And now, the anonymous Apples

MC · External Since: Jan 06, 2005 Posts: 4169

Here's a weird one from TV...

Apple laptops are showing up in all kinds of dramatic shows. Sometimes
they have the Apple logo on the lid. Sometimes they have a generic disc.

I'm assuming the ones with the logo are a case of product placement, but
who's fooling whom when they take such a distinctive product and erase
the identificatioon?

Another distraction like 555 phone numbers and anonymous Nikons.

--

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

Bert Coules · External Since: Feb 04, 2005 Posts: 528

Steven J Weller wrote:

> On a show like CSI: Where ever, the good guys
> have computers (often that do things that no
> computer can actually do)...

You know, I've often wondered why they don't sit round a computer desk five
minutes into the episode, press a few keys, look at the screen and say "Ah,
so the murderer was the doctor's stepson's girlfriend's dentist. All right,
let's go home."

Bert

MC · External Since: Jan 06, 2005 Posts: 4169

In article <hck9pj$kl7$1@reader1.panix.com>,
"Steven J. Weller" <az941 RemoveThis @lafn.org> wrote:

> For that matter, I don't know that Apple's the only laptop out there
> that's in a flat, brushed metal case. If you don't see the Apple
> logo, it actually might not be an Apple computer.

I'm talking about the ones that are recognizable as Apples... there are
plenty of other clues.
>
> > Another distraction like 555 phone numbers and anonymous Nikons.
>
> As I've told many a director over the years - if they're paying that
> close attention to the set dressing, there's something desperately
> wrong with the rest of the show.

It is so easy to avoid the 555 altogether I don't know why they don't do
it. I mean, written on the door of a taxi? Sticks out like a sore
thumb.Don't need *any* phone number to be authentic.

--

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

Steven J. Weller · External Since: Oct 07, 2003 Posts: 998

On Nov 1, 8:17 am, "Bert Coules" <m....RemoveThis@bertcoules.co.uk> wrote:
> Steven J Weller wrote:
> > On a show like CSI: Where ever, the good guys
> > have computers (often that do things that no
> > computer can actually do)...
>
> You know, I've often wondered why they don't sit round a computer desk five
> minutes into the episode, press a few keys, look at the screen and say "Ah,
> so the murderer was the doctor's stepson's girlfriend's dentist. All right,
> let's go home.

.... but then, what would they do for the remaining 39:30 of the
episode? Just dance, like they used to do on The Monkees TV show?

--
Life Contiunes, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary

Steven

Steven J. Weller · External Since: Oct 07, 2003 Posts: 998

On Nov 1, 8:47 am, MC <copes....DeleteThis@mapca.inter.net> wrote:

> > > Another distraction like 555 phone numbers and anonymous Nikons.
>
> > As I've told many a director over the years - if they're paying that
> > close attention to the set dressing, there's something desperately
> > wrong with the rest of the show.
>
> It is so easy to avoid the 555 altogether I don't know why they don't do
> it. I mean, written on the door of a taxi? Sticks out like a sore
> thumb.Don't need *any* phone number to be authentic.

I always liked KL5- whatever; same thing but a little less obvious.
Fewer people use letters in real life, these days, though. Another
good work-around is to use a web address in place of a phone number.
"www.callacab.com" might be a real website or it might not be (yet)
but it's not going to get anybody in trouble. The reason for the 555
exchange is that phone numbers aren't permanent, and what was once a
fictional number, or somebody's business line, might end up as
someone's home number one day. No one's getting woken up in the
middle of the night by a hit on a website, even if it's just some
idiot trying something he or she saw in a movie.

--
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary

Steven

Steven J. Weller · External Since: Oct 07, 2003 Posts: 998

On Nov 1, 8:24 pm, "Steven J. Weller" <az... DeleteThis @lafn.org> wrote:

> "www.callacab.com" might be a real website or it might not be (yet)

....turns out it is.

--
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary

Steven

Remysun · External Since: Jan 11, 2009 Posts: 55

On Nov 1, 11:24 pm, "Steven J. Weller" <az... RemoveThis @lafn.org> wrote:

> I always liked KL5- whatever; same thing but a little less obvious.
> Fewer people use letters in real life, these days, though. Another
> good work-around is to use a web address in place of a phone number.
> "www.callacab.com" might be a real website or it might not be (yet)
> but it's not going to get anybody in trouble. The reason for the 555
> exchange is that phone numbers aren't permanent, and what was once a
> fictional number, or somebody's business line, might end up as
> someone's home number one day. No one's getting woken up in the
> middle of the night by a hit on a website, even if it's just some
> idiot trying something he or she saw in a movie.

OTOH, Mitch Albom had his hotel phone ringing off the hook when Craig
Kilborn gave it out on air.

Bert Coules · External Since: Feb 04, 2005 Posts: 528

Steven J Weller wrote:

> ... but then, what would they do for the remaining 39:30 of the
> episode? Just dance, like they used to do on The Monkees TV show?

Of course, with the odd song thrown in. And a brief interlude where they
all juggle.

Bert

Steven J. Weller · External Since: Oct 07, 2003 Posts: 998

On Nov 2, 12:55 am, "Bert Coules" <m....RemoveThis@bertcoules.co.uk> wrote:

> Steven J Weller wrote:
>
> > ... but then, what would they do for the remaining 39:30 of the
> > episode? Just dance, like they used to do on The Monkees TV show?
>
> Of course, with the odd song thrown in. And a brief interlude where they
> all juggle.

Perhaps they could use the extra time to learn to do their f'ing
JOBS. The one writing convention I really really hate about these
shows is when one of them has to stop and explain to another one
what's involved in collecting fingerprints or blood samples or
whatever the hell it is this week. I know it's about exposition and
getting the audience up to speed and all, but it bugs the living hell
out of me when someone who's ten years in the lab turns to someone
else who's ten years in the lab and says, 'the powder adheres to the
oils from the skin, so after the extra is brushed away, it becomes
visible. Then, with this piece of transparent tape, I can lift off
the fingerprint...' No kidding, genius!

Bugs the hell out of me.

--
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary

Steven

Bert Coules · External Since: Feb 04, 2005 Posts: 528

Steven J Weller wrote:

> The one writing convention I really really hate about these
> shows is when one of them has to stop and explain to another one
> what's involved in collecting fingerprints or blood samples or
> whatever the hell it is this week.

To be fair they do play with the conventions sometimes. I remember one
wonderful scene (in the NY version, I think) where a TV documentary team
were filming in the lab as two technicians were preparing to extract DNA
from a sample. The dialogue went something like this:

Tech 1: Are they really gonna show this?

Tech 2: Yeah

Tech 1: But getting DNA results takes days. Won't that be kinda boring TV?

Tech 2: Nah, they'll make it look as though it takes about a minute.

Tech 1: Clever.

There then followed - in the show's "real world", not as a sample of the
documentary - a typical CSI montage of the two techs at work which made it
look as if it took about a minute.

Clever indeed.

Bert