Don't Movie Producers Know Better?

[Partridge]

Yeah, that's even better, when cars change during a scene. The best one I've ever seen in this respect was in Department S. A Pontoon-Benz crashed in a forest and -of course - exploded with a mushroom cloud. At the same time, it had metamorphosed into a Chevy Corvair.

 

I remember an episode of the early-1980s US comedy-drama "The Greatest American Hero" in which a brand new Dodge Diplomat "A38" changed into an AMC Matador and a Plymouth Fury during a roll-over crash

 

Best one yet

[Junkman]

I admid defeat.

[RichardMoss]

More recently in 'Drive' the Impala used in the first robbery must have a 17 speed gearbox given the number of times it changed gear

A bit like the Dodge Challenger (?) in Vanishing Point.

 

As for the HHR in Ashes to Ashes, thatcar was in production so long it must have been on sale in 1982

[Formula Autos]

Even better, when cars change during a scene. The best one I've ever seen in this respect was in Department S. A Pontoon-Benz crashed in a forest and -of course - exploded with a mushroom cloud. At the same time, it had metamorphosed into a Chevy Corvair.

 

That must be one of the rare instances where the First Rule of ITC Serials wasn't invoked - the rule being that if any villains or disposable characters got into a white Mk1 or Mk2 Jag they faced an imminent death by plunging off a cliff into a quarry.

 

Here it is (possibly for the first time, as the edit doesn't jar too much) in The Baron, thanks to Autofive of this Parish's YouTube channel:

[dollywobbler]

I get far too annoyed about these things.

 

Star Trek Voyager. This is set during World War II.

 

Yet a 2CV manages to lurk in the background. A 1980s one.

 

In the recent drama Restless, the early 1970s scenes featured a 1970-reg 2CV that was very clearly one from the 1980s again. It had age-related plates, but with the horrible new font. To be fair, they did thrash about in it quite merrily. I approved of that.

 

Same drama had American scenes from the 1930s starring a post-war Triumph Roadster. Decided I didn't really care because Hayley Atwell is so gorgeous.

[Volksy]

In the original Fast and the Furious as Vin Diesels Charger does the final jump, it morphs into a four door saloon as it lands...

[Tayne]

 

.

 

[drum]

The continual upchanging of gears during all car chases is very annoying as is the bent in half on landing car straightening itself out while the hub caps reattach themselves. I have a crap memory for films but several have featured motorbikes morphing from road bike to scrambler and back to road bike again.

[Albert Ross]

Didn't the Mustang in Bullitt lose 5 hubcaps in the chase? Edit: The Chrysler thingy.... not the Mustang.

[Charlie Croker]

Twin Town...Ace film. Bast line is when the lads are sat in the stolen Beeeemer 520 and the old lady gets in and says "company car is it boys"and the lad replies back "probably"....absolute class. Loads of films with cars from the wrong year for the production but what gets on my tits is when the car is obviously wrong but try to disguise the fact....i.e Film set in say 1972 features a Mk4 Cortina on say a K plate. It not only looks stupid but the production team must think we are as thick as they are.

[Albert Ross]

Exactly.... production fault!

[Shep Shepherd]

Twin Town...Ace film.

 

I agree. A darkly comedic triumph, as Empire Magazine might say

[FredTransit]

WHY does everybody remember that fookin rover and forget the class of one bullion van. ARSE!!

[dollywobbler]

Here's another thing that REALLY pisses me off. Historical racing footage with crapply over-dubbed noise that clearly isn't relevant to the footage you are watching. Gear changes that haven't actually happened, accelerating going into a bend or even having entirely the wrong engine noise. Even the mighty Senna documentary falls foul of that. Presumably they somehow couldn't get the original soundtrack? Or perhaps they didn't want Murray Walker shouting all over it.

[gricer]

You think film continuity is crap on cars? Try the aircraft. Gets me apoplectic. Planes regularly change type and airline in mid-air. And as for the sound - any propeller-driven airliner sounds like a Lancaster, even if it's turbine powered.

 

Etc.

[Spiny Norman]

Frogs too, believe it or not.

 

Ask most people what noise a frog makes and the answer is "Ribbit"...Now have you ever heard a frog go 'ribbit' in real life'? Unless you've been to the West coast of the USA, I doubt it, because the only frog in the world that goes 'ribbit' is the Pacific tree frog and that only lives in the California area.

 

The movie sound effects people in Hollywood simply went out into the yard one night, recorded the local wildlife and subsequently used the same noise whether the film was set in LA or Leicestershire.

 

Lazy bastards...

[Justin Case]

Not only frogs but cattle too At one stage the archers had complaints that no matter on which farm a scene was set, it was always the same cow mooing. To give them their credit though, they do now use a range of cow sounds , each carefully matched to a particular farm

[RichardMoss]

Didn't the Mustang in Bullitt lose 5 hubcaps in the chase? Edit: The Chrysler thingy.... not the Mustang.

They passed the same VW Beetle about 6 times, too

[Rusty Pelican]

In the film Duel the Peterbilt truck changes a fair few times between shots and they use the same bit of road but in different directions and i wish my engines would recover as well as the Plymouth Valient,s , however its all forgiven as its such a great film.

[Tayne]

RichardMoss said:

Albert Ross said:

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.

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[John F]

In the WWII film "The Great Escape", Steve McQueen steals a 1960s Triumph and rides through Nazi Germany from Lower Silesia (now in Poland) to the Swiss border, presumably without refuelling, dressed as an American.

[Negative Creep]

You think film continuity is crap on cars? Try the aircraft. Gets me apoplectic. Planes regularly change type and airline in mid-air. And as for the sound - any propeller-driven airliner sounds like a Lancaster, even if it's turbine powered.

 

Etc.

 

 

Plus they explode in a gigantic fireball if they run out of fuel and crash

[Ben_L]

Top Gear are one of the culprits...

 

Regularly the Liana, Lacetti and C'eed change their reg' numbers mid-lap, which is meant to be lap 5 that the star in the car does.

 

HPK used to change to HPJ and the Liana used to go from an 03 plate to a 52 plate midlap, regularly.

[FredTransit]

dolly my pinto minibus (100% correct for an 80s school bus) was dubbed over with a DI!! No way would a school have a greaser!!

[gadgetgricey]

Agree with all of the above, but the thing that really gets my goat is when cars stop or pull away quickly.

 

Do the sound departments not realise that cars do not make a screeching tarmac noise when on leaves or sand. (or anything except tarmac for that matter)

 

This happens in too many shows and annoys me to the core each time

From memory whats the Bond Film with Roger Moore when they have the Dune Buggy Chase scene. Screeching Tyres left right and bloody centre

 

- Dave -

[brickwall]

And getting chased up a gravel road in Dr. No if i remember correctly.

[Guest]

NEWSFLASH: Film producers don't care!

[RichardMoss]

NEWSFLASH: Film producers don't care!

and neither do 90% of the viewers.

 

I've just askedmy students what sort of cars they drive. One, who owns a Ford Fiesta, didn't even know the engine size - and I would bet that over 50% of the population are the same. Most of the rest won't know how many cylinders it has and even fewer will know the sort of thing that we care about (carb or injection, valves per cylinder, etc).

 

The same people will watch an aviation-based film and not notice when the two engind Boeing 737 turns into a three engined DC10 and then a four engined 747. On the Bond film "Living Daylights" the turbine engines on the C130 make a coughing, spluttering noise as they die from fuel starvation but 99% of the viewers won't know that this is wrong. As a professional aviator I hate those sort of films (aside from "Airplane" which is meant to be silly but is often more accurate than the serious films!)

[FredTransit]

Thats the weirdest part about it. A production company doing a crime reconstruction will constantly say 'thats good enough' where as a comedy drama production will question if there were maglights in 1985. Mad!

[406V6]

And the continuity errors in railway footage are just as bad even in a recent serious TV programme like Michael Portillo's rail journeys.