Watching The Wheels
Sometimes I'm amazed at how far we've come with technology.
Thanks to a blue screen in movies, people can now seem like they are naturally talking to an alien or battling the end of the world. It's advances like this that have made the old school, split screen Parent Trap seem obsolete.
Yet with all of the progress we've made in intricate detail, there is one amazingly simple detail Hollywood filmmakers just can't seem to get right.
The simple car ride.
Take if you will, your typical action film. The good guy has to save the world from a "you fill in the blank here". Houses explode, it looks real. The bad guy has the "thing" breathing down his neck, it looks even realer.
Then he gets into a car with the girl he just saved. They start driving.
Suddenly all the film's credibility has gone right out the window.
Why? How come I'm more likely to believe the house exploding and the monster is imploding than the fact that you are driving to Dunkin Donuts to pick up a simple cup of coffee!?
This is what I think the problem is. For starters, it's the actors themselves. If they are in a car with someone else, they do what I like to refer to as "the linger". This is when an actor spends too much time looking at something else besides the road.
Having a conversation with the passenger in the car is all fine and well, but can't you realistically glance at them occassionally, at least feigning interest in being behind the wheel?
The same thing goes if you are eating, searching for something or changing the channel on the radio. Whatever. It's such a simple concept really. I mean pretending to fight the monster that doesn't exist should be more complex than faking driving, something most people over the age of sixteen do, oh I don't know, everyday of their lives.
The second problem is the scenery. Some actors are pretty good at keeping their hands at 10 and 2 and their eyes on the road. But if you look at the road instead of the actors, what you see might surprise you. Sometimes it's the same exact footage looped again and again. Don't believe me? Just watch how many times you see the same red barn in some of your favorite movies. And when it isn't the same footage being looped, it's footage that is so obviously fake, it's ridiculous.
I once saw that The OC's backyard, sunset and pool...all of it, is fake. Not real. Make believe. The pool is more like a wading station while the sunset is like something out of The Truman Show. Amazing. I mean they fooled me. So why, oh why, can't Speilberg and company do the same thing? Put a few less bucks into the bang and a few more into that bum we see when the actor stops at the red light.
I mean it's operating a vehicle for pete's sake. Seriously.
It's enough to drive you crazy.
Thanks to a blue screen in movies, people can now seem like they are naturally talking to an alien or battling the end of the world. It's advances like this that have made the old school, split screen Parent Trap seem obsolete.
Yet with all of the progress we've made in intricate detail, there is one amazingly simple detail Hollywood filmmakers just can't seem to get right.
The simple car ride.
Take if you will, your typical action film. The good guy has to save the world from a "you fill in the blank here". Houses explode, it looks real. The bad guy has the "thing" breathing down his neck, it looks even realer.
Then he gets into a car with the girl he just saved. They start driving.
Suddenly all the film's credibility has gone right out the window.
Why? How come I'm more likely to believe the house exploding and the monster is imploding than the fact that you are driving to Dunkin Donuts to pick up a simple cup of coffee!?
This is what I think the problem is. For starters, it's the actors themselves. If they are in a car with someone else, they do what I like to refer to as "the linger". This is when an actor spends too much time looking at something else besides the road.
Having a conversation with the passenger in the car is all fine and well, but can't you realistically glance at them occassionally, at least feigning interest in being behind the wheel?
The same thing goes if you are eating, searching for something or changing the channel on the radio. Whatever. It's such a simple concept really. I mean pretending to fight the monster that doesn't exist should be more complex than faking driving, something most people over the age of sixteen do, oh I don't know, everyday of their lives.
The second problem is the scenery. Some actors are pretty good at keeping their hands at 10 and 2 and their eyes on the road. But if you look at the road instead of the actors, what you see might surprise you. Sometimes it's the same exact footage looped again and again. Don't believe me? Just watch how many times you see the same red barn in some of your favorite movies. And when it isn't the same footage being looped, it's footage that is so obviously fake, it's ridiculous.
I once saw that The OC's backyard, sunset and pool...all of it, is fake. Not real. Make believe. The pool is more like a wading station while the sunset is like something out of The Truman Show. Amazing. I mean they fooled me. So why, oh why, can't Speilberg and company do the same thing? Put a few less bucks into the bang and a few more into that bum we see when the actor stops at the red light.
I mean it's operating a vehicle for pete's sake. Seriously.
It's enough to drive you crazy.
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