Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 24 Is Like One Long Car Commercial

This is topic 24 Is Like One Long Car Commercial in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-07-2009, 11:09 AM:

Is it me? Or is every shot that has a car in it a hero shot of the car? Almost every single scene that has a principle getting into or out of a car is a shot that could be taken directly from a car commercial. This year they're all Fords I think. A few years ago they were Toyotas. The other blatant product placement with the Sprint phones and the Cisco teleconference stuff is distracting too, but for some reason the car thing really annoys the crap out of me. Talk about being sucked out of the moment.

[Frown]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-07-2009, 12:02 PM:

Agreed 24 is a bit heavy on the in show car commercial aspect. They really spammed the hell out of Ford's Thunderbird model a couple or so years back.

Let's not forget all the obvious Apple and Dell product placements. But then we see that in damn near any TV show or movie. One would think Apple would have at least 50% of the computing market if the number of MacBooks shown in movies and TV shows was any indicator.

Aside from the product placements 24 is torture enough over how stupid the characters can be at times just so a certain plot point can be forced.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 05-07-2009, 04:16 PM:

Not to turn this into a Mac/PC thread, but Mac laptops generally look nicer than PC's.

Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 05-07-2009, 04:32 PM:

Since most viewers aren't using Macs, this gives the filmmakers more license to portray that the characters can do pretty-much anything on their computers and the viewers might believe it.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-07-2009, 05:03 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Let's not forget all the obvious Apple and Dell product placements. But then we see that in damn near any TV show or movie.

No kidding! I also love it when movies show the screens of these computers and the OS is like none that has ever existed and of course every folder or file that is opened makes some sort of sound effect when doing so.... even when they zoom in on something, etc. How annoying would an OS like that be?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-07-2009, 05:11 PM:

I would beat the computer speakers with a sledgehammer if everytime a screen opened or "zoomed in" it made beeping noises.

Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 05-07-2009, 05:20 PM:

Back when most people were using VHS machines, the movies would show characters fast-forwarding their tapes and you could hear the audio playing super-fast too. (Yes, there are video players that can play high-speed audio while you're "scrubbing" through a tape, but they're super-expensive machines that you only see in professional situations. And 99% of VHS machines can't do it.)

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-07-2009, 05:38 PM:

Well, since we're expanding the topic a bit I'll just throw out there how I think they have the best cell phones in the world - since they all produce a dial tone whenever the person on the other end hangs up.

And Joe, you can get your computer to make a noise for every single event in the OS. At least you can in Windows. I assume you can on a MAC also. We once installed a Hanna Barbara sound effects scheme on the PC of a guy at work and it was the funniest thing we'd ever heard when he tried to login and all of the scripts started running. Agreed that the sound effects in the show are annoying.

I also like all of the little bits of random numbers flashing all over the screen whenever they're tracking something with a satellite.

[thumbsdown]

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 05-07-2009, 06:05 PM:

What annoys me even more than the previously mentioned product placements are those musical interludes during NCIS and the various CSI shows, where nothing happens (plot wise) for a few minutes so they promote some crappy band's music and give them a plug at the end. Thank God for DVR's...

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-08-2009, 09:47 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
I also love it when movies show the screens of these computers and the OS is like none that has ever existed and of course every folder or file that is opened makes some sort of sound effect when doing so.... even when they zoom in on something, etc.

The one that gets me is how the resident computer nerd in the movie/TV show can just rapidly type a lot of gibberish on the keyboard (and not using the mouse at all) and the computer screen shows a suspect's face making all kinds of changes or a lot of other super complicated stuff happening. I wish Photoshop worked like that!

A friend of mine who is the Captain of Troop G in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol laughs at shows like CSI where they depict getting DNA evidence off a body or object in a matter of minutes. In reality, you'll be waiting weeks for the results.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-08-2009, 10:40 AM:

I'm also interested to learn the science behind the infrared satellites that can see INTO buildings through the roof and floors.

My other favorite thing in movies and tv in general (not just 24) is that apparently databases exist that have complete internal 3D models of every building ever built. It's hard enough to find blueprints sometimes let alone full 3D models to plan your attack or theft.

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 05-08-2009, 02:55 PM:

Yes, I always laugh when one of the computer nerds on '24' types a few commands and retasks a satellite in real time or something. Each of those guys must be sitting in front of their own Cray.

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 05-09-2009, 06:21 AM:

I had a program a good while back, around win 3.1 - win95 days, that'd play a sound for pretty much any window function. I quickly determined that the preset sound effects windows had stock were enough, and even then sometimes too much. As far as the show? I don't really care for it either way, which is bad for it. At least a craptacular show I'd likely talk to other people about, usually on how crappy it is. Something totally unremarkable, like this show, I'd actually forgot it was still on.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 05-09-2009, 02:19 PM:

I'm also interested to learn the science behind the infrared satellites that can see INTO buildings through the roof and floors.

Portable thermal imaging viewers that can display real time images of people behind walls and inside homes do indeed exist, however, there capabilities are far more limited than what is shown on TV. For example, they won't work though concrete or brick walls.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 05-09-2009, 10:31 PM:

I'm really interested in how they (in 24) can get anywhere in LA, and this year in DC, in under 10 minutes. Even during rush hour. Even after the worst terrorist attack ever to strike the country. [Eek!]

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-09-2009, 11:13 PM:

Yea, the real-time aspect isn't very realistic. I guess the show would be pretty boring if they used real drive times. Watching Kiefer Sutherland sitting in a car for 45 minutes probably wouldn't be too exciting........unless he is pulled over for DUI and then arrested.

I also enjoy how the terrorist deadlines always seem to time perfectly with either the very end of the current episode or soon into the next one. It's never 8:06 and the terrorist says "you have 15 minutes to comply". If it's 8:42, then they might say that.

Oh, well, it's entertainment and the one thing I do like about 24 is that they somewhat stay away from political correctness and have actually had Arab terrorists in the past and also the fact that Jack Bauer tortures people and they kind of show an argument as to why just saying "no torture" isn't so simple in reality. I'm not taking a side on this and don't want to discuss torture in a political sense I'm just pointing out that I like the fact that they do these things on the show when normally Hollywood productions might stay away. Please let's not discuss torture now and get the thread locked.