Lars and the Real Girl......

DJ9007

DJ9007

Active member
I'm glad I get to start this topic. The movie was good and all, and I only had one problem with it, if you saw it, I'm sure you already know what it is.

The boom is in nearly EVERY shot! If you have no interest in seeing this movie, at LEAST go see it for a good laugh because it's really hard to take seriously with the microphone in about 80% of the shots. It's really funny either way because you get to watch Ryan Gossling play an awkward man who lives with a "love" doll.

But seriously, someone tell me this was on purpose. If not, why the hell did they let it into theaters like this?! It wasn't even one of those things YOU notice but other people don't because you're the one who looks for little mess ups. EVERYONE was pointing, saying "what's that!" lmao. What a mess.
 
oh wow i never would've thought. come to think of it, the screen was rather shaky during stills. so what we see on the movie screen is really less of the actual picture that was shot?
 
DJ9007 said:
so what we see on the movie screen is really less of the actual picture that was shot?
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In a normal 1.85:1 movie, the actual image area is only about 60% of the full film frame. The full frame is 24 x 18mm, the 1.85 extraction is about 22x12mm. So yes, that means there's lots of room above and below the intended image area that gets exposed too. And if the boom operator is doing their job properly, that boom should be riding as close to the frame line as possible, which means that it'll be all throughout that "overscan" area.
 
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that's interesting. but like i said, is the picture we see in theaters actually less than what was really shot? i mean when you shoot a movie like that, do you shoot with the boom in the shot on purpose for that reason?
 
More discussion of the same thing, this time from War of the Worlds:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?p=6851084

Here's one talking about the same problem in The Boiler Room:
http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/5204

Here's one talking about issues in A Beautiful Mind:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/06/1015365717837.html

Quoted:
There is a region around the frame which cannot be seen when a film is projected properly. However, when projected incorrectly, as was the case at Sunshine, you are suddenly privy to an inordinate number of microphone booms hovering above actors' heads. And we're not talking about the tip of a mike bobbing down for a second. We're talking about entire boom arms with wires and poles clearly in shot. Correct projection keeps them out of sight.
Click to expand...

This Best-Picture/Best-Director/Best Screenplay/Best Actress Oscar winner wasn't plagued with boom mics throughout the shoot! :) It was projection error, just like in the case of Lars.
 
wow i wasn't aware of any of this but i guess you learn something new every day, especially here lol. thanks for those links, barry. i'm definitely going to read up on this. i was honestly worried that they let such a huge error go like that, i was thinking to myself during the whole movie "were the cameramen blind?!"
 
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