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    We have had a lot of PSA-like adverts saluting health workers and/or describing what brands are doing to help

    There also seems to have been a decrease in use of the groups of attractive young people drinking beer on a beach or rooftop trope

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      Originally posted by Sporting View Post
      I may as well ask here: have commercials in the countries where posters live become significantly more Covid-influenced, whether in protagonists wearing masks, socially distancing, direct references to the virus etc? In Spain there has been a lot of this.
      For sure. A lot of the first stuff was simply produced over Zoom / Skype. The piano-music 'we're all in this together' wave of ads is passing quickly and stuff is looking more normal. My agency shot a few spots last week with a total of 5 people on set - which is the legal limit - and it looks look a full crew setup.

      But yeah, you would be remiss in not mentioning 'the current situation'. Everything I'm writing now is couched in terms of 'when you're ready to get back out there, we're ready for you' sort of thing. We don't want to be seen pushing people out into the 'unsafe', but we also know we're in business.

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        There was a massive wave of explicit “in these troubled times [any brand at all]is here for you” ads.

        Since then there have been a bunch of restaurants showing everything getting cleaned, or Amazon workers wearing masks.

        Noticeable that there are lots more ads for things like pharma and healthcare and ambulance chasers and public service; much fewer for consumer goods: presumably a consequence of ad budgets collapsing.

        Also noticed a few new ads with no or few people in them. Lots more CGI or clever cuts that can be done by someone at home rather than needing any film crew.

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          Yup, some cheap b-roll and a voiceover and you've got yourself an ad.

          I did a voiceover recording about three weeks ago where everyone - writer, producer, engineer, and talent - was in their own homes. The producer said he can't imagine the business ever being the same again. He's like 'why would a V/O artist get in a cab, drive downtown, sit around for two hours and then cab it home again when they could just set up a good quality mic in their basement? And why am I renting all that studio space any more?'
          Last edited by WOM; 23-06-2020, 15:58.

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            Originally posted by jwdd27 View Post
            God no, it has to be divisible by 3 as well, otherwise what would be the point?

            Also, any alarms or timers I set, the digits have to add up to 9. (i.e. this morning's alarm was 5.22. Numbers are allowed to add up to 18, e.g 5.58, because 1+8).
            I can't imagine the chaos that would ensue if this rule were broken.
            This is amazing. I feel so much more normal now you've shared that jwdd, thanks.


            I apologise to all who were confused and/or doubted my sanity/basic maths skill due to that rogue "13" before.
            Reading my post again, I assume it wasn't so much a breakdown in my arithmetic (i.e. multiplying 3 and not getting 12), but rather my subconscious logic was that obviously the volume couldn't be on 9 or 15 (in order to jump to 12) because that's just wrong – so I automatically substituted a starting point of 10 (a safe even number) and leapt to 13 from there.

            Obviously if you're purely dealing in multiples of 3, though, I acknowledge you could never have landed on 10 in the first place...

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              Originally posted by WOM View Post
              Yup, some cheap b-roll and a voiceover and you've got yourself an ad.

              I did a voiceover recording about three weeks ago where everyone - writer, producer, engineer, and talent - was in their own homes. The producer said he can't imagine the business ever being the same again. He's like 'why would a V/O artist get in a cab, drive downtown, sit around for two hours and then cab it home again when they could just set up a good quality mic in their basement? And why am I renting all that studio space any more?'
              Indeed, as that stuff gets cheaper and better, there will be no need for dedicated “studios” for most audio things.

              We will probably see soundproof rooms built into houses.

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                I am so totally with pebblethefish in this...

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                  Out of interest, has there been a single case in the history of film / TV that someone has made hash cookies / brownies and they haven't been eaten by someone unwittingly? Either "Haha - I've got some cookies that will liven up this party!" or "Oh no, Grandma's taken my special cookies to the church bring and buy!"

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                    No, because the hash brownies are, in plot terms, a Chekhov's Gun. If that metaphorical gun is seen to be hanging over the fireplace in the first act, then it has to go off before the end of the third – because otherwise it serves no purpose in existing within the fictional world's setup.

                    And the law of conservation of detail says that if something serves no purpose in the plot, it's better not to include it at all than include an irrelevance.

                    So if we see someone make the brownies/cookies, then, since the only thing that's potentially of any interest about them is someone unsuitable consuming them, someone unsuitable will consume them.

                    So within the bounds of this metaphor, someone will shoot up with hash.

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                      Originally posted by WOM View Post
                      So I'm the only one who has to adjust the volume up or down at least 10 times per episode?
                      My receiver has a setting to fix that, and I think some TVs do too. I usually leave it off unless it's late at night and I don't want the peaks to disturb the neighbours.

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                        Not eating the cookies can be a perfectly good plot device. Having them sitting on the counter, and you get the comic effect of grandma eating the digestives, the pasta salad, the eton mess, and literally everything else, but not the hash cookies. Particularly if she pops a tab of acid as she walks out of the door. Or you could have the drama of the baker panicking while grandma comes over but isn't hungry. I'm sure that there are many other ways that not-eating-the-cookies could be used, too.

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                          No, that's a fair point. Because they're still being used to power the plot, only via the device of dramatic irony or similar, so I guess they still count as Chekhov's Gun in this case – or a subversion of that expectation, or something, yet whilst not actually being consumed. Ergo not irrelevant, at any rate.

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                            But has it ever happened? (Mind you, I'm binge-watching Desperate Housewives at the moment, so there's no cliche that goes unused, often multiple times)

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                              Series 9 of Vera just began on ABC here. Episode 1 is off to a cracking start: first a suspect ran away when confronted by police, but turned out to be innocent; then Vera and her team were sharing a Chinese takeaway (in foil containers) in the office.

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                                Two further Vera cliches: her accent and the idea that she can act

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                                  When somebody with a telescope or binoculars scans the horizon, they must go past the (ship/person/alien life form) so that the audience sees it first, then quickly go back when they realize they did see something.

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                                    That and the little 'two circles' shadow to show they're using binoculars, but which doesn't actually appear when you look through binoculars.

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                                      Along those lines, assassins using a laser sight at long range to give the target a warning just in time for someone to grab them and push them out of harm's way.

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                                        Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                        That and the little 'two circles' shadow to show they're using binoculars, but which doesn't actually appear when you look through binoculars.
                                        Boris Carpark (who made some great contributions in this thread) raised that one back in late 2016:
                                        Originally posted by Boris Carpark View Post
                                        When looking through binoculars, illustrate the subsequent view by fuzzily blocking out the vague outline except for two concentric circles despite the view for anyone who's ever looked through binoculars not being like this, ever.
                                        (I assume he meant the two intersecting circles – I pointed out at the time that since the only way you'd see concentric circles would be if you'd got a Polo mint stuck on the lens, it is indeed true that no-one's ever had that actual view through binoculars.)

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                                          Helicopters only make sound when they are in line of sight/on screen.

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                                            And they often approach from below the camera’s viewpoint, meaning a sudden appearance over the horizon is unavoidable.

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                                              They also tend to crash fairly softly when they have major protagonists on board but explode on impact if you haven't seen any of the crew or passengers.

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                                                Also helicopters in films fly just like planes, if they’re chasing someone or something they’ll make fast passes and then come around in a big circle rather than, you know, hover like a helicopter does.

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                                                  I watched (bits of) two of the newer Star Wars movies recently - Rogue One and some other re/pre-boot (they blur after a while).

                                                  Anyway they both included the sci-fi staple of a space vehicle landing on flat, empty land, several hundred metres away from their destination. Then the cast got out and walked, for no reason except to build tension. Very poor parking.

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                                                    I liked Rogue One - haven't seen any of the other "newer" ones, i.e. anything after first three.

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