Alright, so there are 2 big pet peeves in movies that make me annoyed:
Crash Barrels filled with water
Nailguns being used as projectile weapons after just picking them up)
I just saw a movie where they got the nail gun thing right:
Nailguns have a safety mechanism that prevents use of the device unless the tip is compressed. The movie showed the person picking it up, pulling the trigger, and... nothing. She put it on a price of wood, and when the tip was pressed, it fired. She then took some duct tape, and pulled it taught so that when she stuck the ends to the gun, the tip was compressed. It's little details like this that I think make a movie great.
This particular movie also had a good audio editing scene (as in, it took some effort to filter out some loud music that was recorded along with the voices she wanted to hear), but that's not something that annoys me as much.
Quote from: MCRoads on February 17, 2022, 12:05:12 AM
Alright, so there are 2 big pet peeves in movies that make me annoyed:
Crash Barrels filled with water
Nailguns being used as projectile weapons after just picking them up)
I just saw a movie where they got the nail gun thing right:
Nailguns have a safety mechanism that prevents use of the device unless the tip is compressed. The movie showed the person picking it up, pulling the trigger, and... nothing. She put it on a price of wood, and when the tip was pressed, it fired. She then took some duct tape, and pulled it taught so that when she stuck the ends to the gun, the tip was compressed. It's little details like this that I think make a movie great.
This particular movie also had a good audio editing scene (as in, it took some effort to filter out some loud music that was recorded along with the voices she wanted to hear), but that's not something that annoys me as much.
Um...Lethal Weapon 2 did it right, quite infamously...no need to go to an obscure reference. :D
Heck, American Psycho as well...
In fact, maybe the idea of using a nail gun as a projectile weapon is in the minority of popular movies.
The 007 movie "Dr. No" has a shot of James Bond ready to be picked up in a 1957 Chevrolet convertible. When the camera cuts to an inside the car shot, it shows the dash that was used in 1957 and 1958 Fords. WTF over?
Rick
Movies with cars blowing up into big fireballs. (And then people believe cars frequently explode like this). Same movies also show similar crashes that result in minimal damage.
Front-wheel-drive cars that can suddenly perform rear-wheel-drive burnouts. If they keep it real, usually they'll intersperse some action shots from a greased skidpad or closed course. Or use just a partial shot a stunt/dummy car which just shows a wheel losing traction or whatever stock footage is needed. Probably depends a lot on whether the auto brand is a sponsor of the movie.
Seatbelts are rarely worn (I suppose they get this partially correct), though it can be used to establish caution and safety of the actor, or that some sort of action is going to suddenly occur to the otherwise mild-mannered situation.
Headrests are sometimes absent; it makes it easier to see the actors' and any action behind the actors. Usually, interior shots use a far different vehicle than the one filmed from the exterior. Filming a car interior at night? Just use the same old vehicle with a camera on top of the hood, because those details are largely irrelevant and invisible.
Manual action of an automatic transmission shift lever, something that almost nobody performs. Or manual transmissions that seem to exist on this one example...again, the stunt or dummy car.
Depending on the budget of the film and means of the studio, it's understandable when a lower-budget comedy/family movie does this, but less so for a so-called summer blockbuster.
Quote from: MCRoads on February 17, 2022, 12:05:12 AM
Crash Barrels filled with water
I'm sure they're sometimes filled with some sand, or stabilized and act as an energy dissipater, but rainwater just happens to collect in them (at least in the eastern half of the US). Seen enough dashcam footage to notice this is an actual occurrence.
Squealing tires/burnouts on dirt or gravel roads.
The biggest road related gaffe that Hollywood uses is how road trips work. For 90% of road trips, one finds an interstate, and that system takes you where you want to go. If you need to stop, services are available everywhere, and are pretty standard across the nation (and beyond). But in the movies and on TV, trips are usually on two lane roads and the locals one deals with are dangerous hilljacks.
Sometimes its for the plot, but not always. That is just how out of touch those people are.
Gay men always wearing pink. Don't mean to offend anyone, but this is a harmful stereotype. I am straight myself and I wear pink a lot.
Quote from: SP Cook on February 17, 2022, 11:32:10 AM
The biggest road related gaffe that Hollywood uses is how road trips work. For 90% of road trips, one finds an interstate, and that system takes you where you want to go. If you need to stop, services are available everywhere, and are pretty standard across the nation (and beyond). But in the movies and on TV, trips are usually on two lane roads and the locals one deals with are dangerous hilljacks.
Sometimes its for the plot, but not always. That is just how out of touch those people are.
"Out of touch"? Rural areas are, in fact, filled with inbred toothless hicks. Source: every rural area I've ever been to.
As for the part of your post that isn't an errant swipe at your ideological foes, there's nothing interesting about a road trip on interstates. You get on, drive, stop when you need to eat or drink or sleep or your vehicle needs gas, and arrive at your destination. Roll credits. Now that I think about it,
Rain Man did a nice job of acknowledging that fact by having Raymond state that he didn't want to drive on interstates.
Smokey and the Bandit kinda did that at the beginning of the movie, but then forgot it.
And speaking of
Smokey and the Bandit, Bandit was driving a Trans Am with an automatic transmission, but the sound they used was of a car with a manual transmission.
I think the trope of "a shortcut is anything but a shortcut" is also a common one. As a fable, it punishes those who "cheat the system" or just unprepared. In this case, they get both parts right and wrong.
You will rarely make up time, except in select situations (massive traffic back-ups or direct routing). But Hollywood gets it wrong: most people do not come to any sort of mortal danger, other than some lost time, usually with better fuel economy (not discussed). But hey, gotta tell a story.
Breaking the fourth wall...tropes themselves are mental shortcuts.
One thing I liked about the movie Hangover is that they showed Las Vegas as it exists. They even show a casino across the street under construction, rather than trying to hide the construction. While the movie was largely based at Caesars, they freely showed casinos from other corporations.
Other movies, 'Conair' for instance, shows a sequence of events that are impossible to occur based on the actual locations of the casinos. As the plane crash lands, it hits the Hard Rock Casino guitar which was several blocks from the Strip, then lands somewhere on the Strip in an impossible to occur flight path.
sometimes even the wrong car is shown. In a Adam-12 episode, they show a 1971 LAPD Plymouth Satellite, then cut to the taillights of a 1969 LAPD Plymouth Belvedere. Some season 1 episode of Emergency! often show the wrong year front for both Engine 51 and Squad 51 (some of the Crown Firecoach shown as engine 51 was pre-1965 as Engine 60 (which played Engine 51) was a 1965 Crown, and some scenes of Squad 51 show the silver grille of a 1972 Dodge, but the painted grille of a Pre-1970 Dodge in the next).
The worst thing that Hollywood gets wrong is fictional depictions of the court/legal system. Which causes effects in real life when people think that that's how court cases work.
Quote from: MCRoads on February 17, 2022, 12:05:12 AM
Alright, so there are 2 big pet peeves in movies that make me annoyed:
Wow. Just two things. I'm impressed.
Quote from: ran4sh on February 17, 2022, 06:10:10 PM
The worst thing that Hollywood gets wrong is fictional depictions of the court/legal system. Which causes effects in real life when people think that that's how court cases work.
True. Many courtroom scenes assume the Federal Rules of Civil/Criminal Procedure don't exist. Accused criminals don't "get off on a technicality" nearly as often in real life as they do on the big/small screen. And you could go an entire trial without the judge saying "I'll allow it, but watch yourself, Counselor" to anyone.
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 17, 2022, 06:33:50 PM
Quote from: ran4sh on February 17, 2022, 06:10:10 PM
The worst thing that Hollywood gets wrong is fictional depictions of the court/legal system. Which causes effects in real life when people think that that's how court cases work.
True. Many courtroom scenes assume the Federal Rules of Civil/Criminal Procedure don't exist. Accused criminals don't "get off on a technicality" nearly as often in real life as they do on the big/small screen. And you could go an entire trial without the judge saying "I'll allow it, but watch yourself, Counselor" to anyone.
Additionally, most of the time, prosecutors won't bring a case until they're certain they will win it. That usually they already know ahead of time what a witness is going to say in response to all of their questions (i.e. "never ask a question you don't already know the answer to"), and all of the questions defense might bring up under cross-examination. Damning information coming to light mid-trial that wrecks the prosecution's case rarely happens.
When I served as a juror in a murder trial several years ago, the two biggest surprises were voir dire being conducted like a seminar (except to elicit basic biographical details, prospective jurors were not questioned individually in sequence) and the defense opting not to present a case in chief (the defense attorney relied solely on cross-examination). We acquitted the defendant, though not without reluctance.
Quote from: nexus73 on February 17, 2022, 09:56:07 AM
The 007 movie "Dr. No" has a shot of James Bond ready to be picked up in a 1957 Chevrolet convertible. When the camera cuts to an inside the car shot, it shows the dash that was used in 1957 and 1958 Fords. WTF over?
Rick
See Vanishing Point and the 1970 Hemi Challenger morphing into a 1967 Camaro when it explodes.
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 18, 2022, 12:10:07 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 17, 2022, 06:33:50 PM
Quote from: ran4sh on February 17, 2022, 06:10:10 PM
The worst thing that Hollywood gets wrong is fictional depictions of the court/legal system. Which causes effects in real life when people think that that's how court cases work.
True. Many courtroom scenes assume the Federal Rules of Civil/Criminal Procedure don't exist. Accused criminals don't "get off on a technicality" nearly as often in real life as they do on the big/small screen. And you could go an entire trial without the judge saying "I'll allow it, but watch yourself, Counselor" to anyone.
Additionally, most of the time, prosecutors won't bring a case until they're certain they will win it. That usually they already know ahead of time what a witness is going to say in response to all of their questions (i.e. "never ask a question you don't already know the answer to"), and all of the questions defense might bring up under cross-examination. Damning information coming to light mid-trial that wrecks the prosecution's case rarely happens.
Or surprise witnesses not already on the witness list. Trying to bring someone in based upon the usual catch-all phrase in the list is a big pain (had experience with this when I was a paralegal).
Quote from: Rothman on February 18, 2022, 06:40:34 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 18, 2022, 12:10:07 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 17, 2022, 06:33:50 PM
Quote from: ran4sh on February 17, 2022, 06:10:10 PM
The worst thing that Hollywood gets wrong is fictional depictions of the court/legal system. Which causes effects in real life when people think that that's how court cases work.
True. Many courtroom scenes assume the Federal Rules of Civil/Criminal Procedure don't exist. Accused criminals don't "get off on a technicality" nearly as often in real life as they do on the big/small screen. And you could go an entire trial without the judge saying "I'll allow it, but watch yourself, Counselor" to anyone.
Additionally, most of the time, prosecutors won't bring a case until they're certain they will win it. That usually they already know ahead of time what a witness is going to say in response to all of their questions (i.e. "never ask a question you don't already know the answer to"), and all of the questions defense might bring up under cross-examination. Damning information coming to light mid-trial that wrecks the prosecution's case rarely happens.
Or surprise witnesses not already on the witness list. Trying to bring someone in based upon the usual catch-all phrase in the list is a big pain (had experience with this when I was a paralegal).
I have heard that
My Cousin Vinny is a slightly more accurate depiction of how the legal system works, and a better "how not to be an attorney" lesson than most other courtroom dramas. The last two days of the trial bend things more than a little, I suppose. Thoughts from the experts?
(Scenes filmed in Georgia standing-in for Alabama, not withstanding. At least there was something of an excuse why two New York kids were driving through rural "Alabama" via two-lane backroads instead of interstates...they were on winter break.)
Quote from: formulanone on February 18, 2022, 07:29:33 AMI have heard that My Cousin Vinny is a slightly more accurate depiction of how the legal system works, and a better "how not to be an attorney" lesson than most other courtroom dramas. The last two days of the trial bend things more than a little, I suppose. Thoughts from the experts?
The only major thing they got wrong was calling discovery "disclosure" (as in, Mona Lisa Vito should have said "He had to, ya dickweed! It's called discovery!").
Building collapse.
How many big super hero smash 'em ups and monster movies have skyscrapers flopping over like trees? It's physically impossible for a skyscraper to do that. The structure is not and cannot be designed to bear more than the weight of what's above it. If you try and shift the weight laterally, eventually that will overload the columns on that side and they will fail vertically because of the additional weight. This is demonstrated in the collapse of 1 World Trade Center in 2001. You see the building begin to tip, but as soon as those vertical columns get overloaded, they fail and the movement becomes 100% downward.
Additionally, the weight involved has tremendous potential energy such that if it starts moving downward mere inches, there is way more force than any design could ever hope to resist. The building will collapse completely. None of this half-destroyed bullcrap you see in the establishing shot of the post-apocalyptic scenario so the dumb audience might recognize where we are.
And sorry Planet of the Apes, but the Statue of Liberty would never survive with the arm intact like that for thousands of years. That's the most structurally difficult part of the cast iron skeleton and it would be the first part to fall away.
Also, didn't humans destroy the world with nuclear war in that universe? So how the hell did the Statue of Liberty survive that shit?
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2022, 11:07:20 AM
Quote from: formulanone on February 18, 2022, 07:29:33 AMI have heard that My Cousin Vinny is a slightly more accurate depiction of how the legal system works, and a better "how not to be an attorney" lesson than most other courtroom dramas. The last two days of the trial bend things more than a little, I suppose. Thoughts from the experts?
The only major thing they got wrong was calling discovery "disclosure" (as in, Mona Lisa Vito should have said "He had to, ya dickweed! It's called discovery!").
I always wondered why she said it that way, but throughout the movie they called it discovery.
I guess the take was good enough and it was late...a funny scene all the way around which put a lampshade on Hollywood's handling of the trial process.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 18, 2022, 12:32:07 PM
Building collapse.
How many big super hero smash 'em ups and monster movies have skyscrapers flopping over like trees? It's physically impossible for a skyscraper to do that. The structure is not and cannot be designed to bear more than the weight of what's above it. If you try and shift the weight laterally, eventually that will overload the columns on that side and they will fail vertically because of the additional weight. This is demonstrated in the collapse of 1 World Trade Center in 2001. You see the building begin to tip, but as soon as those vertical columns get overloaded, they fail and the movement becomes 100% downward.
Additionally, the weight involved has tremendous potential energy such that if it starts moving downward mere inches, there is way more force than any design could ever hope to resist. The building will collapse completely. None of this half-destroyed bullcrap you see in the establishing shot of the post-apocalyptic scenario so the dumb audience might recognize where we are.
And sorry Planet of the Apes, but the Statue of Liberty would never survive with the arm intact like that for thousands of years. That's the most structurally difficult part of the cast iron skeleton and it would be the first part to fall away.
Also, didn't humans destroy the world with nuclear war in that universe? So how the hell did the Statue of Liberty survive that shit?
Wasn't the original Planet of the Apes set in 3978? That's certainly not enough time geologically for New York City to resemble coastal California. None of the skyscrapers seen in Beneath Planet of the Apes in the Forbidden Zone would survive even two centuries standing. The Doomsday Bomb in Beneath Planet of the Apes is incredibly unfeasible given they elude to it being capable of detonating the Earth. Shame they didn't go with a Cobalt Bomb concept given that kind of fit the appearances of the members of the Atomic Bomb Cult.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 18, 2022, 05:02:33 PM
Wasn't the original Planet of the Apes set in 3978? That's certainly not enough time geologically for New York City to resemble coastal California. None of the skyscrapers seen in Beneath Planet of the Apes in the Forbidden Zone would survive even two centuries standing. The Doomsday Bomb in Beneath Planet of the Apes is incredibly unfeasible given they elude to it being capable of detonating the Earth. Shame they didn't go with a Cobalt Bomb concept given that kind of fit the appearances of the members of the Atomic Bomb Cult.
Yeah they seemed to be going more for themes that reflected on contemporary civilization rather than hard science with their portrayal of a post-apocalypse.
The 'bathtub ring' of Lake Powell really stands out to me in the original film.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes really annoyed me that the conclusion was a human destroying the remnant human civilization and the ape civilization for basically no reason. We've had tons of terrible eras in our past, so there was nothing redeemable about either society that they should have a chance to figure it out for themselves? I get it that it's commentary about the destructive nature of man or the stakes of the Cold War or whatever but it didn't seem like a reasonable action for the human in the moment. It was just a big "Kill me, will you? Well, I'll show you! I'll show
all of y'all!!" He destroyed the world rather than let the apes conquer the last humans. That's insanely short-sighted and accomplishes nothing. Yeah, yeah, like nuclear war; super not subtle; but it still doesn't make sense for that one human in that one moment.
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 17, 2022, 12:23:08 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 17, 2022, 11:32:10 AM
The biggest road related gaffe that Hollywood uses is how road trips work. For 90% of road trips, one finds an interstate, and that system takes you where you want to go. If you need to stop, services are available everywhere, and are pretty standard across the nation (and beyond). But in the movies and on TV, trips are usually on two lane roads and the locals one deals with are dangerous hilljacks.
Sometimes its for the plot, but not always. That is just how out of touch those people are.
"Out of touch"? Rural areas are, in fact, filled with inbred toothless hicks. Source: every rural area I've ever been to.
As for the part of your post that isn't an errant swipe at your ideological foes, there's nothing interesting about a road trip on interstates. You get on, drive, stop when you need to eat or drink or sleep or your vehicle needs gas, and arrive at your destination. Roll credits. Now that I think about it, Rain Man did a nice job of acknowledging that fact by having Raymond state that he didn't want to drive on interstates. Smokey and the Bandit kinda did that at the beginning of the movie, but then forgot it.
And speaking of Smokey and the Bandit, Bandit was driving a Trans Am with an automatic transmission, but the sound they used was of a car with a manual transmission.
Plus in Smokey and the Bandit, the Sally Field character says are we going 1XX? The speedometers on TransAms did not go up as far as what she said, and it was obvious that it was the Km speed. (I know that because I was looking at those cars back then-wouldn't be allowed to own one at 16 or 17, though)
Hollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>". This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too. When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.
No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 18, 2022, 10:54:25 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 18, 2022, 05:02:33 PM
Wasn't the original Planet of the Apes set in 3978? That's certainly not enough time geologically for New York City to resemble coastal California. None of the skyscrapers seen in Beneath Planet of the Apes in the Forbidden Zone would survive even two centuries standing. The Doomsday Bomb in Beneath Planet of the Apes is incredibly unfeasible given they elude to it being capable of detonating the Earth. Shame they didn't go with a Cobalt Bomb concept given that kind of fit the appearances of the members of the Atomic Bomb Cult.
Yeah they seemed to be going more for themes that reflected on contemporary civilization rather than hard science with their portrayal of a post-apocalypse.
The 'bathtub ring' of Lake Powell really stands out to me in the original film.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes really annoyed me that the conclusion was a human destroying the remnant human civilization and the ape civilization for basically no reason. We've had tons of terrible eras in our past, so there was nothing redeemable about either society that they should have a chance to figure it out for themselves? I get it that it's commentary about the destructive nature of man or the stakes of the Cold War or whatever but it didn't seem like a reasonable action for the human in the moment. It was just a big "Kill me, will you? Well, I'll show you! I'll show all of y'all!!" He destroyed the world rather than let the apes conquer the last humans. That's insanely short-sighted and accomplishes nothing. Yeah, yeah, like nuclear war; super not subtle; but it still doesn't make sense for that one human in that one moment.
Destroying the world out of spite does seem on brand for Charlton Heston though. I thought the third Planet of the Apes was way better even if it was just a reverse play on the original.
Edit: Apparently I'm not the only one who liked Escape from Planet of the Apes, it has a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 19, 2022, 11:31:15 AMHollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>". This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too. When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.
No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.
This error appears not just in movies and TV, but books too. I often wonder if it is a copyediting problem.
Quote from: J N Winkler on February 19, 2022, 12:42:37 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 19, 2022, 11:31:15 AMHollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>". This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too. When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.
No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.
This error appears not just in movies and TV, but books too. I often wonder if it is a copyediting problem.
If the copyeditor is in California, they're not going to know any better either.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 19, 2022, 11:31:15 AM
Hollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>". This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too. When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.
No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.
In Detroit, on some of the Canadian radio/TV stations, they use "the 401" or the "EC Row" for the freeways in Ontario.
Tattoos. A tattoo does not look fully healed the minute the artist is complete. Ever.
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 21, 2022, 09:10:51 AM
Tattoos. A tattoo does not look fully healed the minute the artist is complete. Ever.
Ha! Good point.
Drivers almost always get great parking spaces in movies, TV shows, and commercials. In most cases, we'd get our vehicles towed. Of course, they tend to break down at inopportune times or crash more often, so it's a trade-off.
The use of technology in movies, shows, and commercial.
One thing that bothers me is when there is a "signal problem" with a digital device, they portray it as either "static" on the screen, or the picture display is distorted. Uh, no, this isn't an old analog television. You'll get a message "Signal lost".
How about those crime shows where we will search for a suspect. Initiating search, and we see all of the criminal's pictures/fingerprints/symbols flashing quickly by on the screen until we get a "search complete". A couple of problems with this.... while it looks dramatic, it restricts the search speed to the screen refresh rate, which is probably 60 or 75 frames per second (I'm assuming they AREN'T using gamer monitors here). The lab technician is probably using the computer as a "client" querying a centralized database server farm, which means each of those photos has to be sent over a high-speed data connection, decoded, and displayed. That isn't an efficient use of resources.
Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.
Quote from: ZLoth on February 22, 2022, 06:37:17 AM
Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.
My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.
Quote from: 1 on February 22, 2022, 07:45:18 AM
Quote from: ZLoth on February 22, 2022, 06:37:17 AM
Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.
My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.
This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate. Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.
Quote from: Rothman on February 22, 2022, 08:22:00 AM
Quote from: 1 on February 22, 2022, 07:45:18 AM
Quote from: ZLoth on February 22, 2022, 06:37:17 AM
Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.
My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.
This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate. Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.
I know many states do not allow for I or O (or D) on the plates. Shows and movies like Adam-12 often will use something like KAO-535 or 345-ILC when they call for info on a plate. Even today, states like CA do not assign plates with letter with I or O because those letters might get mistaken for 1 or 0.
Quote from: cwf1701 on February 22, 2022, 12:12:42 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 22, 2022, 08:22:00 AM
Quote from: 1 on February 22, 2022, 07:45:18 AM
Quote from: ZLoth on February 22, 2022, 06:37:17 AM
Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.
My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.
This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate. Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.
I know many states do not allow for I or O (or D) on the plates. Shows and movies like Adam-12 often will use something like KAO-535 or 345-ILC when they call for info on a plate. Even today, states like CA do not assign plates with letter with I or O because those letters might get mistaken for 1 or 0.
Alabama substitutes O (oh) with 0 (zero) on vanity plates (https://pros.mvtrip.alabama.gov/), but I's and 1's can co-exist.
Quote from: Rothman on February 22, 2022, 08:22:00 AM
This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate. Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.
Or maybe the owner has strong opinions about a certain character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ;)
Quote from: Life in Paradise on February 19, 2022, 10:44:48 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 17, 2022, 12:23:08 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 17, 2022, 11:32:10 AM
The biggest road related gaffe that Hollywood uses is how road trips work. For 90% of road trips, one finds an interstate, and that system takes you where you want to go. If you need to stop, services are available everywhere, and are pretty standard across the nation (and beyond). But in the movies and on TV, trips are usually on two lane roads and the locals one deals with are dangerous hilljacks.
Sometimes its for the plot, but not always. That is just how out of touch those people are.
"Out of touch"? Rural areas are, in fact, filled with inbred toothless hicks. Source: every rural area I've ever been to.
As for the part of your post that isn't an errant swipe at your ideological foes, there's nothing interesting about a road trip on interstates. You get on, drive, stop when you need to eat or drink or sleep or your vehicle needs gas, and arrive at your destination. Roll credits. Now that I think about it, Rain Man did a nice job of acknowledging that fact by having Raymond state that he didn't want to drive on interstates. Smokey and the Bandit kinda did that at the beginning of the movie, but then forgot it.
And speaking of Smokey and the Bandit, Bandit was driving a Trans Am with an automatic transmission, but the sound they used was of a car with a manual transmission.
Plus in Smokey and the Bandit, the Sally Field character says are we going 1XX? The speedometers on TransAms did not go up as far as what she said, and it was obvious that it was the Km speed. (I know that because I was looking at those cars back then-wouldn't be allowed to own one at 16 or 17, though)
Back when the NMSL was imposed, most cars were equipped with speedometers that could only go up to 85 MPH, with some sort of different-colored indicator for 55. Perhaps the models whose generations began before 1973 were grandfathered into this law, especially the larger ones because they still had triple-digit maximum speeds on theirs while the next several generations which lasted through at least the 1980s were restricted to 80 or 85.
Seven years later after the fake events of Back to the Future, there was one thing that still bothers me as a sports fan: In the second film, the Cubs swept the Miami Gators in the World Series, but we know that this is impossible because Miami doesn't have an AL team, but an NL team like the Cubs, plus the Mets swept the Cubs in the real 2015's NLCS to advance to the World Series, which they thankfully lost to the Royals. My theory is that 10/21/2015 was selected as the date of the Cubs' clinching game because while MLB may have added several expansion teams like it did in the 90s (and the Gators were most likely an expansion team, like the real-life Marlins are), its structure was the same as it was in 1985, in that there were still two divisions per league, and the two division winners met in the LCS. And to see the Cubs lose the pennant on the exact same date in the actual year is a sad coincidence indeed, but their World Series championship the following year more than made up for that.