Movie blooper Internet sites spawns interest in film-nitpicking
By Vishnu K. Mahmud
JAKARTA (JP): It is one of the most tragic scenes ever filmed. A young mother tucks her children to bed in the third class cabin of the Titanic, knowing that they are all doomed. In another room, an elderly couple embraces on their bunk as the icy cold waters of the Atlantic begin to rush into their cabin. As the audience begins to weep, we see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet frantically consider their options. But wait! What is there in the background? Isn't that the same doomed young family and old couple from the Third Class floors (that we've cried about earlier) boarding a First Class lifeboat?
Film Bloopers (mistakes in a movie) are the scourges of the entertainment industry. Movies are supposed to present an escapist environment for the audience as a diversion from their "real" lives. It is a domain where the characters are drop-dead gorgeous (always), the stories have happy endings (occasionally) and the plot is never predictable (rarely). Thus said, the creation and presentation of a feature film should be executed flawlessly to entertain the audience.
But for the observant audience member (the one with the Sherlock Holmes observations skills), bloopers can be a major distraction. Take the ever-popular Matrix for example. In the beginning of the film, Trinity is on the phone and we see the computer doing a telephone trace. She is tracked and the police arrive along with the dreaded "Agents" in the crisp warm night. They try to catch her and the battle ensues. But did anyone notice the time of the trace? Feb. 19, 1998 at 13:24:18. Or 1:24 p.m. As in the afternoon. Oops!
Another example is Star Wars: A New Hope. R2-D2 projects the holographic message of Princess Leia on Obi-Wan Kenobi's table. Along with her miniature projection are three items arranged neatly on the table. When the frame changes for a close-up of the Princess, there are only two objects left on the tabletop.
Even the venerable classics are not immune. Consider Casablanca, arguably one of the best films of all time. Rick Blane waits for his love in the rainy Paris train station. His trench coat is drenched. He gets the message stating that Elsa cannot join him for reasons unknown. His heart shattered, he throws away the message as the train begins to pull out of the station. Wearing a DRY trench coat.
The Internet is the ideal information depot for such trivial pursuits. The Nitpicker's Site (http://www.nitpickers.com) is one sample of the treasure troves of information online. The website offers various films that have anomalies, blunders and bad editing. Apart from the technical aspect of movie making, Nitpickers also provides a forum for historical and scientific inaccuracies (for which Hollywood is always famous -- explosions and sounds in space, a vacuum, is just one of them). The site also invites web surfers to share their insights and information on their favorite movies.
Movie Bloopers.com (http://www.moviebloopers.com) is another site worth stopping by, although it lacks the hundreds of titles that Nitpickers have. For those who enjoy Indian movies, BollywoodBloopers.com (http://www.bollywoodbloopers.com) may tickle your fancy.
The acclaimed Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com) is still the ultimate source for movies, although they lack blooper reels or discussions. It is, however, an excellent resource to find a movie you once saw but whose title you can't remember.
For those who are extremely picky about what movie to watch (good reviews, bad reviews, even worse editing), you can go to Rotten Tomatoes (yes, the one with Vice President Quayle's "e") at http://www.rottentomatoes.com for all viewpoints on the planet to help you decide if you want to see a particular movie or skip it. Most Internet portals (such as Yahoo! or Astaga!com) or newspaper websites (The New York Times or The Jakarta Post) also have movie reviews.
Why even go to these sites? Why not just enjoy the movie? You could. You can still watch The Titanic over and over again but this time you can be looking for something new, something that was missed. It would be like spotting Alfred Hitchcock in his movies (the acclaimed director is famous for being an extra in his own films). It would give the average viewer a more critical eye for details, thus limiting the amount of inaccuracies (and junk) dished out by Hollywood.
The world can only take so much empty plot lines, boom microphone sightings or characters mysteriously changing clothes in the same scene. By being more demanding, the film industry would have to be more careful in what it produces.
Why careful? Take "historical" films such as U-571, the gripping drama of an American World War II submarine out to capture an enemy encryption device. Producers (and Hollywood in general) have a tendency of using historical facts and altering them to make the story more interesting and sellable. The major historical inaccuracy in U-571 is that the British were the ones who grabbed the enigma decoding machine, months before the Americans joined World War II. Why is their story less bankable compared to the American point of view?
The classic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey is also filled with inaccuracies. Commander Dave Bowman was trapped outside the Discovery ship in his mini space pod and forgot his helmet to do a space walk to enter the ship. He had to jettison himself out of the pod into an airlock and close the doors. Not only did he survive the vacuum exposure (which should have frozen him almost immediately), but also his space pod did not move at all during the violent decompression.
Do we really need to know all this? Probably not, but it does help. Knowing bloopers can help teach kids (and adults) about real scientific and historical facts instead of accepting what the film industry decrees. You may even learn a little bit about filmmaking. But the most important thing is that the facts are accurate. After all, the suspension of reality can only go so far. You should see what physicists said about Mission Impossible: 2! vmahmud@yahoo.com