4th May 2005
Continuity mistake: The wound and the sleeve of the jacket on Trinity's arm changes after she's cut by one of the twins. When she's cut, the wound and rip in the jacket are thin and diagonal. As Morpheus is calling Link, the wound is not really visible and the cut in the jacket is now larger and squarer, and has changed direction on her arm. (01:21:00 - 01:22:50)
29th Apr 2005
Continuity mistake: Whilst Fry, Leela and the professor are on the log near the waterfall they are very close to the right side of the river. A few shots after Gunter puts the hat back on his head you can see they and the log are now all the way over to the left side of the river.
29th Apr 2005
Continuity mistake: As Gunter is crying in the dorm, the number of bananas change between shots as well as the position of them on the floor. The changes are most notable when Fry approaches Gunter in the room.
29th Apr 2005
Could someone explain how they achieve shots in which two points of objects are at different positions from each other but are both in focus. I have noticed it in a few films and most recently Million Dollar Baby. In one shot I recall Clint Eastwood is standing in his office and Hilary Swank is training in the gym below him. Eastwood is in the right of frame and the left part of the frame shows Hilary Swank and both are in focus despite the large distance between each other. Is it some special camera filter they use? I noticed a little out of focus blur around the middle of the frame. If not how exactly do they achieve the effect?
29th Apr 2005
Why exactly are film ratings in the US voluntary instead of legally required like in many other countries. I know that in countries like England, Australia and NZ they are legally required for any film/video that will be shown, sold or rented in that country. Also why do studios submit their films for ratings if they are voluntary? I find it peculiar especially for controversial films like Showgirls for example, as the NC-17 rating kills any chance the film has at the box office when they could just leave it unrated and avoid all the stigma it attaches to itself?
Chosen answer: For one thing, the US is a place in which the sociopolitical climate has always favored liberty over governmental control. Certain issues - drivers' licensing, for instance - obviously require intervention; movie rating is not seen as one of them. This is probably also compounded by the fact that the MPAA and similar bodies are hugely wealthy and powerful, and can afford a lot of lobbying to prevent any such legislative requirement from coming to pass. As far as actually getting the voluntary ratings - it's nearly suicide to NOT get one. The number of films that have generated any significant financial success without being MPAA rated is effectively zero. It seems as though the bulk of the movie-watching public WANTS to be protected from certain levels of 'indecency.'
29th Apr 2005
Question: Can someone explain why Marge frowns when the art teacher is explaining The Lombardo theory, the one where he says "And here we have an adorable little bunny rabbit. It's just that easy." Why Marge seeming upset with what he just said? The reaction shot is a couple of seconds so I am assuming there is something that I must have missed.
Chosen answer: I think it's because the art teacher is making it seem so easy when in fact it is really quite difficult. I think the line he says is something like "Yes, even a rhombus can create an adorible little bunny rabbit" - it's obviously much harder than just putting shapes together. It could also be an inside joke by the animators maybe - Marge could be frowning because it's not 'that easy' to create an animation (which she is, obviously) and could just be a joke. Knowing the Simpsons, this wouldn't be too far-fetched.
29th Apr 2005
Other mistake: After Hermes has limboed under the door he is being told off by LaBarbara. Amy is standing next to her but her nose is missing. From front on her nose is usually a half circle.
23rd Apr 2005
Continuity mistake: When Celia breaks out of prison and comes to George's apartment, George opens the door and starts talking with her. After George says "And you decided to pop in" the shot shows Celia but the door has now closed behind her. It would have been impossible to close without us seeing it because Celia would have had to have moved forward to close the door.
22nd Apr 2005
Continuity mistake: In the qualifier between Average Joe's and the Girl scouts, Peter starts talking to the girl he hit while another girl throws a ball at him. The girl who throws the ball is almost right in front of him but you can see the ball that hits Peter comes in from the right of screen and hits between the top of his left shoulder and the bottom of his neck. (00:27:30)
20th Apr 2005
Continuity mistake: After White knocks the food onto the Average Joe's players in the bar, Owen is holding a martini glass in his left hand. The following shot, the martini glass has disappeared. (00:32:35)
16th Apr 2005
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Paul and Marcy are having sex, you can see there is nothing on Paul's left wrist. The following shot of them Paul is moving his hands up her back and you can see he now has a watch on his left wrist.
8th Apr 2005
Star Check Unconventional - S2-E37
Continuity mistake: After the fight between Dexter and the large woman, the old Chinese woman who is sitting down has a collectible Barbie doll to the right of her in a glass case. After Dexter knocks the Barbie doll over and it breaks it cuts back to a shot of the Chinese woman and the doll is still in the case with no damage to the doll or the case.
1st Apr 2005
Happy Birthday, Kevin (or Happy Birthday, Douchebag) - S1-E12
Continuity mistake: After Carlos sees the snake on the pole he leaps off the roof onto the pole. When he jumps you can see it's quite a distance from the roof. After catching the snake he is holding onto the pole and asks to be helped back onto the roof. The other characters just put their hands out and pull him up. There was no way with the distance between the pole and the roof they could have come close to reaching him the way they did.
31st Mar 2005
Continuity mistake: After Peggy throws the tomato at King Philip you see it lands on the badge on his jacket. Most of the tomato lands about the top of his badge and seems to set on the top part. A few scenes later when Peggy is being put in the stocks for punishment you see Philip again and the stain has moved down the badge. Most notably the tomato stain looks larger and a large chunk of it has moved below the badge onto the shirt.
28th Mar 2005
Deliberate mistake: When Susan falls through the floorboards of Mike's house she uses the nearby towel to try and get the dog Bongo to help her. If you watch at the different angles the position of the dog keeps changing. When it shows Susan from behind the dog is almost right next to her face and stepping on the towel. In the shots from in front of Susan the dog is nowhere near the towel or even in the shot. This mistake looks more deliberate as the front on shots of Susan, the dog would likely have blocked her face from the camera.
28th Mar 2005
Continuity mistake: As Susan tries to get the dog to help the second time you can see the towel Susan tried to use to get the dog to help her. The shot then shows Susan and the towel has disappeared. After a quick shot of the dog it cuts back to Susan and the towel has reappeared.
25th Mar 2005
Continuity mistake: Before Regina starts writing the nasty things about herself in the "Burn Book", there is a red pen on the floor near the book. The next shot in a closeup of the book the pen has now moved to being right next to the book. (01:00:05)
25th Mar 2005
Not Without My Daughter - S1-E21
Audio problem: In the final scenes where Tobias is shooting at the rats you see the shot blasts after each firing of the gun. On the fourth shot there is no visible blast but there is still an audible gunshot when it happens.
22nd Mar 2005
Question: I know that the infamous third arm shot in the helicopter can be explained by being able to morph another arm, but has James Cameron or any of the actors from the film ever commented on the extra arm?
Chosen answer: A member of the production team mentions on the Ultimate Edition DVD commentary that this was indeed an intentional effect.
21st Mar 2005
Is there any reason why actors/actresses don't have credits in some films when they generally have a small role or cameo. I have seen this seems to especially apply to animated film where top stars are left uncredited. An example is Beavis & Butthead do America in which Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Greg Kinnear were all uncredited despite having large roles. Has this got anything to do with the SAG? I know SAG has tight rules about actors who receive credits are also supposed to be given certain benefits under union rules.
Chosen answer: Sometimes previous commitments make them unable to have their name attached to something. Examples include Michael Jackson and Dustin Hoffman, who both appeared uncredited in The Simpsons (or rather, credited under false names), for the simple reason that they were unable, due to contract obligations, to have their name appear in conjuction with it.
Answer: Bill Murray took his name off the credits for Tootsie. He thought it was a great practical joke. Judson Scott's name was purposely taken off because he thought his name should have been put on the opening credits of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Chosen answer: Orson Wells first acheived this in "Citizen Kane." It's a combination of position between the lens and actors and the lens focus. There is no exact formula on how to acheive it; mostly trail and error. For example, have the lens tighten in on one actor and have the other move around until they come into focus.