Sorta-OT: Movies and Electronic Design

[Spehro Pefhany]

Interesting, what with the Oscars and all, I've been asked to review a
screenplay that has some (somewhat far-fetched) technical content so
the movie maker can avoid any really bad eye-rolling technical
goof-ups.

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[John Devereux]

Interesting, what with the Oscars and all, I've been asked to review a
screenplay that has some (somewhat far-fetched) technical content so
the movie maker can avoid any really bad eye-rolling technical
goof-ups.

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..

The ones where they fly through the core of a planet spring to mind...

Or flying through an "asteroid belt" with the asteroids bouncing off the
spaceship.

Seem to recall a thunderbirds episode where they landed on the sun. Was
a bit hot I expect.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

The ones where they fly through the core of a planet spring to mind...

Or flying through an "asteroid belt" with the asteroids bouncing off the
spaceship.

Seem to recall a thunderbirds episode where they landed on the sun. Was
a bit hot I expect.

As the joke goes, the trick is to go at night.

I remember a movie where they showed a shot of a PCB EDA program
(Mentor, maybe) at work routing a board with the actor exclaiming
"Amazing, a computer searching for a bomb!".


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[John Devereux]

Remember the China Syndrome, while they were working inside a trip system
cabinet to try to trip the reactor. Director apparently didn't think it
looked techy enough, so they added a CRO with a squarewave on the screen.

Yes, and every computer screen in a movie before 2000 had some faked-up
huge-text dialog instead of a normal actual program.

Too many people know what typical GUIs look like now, so they don't do
it so much. Instead they are always apple macs, even though ~90% are PCs
in real life.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Yes, and every computer screen in a movie before 2000 had some faked-up
huge-text dialog instead of a normal actual program.

Oh, and the "7-segment" font was always some Mac (?) segment-style
font that had more than 7 segments (like a tail on the top of the
'1').

Too many people know what typical GUIs look like now, so they don't do
it so much. Instead they are always apple macs, even though ~90% are PCs
in real life.

In the good old days, I think they shopped a lot for props at C&H
Surplus in Pasadena.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Syd Rumpo]

On 25/02/2013 11:18, Bruce Varley wrote:

Remember the China Syndrome, while they were working inside a trip system
cabinet to try to trip the reactor. Director apparently didn't think it
looked techy enough, so they added a CRO with a squarewave on the screen.

All bombs must have red seven-segment LED down-counters which never get
to zero.

But anything James Bond is usually absurd - the wristwatch on which you
can twist a dial and turn it into a magnet which will pick up a handgun
from a few metres away.

Cheers

 

[Nico Coesel]

Interesting, what with the Oscars and all, I've been asked to review a
screenplay that has some (somewhat far-fetched) technical content so
the movie maker can avoid any really bad eye-rolling technical
goof-ups.

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..

Whenever wires come into play they always screw up like Jan Panteltje
already more or less pointed out.

 

[Blarp]

Interesting, what with the Oscars and all, I've been asked to review a
screenplay that has some (somewhat far-fetched) technical content so
the movie maker can avoid any really bad eye-rolling technical
goof-ups.

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

The content on a monitor picture projected on the operators face

 

[Jeroen]

I need to be drugged or inebriated before I can ignore the science
fiction.

Long ago, I went to see The Poseidon Adventure with a class of
students from the Naval Postgraduate Skool in Monterey. I didn't
catch all the mistakes that a nautical engineer was expected to
notice, but there were plenty. Unfortunately, I couldn't easily ask
what was happening as they were almost continuously howling and
laughing during the movie.

More recently, there was the movie Twister. Near the end the hero and
heroine dive into a water well and hang on while the tornado tries to
suck them out of the well. Just one problem. Where was the air
blowing from the bottom of the well coming from? I was at Costco
watching parts of the movie pointing out other physics errors when a
13 year old asked me to stop because I was ruining the movie.

Indeed. I'd be the first to notice all the inconsistencies and
errors against physics in movies, but at least I have the decency
not to point them out aloud. People go to movies to be entertained;
Not to learn physics.

I agree that some of the grossest blunders spoil the fun for me,
but I'd hate to be in the same theatre with some wise crack pointing
out the errors. Not that I ever go to movies anymore: I can't stand
the popcorn crunchers either.

Sigh. I suppose one's stock of patience with such things runs out
on getting older.

Jeroen Belleman

 

[[email protected]]

Remember the China Syndrome, while they were working inside a trip system
cabinet to try to trip the reactor. Director apparently didn't think it
looked techy enough, so they added a CRO with a squarewave on the screen.

How about racks of Tek TM5000s on Battle Star Galactica(?).

 

[[email protected]]

I need to be drugged or inebriated before I can ignore the science
fiction.

Long ago, I went to see The Poseidon Adventure with a class of
students from the Naval Postgraduate Skool in Monterey. I didn't
catch all the mistakes that a nautical engineer was expected to
notice, but there were plenty. Unfortunately, I couldn't easily ask
what was happening as they were almost continuously howling and
laughing during the movie.

More recently, there was the movie Twister. Near the end the hero and
heroine dive into a water well and hang on while the tornado tries to
suck them out of the well. Just one problem. Where was the air
blowing from the bottom of the well coming from?

The bottom of the well, obviously.

I was at Costco
watching parts of the movie pointing out other physics errors when a
13 year old asked me to stop because I was ruining the movie. Now I
know which is more important, physics or entertainment.

I would guess that in a movie theater that a physics lesson wouldn't
be appropriate anymore than watching "Twister" would be in a college
physics lecture.

For electronic specific mistakes, I'm always impressed at how easily
radio, cellular, and wireline communications works under adverse
conditions. There might be a geomagnetic storm, ready to devastate
the planet, but HF communications still seems to be functional. I'm
also amazed at how well radio direction finders work on the screen. Of
course, no evil genius would be considered effective without the
requisite console full of confusing flashing lights.

This, of course, is dependant on the writer's need for the characters
to communicate. A blackout is often more useful.

What impresses me most are the pyrotechnics and explosions produced by
failing electronics. When I blow something up, there's maybe a small
pop and a small puff of toxic fumes. On the screen, it's more like a
major pyrotechnics display. Amazingly, nothing ever seems to catch
fire on screen.

It seems Joerg doesn't share your calm life.

Google for "movie mistakes". There are plenty of web sites with film
clips and details.

Mistakes are different than suspension of disbelief. If the writer
was bound by the known physics it would make for some pretty boring
stories; hardly science fiction.

 

[[email protected]]

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..

One early example I recall was a real [0] Dr. Who episode where some
device was screwing up and the solution was to "reverse the polarity of
the neutron flow". I didn't notice it in context but it was pointed out
to me later.

For an extensive compendium of examples, go to TV Tropes. Some good
technology-related tropes on that site include...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadeOfExplodium
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EverythingMakesAMushroom
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImpressivePyrotechnics
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EveryCarIsAPinto
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExplosiveInstrumentation
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LightningCanDoAnything
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExplosiveOverclocking
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReadingsBlewUpTheScale
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeepingComputers
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewerFriendlyInterface

CAUTION: TV Tropes can be a huge (if entertaining) time sink.

Matt Roberds

[0] In a real Dr. Who episode, if one of the actors leans on the wall,
the wall moves.

 

[Pimpom]

Because they are big & cheap, or even free,

And they usually have audio.

 

[amdx]

Oh, and the "7-segment" font was always some Mac (?) segment-style
font that had more than 7 segments (like a tail on the top of the
'1').


In the good old days, I think they shopped a lot for props at C&H
Surplus in Pasadena.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

About 16 years ago I made I trip to Caltech (from Fl.) to do a demo,
While there I took a walk in Pasadena, I couldn't believe it when I
wondered upon C&H, I was like a kid in a candy store!
Oh and to name drop, I had lunch in the same lunchroom with Stephen
Hawking, he was giving a talk on string theory.
Mikek

 

[[email protected]]

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..

One early example I recall was a real [0] Dr. Who episode where some
device was screwing up and the solution was to "reverse the polarity of
the neutron flow". I didn't notice it in context but it was pointed out
to me later.

Or Scotty's (Start Trek) "zero to the hundredth power". It severely
grated on me the first time. I mean. come on!

 

[[email protected]]

Spaceships attacked. All the control panels shoot out sparks but still
work a few minutes later. The good guys never lose pressurization,
never lose gravity. The sparks are always white, same sparks that lead
bullets make whenever they hit anything.

LIFE SUPPORT WILL FAIL IN 43.8 SECONDS.

Almost anything having to do with computers is bogus. The good guys
can always figure out passwords, in a few seconds if their lives
depend on it.

I was watching an absurd Die Hard movie (hey, I was stuck at home) and
the villians downloaded all the financial data from the whole world
onto their hard drive, in a few minutes. Then they apparently could
have erased that drive, and destroyed civilization.

And why do our heroes fall huge distances, land horizontally on hard
stuff, groan, and get back into action?

Why do people have fist fights, gunshots, other injuries, and look
fine 5 minutes later?

You haven't seen a Die Hard movie. ;-)

Why do super high-tech laser energy weapons almost always miss? Can't
they add target seekers or something, in the year 2500?

"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to *DIE*". ...and then he leaves.

Explosions and gunshots always hurl people into the air.

All explosive devices have digital countdown timers. All
delayed-action devices are always precise to the second.

So are the plots, with tens of people involved.

Our detectives always jump into a car and race to confront the bad
guys alone. A real detective would send in a hundred cops and a dozen
helicopters and some medics.

Don't forget the media. Need bait, too.

 

[[email protected]]

HAve you ever seen 'Plan 9 from outer space'? How about 'Mission
Stardust' based on the first Perry Rhodan novels? 'Space, 1999' where
the piles of atomic waste go critical and turn the Earth's moon into a
FTL transport?

....or Flesh Gordon. Oh, wait...

 

[[email protected]]

Is that from your days working in the porn industry?

Nah, it's from my midnight movie days at the Auditorium in college.
Friday night was Russ Meyer night.

 

[Artemus]

Interesting, what with the Oscars and all, I've been asked to review a
screenplay that has some (somewhat far-fetched) technical content so
the movie maker can avoid any really bad eye-rolling technical
goof-ups.

What's the worst error(s) you've seen or heard in a movie? You know,
the kind where it's just impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the
show..



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--

Enhancing crappy surveillance camera images from Kilopixels to Gigapixels.
Cell phones, GPS devices, etc working far underground.
Car tires squealing on dirt roads.
Lissajous figures on o'scopes.
The list is always growing with each new movie/episode.
Art

 

[[email protected]]

Enhancing crappy surveillance camera images from Kilopixels to Gigapixels.
Cell phones, GPS devices, etc working far underground.

Never heard of a repeater, huh? ;-) It took me a while to figure out
why my cell phone's GPS worked so well at work (it's a metal building,
after all). It suddenly dawned on me that there are people designing
the stuff. Of *course* there's a repeater. *D'oh*

Car tires squealing on dirt roads.

Explosions in space. "Woosh" from the space ship.

Lissajous figures on o'scopes.

Haven't seen that for a while.

The list is always growing with each new movie/episode.

I saw a new one last night. ...and ME putting a bullet that hit bone,
back together to match ballistics.