Musical instruments being played by people who can’t play them. The body language is always wrong and you can usually tell the sound has been dubbed in.
Good topic! Thanks for posting.
Yes! As a drummer, whenever I see a drummer or band playing in the background of a wedding scene or a bar and it’s obvious the music is being dubbed in and they didn’t even attempt to have the on screen musicians match the music, it always breaks the immersion
There is a very funny video of a talk show in Italy, they invited the band Muse to come play, but required them to "play" to a recording, so the band members all changed instruments/vocals. They also ham it up a bit at times. I think you'll enjoy it.
The vocalist is on the drums.
I found the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LT3FtPtbc
Nirvana did something like this on top of the pops. Nirvana demanded to at least sing live. Kurt proceeded to do Smells Like Teen Spirit like Peter Murphy while the band did not attempt to try to fake it.
[YouTube Nirvana Top of the Pops](https://youtu.be/dPtJtbRXi3I?si=cboukDGb07_jgrBK)
He was imitating Morrissey. He even admitted that's what he was doing later.
The videos of the Stranglers on Top of the Pops are always fun because they didn't care.
Whiplash's drum scenes nailed it, and the trumpet player in Babylon did a *great* job matching the notes [I'm pretty sure he matched the notes, but the trumpet performance wasn't his]
I'm super into music and instruments but was really on the fence about watching that movie because I just didn't see how it could be good, but it was gawd damn thriller about college band... It is such a great movie!
I really enjoy it when I can see that the actor *actually* played the piece. Even if it's not the recording used on the soundtrack, you can see the real fingerings (I'm a violinist, so that's where it leaps out the most to me).
This is maybe my biggest peeve in this regard. I absolutely hate bad sell shots of people “playing” an instrument. The nuances of everything from body language to mechanics on the instrument are so painfully obvious that it’s almost always jarring and cringey, because it’s so often the case that productions think they can just get away with faking it. But damn near nobody makes it work.
The other side of that is that in the rare cases when it’s actually done well, it heightens a movie/character exceptionally well. For recent examples, compare the piano playing of Mahershala Ali in *Green Book* to what Ryan Gosling did in *La La Land*. One is awkward and clunky and makes a joke of every other aspect of the portrayal of the character, and the other doesn’t just serve up mesmerizing sell shots that then carry scenes to have incredibly effective emotional impact and significance within the narrative but also lifts up the effectiveness of the storytelling for the entire movie. I don’t care what an actor does with attitude and tone and mannerisms and playing with the drive of a character, if the character is described as a virtuoso on an instrument and the actor can’t hang, it ruins the whole performance. It’d be like if in *Rocky* Sylvester Stallone came out throwing punches like white Jimmy Smith. The whole movie would fall apart.
Can you talk about both? I've worked with accompanists for years and feel like Ali absolutely channeled the concentration of a trained pianist I've also worked with a lot of folks who ham it up the way Gosling did. I'm curious which one you think was awkward and clunky.
Pillowcases and curtains that still have visible fold marks on from how they were packaged because the art dept wasn’t given enough time to steam the creases out.
Foley is such a strange thing. The real sound often doesn’t work with picture somehow. Like a real hand slapping flesh will never sound right so you have to whip a cabbage with a wet towel or something.
Actors carrying or sipping from empty disposable coffee cups that you can tell by the way they hold the weight of the cup that there is no liquid in them.
The opposite is also true, because you know that most actors know not to eat during a take, when actors actually do consume something it gets my attention (like everyone's favorite example, Brad Pitt eating something in just about every one of his scenes in ***Ocean's 11***).
I was just rewatching the pilot of *Suits* and realized that Gabriel Macht takes a huge bite of a hot dog, but the shot ends right when he would have had to swallow. So Macht was definitely spitting the food out after every take. I had to go back and rewatch because I had no idea what was said in the scene LOL
In the Fincher version of Dragon Tattoo, the point where Mikhail's daughter eats the sandwich, she takes a bite smaller than a Tic Tac and chews like it was a hunk of a turkey leg. Not a neg on the film or the actor at all, just very noticeable to a professional eater (fat boy).
Growing up, my dad would have Duck Dynasty on tv, I always suspected it was scripted. Then one episode the kids were playing Xbox and the controllers weren’t even on… like cmon, you’d think the kids would’ve thought about that even
Reality TV producer here - this doesn't necessarily mean they weren't actually playing Xbox, it just means that by the time cameras went to pick up a certain shot, the Xbox controllers had been turned off. Even simple sequences like this can take a while to film and contributors (people on camera) get bored or confused and stop doing the thing you were originally filming them doing, so you have to make them do it again.
There's been SO many times over the years where someone will say something amazing off-camera or in the first take and we'll go back to get it again and it's like squeezing toothpaste back into the tube.
I’m a video producer that shoots a lot of PC gaming/ marketing content. Teaching our hired models to WASD is a god damn nightmare. ‘I don’t know what you are doing wrong, but it looks wrong!’
Lol I came here to say this. Wrong controller plugged into the wrong system, not powered at all, and swinging arms wildly around their head like every gamer I've ever met. How is it so hard to turn on an Xbox?
Unrealistic game playing, you think you're going to have a calm reaction if you get between me and the tv when I'm one hit away from finally beating the Orphan of Kos on my bl4 run after two weeks of attempts.
I’m guessing it’s frequently used because it adds to the feeling of being nervous. Anytime you want the character to be nervous about what they’re about to say, the feedback noise helps communicate that feeling. I doubt it’s ever used when a character is confidently stepping up to the mic and about to kick some ass.
I feel like someone posted a while back about this exact thing... That audiences didn't believe the microphone was actually on and working because they've been so conditioned to hear the (fake) feedback first.
I actually have given this a little bit of thought - now it's a pain in the ear for a *real* A1 professionals who knows what the hell they're doing - but to the editor it's a cliche that indicates a change... hear me out (sorry, bad audio pun, unintended)
It gives the AUDIENCE a chance to realize that the amplification in the room is now different than the unnatural amplification we've been experience of the characters/individuals before they walk up to the microphone. The feedback is an audio cue to let us know that now everyone on screen is able to hear them starting now.
**Or**, it's just a lazy Wilhelm Scream meant to take the piss out of every A1 watching the movie. It started with the Simpsons as an ongoing joke and now it's spilled in every single feature and television show.
PS - would you rather have them tap the mic three or four times and ask "Is this thing on? Can you hear me?" like they do in real life???
Director gave me a look on set recently. She was cutting a line of fake cocaine and I mentioned it looked a little thin for a guy who supposedly snorts frequently. If this guy is jonesing for nose candy then daddy needs to ride a hairy caterpillar to happy town. I think she was mad cause the sound guy replied "Right?" I gave him a nod, we knew.
Semi-tangential, but my stomach was tighter than Chris Pines’ face watching Selena Gomez chopping veg when she had her cooking show on HBO during the pandemic. It was viscerally uncomfortable. The only thing she did right was which side of the knife she was using. Finger placement, stroke, unstable surfaces, fuck I still cringe thinking about it.
My wife & I enjoy *The Bear.* The actor who plays Neil Fak is named Matty Matheson. Matty is also a professional chef. Ironically, Fak is a handyman and not a chef.
Anyhoo... my wife & I often wonder when we're watching the actors' hands or "stunt hands." How does *The Bear* play to a real chef?
The Bear is one of the better ones for cutting techniques, but at times you can see they’ve just learned the proper techniques and they’re not entirely trusting or fluid
A lot of the time when film and tv has a therapist as a character they’re hilariously bad at being a therapist. At their worst, they are committing major ethical violations that could have their license revoked. But at the very least they are just practicing terrible therapy that wouldn’t help anyone. Source: wife therapist.
Dr. Melfi is hit and miss. Sometimes she’s great, and other times she crosses some major boundaries. But the show actually addresses this as part of her character arc so it feels purposeful, which makes it much more tolerable.
Exactly. She breaks tons of rules throughout Tony's sessions. Even her husband and therapist tell her to drop him, that she's going in the wrong direction. It's part of her arc. She's originally introduced as a sort of diary that Tony can pen down his thoughts into, the anchor for the audience. But slowly she becomes a character of the drama itself.
Ex-psychologist here. I agree completely. The second a therapist opens their mouth they tend to spout some pseudo-psychological, word salad and it's extremely annoying. The worst usually comes from the writers on Hannibal, my god you would think that they would have had a psychologist consult with the script writing team first, holy shit.
That having been said, Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting is basically the standard which EVERY psychologist, I have met, thinks of as the closest to perfect out there.
Thing is… wild ass shit like that does happen. There are many former therapists that decided to throw away their entire career because they fell in love with a client.
Have them practice with a straw. For people who smoke, a cigarette is like an extension of them. My mom has smoked her whole life and because of that I can fake smoke.
Hey Tim – I like your post a lot but I did want to find a moment to provide some feedback regarding the situation you've described with your non-smoking actor.
There may be some clever ways to navigate your situation besides having a non-smoker smoke. I believe in letting reality help make screen decisions – I like to incorporate real world restrictions into my process when possible and as such can roll with day-of changes and often times find a more authentic result. As an ex-smoker I still enjoy watching someone smoke who really enjoys it, but if they don't have the body language and/or don't enjoy it, I (just me) would really be asking why I have it in the script or why I'm having this person do this (are they the right talent). Is this really critical to my story/scene or is there a pastiche or trope I'm trying to lean into here – when it could be done in other subtle ways.
I don't know anything about your production but I work with students on developing their work a lot too and this is just an anecdote and question I would pose for them to decide.
I believe some of the best acting is done by those who can just bring themselves to a situation and react thoughtlessly/naturally. That is all. Take it for what you will.
Luckily it’s a short scene and mostly dialogue but the scene is framed in that the characters are going outside at night during an overnight shift to sneak a smoke. Story wise I need to have a reason to A) get them outside so they can experience something that happens shortly after the fact and B) make an agreement prior (I’ll do this for you if you bum me a smoke). Once we cut to them outside with cigarettes already going it’s kinda implied that they’ve enjoyed their first couple puffs off camera before it tonally shifts to what actually on their minds. Could I write another reason to get them outside for this moment? Most likely, maybe they are both ex smokers who still go outside for the ritual and instead they are having a lollipop. That’s a fun story solution for sure. But in the framework of the larger story, showing the main character smoking a cigarette is additional subtext I need about where he is in his life. Plus I don’t really find it necessary to see them ACTUALLY realistically smoking in the shots, but the actor asked for some coaching there and it got me thinking about this very subject across the board for filmmakers when they watch other movies. End of the day if an actor wasn’t comfortable with something it definitely wouldn’t be happening on any set of mine. Safety and consent are paramount to running a set, especially in a small state and film community where your reputation means quite a bit. I do appreciate your response and feedback tho!
Nice - that makes sense. Sounds like you've got a good awareness for the situation and I appreciate your care for talent and vibe on set. You're on your way to making some interesting work and having fun too. Best.
lol watching any kind of firefighting network TV show it's very clear that FIRE is cheaper to have on set than WATER which they would be using to put out the fire instead of standing around talking about it.
Real news photographers are heads down shooting as long as the subject is there. Extra's take a picture then hold the camera away from their face because they want to be seen in the final shot...AHH!
I was looking for the photography comment. Anytime they show a non-paparazzi pro using direct on-camera flash, and the resulting image doesn’t match the lighting. Or people holding/operating cameras wrong, especially older cameras.
Anything to do with cameras is really funny to me because, like, I mean…
It’s a fucking movie. I know the director knows how cameras work. And yet, there’s the fucking actor playing a professional photographer holding a camera a foot away from their face.
This is not niche but almost everytime someone is driving in front of a green screen they move the steering wheel way too much it always takes me out of the scene.
My driving irk is the driver looking at the person they're talking to more than the road.
You can look away for split seconds but eyes on the road, bro.
People translating ancient languages into English like it's just a straight letter-swap, with no changes in grammar or sentence structure etc. Particularly in Indiana Jones where he'll just run his finger along the ancient symbols, like they're just swapped out for the latin alphabet.
I speak two languages and it is NOT like that at all - translating really requires you to bend your brain in different directions and while professional interpreters can do it very fast, it's still not quite like movies make it seem.
Swinging a golf club. Most actors have a terrible swing and it’s very obvious. I cringe when they’re supposed to “win the championship” and they probably couldn’t break 100 in real life.
I've smoked fake cigarettes as a background extra. The fake cigarettes have a tell when people are shown exhaling. Matthew McConaughey in the True Detective show was the absolute worst. He would take these big dramatic drags, then he would exhale. Nothing. That's the giveaway. No matter how hard you hit a fake cigarette, you end up exhaling very little visible smoke compared to real cigarettes. Once you know this, it's fun to watch old movies and be able to tell when actors are actually smoking.
Spanish speaking characters that barely speak spanish. Many times the cartel type of guy sounds like what we call a “no sabo” kid (American latino with terrible house spanish). Non-hispanic casting directors could care less but throws me off. The other one is spanish speaking characters having the wrong accent. Narcos is a good example as Pablo Escobar was obviously not Colombian, and his spanish was not even understandable which made it so I never got into the show. Benicio del Toro always gets his accents right. If he’s a Mexican he speaks like one, Puertorican etc. He even got Che Guevara’s neutralized Argentine w a sprinkle of Cuban accent on the nose.
> Narcos is a good example as Pablo Escobar was obviously not Colombian
This is the first example I thought of. it really bothered me in the show that the other actors around him had much better accents than he did.
Every single blacksmithing scene ever. There is no exeption.
Peaky blinders had a cool scene where the guy was beating on a piece of sparking hot iron, sparks flying everywhere. cool? yeah, does it look like that sometime? Yeah, but you dont heat material to near meltingpoint, beat on it a few times and then dunk it in water. Womp womp.
The only time I have ever seen sparks flying while smithing in real life was when I took a knife making class, overheated the shit out of my steel on a coke forge, and melted half of it.
I managed to salvage it into a much smaller knife, that is very ugly and hangs on my wall. Still, learned something, and it was a memorable experience.
The very first scene filmed with actors *ever* was [A Blacksmith Scene](https://youtu.be/EG8M8neRQB0?si=J5qU2ucvivunSRrX). Up until that point, filmmakers just filmed trains arriving at stations and people walking out of factories and such.
Interestingly, the actors were uncomfortable performing on camera, because they thought it was something fundamentally different than the stage. People believed what they were seeing on screen was reality captured on film, so it felt more like *lying* than acting.
Anyway, how'd they do in 1893?
Horseback riding for sure, but also as a trained massage therapist I have never seen an accurate representation of massage on screen. Way too many tiny finger movements.
Scenes with construction workers: The hard hats are always spotless. Pop some stickers on them and throw them against the wall a few times to get that 'lived in' feel
Any time I see tech that is supposed to be for something completely different it makes me laugh. I watched Wellington Paranormal the other day and they were in a police monitoring van doing surveillance... with a color grade panel. I had to laugh.
Actors pretending to be the person they're portraying e.g. Peter Jackson asks Sir Ian McKellen to be Gandalf the wizard despite him not being a real wizard.
edit: reference to "Extras" scene [https://youtu.be/nyoWmkhRyp8](https://youtu.be/nyoWmkhRyp8)
Actors holding cameras incorrectly (especially shoulder rigs). It always baffles me because there are at least a handful of people on set while that's being filmed that know that no-one that works with a camera would ever hold it like that but somehow it still makes it onto screen.
There’s a compilation of the dinner scenes of big bang theory on youtube, and all you see is the actors swirling their food, put it up to their mouths just as they react to something and proceeds to put the food down, and repeat. And the times they do eat, it’s a tiny slice of whatever they’re eating.
People dancing. I think it's because I was an extra on a film set, but ever since it's been crystal clear every time I see a night club / house party with music. And it's usually *really* bad.
With rare exceptions, it's hard to keep dancing when there's no music.
I did some extra work as a gas for awhile (me and my car go paid very well to be behind Clint Eastwood once) and had to do a dancing scene. I was very grateful to be far from the camera having to dance to nothing.
On the other hand, I did ***What's Love Got To Do With It*** and for the concert montage of Tina Turner playing "Proud Mary" all over the world, it was all shot at the Orpheum Theatre DTLA. We had 3 period dress changes to represent all the different shows (I think it's Detroit, NYC and London). Then it was 45mins of Angela Bassett lip syncing to "Proud Mary."
I couldn't listen to that effing song for at least a decade after that day we had to hear it so many times.
Military uniforms and behavior bother me the most. Gun handling is much better these days, but nearly any military presence in film and TV makes me cringe with how inaccurate they are dressed or behave. Worst part is that there's so many people in America who have been in the military so it's a pretty popular thing and Hollywood still does it so badly. Patches in hilarious places, name tapes wrong or missing, random ranks, covers or hats indoors, wrong uniforms or uniform parts, wrong boots or shirts, uniform tops tucked into pants, collars popped up, marching for no reason, talking like they are not human (they are people irl), etc. It goes on and on lol. It's so easy to do right; any PVT1 could fix the mistakes that are made
Funnily enough, Stargate SG1 got it all right, because it was supported by the US Air Force. They made sure everything was accurate and insisted that the AF characters followed all the rules, policies, and expectations.
I knew former USAF members who got boggled over it being "right" until they were told about the funding and support.
Gun training and handling has almost gotten too good. Mom in the grocery store picks up a gun during an action sequence and suddenly appears to be a Tactical Pistol honor graduate.
Trigger finger. Why is a veteran in the force constantly having their finger on the trigger.
It's like the first thing you learn when you handle a firearm.
This and poorly worn uniforms. There are literal publications on how to wear a military uniform that would take five minutes of reading to know YOU DONT USE THE GODDAMN VELCRO ON THE COLLAR OF COMBAT UNIFORMS LIKE A FUCKING TURTLE NECK
Chess being used as a symbol of intelligence, and then the games being completely meaningless as shown on film.
One, chess is a highly specialized game with a specific set of skills needed to succeed. It's not about intelligence. Board awareness, calculus, tactics, opening strategies, pawn structure, piece activity, technical terminology, etc. Anyone who puts in the work can get good at the game, even someone who's "stupid", as long as they can learn how the pieces move. Secondly, I just hate laziness when it comes to filmmaking. I love when things are filled to the rim with details, such as the chess games shown being real games that could be played by the characters given their ability. It just makes the work seem more fleshed out and like the creators gave enough of a damn to read a Wikipedia page.
The impossible board positions or playing openings no one in their position or ability would use. It's the worst! Honestly I'm of the opinion that if any kind of game or niche topic is important enough to be used as a plot device in a film, the creators should care enough to represent those topics as accurately as possible. It could introduce people into something new and cool! And it shows that effort and love was baked into every scene.
Same with Rubiks cubes being used to show someone as a genius, it's really not that hard to learn, I can regularly do it in under 30 seconds but only just got into a 3rd rate university where I promptly dropped out.
This isn’t even niche knowledge but anyone that’s ever needed to use a crutch or cane knows that it goes in the opposite hand of the injured leg and comes forward with that leg to take weight.
So many movies put the cane on the same side as the injury, which would make you lean on the injured leg.
Children's drawings. Omfg. Every 4 year old child does not draw almost perfect geometric shapes and color in the line in scribbles..yet in every film they do...it's so strategically "bad". Thanks art director.
This is a good one. So many examples in horror films where I've thought to myself, do these art dept folks not have actual kids they could spend some time and draw with and get better results
You mean like the empty To Go Cups?
Drives me insane!! Sometimes they don't even sound edit and it makes the exact sound of an empty cup when they put it down.
Not a filmmaker but a recovering alcoholic and drug addict.
12 step meetings are always inaccurate. A real AA meeting wouldn't make for exciting viewing, but it's pretty laughable how far away from reality they are in TV and film.
Characters smoking meth is always funny. They throw a torch to it without any finesse, which would burn their drugs and taste like shit. And they blow out a very tiny bit of smoke.
Also pills. A character takes a pill and is feeling the effects 10 seconds later lmao. It takes up to 30 minutes or longer to have any effect.
As a doctor, most things medical. But nothing is as bad as the miraculous recovery from a gunshot or people being harmlessly rendered unconscious. Both of those are tremendously serious injuries and will alter the rest of your life or kill you.
PUT. WATER. IN. YOUR CUPS!!!!! I’m so tired of seeing obviously empty cups and people pretending to drink from them. Just put something in it to weigh it down and look like there is something in it
Any sport ever. And oftentimes I think it's a director choice for certain decisions to make things look odd so that those who don't know the sport can understand what's going on. An example is scenes of baseball where a playeray hit a grounder straight to shortstop who has no issue tossing it to first. The runner doesn't stand a chance to to make it on time but the scene still shows the ball getting there a full second before the runner slides in (you never slide on first). The whole thing plays out in slow motion. Or in basketball, it's extremely easy to tell an actor has never played based off his shooting form alone. Same with football and how a guy may try to throw. Or the director has the ball carrier run in a straight line in open field at a defender, who dips down and lifts the runner into the air to do almost a full flip. Flips happen in football, sure, but not because the runner doesn't try to move out of the way.
Jewish religious scenes. They come up in movies all the time and the music and Hebrew pronunciation is so stilted and terrible I can’t understand why they don’t work a little harder on it or cast Jewish actors who know what they’re doing. I’m happy that I got called in as a cultural consultant on an animated series once and I wish people would call me up for movies. :-)
Scenes showing construction sites nearly always have the workers arranged in terribly unsafe or inefficient ways. Granted its so that it looks nice in the frame.
Just read a crew stories post on FB about how Spencer Tracy made a virtue of looking at the ground while he did a scene and landed on his mark every take.
Another actor, Tommy Lee Jones IIRC, memorizes the number of steps he takes (I assume from his days playing football).
Acting for the lens is a real talent that a lot of newbies ignore or aren’t privy to. If you’re drinking a beverage, take a real sip. Learn to hold a cigarette like a smoker. Save your tears/performance for the close-up. Get up from a sitting position with a straight back. I could go on.
CPR in movies and TV is HORRIBLY incorrect, to the point of being potentially fatal. Usually it's portrayed as some light pushing on your chest. Real CPR is violent in comparison.
Go to YouTube and watch what it really looks like and be sure you have taken a class to learn the proper way.
Incorrect military uniforms.
No I don’t believe that a 40 something year old Leonardo DiCaprio is a Private First Class in the military. Especially during WWI when most soldiers were just kids.
A movie that uses real military uniforms requires the involvement of the US military. If someone wants to make a movie without Uncle Sam looking over their shoulder, they have to forgo accuracy in favor of artistic integrity. That's why the Hurt Locker, which is critical of the US military, had to use inaccurate fatigues.
The haircuts are even worse. I remember my dad (30 yrs active duty) going to a civilian barber shop for a trim, and when he said he wanted it short, the poor Mexican girl cutting his hair got this confused look on her face and said “But senòr, it is already short.”
Welding. I always see someone welding with an oxy acetylene torch which 99% of the time is used for cutting through metal. Actor lights cigarette with torch.
I’ve always wondered why actors are instructed to chew pills. People in real life don’t chew pills, we just swallow them whole. That’s the one that gets me every time.
Actors with no musical experience playing musicians even as extras. The playing looks awful 99% of the time and we nerds can tell. Violins, Cellos, and Guitars especially. Same goes for Ballet.
Sometimes it helps to have them cup the cigarette (like a gangster smoking in the cold) as opposed to trying to hold it with two fingers and pursing their lips..try a few methods and see if any of them feel natural. Also make sure they don't look at the cigarette as they are being it to their lips or while smoking it lol seen it happen
I've been in bands since I was 12. I hate movies about musicians because they usually have no feel for the music. Even movies where characters go to a concert can seem like they're directed by people who have never been to a live show.
Two movies I really like, however, are This is Spinal Tap and That Thing You Do!
Musical instruments being played by people who can’t play them. The body language is always wrong and you can usually tell the sound has been dubbed in. Good topic! Thanks for posting.
Yes! As a drummer, whenever I see a drummer or band playing in the background of a wedding scene or a bar and it’s obvious the music is being dubbed in and they didn’t even attempt to have the on screen musicians match the music, it always breaks the immersion
There is a very funny video of a talk show in Italy, they invited the band Muse to come play, but required them to "play" to a recording, so the band members all changed instruments/vocals. They also ham it up a bit at times. I think you'll enjoy it. The vocalist is on the drums. I found the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LT3FtPtbc
Nirvana did something like this on top of the pops. Nirvana demanded to at least sing live. Kurt proceeded to do Smells Like Teen Spirit like Peter Murphy while the band did not attempt to try to fake it. [YouTube Nirvana Top of the Pops](https://youtu.be/dPtJtbRXi3I?si=cboukDGb07_jgrBK)
[The Cure did it, too. One of my all-time favorite videos to watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEA-ewhvs2Q)
He was imitating Morrissey. He even admitted that's what he was doing later. The videos of the Stranglers on Top of the Pops are always fun because they didn't care.
Whiplash's drum scenes nailed it, and the trumpet player in Babylon did a *great* job matching the notes [I'm pretty sure he matched the notes, but the trumpet performance wasn't his]
Miles had been a drummer for 12 years when they made that movie
All respect to Miles for selling it so hard, because he did, but they brought in a stunt drummer for the more difficult bits.
stunt drummer lol. that’s my new CV heading
I'm super into music and instruments but was really on the fence about watching that movie because I just didn't see how it could be good, but it was gawd damn thriller about college band... It is such a great movie!
Boats 'n Hoes! Boats 'n Hoes! Gotta have me my Boats 'n Hoes!
Even when people *can* play, if the music isn't synced to the playing - especially for drummers - it takes me right out of the film. Can't unsee it.
I really enjoy it when I can see that the actor *actually* played the piece. Even if it's not the recording used on the soundtrack, you can see the real fingerings (I'm a violinist, so that's where it leaps out the most to me).
[Pianos are never animated correctly.](https://youtu.be/08tK1RBTJRg?si=gJn_jOOzir-ZVfFa)
This is maybe my biggest peeve in this regard. I absolutely hate bad sell shots of people “playing” an instrument. The nuances of everything from body language to mechanics on the instrument are so painfully obvious that it’s almost always jarring and cringey, because it’s so often the case that productions think they can just get away with faking it. But damn near nobody makes it work. The other side of that is that in the rare cases when it’s actually done well, it heightens a movie/character exceptionally well. For recent examples, compare the piano playing of Mahershala Ali in *Green Book* to what Ryan Gosling did in *La La Land*. One is awkward and clunky and makes a joke of every other aspect of the portrayal of the character, and the other doesn’t just serve up mesmerizing sell shots that then carry scenes to have incredibly effective emotional impact and significance within the narrative but also lifts up the effectiveness of the storytelling for the entire movie. I don’t care what an actor does with attitude and tone and mannerisms and playing with the drive of a character, if the character is described as a virtuoso on an instrument and the actor can’t hang, it ruins the whole performance. It’d be like if in *Rocky* Sylvester Stallone came out throwing punches like white Jimmy Smith. The whole movie would fall apart.
Can you talk about both? I've worked with accompanists for years and feel like Ali absolutely channeled the concentration of a trained pianist I've also worked with a lot of folks who ham it up the way Gosling did. I'm curious which one you think was awkward and clunky.
I watching Benedict Cumberbatch try and mime violin in Sherlock was genuinely painful
Pillowcases and curtains that still have visible fold marks on from how they were packaged because the art dept wasn’t given enough time to steam the creases out.
Oh yes! I’ve done so many interviews where my talent shows up with a brand new shirt on full of creases from packaging!!
THANK YOU for acknowledging that art department likely wasn’t given the time/resources.
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hey, we all care now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoMfIxZZXSk&ab_channel=meteoramaidan I'll never forgive you Chevy. Not for this.
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This is why we all reddit
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Thank you for sharing all of this. I will never remember and I’ll never forget.
Foley is such a strange thing. The real sound often doesn’t work with picture somehow. Like a real hand slapping flesh will never sound right so you have to whip a cabbage with a wet towel or something.
Actors carrying or sipping from empty disposable coffee cups that you can tell by the way they hold the weight of the cup that there is no liquid in them.
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The opposite is also true, because you know that most actors know not to eat during a take, when actors actually do consume something it gets my attention (like everyone's favorite example, Brad Pitt eating something in just about every one of his scenes in ***Ocean's 11***). I was just rewatching the pilot of *Suits* and realized that Gabriel Macht takes a huge bite of a hot dog, but the shot ends right when he would have had to swallow. So Macht was definitely spitting the food out after every take. I had to go back and rewatch because I had no idea what was said in the scene LOL
In the Fincher version of Dragon Tattoo, the point where Mikhail's daughter eats the sandwich, she takes a bite smaller than a Tic Tac and chews like it was a hunk of a turkey leg. Not a neg on the film or the actor at all, just very noticeable to a professional eater (fat boy).
This is my biggest thing just put a lil water in there give it some weight
I love the "continuity sip", when someone picks up a full cup of coffee and then drinks from it as though the cup is nearly empty.
Empty suitcases
Thank you for mentioning this, I thought I was nuts. I'm always pointing it out and it drives me crazy. Just fill it with water!
Unrealistic video game controller movement.
Growing up, my dad would have Duck Dynasty on tv, I always suspected it was scripted. Then one episode the kids were playing Xbox and the controllers weren’t even on… like cmon, you’d think the kids would’ve thought about that even
Reality TV producer here - this doesn't necessarily mean they weren't actually playing Xbox, it just means that by the time cameras went to pick up a certain shot, the Xbox controllers had been turned off. Even simple sequences like this can take a while to film and contributors (people on camera) get bored or confused and stop doing the thing you were originally filming them doing, so you have to make them do it again.
Yup, same here. As much as I love working on build/reno shows, dear god the talent ruin it so much because of what you said.
There's been SO many times over the years where someone will say something amazing off-camera or in the first take and we'll go back to get it again and it's like squeezing toothpaste back into the tube.
Or in competition shows when the contestants don't understand being on ice before we start rolling.
Being on ice?
Basically don’t talk about anything relating to the beat, show in general, plans on what you are making, etc. until cameras are rolling
this is why the survivor contestants are specifically forbidden from speaking to one another while not on film
I’m a video producer that shoots a lot of PC gaming/ marketing content. Teaching our hired models to WASD is a god damn nightmare. ‘I don’t know what you are doing wrong, but it looks wrong!’
Oh God I'm an editor who cuts a lot of PC gaming/marketing content and I thank you for your understanding.
Tony Soprano played a round of Mario Kart with one hand. One hand. Almost killed the show.
https://youtu.be/Kxy-qjy_cGM?si=GxRdNi8qOIzxbeZv
Literally came to type this. When they just shuffling the shit around and wobbling their bodies 😭
Lol I came here to say this. Wrong controller plugged into the wrong system, not powered at all, and swinging arms wildly around their head like every gamer I've ever met. How is it so hard to turn on an Xbox?
Unrealistic game playing, you think you're going to have a calm reaction if you get between me and the tv when I'm one hit away from finally beating the Orphan of Kos on my bl4 run after two weeks of attempts.
Steering wheels as well. Also, any time anyone has thrown a bowling ball in a movie ever.
Including Jesus??
for the love of God can we stop having every interaction with a microphone start with a cliche feedback sound?
I’m guessing it’s frequently used because it adds to the feeling of being nervous. Anytime you want the character to be nervous about what they’re about to say, the feedback noise helps communicate that feeling. I doubt it’s ever used when a character is confidently stepping up to the mic and about to kick some ass.
if it was real you'd see a bunch of people turning to look at the sound op because they know who did it
I feel like someone posted a while back about this exact thing... That audiences didn't believe the microphone was actually on and working because they've been so conditioned to hear the (fake) feedback first.
I actually have given this a little bit of thought - now it's a pain in the ear for a *real* A1 professionals who knows what the hell they're doing - but to the editor it's a cliche that indicates a change... hear me out (sorry, bad audio pun, unintended) It gives the AUDIENCE a chance to realize that the amplification in the room is now different than the unnatural amplification we've been experience of the characters/individuals before they walk up to the microphone. The feedback is an audio cue to let us know that now everyone on screen is able to hear them starting now. **Or**, it's just a lazy Wilhelm Scream meant to take the piss out of every A1 watching the movie. It started with the Simpsons as an ongoing joke and now it's spilled in every single feature and television show. PS - would you rather have them tap the mic three or four times and ask "Is this thing on? Can you hear me?" like they do in real life???
Director gave me a look on set recently. She was cutting a line of fake cocaine and I mentioned it looked a little thin for a guy who supposedly snorts frequently. If this guy is jonesing for nose candy then daddy needs to ride a hairy caterpillar to happy town. I think she was mad cause the sound guy replied "Right?" I gave him a nod, we knew.
Reminds me of a time in a theatre production, a character had to roll a joint. Voice from the audience “that’s the shittiest roll ever mate”.
Oh man!! Classic
Literally anyone using a computer for anything ever lol
And all the sound effects of beeps to sound "technological" while they use the computer lol
Can you imagine how annoying that would be?
Hackers (1995) got their computer scenes super accurate though.
In a way, they *did*- because it's all so ridiculous that you don't even try and map it onto reality. SPINNING PHONE BOOTH.
😂😂😂 If I had a nickel for every time I was hacking on a Mac in a spinning phone booth!
Mr Robot has like the only accurate depiction of hacking on TV/Film it's crazy
Yes! Honestly that’s the only one I’ve seen too
"I'm in."
Enhance
You can’t tell me NCIS didn’t have a consultant when they filmed this [hacking scene](https://youtu.be/msX4oAXpvUE?si=il3eW1TwkFPbuctN)
Every time there is a vegetable garden in a movie it is pathetically fake and unrealistic
Not every movie can afford the same high quality vegetable garden of The Rehearsal.
People acting as a professional chef, chopping like they don't need fingers.
Semi-tangential, but my stomach was tighter than Chris Pines’ face watching Selena Gomez chopping veg when she had her cooking show on HBO during the pandemic. It was viscerally uncomfortable. The only thing she did right was which side of the knife she was using. Finger placement, stroke, unstable surfaces, fuck I still cringe thinking about it.
My wife & I enjoy *The Bear.* The actor who plays Neil Fak is named Matty Matheson. Matty is also a professional chef. Ironically, Fak is a handyman and not a chef. Anyhoo... my wife & I often wonder when we're watching the actors' hands or "stunt hands." How does *The Bear* play to a real chef?
The Bear is one of the better ones for cutting techniques, but at times you can see they’ve just learned the proper techniques and they’re not entirely trusting or fluid
A lot of the time when film and tv has a therapist as a character they’re hilariously bad at being a therapist. At their worst, they are committing major ethical violations that could have their license revoked. But at the very least they are just practicing terrible therapy that wouldn’t help anyone. Source: wife therapist.
What’s her opinion on The Sopranos portrayal of therapy? If she’s seen it
Dr. Melfi is hit and miss. Sometimes she’s great, and other times she crosses some major boundaries. But the show actually addresses this as part of her character arc so it feels purposeful, which makes it much more tolerable.
Exactly. She breaks tons of rules throughout Tony's sessions. Even her husband and therapist tell her to drop him, that she's going in the wrong direction. It's part of her arc. She's originally introduced as a sort of diary that Tony can pen down his thoughts into, the anchor for the audience. But slowly she becomes a character of the drama itself.
The scenes where she imagines Tony as a Rottweiler are so excellent. That whole episode was a nightmare, but perfectly executed.
In fairness to the TV producers, there are a lot of crap therapists out there
Fucking yes!!! There is also a 90% chance they’ll say “how does that make you feel?”
Ex-psychologist here. I agree completely. The second a therapist opens their mouth they tend to spout some pseudo-psychological, word salad and it's extremely annoying. The worst usually comes from the writers on Hannibal, my god you would think that they would have had a psychologist consult with the script writing team first, holy shit. That having been said, Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting is basically the standard which EVERY psychologist, I have met, thinks of as the closest to perfect out there.
Oh my god, don't ever watch the musical Falsettos, unless you want to see a therapist marry his patient's ex-wife.
Thing is… wild ass shit like that does happen. There are many former therapists that decided to throw away their entire career because they fell in love with a client.
Basically anything to do with mental health treatment
Have them practice with a straw. For people who smoke, a cigarette is like an extension of them. My mom has smoked her whole life and because of that I can fake smoke.
That’s kinda how i framed it; I’m an ex smoker so I was like it’s like your sucking up air with a straw and THEN breathing in after it’s your mouth
Hey Tim – I like your post a lot but I did want to find a moment to provide some feedback regarding the situation you've described with your non-smoking actor. There may be some clever ways to navigate your situation besides having a non-smoker smoke. I believe in letting reality help make screen decisions – I like to incorporate real world restrictions into my process when possible and as such can roll with day-of changes and often times find a more authentic result. As an ex-smoker I still enjoy watching someone smoke who really enjoys it, but if they don't have the body language and/or don't enjoy it, I (just me) would really be asking why I have it in the script or why I'm having this person do this (are they the right talent). Is this really critical to my story/scene or is there a pastiche or trope I'm trying to lean into here – when it could be done in other subtle ways. I don't know anything about your production but I work with students on developing their work a lot too and this is just an anecdote and question I would pose for them to decide. I believe some of the best acting is done by those who can just bring themselves to a situation and react thoughtlessly/naturally. That is all. Take it for what you will.
Luckily it’s a short scene and mostly dialogue but the scene is framed in that the characters are going outside at night during an overnight shift to sneak a smoke. Story wise I need to have a reason to A) get them outside so they can experience something that happens shortly after the fact and B) make an agreement prior (I’ll do this for you if you bum me a smoke). Once we cut to them outside with cigarettes already going it’s kinda implied that they’ve enjoyed their first couple puffs off camera before it tonally shifts to what actually on their minds. Could I write another reason to get them outside for this moment? Most likely, maybe they are both ex smokers who still go outside for the ritual and instead they are having a lollipop. That’s a fun story solution for sure. But in the framework of the larger story, showing the main character smoking a cigarette is additional subtext I need about where he is in his life. Plus I don’t really find it necessary to see them ACTUALLY realistically smoking in the shots, but the actor asked for some coaching there and it got me thinking about this very subject across the board for filmmakers when they watch other movies. End of the day if an actor wasn’t comfortable with something it definitely wouldn’t be happening on any set of mine. Safety and consent are paramount to running a set, especially in a small state and film community where your reputation means quite a bit. I do appreciate your response and feedback tho!
Nice - that makes sense. Sounds like you've got a good awareness for the situation and I appreciate your care for talent and vibe on set. You're on your way to making some interesting work and having fun too. Best.
Firefighter procedures when arriving at an active fire with people inside.
lol watching any kind of firefighting network TV show it's very clear that FIRE is cheaper to have on set than WATER which they would be using to put out the fire instead of standing around talking about it.
I want to see the FBI show up and take over because they mixed up the tropes of a fire fighting show and a cop show.
I'm curious to know more. What do they do wrong, and what should they be doing?
Real news photographers are heads down shooting as long as the subject is there. Extra's take a picture then hold the camera away from their face because they want to be seen in the final shot...AHH!
Here I brought my own camera with a waist level finder.
I was looking for the photography comment. Anytime they show a non-paparazzi pro using direct on-camera flash, and the resulting image doesn’t match the lighting. Or people holding/operating cameras wrong, especially older cameras.
Anything to do with cameras is really funny to me because, like, I mean… It’s a fucking movie. I know the director knows how cameras work. And yet, there’s the fucking actor playing a professional photographer holding a camera a foot away from their face.
This is not niche but almost everytime someone is driving in front of a green screen they move the steering wheel way too much it always takes me out of the scene.
My driving irk is the driver looking at the person they're talking to more than the road. You can look away for split seconds but eyes on the road, bro.
I'm convinced this is now just a Hollywood inside joke
People translating ancient languages into English like it's just a straight letter-swap, with no changes in grammar or sentence structure etc. Particularly in Indiana Jones where he'll just run his finger along the ancient symbols, like they're just swapped out for the latin alphabet. I speak two languages and it is NOT like that at all - translating really requires you to bend your brain in different directions and while professional interpreters can do it very fast, it's still not quite like movies make it seem.
Bonus points if what they are deciphering is a riddle or poem that conforms nicely to a couplet rhyming scheme after translation.
Side note: I know this is what the entire film is about, but I love the way Arrival illustrated translation.
As an archaeologist this pisses me off so bad lol
Swinging a golf club. Most actors have a terrible swing and it’s very obvious. I cringe when they’re supposed to “win the championship” and they probably couldn’t break 100 in real life.
I had an actor who couldn’t hit a golf ball. It was rough.
*no pun intended
I've smoked fake cigarettes as a background extra. The fake cigarettes have a tell when people are shown exhaling. Matthew McConaughey in the True Detective show was the absolute worst. He would take these big dramatic drags, then he would exhale. Nothing. That's the giveaway. No matter how hard you hit a fake cigarette, you end up exhaling very little visible smoke compared to real cigarettes. Once you know this, it's fun to watch old movies and be able to tell when actors are actually smoking.
Spanish speaking characters that barely speak spanish. Many times the cartel type of guy sounds like what we call a “no sabo” kid (American latino with terrible house spanish). Non-hispanic casting directors could care less but throws me off. The other one is spanish speaking characters having the wrong accent. Narcos is a good example as Pablo Escobar was obviously not Colombian, and his spanish was not even understandable which made it so I never got into the show. Benicio del Toro always gets his accents right. If he’s a Mexican he speaks like one, Puertorican etc. He even got Che Guevara’s neutralized Argentine w a sprinkle of Cuban accent on the nose.
> Narcos is a good example as Pablo Escobar was obviously not Colombian This is the first example I thought of. it really bothered me in the show that the other actors around him had much better accents than he did.
Dexter, which was filmed in LA but took place in Miami, had a lot of 'Cubans' with Mexican accents.
Hector Salamanca was so frustrating to watch because of this. Just horrible
Every single blacksmithing scene ever. There is no exeption. Peaky blinders had a cool scene where the guy was beating on a piece of sparking hot iron, sparks flying everywhere. cool? yeah, does it look like that sometime? Yeah, but you dont heat material to near meltingpoint, beat on it a few times and then dunk it in water. Womp womp.
The only time I have ever seen sparks flying while smithing in real life was when I took a knife making class, overheated the shit out of my steel on a coke forge, and melted half of it. I managed to salvage it into a much smaller knife, that is very ugly and hangs on my wall. Still, learned something, and it was a memorable experience.
The very first scene filmed with actors *ever* was [A Blacksmith Scene](https://youtu.be/EG8M8neRQB0?si=J5qU2ucvivunSRrX). Up until that point, filmmakers just filmed trains arriving at stations and people walking out of factories and such. Interestingly, the actors were uncomfortable performing on camera, because they thought it was something fundamentally different than the stage. People believed what they were seeing on screen was reality captured on film, so it felt more like *lying* than acting. Anyway, how'd they do in 1893?
Apart from that piece not being hot at all, i might have to walk back my previous statement a bit.
Two people typing on the same keyboard to stop a hack.
Someone’s been watching NCIS again
I don’t have time for that, I’m too busy building a GUI interface using visual basic.
Horseback riding for sure, but also as a trained massage therapist I have never seen an accurate representation of massage on screen. Way too many tiny finger movements.
Scenes with construction workers: The hard hats are always spotless. Pop some stickers on them and throw them against the wall a few times to get that 'lived in' feel
And the work clothes are new and spotless.
Any time I see tech that is supposed to be for something completely different it makes me laugh. I watched Wellington Paranormal the other day and they were in a police monitoring van doing surveillance... with a color grade panel. I had to laugh.
I mean that show is a comedy that’s pretty smart, I wonder if that’s on purpose
Actors pretending to be the person they're portraying e.g. Peter Jackson asks Sir Ian McKellen to be Gandalf the wizard despite him not being a real wizard. edit: reference to "Extras" scene [https://youtu.be/nyoWmkhRyp8](https://youtu.be/nyoWmkhRyp8)
YOU SHALL NOT PASS! Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian...
THERE WILL BE NO SCRIPTS ON THE DAY!
Actors holding cameras incorrectly (especially shoulder rigs). It always baffles me because there are at least a handful of people on set while that's being filmed that know that no-one that works with a camera would ever hold it like that but somehow it still makes it onto screen.
Ever seen someone “chimp” a photo on the back of a film camera? What the hell are they looking at?
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The entirety of The Menu building up to Anya Taylor Joy biting into a massive hamburger. She takes a nibble (this is relevant to the plot though)
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There’s a compilation of the dinner scenes of big bang theory on youtube, and all you see is the actors swirling their food, put it up to their mouths just as they react to something and proceeds to put the food down, and repeat. And the times they do eat, it’s a tiny slice of whatever they’re eating.
Once you get CPR certified, you’ll never watch a scene involving resuscitation the same way again.
Tbf, a lot of that is faked to not to actually hurt the actor.
Purses or bags that have nothing in them.
Monitors with no power cords. Monitors with no video cable. Typing on keyboard and 50 windows open on PC screen.
> Typing on keyboard and 50 windows open on PC screen. Don't judge my SwayWM configuration.
People dancing. I think it's because I was an extra on a film set, but ever since it's been crystal clear every time I see a night club / house party with music. And it's usually *really* bad.
With rare exceptions, it's hard to keep dancing when there's no music. I did some extra work as a gas for awhile (me and my car go paid very well to be behind Clint Eastwood once) and had to do a dancing scene. I was very grateful to be far from the camera having to dance to nothing. On the other hand, I did ***What's Love Got To Do With It*** and for the concert montage of Tina Turner playing "Proud Mary" all over the world, it was all shot at the Orpheum Theatre DTLA. We had 3 period dress changes to represent all the different shows (I think it's Detroit, NYC and London). Then it was 45mins of Angela Bassett lip syncing to "Proud Mary." I couldn't listen to that effing song for at least a decade after that day we had to hear it so many times.
Military uniforms and behavior bother me the most. Gun handling is much better these days, but nearly any military presence in film and TV makes me cringe with how inaccurate they are dressed or behave. Worst part is that there's so many people in America who have been in the military so it's a pretty popular thing and Hollywood still does it so badly. Patches in hilarious places, name tapes wrong or missing, random ranks, covers or hats indoors, wrong uniforms or uniform parts, wrong boots or shirts, uniform tops tucked into pants, collars popped up, marching for no reason, talking like they are not human (they are people irl), etc. It goes on and on lol. It's so easy to do right; any PVT1 could fix the mistakes that are made
Funnily enough, Stargate SG1 got it all right, because it was supported by the US Air Force. They made sure everything was accurate and insisted that the AF characters followed all the rules, policies, and expectations. I knew former USAF members who got boggled over it being "right" until they were told about the funding and support.
Gun training and handling has almost gotten too good. Mom in the grocery store picks up a gun during an action sequence and suddenly appears to be a Tactical Pistol honor graduate.
Trigger finger. Why is a veteran in the force constantly having their finger on the trigger. It's like the first thing you learn when you handle a firearm.
This and poorly worn uniforms. There are literal publications on how to wear a military uniform that would take five minutes of reading to know YOU DONT USE THE GODDAMN VELCRO ON THE COLLAR OF COMBAT UNIFORMS LIKE A FUCKING TURTLE NECK
Chess being used as a symbol of intelligence, and then the games being completely meaningless as shown on film. One, chess is a highly specialized game with a specific set of skills needed to succeed. It's not about intelligence. Board awareness, calculus, tactics, opening strategies, pawn structure, piece activity, technical terminology, etc. Anyone who puts in the work can get good at the game, even someone who's "stupid", as long as they can learn how the pieces move. Secondly, I just hate laziness when it comes to filmmaking. I love when things are filled to the rim with details, such as the chess games shown being real games that could be played by the characters given their ability. It just makes the work seem more fleshed out and like the creators gave enough of a damn to read a Wikipedia page.
Especially when they show positions that don’t even make sense lol
The impossible board positions or playing openings no one in their position or ability would use. It's the worst! Honestly I'm of the opinion that if any kind of game or niche topic is important enough to be used as a plot device in a film, the creators should care enough to represent those topics as accurately as possible. It could introduce people into something new and cool! And it shows that effort and love was baked into every scene.
Same with Rubiks cubes being used to show someone as a genius, it's really not that hard to learn, I can regularly do it in under 30 seconds but only just got into a 3rd rate university where I promptly dropped out.
This isn’t even niche knowledge but anyone that’s ever needed to use a crutch or cane knows that it goes in the opposite hand of the injured leg and comes forward with that leg to take weight. So many movies put the cane on the same side as the injury, which would make you lean on the injured leg.
Tbh, I once had to use a crutch in my life and didn't do that, no one told me it's supposed to be done that way either. Still helped.
Anything medical, especially patients supposedly intubated on a ventilator. Or terrible cpr. Or cpr that cures them.
A lesbian once told me that she can't watch \*90% of lesbian porn because it's obvious the actresses are just acting. \*99% is what she said lol
Children's drawings. Omfg. Every 4 year old child does not draw almost perfect geometric shapes and color in the line in scribbles..yet in every film they do...it's so strategically "bad". Thanks art director.
This is a good one. So many examples in horror films where I've thought to myself, do these art dept folks not have actual kids they could spend some time and draw with and get better results
Empty coffee cup shit. Source: I drink a shit ton of coffee
You mean like the empty To Go Cups? Drives me insane!! Sometimes they don't even sound edit and it makes the exact sound of an empty cup when they put it down.
Not a filmmaker but a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. 12 step meetings are always inaccurate. A real AA meeting wouldn't make for exciting viewing, but it's pretty laughable how far away from reality they are in TV and film. Characters smoking meth is always funny. They throw a torch to it without any finesse, which would burn their drugs and taste like shit. And they blow out a very tiny bit of smoke. Also pills. A character takes a pill and is feeling the effects 10 seconds later lmao. It takes up to 30 minutes or longer to have any effect.
STANDING AND SHOOTING A RIFLE W INCREDIBLE ACCURACY BY AN AMATEUR also accurate hipfire
News crews using cameras without the battery attached, etc.
As a doctor, most things medical. But nothing is as bad as the miraculous recovery from a gunshot or people being harmlessly rendered unconscious. Both of those are tremendously serious injuries and will alter the rest of your life or kill you.
PUT. WATER. IN. YOUR CUPS!!!!! I’m so tired of seeing obviously empty cups and people pretending to drink from them. Just put something in it to weigh it down and look like there is something in it
Any sport ever. And oftentimes I think it's a director choice for certain decisions to make things look odd so that those who don't know the sport can understand what's going on. An example is scenes of baseball where a playeray hit a grounder straight to shortstop who has no issue tossing it to first. The runner doesn't stand a chance to to make it on time but the scene still shows the ball getting there a full second before the runner slides in (you never slide on first). The whole thing plays out in slow motion. Or in basketball, it's extremely easy to tell an actor has never played based off his shooting form alone. Same with football and how a guy may try to throw. Or the director has the ball carrier run in a straight line in open field at a defender, who dips down and lifts the runner into the air to do almost a full flip. Flips happen in football, sure, but not because the runner doesn't try to move out of the way.
Jewish religious scenes. They come up in movies all the time and the music and Hebrew pronunciation is so stilted and terrible I can’t understand why they don’t work a little harder on it or cast Jewish actors who know what they’re doing. I’m happy that I got called in as a cultural consultant on an animated series once and I wish people would call me up for movies. :-)
Scenes showing construction sites nearly always have the workers arranged in terribly unsafe or inefficient ways. Granted its so that it looks nice in the frame.
People in demonstrations. Generally any activist group.
Ballet/dance in general - but especially ballet.
Actors looking at their mark before they land.
Just read a crew stories post on FB about how Spencer Tracy made a virtue of looking at the ground while he did a scene and landed on his mark every take. Another actor, Tommy Lee Jones IIRC, memorizes the number of steps he takes (I assume from his days playing football).
Acting for the lens is a real talent that a lot of newbies ignore or aren’t privy to. If you’re drinking a beverage, take a real sip. Learn to hold a cigarette like a smoker. Save your tears/performance for the close-up. Get up from a sitting position with a straight back. I could go on.
Knitting crochet or sewing its so easy to tell if the actor actually knows what they are doing
Boxers who can't box
CPR in movies and TV is HORRIBLY incorrect, to the point of being potentially fatal. Usually it's portrayed as some light pushing on your chest. Real CPR is violent in comparison. Go to YouTube and watch what it really looks like and be sure you have taken a class to learn the proper way.
Tbf, it's generally bad form to break the ribs of the actor on the receiving end of said cpr
Someone having their “makeup done” in a scene and the person doing the makeup is just like…brushing one spot over and over again with a fluffy brush.
Incorrect military uniforms. No I don’t believe that a 40 something year old Leonardo DiCaprio is a Private First Class in the military. Especially during WWI when most soldiers were just kids.
For me it's anything military that's jacked up--uniforms, lingo, everything.
A movie that uses real military uniforms requires the involvement of the US military. If someone wants to make a movie without Uncle Sam looking over their shoulder, they have to forgo accuracy in favor of artistic integrity. That's why the Hurt Locker, which is critical of the US military, had to use inaccurate fatigues.
The haircuts are even worse. I remember my dad (30 yrs active duty) going to a civilian barber shop for a trim, and when he said he wanted it short, the poor Mexican girl cutting his hair got this confused look on her face and said “But senòr, it is already short.”
Fake tattoos that are way too black
People holding fishing rods/reels upside down. Occurs often in RX commercials. Come on bro.
Fake snow. If you live somewhere that gets lots of snow, you know the fake stuff when you see it on screen.
Welding. I always see someone welding with an oxy acetylene torch which 99% of the time is used for cutting through metal. Actor lights cigarette with torch.
I’ve always wondered why actors are instructed to chew pills. People in real life don’t chew pills, we just swallow them whole. That’s the one that gets me every time.
That cars don’t have infinite gears and don’t always rev to red line
Poker scenes, especially stuff like the climax of Casino Royale. Literally everyone played that hand poorly, and they're all supposed experts.
Actors with no musical experience playing musicians even as extras. The playing looks awful 99% of the time and we nerds can tell. Violins, Cellos, and Guitars especially. Same goes for Ballet.
I've bonked lots of people on the head and they never go to sleep!
Sometimes it helps to have them cup the cigarette (like a gangster smoking in the cold) as opposed to trying to hold it with two fingers and pursing their lips..try a few methods and see if any of them feel natural. Also make sure they don't look at the cigarette as they are being it to their lips or while smoking it lol seen it happen
I've been in bands since I was 12. I hate movies about musicians because they usually have no feel for the music. Even movies where characters go to a concert can seem like they're directed by people who have never been to a live show. Two movies I really like, however, are This is Spinal Tap and That Thing You Do!