Line #0 Main/MeltingFilmEffect


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/melting_film.png]]]]
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3	Sometimes, films can catch you off guard. And one way to do that is to make it look like the film got stuck and melted from being held still over the heated projector bulb for too long. This doesn't just happen in the films, this can happen on television, cartoons, heck, even webtoons! Just don't expect to be caught off guard if it's in a video or cartoon on the internet.
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5	See BornInTheTheatre for a broader trope dependent on the idea that one is watching film in a theater. Compare OldTimeyCinemaCountdown.
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7	----
8	!!Examples:
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10	[[foldercontrol]]
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12	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
13	* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' begins with the Dreamworks Animation title melting away, revealing the real film beneath. Especially effective on 3-D.
14	[[/folder]]
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16	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
17	* ''Film/CinemaParadiso'' actually shows a film that's being projected melting on the screen, just before it disastrously catches fire. Of course we're talking about nitrate film here, pre-safety stock.
18	* ''Film/TheDeathKiss'': An actor has been murdered on camera, as he was acting while shooting a film. The cast, and crew, and cops all assemble to watch the footage--which melts on the screen. The killer knocked out the projectionist and left a lit cigarette in the projector box in order to set the film on fire.
19	* Happens in the AnimatedCreditsOpening of ''Film/TheGreatRace''.
20	* Happens on ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'', when the Gremlins appear to [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou take over the theater projector]]. On the home video version, the VHS glitches out instead.
21	* Halfway through ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', the film melts. It takes a few moments before the Swedish Chef has things going again.
22	* ''Film/Persona1966'' might be the TropeMaker here (or, at least, the TropeCodifier).
23	* ''Film/PlanetTerror'': Happens during the reel changes.
24	* An InUniverse example is seen in ''The Smallest Show on Earth'', a film about a couple running a broken-down old cinema in the north of England.
25	* ''Film/MidnightMovie'': The effect is used in universe in a chilling way. [[spoiler: None of the scenes straight after it happens are from the film they're watching.]]
26	* The 1971 cult film classic ''Film/TwoLaneBlacktop'' uses this trope to bring the movie to a disjointed end. The audience is placed in the back seat of a suped-up 55 Chevy in a drag race at a track, looking forward over the shoulder of the driver (James Taylor). Just before the car accelerates down the track the sound drops out and as the car picks up speed the film slows until it starts to melt through and then the screen goes to black. The audience never sees the end of the last race.
27	* ''Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000TheMovie'': Dr. Forrester accidentally does this to ''This Island Earth''.
28	* At the end of the 1968 Monkees film ''Film/{{Head}}'', a grand and beautiful version of the Columbia Pictures torch lady fades in. As the ending orchestral theme blasts on, the film begins to flutter increasingly on the logo, wriggles around and slides wildly until it stabilizes again; to a complete jammed stop it seems as the film begins to melt away to the top-left corner upon a background of flames, and is only just a little black shrivel when the lens finally shuts. It is not known whether this was intentionally done to end the movie on a distinctive note, or this accidentally happened and became a ThrowItIn moment.
29	[[/folder]]
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31	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
32	* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': InUniverse, while the characters are having a film night (they're watching ''Film/MyDarlingClementine''), the projector jams up and Klinger has to fix it. To keep themselves entertained while waiting for him, they have a sing-along and impressions contest.
33	* ''Series/ViennaBlood'': InUniverse. The film that everyone is watching in 1908 Vienna in "Death Is a Welcome Guest" melts, because the projectionist got distracted by Ida Rego collapsing and dying in the middle of the theater, and stopped turning the crank. But it's also symbolic as Ida was the star of the movie and it's her face melting on the screen as she dies on the theater floor below.
34	[[/folder]]
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36	[[folder:Music]]
37	%%* The Music/LadyGaga video for "Alejandro"
38	* The music video for Music/{{Ultravox}}'s [[Music/{{Lament}} "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes"]] ends with the family's HappierHomeMovie film melting, presumably due to nuclear radiation.
39	* As part of ''Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor'''s live show, they have visuals projected from actual film. Later in the show, the projectionist will literally burn the film (with a lighter) while it's still being shown, producing this effect.
40	* Used in the music video for "Can't Feel My Face" by Music/TheWeeknd. Abel is [[ManOnFire set on fire]] on stage during the final moments of the video, and when he leaves the bar where he was performing, still in flames, the video ends with the film itself burning too.
41	[[/folder]]
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43	[[folder:Web Animation]]
44	* In ''WebAnimation/AngelHare'', this occurs at the end of Season 2's second Bonus Case (which takes place in [[spoiler:''Wylde Hare'']], a show which is being played on a film projector).
45	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Used in a music video for "Experimental Film" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants. According to the in-character commentary, it happened because Strong Sad loaded the film wrong, and he decided to ThrowItIn.
46	[[/folder]]
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48	[[folder:Web Videos]]
49	* WebVideo/FreshyKanal's "Mr. Bean vs. Charlie Chaplin" is partly presented as an old film being played in a theatre and ends with the film melting after the ending credits.
50	* Part of ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'''s opener seen OncePerEpisode.
51	* The beginning of the ''WebVideo/{{Unskippable}}'' intro sequence, but only in the archives, as the more recent ones just have the Escapist's logo.
52	[[/folder]]
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54	[[folder:Western Animation]]
55	* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', one of Granny Smith's long-ago flashbacks in "Leap of Faith" ends this way.
56	* Used on ''WesternAnimation/KickMe'' as a DeusExMachina to save the main character from a GiantSpider.
57	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In "At the Movies", the babies' shenanigans in the Westside Octoplex cinema's projection room leads to the ''Dummi Bears: The Land Without Smiles'' film getting caught in it's projector and burning right at an important plot point. Worthy of note are the [[WackySoundEffect wacky bubble-like noises]] the film's soundtrack makes as it melts.
58	-->'''Squeaky Bear''': I know you're all wondering if [[LittlestCancerPatient little Shauna]] is going to pull through... ''(the others look aghast)'' Oh well... ''(warps a bit)'' [[TheUnreveal lookslikelittleShauna]], uh... ''(makes bubbling noises)''
59	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / MeltingFilmEffect