Fake photographers really bug me….

fatphotographer

fatphotographer

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OK, I will admit it, when I see a camera or a lens on telly, I try and work out what make and model it is…maybe I am a bit sad, maybe just inquisitive?

You know the scenario, Paps running backwards in front of naughty politicians outside a courtroom and you pick out a 1Ds coupled to a 16-35, or D3x with a 14-24. Maybe the football is on and you are staring at the 200 f2 on the 1D mk4 and 400 f2.8 on the D3 in the background, rather than paying attention to the action. Come one, we all do it! (I hope)

The problem that I have found myself getting more and more frustrated with is - the fake photographers in soaps and films. It is starting to really bug me.

Just the other night on Deadenders, there was a prime example – a gent in the background at the Asian party. He was staring gormlessly into space, with the camera neither at his eye, nor out of the way so he could see what he was likely to shoot. Both hands holding the camera body, with not a clue how to operate the camera, or how to act with it.

Another scene I can recall in a film produced within the last couple of years includes 20 so called Paps, happily snapping away on the red carpet - with their Zenits and Centons hooked up to 30 yr old Metz flashes.

Or it is just as bad when they do make an effort and use “pro” props, you see a gaggle of 300mm f2.8 lenses shoved in the face of people in the “leaving the courtroom” scenes, trying to take shots of the subject just 12 inches away from the end of a lens that won’t focus less than 8ft away.

Come on filmmakers - sort your life out.

Could you picture a scene in Casualty where the surgeon asked for a scalpel, and then the nurse strikes up and passes him a chainsaw? Or maybe in The Bill, there is a desperate call for backup, there’s a close-up of screeching tyre as the cavalry arrive to save the day, only to pan out to see 6 “riot clad” coppers jumping to the rescue - out of the side window of an Ice Cream Van? I don’t think so!

Rant over
 
Anorack.

Thats is all.
 
I suggest a course of yoga, or perhaps pilates.
Or an affair? Something to occupy your mind some more ....:bat:
 
I just laugh at stuff like this, such as actors turning the camera during the shutter noise.
 
I never really pay much attention to this... Only time it happened was when I watched Eurotrip a few years ago lol
 
Same thing with me and War-Movies, though these days it's a lot better than it used to be...I remember watching Heat with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino: when it got to the bank-robbery scene where they go into pairs fire-and-manoevre I almost wet myself with excitement - changing magazines in cover; moving under cover of protective fire...ohh... just like in Real Life...lol
Well...nearly... too many rounds fired and you can't actually lift a sports bag full of paper-money, let along run with it (try lifting six boxes of photo-copy paper and see what I mean), but it was better than nothing...

But yes - back on topic - you're absolutely right - all these programmes and movies have a stills-photographer there - why the hell don't they ask them how it's done? The actors, I mean? "Hello mate, how do i hold this so i don't look like a prat?"
Or maybe they're more concerned that thier face gets noticed - if they held the camera correctly, you wouldn't see their faces and the Equity rates for 'no face showing' are a lot less than 'face showing'...
 
i remember some years ago during my stint at being an extra in a couple of things, in particular, the Hillsborough film by Jimmy McGovern - there was one scene where the bus pulls into the football ground carpark, and we, dressed as newspaper photographers (if there is such a dress code) had to take pictures of the 'families' of the bus as it drove past. we were given a multitude of different items to act as cameras, there were only 3 real cameras, personally, i had to use a black piece of foam about the size of a house brick =D
 
I keep having to tell the wife this. I'ts not real.
 
Actually, to a point, I agree - it is a bit annoying sometimes. There is an episode of Sex and the City or whatever it is called - the one where she is in a fashion show. This famous "photographer" appears holding a DSLR complete with flash mounted on the top, and some sort of mini soft box attached. I'm sorry, can't remember the make or models. Anyway, he just shoves the camera in her face and merrily fires off several shots, without ever focusing/composing etc. Alright, theres autofocus, but later on you see one of the shots, and it's a beautifully composed studio shot with a perfect white background. I mean, how the hell? They've obviously done some research and then blown it. Without being a sad no life anorak this sort of thing does sometimes get on my nerves! :D

Rocky IV was on the other night, and the paps were all there shoving manual focus zenits and the like in their faces at arms length complete with 300mm primes attached :thinking:
 
IT’S ONLY TELY……….IT’S NOT REAL. Perhaps you should get out more with your camera and stop wasting so much of your time sat in front of the big squire thing.
 
OMG I hate you.:p

I found myself the other day whilst watching Newcastle play on sky sports looking to see what lens the photographer had and what he was doing on his lap top as the sky camera panned onto him.

Now i can see all i am going to be doing now is starting to look for who's using what and if they are "doing" it properly, ooer missus.:eek: whilst watching the latest blockbuster :bang:

Spike
 
Lol, I'm a Network Security consultant by trade; If I got wound up each time I see someone 'hacking' something in a hollywood movie I'd have seriously high blood pressure. On the flip-side it's refreshing when you see someone actually get it right.....
 
I'm the same with telephones (not mobiles - desk phones) especially Cisco IP handsets. The number of them that "ring" and the person answers, but you can clearly see the screen of the phone is blank - IE it's not plugged into anything!!
 
OutLore said:
I'm the same with telephones (not mobiles - desk phones) especially Cisco IP handsets. The number of them that "ring" and the person answers, but you can clearly see the screen of the phone is blank - IE it's not plugged into anything!!
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Nice to see fellow IPT specilist on here. ;)
 
dra·ma (dräm, drm)
A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action.
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There's a big wild world out there folks. Open up your doors and minds and go give it a big hug. ;):lol:
 
glad you arent a clothes designer
 
Most or all of these "paps" are really just extras, they are just given any old camera and flash (if they are lucky) told to press the button to make it flash and left to it, just told to crowd in around the star for these scenes. They simply aren't told how to hold a camera or that it's not going to focus that close.
I have been an extra a few times, in one a naval battle I was involved in I knew far more about the navy and naval history than the entire film crew and cast put together (and I was in the army). They often don't have any proper experts on hand.
But I know how you feel, ask any soldier about the way they wear a beret's in the movies, pork pie comes to mind.
 
NCIS....no-one on that show seems to be able to hold a camera properly. Here's a pic of Cote de Pablo to prove why I couldn't care less :D


379073.jpg
 
the Indian guy in eastenders was absolutely terrible
but then again it is eastenders its not like they are real actors or anything
 
I used to get hacked off in the days of film cameras when the spool/rewind crank (before integral motor wind) could clearly be seen as not moving thus proving the camera had no film in it. When you think how much a movie cost to make a few rolls of film wouldnt have broken the budget would it, although continuity might have been a problem I suppose.

Matt
 
Mmmmm. A real eye opener guys. Dont get too worked up about it, you never know where it will lead to :)

careometer.gif
 
terryuk said:
the Indian guy in eastenders was absolutely terrible
but then again it is eastenders its not like they are real actors or anything
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Is that the one thats so depressing it has a prozac taped to it's listing in the tv paper?? ;)
 
Aaah. This thread has caused me to come out of my lurking shell since I work in the film/tv industry, in the art department, and have had experience with this myself.

Recently we've been filming a number of scenes involving a larger number of 'journalists' - as well as a couple of scenes comming up in the new year of press conferences where we will be having 40 or so extras with potentially just as many cameras involved.

In the scenes we've filmed, and those to come, a fair number of our extras should hopefully be turning up with their own kit - which ranges from fairly decent SLR's to bridge cameras. When we can we will swap out their bridge's and give them a better SLR. However we are of course restricted in what we can actually hand out ourselves quite simply due to cost. To hire out a large number of decent (looking) photographic equipment (including TV cameras), proper lenses and all that, is a huge amount of money we generally just can't afford. So basically if it looks right, at a distance, we have to get away with what we can, and hopefully put a few of the 'better looking' props in the foreground, if we can... And then usually they will film a scene and some extra, who has no idea really, will indeed end up right in front of the camera with their 300 2.8 2 inches from the person they are photographing.. :| sometimes it just can't be helped and alot of the time the AD's arn't going to be paying attention to that sort of detail
and especially if they are not into photography themselves - they wouldn't know!

When it comes to the extras not holding the camera right and not 'acting' correctly, well ive seen it and :bang: . Unfortunatly its been scenes where I havn't been on set at the time so can't really change anything - and even then its more the AD's responsibility - if they knew what to look for.

Yeah sometimes there might be a stills photographer about - but its not their job to go charging in ordering the S/A's or actors about; everyones usually worrying, or looking at, the bigger picture. Half the time extras have no idea what their doing anyway :lol:

Its just generally one of those things that can get overlooked very easily what with the hectic-ness of filming and everything else.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
lol,

I'm a mechanic mostly; mines when they reach for a tool to fix the engine ..its always a huge plumbers wrench which they then proceed to waggle around in the shadows and then proclaim its fixed!!

I get so furious I have to leave the cinema…
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I bet days of thunder really made your blood boil!!!!!:lol::lol::lol:
 


dont see anything wrong with this do you
 
I think it's all about realism, to get engrossed in a program I have to feel it's real, a few examples, cop drama set in the 60s, as they left the police station 2 CCTV cameras were clearly in view, an argument under a bridge, CCTV camera right over his shoulder, as soon as I saw it I lost interest because I wasn't in 1965 any more

I was watching an episode of spooks a few weeks ago, a guy was taking shots from a car about 300m away, he had a really ancient Nikon lens probably 300mm on a film camera, then they cut to the shot looking through the viewfinder , out of focus, in focus, click a full head shot that you'd have needed a 600mm lens with a 1.4TC on to get :bonk:
 
And here I thought only fingerprint specialists have this annoyance...:D

Agreed, anything not correct in a movie or telly series irritates me to no end...that is why I do NOT watch any of the CSI lot...special agent Zeeva?

Well there is a different thing altogether now:naughty:
 
Oh yes, I'm just as bad with CSI....I was a microscopy expert and I can tell exactly which microscope thay are using and what it would be used for and it's amazing some of the images they manage to get out the wrong kind of microscope. :) You just have to laugh though :)
 
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