen and some flammable material that makes a huge fireball in the vacuum of space? Have a look at the moon landing footage to see what flames, or the lack of them look like in a vacuum.

quote:

Originally posted by David Scott?:

quote:

My sister writes books, and in each new one I find one or two small inaccuracies that I know come only from innocent superficiality

What fun to be a fly on the wall at your family parties.

Said the pedant.

Hi there Mongo,

This is an interesting experience. I haven't had anyone act like this towards me since I was in primary school. I find it really surprising - though fascinating - that an adult would behave this way.

All the best,

David

quote:

Originally posted by David Scott?:
Hi there Mongo,

This is an interesting experience. I haven't had anyone act like this towards me since I was in primary school. I find it really surprising - though fascinating - that an adult would behave this way.

All the best,


David

Originally posted by David Scott?:

quote:
My sister writes books, and in each new one I find one or two small inaccuracies that I know come only from innocent superficiality


What fun to be a fly on the wall at your family parties.''

''I find it really surprising - though fascinating - that an adult would behave this way.''



You seem strangely self-blind.

Paul.

How about all the squealing tires on dirt roads, just not possible the sound people don't like the natural rumble.

In space fights it's so inaccurate because there is no air to turn and dive. But who doesn't like Luke Skywalker going down the channel using "THE FORCE"? I'm really tired of the action films where it just isn't possible to survive a blast or fall. Tho I loved the chase that starts Casino Royal with Daniel Craig and the construction site. The last 2 Bourne films bored me, nobody could survive those fights and it was shot so close I had to close my eyes.

Just appreciate when you see something done right.

Paul,

You're right, especially coming on top of all the snide personal comments I've been making about maxbertola on all those other threads.

I'm really not complaining though. Like I said, it's an interesting experience.

Hi,

this thread was just meant to question the Cohens' accuracy;

As for my sister and all, we never have family parties;

As for being pedantic, no one beats me..


Gentlemen, let's have a nice Saturday!

Cheers to all,

M.

At risk of further upsetting anyone, and given that this is all about their own lack of perceived accuracy, it's the "Coen" brothers...

(nor has an 'h' ever been dropped in some kind of judaism-denial plan)

So, since I started this thread complaining about their lack of accuracy and always wrote their name incorrectly, I think this closes the matter rather nicely...



Cheers,

Max

[QUOTE]Originally posted by maxbertola:
So, since I started this thread complaining about their lack of accuracy and always wrote their name incorrectly, I think this closes the matter rather nicely...



Cheers,



Cheers Max, I hadn't noticed, but it did make me laugh when you pointed it out.



Paul.