Worst "Microphone-in-shot" scenes.

[e kieran xd/m]

What are your worst mike-in-shot scenes from movies?

How about that scence on the hotel roof in "The Bodyguard"
when a closing glass door in the background gives us a
perfect view of the entire film crew.

Cringe - (not because of the cock-up, but because I
actually paid to see that film.)

[Brian Fitzgerald]

etl...@etlxd20p.etlxd writes:
>What are your worst mike-in-shot scenes from movies?

The jeep scene in Private Benjamin

Brian

[rlwil...@gallua.gallaudet.edu]

-----
"Executive Action" with Burt Lancaster and I THINK Robert Ryan showed them
talking and as the camera pulls back you see the mike bob out of the
shot...

skip

[Patrick Kearney]

There was a great shot in an Italian film made in the 1960's by
Nanni Loy called "The Four Days of Naples" -- I think it was four
anyway. A bunch of Italian resistance fighters were taking cover
in a funiculaire car. The whole movie crew were clearly visible,
reflected in a window until a German bullet shattered the glass.

J.-L. Godard got around a similar problem rather inventively in
one of his films. There was a long, slow tracking shot that was
following a couple of people in an airport terminal. As the
shot progressed, it became evident that unless there was a cut
the camera and crew would become very visible in the huge plate
glass windows that separated them from the actors. There was no
cut. Instead, Godard had his cameraman, Raoul Coutard, wrap up
like an invalid in a wheel chair with the camera totally
concealed under blankets and had a grip dressed as a medical
attendant push the makeshift dolly. Somehow this device worked
rather well.

--

************************************** " 'Tis very warm weather when
Patrick "I'll drink to That" Kearney * one's in bed.' "
c/o Hewlett-Packard * Jonathan Swift
1400 Fountaingrove Parkway * Journal to Stella
Santa Rosa, CA 95403. * Oct. 26 1710
*
INTERNET: pa...@sr.hp.com *
TELNET: (707) 577-3460 *
**************************************

[e kieran xd/m]

And how about that T2 scene - Sarah, John and Arnie have
just spent the night in the abandonned garage after
escaping from the mental institute. The morning after,
John and Arnie break into a car, John shows Arnie the
keys in the sunscreen; then both drive out front to pick
up Sarah. The car stops and as Sarah opens the,
take a look in the reflection in the door mirror ...

[Harry Tran]

I rented Billy Crystal's "Mr. Saturday Night" last week. That damn
microphone was bobbing in and out of almost every scene in the movie.
I had never seen such blatant abuse of framing. I came to the conclusion
that the video transfer must have been an open matte.

I also recall some mike slippage in "9 to 5".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry Tran | "Here I am, a bear in his natural
NBCS: B4/6 f w g k s+ m r | habitat . . . a Studebaker !"
INTERNET:ht...@slate.mines.colorado.edu | (Fozzie Bear - The Muppet Movie)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ed Sutton]

I recall a mike shot in "Brewster McCloud" when he was at the counter in
a store or something. Then again, Altman is pretty anarchist about his
directing, probably just said "Leave it in."

On the other end, the best "Microphone-in-shot" scene I know of is in
a no-budget film called "There's Nothing Out There," surprisingly well
directed. In this scene, the lake thing is coming for the guy, and there's
a boom in the frame. He looks up and grabs it, then flips himself to safety.

-=>Edo<=-

--
+----------------------------+----------------+-------------------------+
| Unless this article is | Ed Sutton | That's cruel, but I |
| about telecommunications, | esu...@bnr.ca | can see the plane. |
| I am not speaking for BNR. | ESN 294-7292 | -J. Brucie |
+----------------------------+----------------+-------------------------+

[annette]

The worst I've ever seen was in To Sleep with Anger. It was very annoying
since it kept happening all throughout the movie, you almost had to
wonder if it was done intentionally or what. But it certainly turned
a marginally good film into a bad one.

annette

[Murray Chapman]

Hi there

From the Movie Goofs list:

refuge.colorado.edu:/pub/tv+movies/movie.goofs.Z

# *******Boom Mikes**********
It seems that in many movies the microphone that usually presides above
the speaking actor's head can be glimpsed. I think it only fair to
remember that there is more to be seen vertically in video adaptations
of movies than the editor intended. However, there are times when mikes
appear in other places as in Annie Hall. If a movie is letterboxed and
you still see a boom mike, that could be considered a goof since
theoretically, letterboxed movies are not cropped on the top & bottom.

# Hiding Out
-The boom mike should have top billing for this film, as
it appears more than any of the actors.

# Johnny Handsome

# Monty Python's Life Of Brian
-Another boom mike: in the scene where Brian's mother is buying rocks to take
to the stoning, the mike is visible at the top of the screen, SWIVELING back
and forth between the two actors as first one talks, then the other.

# Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze
Spotted by a six-year-old.

-During "Longtime Companion", the well-known death scene where one man is
telling the other to "let go", the overhead mike was visible to me off and
on through the entire scene. I remember it so clearly because I was so
shocked that this very important and emotional scene would have this
occur. Not only was the mike apparent, but it was moving in and out
of the picture (up and down, like someone couldn't hold it properly),
which was even more of a distraction.

-A classic "boom shot" sequence occurs in the middle of
"Yankee Doodle Dandy". George M. Cohan (James Cagney) is walking
along a street scene, having a converstion. The camera is following
him, when the shadow of the boom assembly sweeps across the shot.

-Hey, what about all those sound booms in 'Out of Africa'?
Made me wonder what kind of African plant has mikes as its fruit.

-"Night of the Iguana"- Richard Burton actually gets hit in the head
by a friendly boom mike in one scene...

-"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"- two or three scenes of a black mike
standing out against the white ceiling...

- In `Wall Street' there's a scene where Michael Douglas is walking around
in Charlie Sheen's apartment giving a speech to Martin Sheen.
It's dark outside, and the boom mike is clearly visible in the window
following him around.

Murray

--
-- Murray Chapman Zheenl Punczna --
-- muz...@cs.uq.oz.au zhm...@pf.hd.bm.nh --
-- University of Queensland Havirefvgl bs Dhrrafynaq --
-- Brisbane, Australia Oevfonar, Nhfgenyvn --

[jean charles maillet]

How about in The Player, when Griffin Mill stops his car after finding a snake
in the passenger seat? Watch the tracking shot from the front left end of the
car to the back end - wave at the film crew! Beware of shiny black cars under
low light conditions!

[jean charles maillet]

>It seems that in many movies the microphone that usually presides above
>the speaking actor's head can be glimpsed. I think it only fair to
>remember that there is more to be seen vertically in video adaptations
>of movies than the editor intended. However, there are times when mikes
>appear in other places as in Annie Hall. If a movie is letterboxed and
>you still see a boom mike, that could be considered a goof since
>theoretically, letterboxed movies are not cropped on the top & bottom.
>

Fair enough. Check out (either the P&S or the letterbox) Reservoir Dogs.
2 Scenes: 1. Tim Roth is talking to the cops in the bathroom. 360 degree
shot. When the camera is to Tim's lower left (from our perspective lower right)
you can clearly see the shadow of the camera assistant/steadycam operator's
legs as he walks by (2 times)
2. When Joe is assigning names to the crew, during one of the last
close-ups of him in front of the blackboard. Extremely visible in the cinema
(ah, film!) and somewhat less so on video (even disc) is the shadow of the boom,
to the (our) left of the blackboard, against the wall of the warehouse.
.
Anyone see these?
>

[fo...@stlvm10.sanjose.ibm.com]

In <1993Jun30...@gallua.gallaudet.edu> rlwil...@gallua.gallaudet.edu writes:
>In article <1993Jun30.1...@ericsson.se>, etl...@etlxd20p.etlxd ( e kieran xd/m ) writes:
>> What are your worst mike-in-shot scenes from movies?

"Nine To Five"--that comedy starring Dolly Parton--had a few scenes in which the
microphone could be seen hovering over the actors' heads. Very distracting.

--Vince

[Marko Niinim{ki]

It's suprising no-one this far has mentioned a couple of pretty well known
films with boom mikes:

John Cassavetes: Gloria. A scene in a hotel room.
Godfather I or II, don't remember the scene.

c.f.
--
Marko Niinimaki * csm...@uta.fi OR "Marko.Niinim{ki"@uta.fi
C=fi ADMD=Fumail PRDM=inet O=uta S=csmani * Life is serious, computers are fun.
Addr: Satamakatu 5 c 77, 33200 Tampere, Finland

[Jon Hanson]

I seem to remember Wall Street being pretty bad for this. In one scene (the meeting
between Gecko & Charlie Sheen, and Martin Sheen & co in the hotel at night) you can
see the mike relected in the window, and as the camera pans across, you can see the
mike spin round...

.
|on Hanson
`-' ja...@dcs.ed.ac.uk

[pp...@eagle.wesleyan.edu]

Please don't flame. I was young and impressionable.

Put the worst error I've ever seen was in the Menudo movie,
"Una Aventura Llamada Menudo."

In the movie, there's a hot air balloon scene. In the scene, you can see a man
moving the basket.

Another one is in the movie "Bad Boys" with Sean Penn and Esai Morales.
In the final fight scene, in one shot you can see the cameraman (camera and
all) crouched in front of all the prisoners.

Is all,
Patricia
(That's Pah-tree-see-yah!)

[William LaMonaca]

There's also a scene in "The Untouchables" when one of Capone's men sneaks
into Sean Connery's apartment. The shot is from the POV of the killer as
he sneaks along the outside of the building. As he enters through the
window, you can see the cameraman's reflection very clearly.

[fby...@motown.ge.com]

Wasn't it "Tess" where you could see the shadow of the film crew on the
ground? That was the worst I've seen.

Rick Byrne
fby...@motown.ge.com

[David Mandl]

In Paris last year I saw a John Casavettes film from 1969 or so.
I forget the name, but it starred Casavettes and Peter Falk. I
think it was called something like "The Husbands." Anyway, there's
a scene at the end of the film where Falk and someone else are
standing out on the lawn talking for about ten minutes, and *throughout
the scene* the microphone is CLEARLY visible overhead. You can watch
it move back and forth as the actors take turns speaking. Unbelievable.
I had never seen anything like it. How on earth did it get left in???

--Dave.

[Adrian S.]

If you have seen microphones on the TV version of a film, that same view
of the microphone is often not in the cinema. A lot of the top and bottom
of the shot are neatly removed.

[Damon Feldman]

Does anyone remember this?
Back in the 70's, or maybe late 60's, there was a movie about
some astronaut, played possibly by Robert conrad, or some clone thereof.
The story was as follows: On some space mission, the astronaut, who was
called Striker, I believe, wound up on the opposite side of the sun, and
landed on a parallel Earth. The place seemed like a giant concentration
camp, with lots of military stuff, and he was held prisoner, until,
of course, his miraculous escape back to Earth. I know it doesn't sound too
clear, but if anyone can help me remember, please do. Thanks.

[Stewart Clamen]

In article <1993Jun30.1...@slate.mines.colorado.edu> ht...@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Harry Tran) writes:

I rented Billy Crystal's "Mr. Saturday Night" last week. That damn
microphone was bobbing in and out of almost every scene in the movie.
I had never seen such blatant abuse of framing. I came to the conclusion
that the video transfer must have been an open matte.

I saw the movie in a preview (and in 16mm), and the mike was
particularly annoying. One scene in particular was on a staircase,
with Crystal's character talking to his brother. I decided that they
must have done a rush job of transfering to 16mm for the preview.

Did anyone see this film in a theatre? Were the booms there?

--
Stewart M. Clamen Internet: cla...@cs.cmu.edu
School of Computer Science UUCP: uunet!"cla...@cs.cmu.edu"
Carnegie Mellon University Phone: +1 412 268 2145
5000 Forbes Avenue Fax: +1 412 681 5739
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891, USA

[G Bell]

How about the scene in Patriot Games, where they show a news report from
the location of the bomb attack on James Fox's character, the camera and
camera crew are clearly seen on the left hand side of the screen.

G.B...@festival.ed.ac.uk

[Mr P R Hardy]

The worst one I ever saw? Married to the Mob. There`s a shot nearing the end
of the movie with Michelle Pfieffer and the main bag guy talking on a balcony.
We close in on them, and all the bloody time, until their heads are filling the
screen, there`s this bloody huge boom sticking up from the bottom, sometimes
halfway up the screen (and of course there`s the bit in the plane just before
that where the camera moves suddenly to follow a character and there in all
it`s glory is a sodding great microphone).

Directors really ought to be more careful. But of course so many assume that
little bits of boom won`t make it to the final print...
Poor fools...

--
And these are the words of a supposedly literate student of
English Literature at the University of Warwick...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Hardy/en...@csv.warwick.ac.uk/Willoughby Withnail or Bacchus of the N.T.B.

[gary anderson]

etl...@etlxd20p.etlxd ( e kieran xd/m ) writes:

>What are your worst mike-in-shot scenes from movies?

The worst one I saw (that hasn't been mentioned yet) is in ALL THE
PRESIDENT'S MEN. Right after one of the editors calls out "Woodstein"
and Hoffman and Redford are trucking across the city room, you can see
a floor mike following them in the lower-left of the screen.

[popcorn]

How about journey to the Far Side of the Sun starring Roy Thinnes.

Pretty sure this is a late 60's flick

[Tim Ingram]

A great cameraman reflection scene can be seen in Clint Eastwood's "Sudden Impact"
where one of Clint's (unknown at the time) colleagues drives up to where Clint is doing some
outdoor target practice, and "sneaks" up on Clint.
It's either when the colleague is opening the automobile door or closing it you can plainly
see the cameraman's reflection in the window.

-tim
--
===================================================
ti...@microsoft.com is Tim Ingram
===================================================

[Charles Evans]

I do believe in Cliffhanger when there is a shot across a ravine to
I guess sly and whoever hanging on a high cliff there is mucho-lots
of microphone hanging down.. i think that is the first time I have ever
noticed it in a movie.. plain as day.

--
___ _ _ ___ _ __ ce...@ra.msstate.edu
| \ | | |\ | | \ | | / | cev...@abe.msstate.edu
|-,/ | | | \ | |--< | |< |-
| \ |__| | \| o o o |__/ | | \ |__ o o o . . .

[Brian Abernathy]

Well, it wasn't a microphone, but in "Every which way but loose", the Clint
Eastwood movie, during a bar fight, there, on the bar, is one of the movie
cameras! (They didn't hide it very well).

Then there was the "Billy Jack" movie, when the female lead is getting raped,
the microphone is laying on the ground beside her.....

[Jason Austin]

There's a movie with Sean Penn that is called something like
``Bad Boys''. In one of the prison fight scenes there is a full shot
of person with a shoulder camera in the pack of people around the two
fighters. It's a pretty fast cut, but it's really obvious once you
know to look for it.
--
Jason C. Austin
j.c.a...@larc.nasa.gov

[Chris Hiester]

The last scene in Altered States has the boom in the upper corner of the
shot, but I wouldn't call it the worst ever.

Chris Hiester
Humanities Computing/CCAT
School of Arts & Sciences
University of Pennsylvania
USA
chie...@charity.sas.upenn.edu

[Geoff James]

In article <chiester-1...@jacka.sas.upenn.edu> chie...@charity.sas.upenn.edu (Chris Hiester) writes:
>From: chie...@charity.sas.upenn.edu (Chris Hiester)
>Subject: Re: Worst "Microphone-in-shot" scenes.
>Date: 14 Jul 93 16:30:34 GMT

In one of the final scenes in A Christmas Carol (the one with Alistair Simm)
you can see the reflection of a stage hand in one of the mirrors.

GJA...@HUSKY1.STMARYS.CA
MY VIEWS ARE MY OWN

[dem...@stsci.edu]

This thread reminded me of something. Once while watching a video
of Stripes there was a scene when they were in the prison cell in
chekoslovakia (sp?) and we could see the boom moving back and forth.
We even rewound it too look. However, the next time I was watching this
out I tried to point it out and it was not there. I know it
was there the first time. So were the prints 'cut' slightly differentor
was there some difference in the TV screens that was cutting the picture
differently? Any ideas??

____________________________________________________________________________
Robert C Dempsey (410) 338-1334
STScI-PODPS 3700 San Martin Dr.
Baltimore, MD 21218

If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless
manner, you have lerned how to live. - Lin Yutang
____________________________________________________________________________

[James Kewageshig]

ce...@Isis.MsState.Edu (Charles Evans) writes:

CE>I do believe in Cliffhanger when there is a shot across a ravine to
CE>I guess sly and whoever hanging on a high cliff there is mucho-lots
CE>of microphone hanging down.. i think that is the first time I have ever
CE>noticed it in a movie.. plain as day.

The one that bothers me the most is in a pretty intense scene in
'Manhunter' (weren't the all tense?). I believe Dennis Farino (the
supervising agent, and in 'Crime Story') is talking to Will Grame over
the phone, and poof, there it is at the top of the frame.

I don't know if it was evident in the theater or letterbox release...
________________________________________________________________________
|0 ___ ___ ____ ____ ____ 0|\
| \ \// || || || James Kewageshig |\|
| _\//_ _||_ _||_ _||_ UUCP: james.ke...@canrem.com |\|
| N E T W O R K V I I I FIDONET: James Kewageshig - 1:229/15 |\|
|0______________________________________________________________________0|\|
\________________________________________________________________________\|
---
ş DeLuxeı 1.25 #8086 ş Head of Co@#$1 HELP!held captive.computer alive!H

[Anthony Horan]

In article <22ntcb$c...@news.delphi.com>, DCOLLI...@DELPHI.COM writes:

> The worst "microphone-in-shot" sceneS definitely belong to "Mobsters."
> This has got to be the worst! BTW: Was this directed by Francis
> Ford Coppola? Starred: Christian Slater & Patrick Dempsey & some other
> dudes that I can't remember right now... <shudder>

It definitely wasn't a Coppola film! It was in fact directed by Michael
Karbelnikoff.

And consider you American selves lucky - out here in Australia, we got the
"director's cut" - which ran 24 interminable minutes longer!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - ant...@xymox.apana.org.au
"I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..."
- Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[David Israel]

Now for a very obscure trvia question - Who was the director who was
fired.... ooops - left the film during preproduction?

[Mark Treglown]

The worst microphone in shot scenes I've ever seen are sadly in one of the
best films I've seen which is "Static". The microphone is visible in too many
scenes (it's most distracting in the diner scenes) to ignore and does detract
from what would otherwise be a good, well intentioned film. Save for the
lapses in production quality, due to a tiny budget, Static would be a perfect
film IMO.

Mark

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Mark Treglown |
| Inst. of Educational Technology, The Open University, Walton Hall, |
| Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. MK7 6AA England.Tel: +44 908 652870 |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| "..this is when I had my first big dose of loneliness, as I looked back.. |
| and saw that we were only interconnected by machines now." |
| --Spalding Gray `Impossible Vacation` |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|There are 150,000 opinions in the Open University,this has been one of them|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Brian Stuart Thorn]

Nah... the worst "microphone-in-shot" scenes were in the movie
"Blow Out" (1981, John Travolta and Nancy Allen). There were lots
of 'em.

;-)

-Brian

[Anthony A. Datri]

Not a microphone, but in This Island Earth in one of the car
scenes you can clearly see an orange beam of the device that's
rocking the car. This is amazingly blatant.

--

======================================================================8--<

[Brian Abernathy]

Anthony A. Datri (a...@scr.siemens.com) wrote:

: Not a microphone, but in This Island Earth in one of the car

: scenes you can clearly see an orange beam of the device that's
: rocking the car. This is amazingly blatant.

: --
That is amazing! I always thought that this movie was in black and white!
:-O

[Mr A.J. Mockler]

Brian Abernathy (c...@hpuerca.atl.hp.com) wrote:
: Anthony A. Datri (a...@scr.siemens.com) wrote:

I assume someones already mentioned the triple offense
in Silence of the Lambs (a very poor film BTW).

Alan

[Randolph Guess]

One scene in the otherwise timeless classic "Rescue from Gilligan's
Island" has Gilligan being pulled around by a shark (connected
by a rope), and many buildings and other objects are visible in
the reflection of the water (supposed to bee in the middle
of the ocean).

[David Israel]

Not really a microphone, but in The Fugitive (no spoiler here), as H.F. swims
to the shore, you can see the safety wire spanning the river about 4 inches
above the surface.
--
David Israel dav...@netcom.com
CA 91405