Monday, October 19, 2009

Entertainment Pet Peeves: The Sport Quick Cut

You know usually Hollywood has the sense to hire ex-athletes for their premier roles in sports films, but something I notice a lot on TV recently and in movies is the quick cut. What I mean by this is lets say it's a basketball movie, the actor lines up takes the shot, and after about 1 second they quick cut to the ball going on the hoop... only one problem: the ball was a mile off on its way towards the hoop!

This happens all the time. The quarterback throws the ball 15 yards short, and off line, yet quick cut, and it hits the receiver right in the chest. The golfer chunks the ball straight up but it lands right on the green. The baseball pitcher throws a weak floater that comes in a smoking hot fastball. The batter barely gets the end of the bat on the ball but it flies right out of the park into center field.... Hollywood is obsessed with this!

Go watch a sports film, almost any film, and I guarantee you can find 10-20 cases of them doing this, minimum. In fact the only time they don't do this is when they have their talented (unacting) stand-ins in for basic layups, and fade-a-ways shown only from the player's back (I wonder why... hmmmm). I won't say I expect them to keep trying these over and over again until they get it right, but I would like for them to do one of the following two:

1) Stop hiring nonathletic actors to play the parts, and get real athletes.
or
2) At least make the shot believable! When the ball is falling short by a good 5 feet, let it fall short, re-shoot, something! Don't quick cut to it magically swishing.

I'm probably one of maybe 10 people this really bother, but I'd appreciate if they actually took the time to try and make it believable.

1 better thoughts:

Fletch said...

I hear ya, and yea, these are the kinds of nitpicky things that bother me, too. Tim Robbins is infamous for appearing to be one of the worst looking pitchers of all time in Bull Durham, so you know there were quick cuts all over the place in that. I would say that these only mildly bother me, though; the more egregious they are, the more pissed I get at the lazy/non-caring filmmakers that either don't care or don't think we'll notice.

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