Deliberate mistake: If a main character is injured, say in a car accident, any visible signs of injury always include bruises or scars on the character's face. It doesn't matter how the character got injured, the moviemakers deliberately will give him wounds on the face so the audience is given a visual reminder.
Common movie and TV mistakes since 21 Dec '18, 00:00 - page 6
This is a list of mistakes, things done wrong, etc. that happen so frequently onscreen we barely notice any more. 'Movie logic', stupid behaviours, and everything related.
Other mistake: In video games that have a night and day cycle, often times quests and especially side quests seem to be unaffected by the passing of time what so ever. Like a pressing matter of a guy running off with a valuable item, and your quest is to track him down and stop him before he leaves the city. But you can take your sweet time and have several days and longer pass in game time before you finally go to the place where you're supposed to carry out of the mission.
Deliberate mistake: In TV shows and movies that depict civilization in a state of collapse, such as The Road, The Postman or The Stand, people walk when they need to go from one place to another. The implication being that powered vehicles no longer work. The question is, what happened to all the bicycles? They would get you where you want to go much faster than walking, yet, they don't seem to exist in the future.
Deliberate mistake: Someone drives a car they've never driven before and they drive off without adjusting the driver's seat or mirror.
Factual error: Characters referring to another star system as a "Solar System." Solar System is a proper name, it refers specifically to the system that contains Earth. Our sun is called "Sol", hence "Solar System." Any time an alien from another planet uses the term Solar System to refer to an alien star system it indicates the writer or actor is making a common error.
Deliberate mistake: During a fight no-one draws blood or has any bruises afterwards.
Other mistake: The main protagonist in a TV show or movie is being shot at by machine guns, and he somehow manages to dodge the bullets.
Other mistake: In 99% of movies cars have their windows rolled down to avoid the filming crew from being reflected This is even more weird when cars are parked or it's raining.
Factual error: Vehicles used in films and programmes set in past decades that have age related number plates, classic car enthusiasts spot these straight away.
Factual error: A character in hospital removes various medical monitors from their body (or someone else's) but alarms don't sound on the equipment in the room.
Factual error: Whenever there's an officer involved shooting in television or movies, the officer in question always goes about their work as though nothing has happened. In real life, this is a big deal. It's blasted all over the news and the officer is always placed on administrative leave pending an investigation to make sure the shooting was justified.
Character mistake: When someone tries to call another person's cell phone in an emergency situation and it goes to voicemail, but they just keep calling over and over (with or without leaving a message). They never try sending a text message or similar, they just repeat the same pattern despite knowing the other person isn't answering.
Factual error: Mostly in horror films, people going through prolonged periods of physical pain or torture never fall unconscious. In reality, they would pass out much quicker under so much pain.
Deliberate mistake: When someone gets into a car and drives away the doors are unlocked with the keys already in the ignition.
Factual error: In recent years, blood tends to be represented with a certain degree of realism, but in past eras especially before the 80s, the industry standard for fake blood appeared to be a much brighter red that often looks odd to a contemporary eye, and distinctly fake. In general, every movie sorta has its own 'blood' not necessarily factually accurate.
Factual error: In numerous sci-fi films and TV series, planets, moons, and other similar celestial objects always appear to have gravity equal to that of Earth regardless of the object's size or mass. For example, a moon the same size as a small planet (such as Yavin 4 or Endor's forest moon from the Star Wars films) has the same apparent gravity as larger bodies, while in reality, the smaller objects would have noticeably less gravity than larger ones.
Factual error: Police detectives working cases in which they are personally involved; such as the murder of a friend, family member, or their partner. Even though their superiors will often warn them to stay away from the investigation, the cops will continue to work the case on their own. Oftentimes films will imply that the cop should leave the investigation alone "for his own good", but in reality a cop investigating a case they are part of would seriously taint any evidence they uncover. If taken to trial, a defense attorney could easily have that evidence thrown out. Writers tend to get around this by having the villain engage in more crimes and be caught "red handed" or by simply having the villain be killed by the end. However it is still borderline insanity to see a cop investigating his wife's murder.
Other mistake: A character will be slapped in the face, but their face won't be red afterwards.
Other mistake: Characters in movies and TV shows always type things out on the screen without any typos or their flow of thoughts read like a professional writer, not a regular person.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Perhaps not everyone is as good a writer as the ones you see in the films, but films are meant to bend reality anyway. Good writing is a virtue and wanting to make one's own film character a good writer is not a mistake.
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