Shown Their Work/Film: Difference between revisions

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* Before making ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', [[Stanley Kubrick]] and several of his collaborators read dozens of reports made by the Air Force and the RAND Corporation. Dr. Strangelove himself is caricature of Wernher von Braun, Edward Teller and Herman Kahn. Interestingly it was Kahn who suggested the Doomsday Machine, which was exactly the kind of defense that Herman Kahn fought against in his work. This attention to the smallest technical and military details is where the film gets its infamous [[Black Comedy|nervous humor]]. Additionally, at the time of the filming, the interior of a B-52 was highly classified. The film crew made up the layout and look by extrapolation from the older B-29, and laid out the floor plan based on the external measurements of the 52. They did such a good job, the Air Force was concerned briefly that they had an insider source.

* Along with [[Arthur C. Clarke ~~(Creator)~~]], Kubrick made the same effort with ''<nowiki>~2001: A Space Odyssey~</nowiki>'', in regards to space travel and general scientific accuracy, even though the atomic-powered spaceship does not have radiator fins to get rid of the reactor's waste heat. The makers intentionally left them off, because after a decade teaching the public that there is no air in space, they didn't want them wondering why the spacecraft has wings.

* Along with [[Arthur C. Clarke]], Kubrick made the same effort with ''<nowiki>~2001: A Space Odyssey~</nowiki>'', in regards to space travel and general scientific accuracy, even though the atomic-powered spaceship does not have radiator fins to get rid of the reactor's waste heat. The makers intentionally left them off, because after a decade teaching the public that there is no air in space, they didn't want them wondering why the spacecraft has wings.

* The makers of ''[[Aubrey-Maturin|Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World]]'' extended Patrick O'Brian's already-extensive [[Shown Their Work|shown work]] by digging deep into history for minute costume and hairstyle details (subsequently rendered in period-appropriate materials with period-appropriate techniques), the inner and outer workings of period-specific tall ships (they fired actual cannons to get the sound effect right), and cultural miscellany to illustrate the backdrop of the film. All extras and actors filmed aboard the ship were put through a "boot camp" to prepare them for their shipboard duties, and most of the filming actually took place at sea aboard a replica of an 18th-century tall ship.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk&feature=PlayList&p=CDFEA6D52E5CC0EC&index=5 The Galaxy Song] in ''[[~~Monty Pythons the Meaning of Life|~~Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life]]'' is pretty damn accurate for being a joke in a humour movie. Eric Idle has performed that song several times since it was in the movie, and where people have given him better approximations for the distances and speeds mentioned, he sometimes works them in. Remember, they were graduates of Cambridge.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk&feature=PlayList&p=CDFEA6D52E5CC0EC&index=5 The Galaxy Song] in ''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]'' is pretty damn accurate for being a joke in a humour movie. Eric Idle has performed that song several times since it was in the movie, and where people have given him better approximations for the distances and speeds mentioned, he sometimes works them in. Remember, they were graduates of Cambridge.

* ''[[Once]]'' showcases Glen Hansard's knowledge of the minutiae of busking, such as cover versions earning far more than original songs.

* Since it was a [[Deconstructive Parody]], the creators of ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' spent a good deal of time in research and interviews of actual police forces, which doesn't become fully noticeable until you see the "Fuzz Fact" commentary. For instance, they were spot-on about all the politically-correct vocabulary guidelines, and the "unofficial punishments" of making officers buy donuts and ice-cream for minor offences such as forgetting their hats. The best part? Instead of sudden [[Genre Shift]] into documentary, all these details are woven into the characterisation, such as showing the protagonist as being particularly stuffy and by-the-book for following all the vocab guidelines to the letter.

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** Unfortunately, it's already fallen afoul of [[Science Marches On]]. While the behavior of the dinosaurs is correct, their appearance is almost certainly not-- at the time the movie was made, there was an active debate over whether velociraptors were feathered. Now, we're almost entirely certain they were.

* ''Insecurity'' has a very realistic depiction of hacking. The writer and director is a professional computer programmer, and the actors were capable of writing authentic code on-screen. If you know a little about computers, it is a very rewarding movie.

* The rocket launch sequence in [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Woman in ~~The Moon (Film)|Woman in The~~ Moon]]'' - in spite of the fact that [[Science Marches On|rockets don't need to be submerged in water]] - was extremely accurate and done entirely to justify the studio's hiring of German rocket scientists for the production. This probably makes it the best scene in the film as it contrasts with how much Lang's wife/coauthor Thea von Harbou [[Did Not Do the Research|made up convenient things]] about the moon: she depicts it with normal gravity, gold-filled caves, and a perfectly breathable atmosphere (what's more, it's a perfect half-atmosphere which exists only on the far side of the moon). All these ideas would have been considered ludicrous even at the time of the film's release.

* The rocket launch sequence in [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Woman in the Moon]]'' - in spite of the fact that [[Science Marches On|rockets don't need to be submerged in water]] - was extremely accurate and done entirely to justify the studio's hiring of German rocket scientists for the production. This probably makes it the best scene in the film as it contrasts with how much Lang's wife/coauthor Thea von Harbou [[Did Not Do the Research|made up convenient things]] about the moon: she depicts it with normal gravity, gold-filled caves, and a perfectly breathable atmosphere (what's more, it's a perfect half-atmosphere which exists only on the far side of the moon). All these ideas would have been considered ludicrous even at the time of the film's release.

* At the Pearl Harbor memorial base, there is an informative video that tourists can watch that gives a detailed analysis of the battle, including, at one point, a complete survey of the defenses that they had in place which made them confident that they could resist an attack. The [[Ben Affleck]] film ''Pearl Harbor'' had a character awkwardly quote it word-for-word.

* The screenwriters of ''[[X-Men (~~Film~~)|X2: X-Men United]]'' did research on [[It's for A Book|how to blow up a dam]] for the climactic scenes of the movie; this went mostly unremarked upon in the film (though no doubt the director and effects artists got some use out of it), but was described at some length in the novelization.

* The screenwriters of ''[[X-Men (film)|X2: X-Men United]]'' did research on [[It's for a Book|how to blow up a dam]] for the climactic scenes of the movie; this went mostly unremarked upon in the film (though no doubt the director and effects artists got some use out of it), but was described at some length in the novelization.

* ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', of all movies, goes to great lengths to show its work, at least when it comes to parapsychology. The script didn't invent ectoplasm: according to parapsychology, it's the residue of telekinetic contact, and having it appear as a result of spectral contact isn't much of a stretch. Virtually every paranormal event Egon and Ray reference, from the symmetrical bookstacking case to the Tunguska explosion, are all real events (although Ray misstates the year of [[The Tunguska Event]]), and the way Peter handles Dana's possession, though played for laughs, follows the advice of both exorcists and secular psychologists about never letting the alternate personality intimidate or take control of the situation. And if there's any doubt that Dana's apartment building was indeed built as a portal for the fictional Sumerian god Gozer, it's dispelled by the fact that the top of the building is an accurate recreation of a Sumerian ziggurat. Most of this research comes from co-creator [[Dan Aykroyd]], whose enthusiasm for the paranormal inspired the movie in the first place, and later led to his hosting a documentary series on the supernatural and producing a documentary film on UFO's.

* ''[[Sneakers]]'' is a very accurate depiction of cryptology and hacking. It, in fact, ''literally'' shows its work: in one scene, a character is using an overhead projector and transparencies. The mathematics there were written by the movie's consultant, Dr. Len Adleman. As in, [[wikipedia:RSA|Rivest-Shamir-Adleman encryption]].

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*** Even the seemingly random changes in the film's weather (such as how quickly mist clears away) is actually par for the course on those real-life plateaus; according to the DVD commentary, the research team almost got trapped there because of sudden rainstorms.

*** In fact, the animators had actually said that they had to leave out several species of plants because they thought it would look [[Reality Is Unrealistic|TOO unnatural]].

** ''[[~~Brave (Animation)|~~Brave]]'' looks like it's shaping up this way. An archery teacher [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/02/new-brave-trailer-gets-it-right looked at a trailer] and saw that the characters who get their archery wrong do it in the right ways, the way real novice archers mess up, while the main character does it right in the right ways, right down to the nonintuitive slow-motion physics of archery.

** ''[[Brave]]'' looks like it's shaping up this way. An archery teacher [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/02/new-brave-trailer-gets-it-right looked at a trailer] and saw that the characters who get their archery wrong do it in the right ways, the way real novice archers mess up, while the main character does it right in the right ways, right down to the nonintuitive slow-motion physics of archery.

* Steve McQueen's 1970 ''Le Mans'' would have made a perfectly good documentry. Half the film is the real race anyway, and posterity would've loved to have Steve McQueen interviewing the drivers of the time.

* [[Gattaca]] has a close to perfect depiction of a leg lengthening device. It's also in general one of the most realistic depictions of genetic engineering in all of fiction. Years after it was made, most of its ideas about genetics continue to hold true, and its basic premise of a class-based liberal eugenics society is terrifyingly plausible.

* The film version of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (~~Film~~)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' has a scaled-up but otherwise beautifully accurate version of the New York storm drain system as a major set piece.

* The film version of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' has a scaled-up but otherwise beautifully accurate version of the New York storm drain system as a major set piece.

* The military chatter heard throughout in ''[[Transformers (~~Film~~)|Transformers]]'' is ''real''. [[Michael Bay]] specifically asked his extras (most of whom are played by real US soldiers) to simply say and do exactly what they normally would do in the situation presented in the script. It also features many accurate military maneuvers and procedures quoted and carried out.

* The military chatter heard throughout in ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' is ''real''. [[Michael Bay]] specifically asked his extras (most of whom are played by real US soldiers) to simply say and do exactly what they normally would do in the situation presented in the script. It also features many accurate military maneuvers and procedures quoted and carried out.

** The shot of [[Combining Mecha|Devastator]] "waking up" had to be re-rendered by ILM because, as [[Michael Bay]] pointed out, the motion blur and depth of field [[Conspicuous CGI|weren't consistent with an I-MAX camera]], which is what the other shots in that scene were filmed using. This is the same Devastator [[Explosive Instrumentation|that destroys computers when they try to render a frame of him]].

* The makers of the film ''[[Godzilla|Gojira]]'' did a lot of hard work to make the aftermath of Godzilla's attack on Tokyo look eerily similar to what Hiroshima and Nagasaki looked like after they were hit by the atomic bomb. Considering the original film is an allegory about [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|the horrors of atomic warfare]], yeah...

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* The makers went to great lengths to accurately build a German POW camp for ''[[The Great Escape]]''. Of course, it did help that several of the actors had been prisoners of war during WW 2. [[Donald Pleasence]], who had been in a German POW camp, made a few suggestions to John Sturges, who wasn't aware of that fact, and was told to keep his opinions to himself. However, when the director learned that [[Donald Pleasence]] knew what he was talking about, he was asked for advice all the time.

* Many Michael Mann movies fall into this category, but special mention must go to ''[[Heat]]'' and ''[[Collateral]]''.

* No funeral pyres to see in ''[[~~Immortals (Film)|~~Immortals]]''; Theseus buries his mother exactly the way the Greeks buried their dead in 13th century B.C.: the completely shrouded corpse laid to rest in a vault inside a massive tomb... {{spoiler|which is where the film's [[MacGuffin]] happens to be.}}

* No funeral pyres to see in ''[[Immortals]]''; Theseus buries his mother exactly the way the Greeks buried their dead in 13th century B.C.: the completely shrouded corpse laid to rest in a vault inside a massive tomb... {{spoiler|which is where the film's [[MacGuffin]] happens to be.}}

* During the production of ''[[The Way of the Gun]]'', director Christopher McQuarrie's brother, an expert in firearms training and squad tactics, was brought onboard as a firearms supervisor and consultant - and it shows. Throughout the film, Parker and Longbaugh use effective movement tactics (the "Move-Moving" scene), perform the correct close-quarters entry procedures whenever they enter a room, use tactical reloads and generally perform as a cohesive pair of experienced weapon operators.

** McQuarrie pointed out during the [[DVD Commentary]] that proper [[Useful Notes/Gun Safety|gun safety]] was observed as well. For instance, Ryan Philippe keeps his finger off the trigger when not firing.

* In the original ''[[RoboCop ~~(Film)|Robocop~~]]'', a sequence depicting Alex Murphy's transport to a Detroit hospital doesn't use actors for the team that brings him into the operating room - it's an actual trauma team using real terminology ("Let's shock a flatline and quit...") and proper medical and diagnosis procedures.

* In the original ''[[RoboCop]]'', a sequence depicting Alex Murphy's transport to a Detroit hospital doesn't use actors for the team that brings him into the operating room - it's an actual trauma team using real terminology ("Let's shock a flatline and quit...") and proper medical and diagnosis procedures.

* The writers of ''[[Contagion]]'' consulted real-life epidemiologists when writing their script. If you know anything about epidemic disease, it's possible to appreciate the movie on a whole additional level.

* ''[[Sucker Punch]]'': The girls keep their rifles on their shoulders, roll in their steps rather than bouncing, and never cross lines of fire when clearing a room (and clearing the room they went from cover to cover, interlocking fields of fire). The firearms savvy troper will recognize EoTech holographic sites, historically accurate firearms (even the Samurai's [[BFG|20mm version minigun]]), and a suppressed M4. Even handling a semi-automatic firearm, Baby Doll only crosses her thumbs in back once, but with hands that tiny it's believable she didn't catch the Colt Hammer Bite (when the slide comes back in the cycling of the action and cleaves any flesh in its way).

** After they clear the first room in the castle, Rocket signals to Sweet Pea (who is covering the stairs leading away from the room and thus not looking back at the others behind her) that they're ready to move on by giving her a pat on the shoulder, the same as real-life operators working in pairs.

* ''[[Captain America ~~the~~ First Avenger]]'' is extremely accurate: the scene on the Italian front presents units that ''were'' on that front, many of HYDRA weapons were actual Nazi attempted superweapons (in-universe made possible by the power of the Tesseract), two of the HYDRA bases were Peenemunde, site of the developement of the V-2, and the Riese Facility, where the Nazi were rumored to work on some superweapon...

* ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]'' is extremely accurate: the scene on the Italian front presents units that ''were'' on that front, many of HYDRA weapons were actual Nazi attempted superweapons (in-universe made possible by the power of the Tesseract), two of the HYDRA bases were Peenemunde, site of the developement of the V-2, and the Riese Facility, where the Nazi were rumored to work on some superweapon...