[BC] identifying the equipment

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

Most movies nowadays are created with very small budgets for "props," and a radio studio is considered to be a prop. When one has a serial production, such as Star Trek, more money can be spent because the production environment is called a "set" instead of a "prop" (see "Principles of Accounting 101").

It annoys me that movies showing aircraft operation usually do not bother to spend money for some time on a simulator so that aircraft operation appears real. Instead, they project some photos on a green-screen and paste the actors in, manipulating controls in strange, unorthodox (read wrong) ways, to simulate piloting. The movie pilots push the controls forward to go down, and pull them back to go up. Sometimes they even need the help of the copilot to hold the airplane in the air by sheer muscle power.

Radio and television studio operation has the same problem, but only for persons who have worked in radio or television studios.

Such inattention to details detracts from these movies but a real movie producer (Bill Alden) tells me, that studies have shown the average person watching does not care as long as there is sufficient movie content to prevent such distractions. I am told that "professionals in the art" see these things, but the average moviegoer does not.

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "George Brand" <george at lovellsmichigan.com>

Oh Yes, and it always bugs me to see the mike plugged into the earphone
jack...the "best" was when the earphone jack was on a receiver only, not
even a transceiver.

George