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| 6 | [[caption-width-right:350:The reality tends to [[{{Pun}} color]] people surprised.]] |
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| 11 | |
| 12 | ->''"It is doubtless true, as somebody pointed out, that a yoke of oxen would be driven, not with a whip but with a goad; but the lash of a whip can be heard on the air, whereas it is useless to ask the studio-effects-man to stand by making a noise like an ox-goad."'' |
| 13 | -->-- '''Creator/DorothyLSayers''', introduction to ''Radio/TheManBornToBeKing'' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The Coconut Effect describes any sound effect, special effect, or design feature that is unrealistic, but still has to be included because viewers have been so conditioned to expect it that its absence would be [[RealityIsUnrealistic even more jarring]]. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The trope namer is the traditional foley effect of using hollow coconut shells to recreate the sound of horse hooves in theater, and later radio, film and television. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Horses hooves ''do'' sound like a pair of coconut shells being tapped together... when the horse is walking on cobblestones or some other hard pavement. However, it's fair to say that the vast majority of depictions of horses are upon dirt, grass, or other unpaved terrain where the sound would be muffled to inaudibility. Nevertheless, filmmakers and radio producers stuck the coconut sound on the audio track even when the horse was on grass or gravel (rarely even in synch with the movement of the horse) until audiences came to expect the specific audio cue. Real recorded hoofbeats on later, more sophisticated productions sounded "wrong" to test audiences (or more likely, clueless [[ExecutiveMeddling producers]]). |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Many other StockSoundEffects are prime examples: |
| 22 | * The AudibleGleam made by a specular reflection or intense light. |
| 23 | * The very specific (but entirely unrealistic) echoing thud that is heard when all the lights are turned on in a large space[[note]]''Can'' be justified in some cases by lights being turned on by several large [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactor#Lighting_control contactors]][[/note]]. |
| 24 | * KineticClicking: So ubiquitous that mobile phones tend to add clicking sounds to buttons pressed on their touch screen. All geared machines tick, switches make a loud 'clack' when turning on or off, crossbows have to make either a mechanical "klang" or a neat "tchak" to be taken seriously, and of course all [[DramaticGunCock Guns]] and [[LandMineGoesClick Land Mines Go Click]]. |
| 25 | * NoisyNature and IncorrectAnimalNoise: Flapping sound effects for large birds taking wing (even owls, whose main advantage is that they ''don't'' make noise in flight), [[JunglesSoundLikeKookaburras migratory Kookaburras]], and roaring mountain lions for just a few examples. |
| 26 | * The AudibleSharpness of a sword being drawn from a scabbard or a knife being waved around. |
| 27 | * [[SpaceIsNoisy Noisy explosions in space]]. |
| 28 | * KungFoley: The 'whump' of a person getting punched in the face, or the exaggerated smack of a boxing glove. [[note]]This is one of the reasons {{slapstick}} comedy got its name: The slapstick was two sticks that, when struck together, sounded more like a "slap" than an actual slap did.[[/note]] Real-life fistfights tend to be eerily silent, which obviously wouldn't be very dramatic or exciting (and more than a little creepy.) The only noticeable sound in a fistfight is feet tapping or sliding. Depending on the surface, it can sound more like a game of basketball than fisticuffs. |
| 29 | * Laser noises. While there's a wide variety in the way they actually sound, [[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud "pew"]] is usually a pretty accurate onomatopoeia for anything short of a WaveMotionGun. In reality, a laser is basically just a precision variation on the common flashlight, and as such makes no more noise than one. Nevertheless, most of us would think there was some sort of issue with our audio if we saw CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth fire an energy pistol that ''didn't'' make any noise, hence this trope. |
| 30 | * All bullets in movies, regardless of caliber, will often make "zzzzip!" or "ffffwwwt!" sounds as they zip past. In reality, most bullets that miss their targets are still traveling at supersonic speed when they pass by, which creates a small "sonic boom" commonly referred to as a "ballistic crack." In truth, a bullet whizzing past you would sound more akin to a small firecracker going off than anything else. |
| 31 | * [[GatlingGood Rotary autocannons]] tend to have a "[[MoreDakka dakka dakka dakka]]" sound to them as if they were single-barreled machine guns even though logically they should sound like "brrrt" or "bzzzt" due to the ''absurd'' rate of fire. |
| 32 | * Any "aerodynamic" missile (from arrows to throwing knives or poisoned dart) must make a distinctive "fssshhh" when traveling through the air. |
| 33 | * Car and driving noises: "Wildest Police Chases" / "Wildest Security Camera Video"-type programs are big on this; squealing tires and crunchy crashes are all dubbed in after the fact in cases featuring security camera footage, which rarely features an audio track. Even a moped will make V8EngineNoises. Squealing tires are TruthInTelevision when a car is driven at or slightly beyond the very limits of the tires' performance, but only on hard surfaces that provide enough friction, such as paved roads. On loose surfaces like gravel, grass/soil, sand, snow, and so on, tires simply cannot squeal. |
| 34 | * BeepingComputers and PacManFever cover the standard sounds of modern technology and interactive entertainment. |
| 35 | * The StukaScream is a common example of this when fast-moving planes are seen on screen, completely irrespective of whether or not they are in fact Stukas, or have the requisite siren (or equivalent thereof) installed. |
| 36 | * Helicopters will produce a distinctive, rapid "''whup-whup-whup''" in flight, which will die down to a rapid "chirping" sound on the ground, [[EveryHelicopterIsAHuey regardless of whether or not the helicopter in question is a Bell UH-1 "Huey",]] although the latter sound effect is actually taken from the Korean War-era [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_47 Bell 47]]. |
| 37 | * Traffic jams tend to produce a [[BigHonkingTrafficJam constant, ungodly cacophony of horn honking]], especially if it's come to a stop. In reality, most of the noise from a traffic jam is from the multitudes of rumbling engines, with only the occasional horn honking if someone gets cut off or if a specific driver loses their patience. |
| 38 | * When a building's fire alarm system is activated (be it an actual fire, a routine fire drill, or someone creating a FireAlarmDistraction), in most cases the alarm signal sounds like a bell, similar to an older school bell. At one time, bells were a very common fire alarm signal, and still are in a few parts of the world (such as in Canada), but in the United States and much of Europe, fire alarm bells are becoming increasingly scarce in real life, as more are replaced with modern horn/strobe units or "voice evacuation" systems (the latter in larger "high occupancy" areas). Same with older electromechanical fire alarm horns (similar to scoreboard buzzers) being frequently replaced with newer alarms. |
| 39 | * Every single swamp or river scene has dozens of Pacific Tree Frogs chirping away, even if the location is nowhere near the Pacific coast of North America. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | This trope does not apply exclusively to sound, but to any instance of an element that is used simply because the audience, consciously or unconsciously, expects it to be included, and/or because StockVisualMetaphors allow writers to [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools avoid long expositions]] via ShowDontTell: |
| 42 | * Mainframe hackers had "green lightning" (or "compatibility logic" when the suits were around) named after an AscendedGlitch in an [=IBM=] terminal monitor left in [[ViewerFriendlyInterface so people would think the computer was "doing something"]]. |
| 43 | * Every cockpit must have BillionsOfButtons. |
| 44 | * {{Lens Flare}}s are everywhere. |
| 45 | * TechnicolorScience: All chemicals are brightly colored. [[note]]In reality most chemicals range from clear to a milky grey-brown, only a handful of common laboratory chemicals have any sort of color at all. Intense color is rare, found only in certain crystals, organometallic compounds, complex organic molecules, and metallic oxides. This is why wars were fought over control of things like indigo flowers and lapis lazuli before the invention of synthetic pigments.[[/note]] |
| 46 | * Radiation always has a SicklyGreenGlow. [[note]]In real life most radioactive materials just look like any other metal (because dangerous ionizing radiation, by itself, is completely invisible). Some highly radioactive materials, when underwater or wet, will release ''blue'' light due to Cherenkov radiation however. See the trope's analysis page for more information on possible origins.[[/note]] |
| 47 | * Every explosion will be accompanied by ImpressivePyrotechnics, and EveryCarIsAPinto. |
| 48 | * People [[SpaceIsCold freezing]] or [[ExplosiveDecompression popping]] in space. |
| 49 | * {{Static Stun Gun}}s produce bright electric arcs all over the target, sometimes accompanied by XRaySparks in more cartoony portrayals (and also [[ElectricityKnocksYouOut knock people out]]). [[note]]Real stun guns only produce visible arcing when they're not touching a target - when they are, the electricity is going ''through'' the victim, not around them. They also don't cause victims to lose consciousness - they fall down because of intense pain and/or uncontrollable muscle contractions.[[/note]] |
| 50 | |
| 51 | |
| 52 | This trope has a sister trope in the RuleOfPerception, which explains why one would bother with any of these effects at all. |
| 53 | |
| 54 | The color version of this trope is StockObjectColors. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | See also RealityIsUnrealistic, ArtisticLicense, ScienceMarchesOn, CommonHollywoodSexTraits, MickeyMousing, RadioVoice, VinylShatters, and the semi-related ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation. Related in concept is TheCSIEffect and EaglelandOsmosis. Nothing to do with CoconutSuperpowers (except insofar as both relate to ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''). Thankfully, this won't be [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs causing any real-world casualties]]. We hope. Compare AluminumChristmasTrees and SmallReferencePools. Also see AcceptableBreaksFromReality. |
| 57 | |
| 58 | ---- |
| 59 | !!Examples: |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 64 | * In many anime, most noticeably ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', every time a sword moves while drawn, it makes a metallic clicking noise. This is usually used like [[DramaticGunCock gun cocking]] to indicate that a character is serious. This is only TruthInTelevision for a loose sword with an all-metal hilt, not a common construction for Japanese katana. Oddly enough, the ''Trust And Betrayal'' OVA (which is done in a more realistic style than the TV anime) actually uses this clicking sound in the correct context -- it shows that the sword has not been used for some time and has not been maintained and emphasizes the desperation of the situation. Under normal circumstances you should never hear this sound. |
| 65 | * ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'': When Becky and the 1-C class go into Himeko's mind, Himeko serves a meal of crab...only it tastes like cheap imitation crab, which Himeko is more familiar with than the real thing. |
| 66 | * More casual anime fans and non-fans in the West expect anime to have a particular character design, with semi-realistic bodies and distinct eyes and [[AnimeHair hair]], commonly called the "anime style." As a result of this, some of these fans tend to either be baffled or react negatively whenever there's an anime that doesn't fit into their tunnel vision perceptions of Japanese media, forgetting that artists have vastly differing styles and unaware of the fact that Japanese animation was inspired by Western animation. Even hardcore anime fans run into this problem; with the increased involvement of Western studios helping with Japanese animation in TheNewTens, some think the more "non-standard" art styles are due to demands from said studios rather than the Japanese studios themselves. What further muddles it is that some of the more notable character designers that helped in Western animation throughout its history were in fact Japanese, meaning their time working on those series would inevitably rub off on them when they did original properties (as was the case with the team behind ''Anime/TheBigO''). |
| 67 | * Expect any crime anime that takes place in the United States during Prohibition to exclusively use [[TheMafia Italian hoods]], [[TheIrishMob Irish]] and [[KosherNostra Jews]] be damned. |
| 68 | * One ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' technical text says that [[HumongousMecha Mobile Suit]] computers will supply sound effects for their pilots' benefit while acknowledging that [[SpaceIsNoisy Space Is Not, In Fact, Noisy]]. However, this doesn't change the fact that every single ''Gundam'' universe has sound effects in space battles... |
| 69 | * An InUniverse example in chapter 187 of ''Manga/DrStone'': Chrome's remote-controlled record player is used to simulate gunfire and confuse Stanley's troops. However, recording actual gunfire turns out to be unconvincing, so Senku instead smacks a plastic container to make a more convincing sound. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 73 | * The use of huge, gaudy onomatopoeia (or, depending on how people describe the phenomenon, "sound effects", "Batman words", or even [[BuffySpeak "noise words"]]). It's obviously a ludicrous convention in more serious comic works (bright red letters saying "BUDDA-BUDDA-BUDDA" and "ZARTZ!" and "KRA-THOOM!" look downright grotesque in the middle of a realistic shootout with blood spraying everywhere), but artists still have to include them or otherwise "it wouldn't look like a comic book." |
| 74 | * ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': The creators knew well that the ''Colosseum'' and other landmarks from the time of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire [[AnachronismStew didn't exist]] during the comic book series' time, the final years of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic (the era of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar). Rome just doesn't look as good without them. |
| 75 | * ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': [[Characters/TheFlashTheFlashes The Flash]] has long been able to use his super speed to perform a great many feats which make absolutely no sense[[note]](and we're not just talking "man who can run at the speed of light" not making sense, we're talking "his speed is given as the explicit reason that he's able to do things that have nothing to do with how fast he's going" not making sense)[[/note]], but kind of ''feel'' like things a speedster should be able to do: he can vibrate the molecules of his body at super speed[[note]](unlike normal folks, who can only make their molecules vibrate at ''normal'' speed)[[/note]], to let him become intangible[[note]](in real life, this would be known as "evaporating" and would be fatal)[[/note]]; he can run across the ocean or up the sides of buildings as if he were running on the ground[[note]](which could maybe work if you assume he's actually launching himself at superspeed and hurtling up/across as opposed to actually running, except that (1) he can change direction while doing it (2) he doesn't require any kind of ramp or slope to transition from running horizontally to running vertically, and (3) he would hit escape velocity and rocket off into space if he moved that fast)[[/note]]; he can carry people at near-light speed without hurting them[[note]](the fact that he can do it without hurting ''himself'' is a {{Required Secondary Power|s}})[[/note]]; and he can catch bullets out of midair inches in front of their target without them punching through his hand or slipping between his fingers[[note]](it would make sense if he moved his hand at the same speed as the bullet as he caught them and then ''gradually'' slowed it down, but this would take more than a few inches to do)[[/note]]. Needless to say, every other speedster in Franchise/TheDCU has to be able to do all these things too. In fact, they've added a special [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]] to the Flash canon - the Speed Force - to explain the more impossible ones (it lets him absorb speed from bullets, impart it upon people he carries, and gives him total control of his body's molecules). Most non-DC speedsters won't be able to turn intangible, but they'll still be expected to be able to run across water and along walls and ceilings and to catch bullets as though their palms were armored - hey, the Flash can do it, why the heck can't [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]]!? The running across water is justified: it's been calculated that someone running at 100 kilometers an hour (more or less, depending on bodyweight and foot size) or greater would be able to run across water. |
| 76 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Whether or not ClarkKenting is used effectively, or if Clark doesn't change his mannerisms at all other than wearing glasses, it doesn't matter-every incarnation of Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} ''will'' use some variant of the classic trope. He is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, after all. |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 80 | * The ''[[ComicStrip/TheFarSide Far Side]]'' cartoon titled "[[https://imgur.com/r/TheFarSideGallery/fAuu30X When car chasers dream]]" depicts a dog dreaming about having caught the car it chased and triumphantly howling while standing on top of the upside-down car's "corpse." At the time of its publication, the cartoon caused controversy due to some readers' perception that it showed the dog mating with the car. Gary Larson attributes this misinterpretation to his having unwisely attempted to draw in the transmission case on the car's underside for a touch of realism. |
| 81 | * In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Jason Fox is eating a watermelon and tells Andrea how it doesn't taste like his watermelon gum. Naturally this earns a weird look from her. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 85 | * In one chapter of the Fanfiction ''[[Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse Nightmare Night and Nyx]]'', Princess Luna decided to tease her older sister by wearing a Nightmare Night costume... of Celestia as a "Pretty Pretty Pony Princess." Along with deliberately ridiculous levels of girly accoutrements and shades of pink, it featured its own cloud of twinkling lights-- that made actual tinkling noises and even, on occasion, said the words "twinkle twinkle" in tiny voices... |
| 86 | [[/folder]] |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 89 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Elastigirl rides an electric-engined motorbike -- but it sounds like a petrol-engined bike. This is probably because most people wouldn't know what an electric vehicle sounds like, and because they expect a bike to sound like, well, a bike. This could be justified if the bike is specifically programmed to make artificial engine noises. This is in fact, a thing in real life, where some electric vehicles "play" a sound like a "normal" engine, to alert pedestrians who are unfamiliar with the electric vehicle's presence. As discussed ''[[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/americas-best-selling-cars-and-trucks-are-built-on-lies-the-rise-of-fake-engine-noise/2015/01/21/6db09a10-a0ba-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html here]]'' |
| 90 | * In ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', Team America, the terrorists, and the Korean dictator all fly jets, but only Team America's jet actually sounds like a jet. The terrorists' jet, for example, sounds like it's propeller driven. |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 94 | * ''Film/RockyBalboa'', the sixth ''Rocky'' film, had realistic boxing sounds inserted during the actual match between Rocky and his opponent. The last few ''Rocky'' sequels before this had grown increasingly dependent on unrealistic boxing sounds, and the more authentic noises spat in the face of that dependency. Accordingly, instead of using the dramatic cinematic effect for the entire ending, the fight was presented like an ESPN pay-per-view event, complete with stats charts, graphical widgets and even the clock during the first round. |
| 95 | * Ironically, ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497964/ Ring Girls]]'', which is for all intents and purposes a documentary (although "creatively" edited to look more like a reality show), nevertheless added Hong Kong sound effects over all the punching and kicking, completely ruining it for every martial artist (or even fan) out there. It did not make the movie any more popular. |
| 96 | * In another camera example, many films will add in the sound of a chemical flash bulb firing (a very recognizable ''whoosh'') whenever they show flash photography, regardless of whether these old-timey flash bulbs are depicted on screen, or what era the movie is set in. Creator/MartinScorsese and Wes Anderson frequently do this. In an interesting inversion, when an older-model electronic flash is used, the noticeable whine many make as they recharge is usually ''absent''. This may be due to the sound effect having been co-opted by futuristic NoisyGuns. |
| 97 | * The sound effects used in hand-to-hand combat in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' films are extremely over-the-top (e.g. obtained by beating piles of leather coats with baseball bats) - so much so that the sounds are basically iconic to the series. |
| 98 | ** Creator/BenBurtt, the sound designer for all the films, says on a [=DVD=] extra that he decided to make the punches over-the-top on purpose as he felt they were making a comic book brought to life. |
| 99 | ** And any Bollywood movie portrays it much, much more over the top. |
| 100 | * The [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman film franchise]] on a whole is guilty of this; despite the fact that blue and grey are much better urban camouflage colors, he always retains his black rubber armor in Live-Action Films [[Film/BatmanTheMovie (save for the Adam West one)]]. The sound effects in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' are deliberately "one up." Minigun sounds for machine pistols, howitzers for shotguns, etc. More a stylistic choice, but still the trope. |
| 101 | * Creator/BudSpencer and Terence Hill made a career out of fight scenes with exaggerated SFX. |
| 102 | * The movies in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' start off highlighting Spidey's use of SpiderSense in slow-motion, but as the films progress, the SpiderSense is more often implied than explicitly depicted, usually in the form of whiplash-quick reflexes and/or an OffhandBackhand. Notably, the third movie never highlighted it at all, with Spider-Man's reflexes and Spider-Sense all rendered in real-time. |
| 103 | * Digital readouts are an excellent example. In ''Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree'', the subway's digital speedometer makes a series of increasingly faster beeps when shown on screen, despite it being established there's no beeping noise when the trains are driven normally. |
| 104 | * Common also in ''Series/KnightRider'': Closeups of KITT's speedometer, usually during massive acceleration, have a frantic ticking along with each MPH displayed. In only a few cases are there closeups of slow speed changes with the corresponding tick. In addition, no wide-angle shot includes audible ticking. |
| 105 | * The serial ''Film/ThePhantomEmpire'', since it has a radio ShowWithinAShow, actually ''shows'' coconuts being used to make horse sounds. Being partly a Western, it no doubt had many traditional examples too. |
| 106 | * An intentional example in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' has the jet liner in the movie sounds just like it has propellers instead [[RuleOfFunny for comedic effect.]] The creators originally wanted to use a propeller-driven DC-4 (the one from ''Film/ZeroHour1957'', the movie on which its based), but ExecutiveMeddling forced them to use a jet. ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel'' has a similar effect, but [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace on a space shuttle]]. |
| 107 | * ''Film/CowboysAndAliens'' featured incredibly overdone punch sounds, similar to those in ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' (this may have been intentional due to the presence of Harrison Ford in the movie). Jake's punches seemed to be even louder and more exaggerated than other characters. |
| 108 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 109 | ** The films are notable for their use of invented foley effects created by sound designer Ben Burtt. For ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Creator/GeorgeLucas decided not to use the stock sound effect of lightning and thunder coinciding with each other during the thunderstorm on Kamino, instead having the lightning happen a few moments before the thunder crashing. |
| 110 | ** In the commentary for the prequels, they talk about how Yoda's CG design had to compensate for the visual effect of Yoda being a puppet in the older films. For instance, Yoda's ears wiggling when he moved was originally a side effect of the material used to create the puppet, but they actually replicated the ear-wiggling when he went CG simply because audiences had already accepted that Yoda's ears are just supposed to do that. |
| 111 | * The image of the alien spacecraft in ''Film/IndependenceDay'' sweeping over the flag on the moon is probably the most iconic sight of the film second only to the destruction of the White House. What this and countless other films forget/ignore is that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Flag_Assembly there is no American flag currently on the Moon.]] In the same way a poster exposed to direct sunlight fades over time the dyes used in the flags by the Apollo missions have all completely faded away leaving nothing but white pieces of fabric in their place. |
| 112 | * ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' is especially guilty of this as, despite aiming for scientific accuracy to the extent of having [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_(physicist) Brian Cox]] acting as an advisor, it's still riddled with inaccuracy. In the movie's defence, however, Creator/DannyBoyle noted that the movie didn't feel right without things like [[SpaceIsNoisy audible whooshing]] and [[ArtisticLicenseSpace visible distant stars]].[[note]]As to the visible stars -- since the protagonists are flying so close to the Sun they need a solar shield, the significant amount of light pollution would mean even "close" stars would not be visible.[[/note]] |
| 113 | * In-universe in ''Film/TheDilemma'', Ronny's and Nick's job is to work Coconut Effects into products. During the movie, they're making silent electric cars "roar" as if they had loud combustion engines. |
| 114 | * Done literally and in-universe in ''Film/{{Murder}}'', where one of the actors in a stage play claps coconut halves together off-stage to simulate a horse's hooves. |
| 115 | * Also done in-universe in ''Film/SpiteMarriage'', when Trilby's theater troupe needs to simulate horse's hooves. |
| 116 | * In ''Film/It2017'', the titular entity no longer has the original story reasons for assuming the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. In the book, this was because IT could not change forms on a whim, and its guises followed the rules of the form it took; for example, a werewolf form would be vulnerable to silver bullets, but scary clowns have no rules, so it's an ideal avatar. In the film, though, IT can shapeshift at will, and its weakness is simply that its victims' imaginations can overrule its plans, so there's no real reason for IT to default to Pennywise other than the fact that it's such an iconic character. |
| 117 | * The {{Death Trap}}s from ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' tend to feature digital timers. These timers make an audible beep every second, but it's not actually the case for most real-life digital timers, such as the ones in microwaves. |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 121 | * The short story ''Damned Spot'' by Julian Rathbone, a {{Deconstruction}} of historical whodunnits, notes that oak darkens with age, so the dark oak we associate with Elizabethan architecture and furniture would have been quite pale at the time, before deciding that it's more important the setting fits the modern perception of Elizabethan era. |
| 122 | * In the ''Literature/HyperionCantos'', farcasters are implanted with devices to make a person stepping through feel like he is traveling. |
| 123 | * Taking aim at the hourglass/spinning wheel/whatever which is there to convince you that your computer is actually doing something, Literature/{{Discworld}}'s [[{{Magitek}} Hex]], which is as close as they have to a computer (or more precisely a semi-sentient magical computerish ''thing'') will sometimes drop an actual hourglass from a spring in order to demonstrate that Hex is doing something. Of course, nobody really knows if he is or not, but they do wait patiently. |
| 124 | * The Creator/CyrilMKornbluth story ''The Marching Morons'', which is an {{Anvilicious}} diatribe against this trope and anything else that dumbs down society, features this in cars, which have speedometers that go to somewhere around 200 MPH and exhausts that literally belch fire, both purely for effect. The modern-day "protagonist" notices that when the speedometer reads 140 he feels like he's going maybe 60, and then later notices that the engine roar cuts off a fraction of a second AFTER the car stops (because it's an effect added to make it seem like the cars are faster and more powerful than they really are). |
| 125 | [[/folder]] |
| 126 | |
| 127 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 128 | * Despite the fact that it purports to have at least something to do with reality, the hit U.S. boxing show ''Series/TheContender'' features "exaggerated impact" sound effects during the footage of boxing matches between its participants. |
| 129 | * In the 1950s, the Univac I computer executed operations so slowly that the engineers made a different "beep" occur for every type of instruction. This allowed programmers to tell, for instance, if the machine was executing a long loop, had stalled, etc. Only the Univac I did this, it was used almost exclusively in a back room at the U.S. Census bureau, and the beeping computer was quickly retired when faster computers were built in the late 50s. However, when the machine was new, the marvelous "artificial brain" was demonstrated for TV news and documentaries. The "beep-beep-boop" sound then got a life of its own because there wasn't really anything else in a TV computer to tell the audience that the computer was doing anything. Soon, all TV computers had to produce a series of beeps of various tones. The original Star Trek avoided this by having the computer's voice say "working..." in a monotone instead of beeping, but the show then did it anyway as the sound of an old punch-card tabulating machine was dubbed in after the computer voice. The beeping sound was mandatory in TV-show computers well into the 80s, until the trope happened in reverse. The common man began using home computers and the pointless, sourceless beeps came to be properly seen as idiotic. |
| 130 | * In one of the Swedish Chef sketches on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', the Chef is trying to get his chicken to lay an egg and after it looks like she has, he angrily declares that the object [[NinjaProp is not an egg but a ping-pong ball]]. The humor is, of course, that the audience would expect the ball to double for an egg in the sketch, making it surprising when the Chef refers to what it really is. |
| 131 | * ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' did this when the Galactica warped into the upper atmosphere of a planet and immediately burst into flames. Reentry fire comes from the massive sideways velocity any orbiting object has. The ship started from a dead stop, but most people equate falling from space with fire. But they probably did it because [[IncendiaryExponent fire makes things cooler]]. Potentially [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to possibility that the flames were caused by the near-instantaneous displacement of an enormous volume of air caused by the Galactica's jump. |
| 132 | * Half of what the Series/MythBusters do is based on this trope, testing out the way things work in reality vs. the way they're portrayed in the movies. |
| 133 | * Parodied in ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' Ep.3/06 after Lorelai and Rory egg the car of the resident Bad Boy: |
| 134 | -->'''Lorelai:''' Wait, is that a siren?\ |
| 135 | '''Rory:''' I don't hear anything.\ |
| 136 | '''Lorelai:''' Neither do I, it just seemed like a cool thing to say at that moment.\ |
| 137 | '''Rory:''' It was!\ |
| 138 | '''Lorelai:''' Hey, let's run back and speed off like we did something really awful and the cops are after us! |
| 139 | * In the mid- to late 1970s, pocket calculators were just coming into their own. However, they didn't make cute bloop bleep sounds -- the way they did in some television shows, notably ''Series/BarneyMiller'', when Harris practically plays a tune on his. |
| 140 | * ''Series/{{Hustle}}'' had an in-universe example when the British character Stacie conned an American by posing as staff for the BBC. Instead of using her natural British accent, she put on an over-the-top stereotypical British accent, complete with "Toodle pip!" |
| 141 | * The DVD set of the documentary series ''The World at War'' had a bonus feature showing some of the raw footage that was used to make the series. The footage, like much of the film shot in combat areas of that era, is completely silent. The narrator matter-of-factly talks about adding in all the sound effects. |
| 142 | * Creator/GeneRoddenberry intended to avert SpaceIsNoisy in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', but test audiences liked the space scenes better when they were noisy. |
| 143 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' might be the only aversion of SpaceIsNoisy. At the very least it's the most prominent. All space scenes are set to music, which totally replaces sound effects. There are still noises on board the individual ships, but as there is air there, it makes sense. |
| 144 | * Creator/MartinScorsese confessed that the biggest surprise of shooting the ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' pilot was "the color". Like most people, the mental image of the 1920s he had was based on black and white photographs, but the fashion magazines the production crew had access to showed that people in that decade really had a love [[TheRoaringTwenties for excess]]. |
| 145 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Lampshaded in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKO6M8heGU0&t=73m50s segment of the Cave Dwellers episode]]. |
| 146 | [[/folder]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 149 | * The warmth of analogue recordings is caused partly by tape hum, which often makes people think digital recordings sound cold and sterile by comparison. Note that this largely depends on the type of music. The same could be said of the faint hum and crackle of vinyl: people missed it so much that it actually resurfaced as a medium and vinyl records of brand new albums can be found in stores. |
| 150 | * The LoudnessWar has led to certain people thinking that maximum loudness, low dynamic range, 'whispering' on the voices (caused by parts of the vocal track to have come off) and excessive brightness are a sign of improved technology, when most of the time they are just to make the music louder. |
| 151 | * Studio recordings are made in sound-dampening rooms to avoid accidental undesired effects on the music. Real-life sound however sounds very different, because the acoustics of the surroundings produce echo and reverberations. This is why there's a science to the construction of auditoria and theatres used for live music. Thus some post-processing is required to make studio recordings sound more realistic. We've gotten so used to hearing ''some type'' of post-processing on vocals (be it reverb, double-tracking, flangers, phasers, delay, compression, you name it) that just hearing raw vocals on a track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WROJl6QtNMk can sound jarring]]. Of course in practice, the amount of post-processing used goes way beyond adding realism, and wraps back to unrealistic. Music/NeilYoung has written reams of technical articles on exactly why analogue is not only "warmer" but closer to the actual live sound, and what improvements must be made to digital in order to present such sound. |
| 152 | [[/folder]] |
| 153 | |
| 154 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 155 | * Back in the '60s, televised Professional Wrestling placed a microphone under the ring which made some very impressive sounds when wrestlers jumped off the top rope or stomped their foot during a forearm smash. They still do that. It's why fights backstage seem to fall a bit flat - the bumps don't have the same 'oomph' as bumps in the ring. |
| 156 | * Fans often tend to complain at the 'dead crowds' on WWE television. The seemingly uninterested crowd are in fact very animated but the sound is just not being captured. If you watch fan footage recorded on someone's phone from the crowd, the noise is deafening. WWE just doesn't mic up the crowd because it runs the risk of people's personal conversations being broadcast on the air among other things. So the only time you'll actually hear a lively crowd is if they're screaming insanely at the top of their voices. |
| 157 | * The big smack you hear when someone gets superkicked or big booted is of course the wrestler slapping their leg for dramatic effect. Slapping your leg and stomping for dramatic effect is falling out of practice these days. Also the big smack made when someone gets kicked in the head is usually caused by the kick pads the wrestler is wearing. Also wrestlers are taught to throw punches with the meaty part of their arm because it makes a nice impactful sound when hitting off the face. |
| 158 | * Blading. Since the 1970s (if not earlier), American audiences have grown accustomed to fight scenes in action movies that cause the combatants to bleed like stuck pigs, when in fact mild bruises and maybe a few chipped teeth are bound to be the results of a real-life fight. If pro wrestlers didn't bleed as much as they do, spectators might suspect that they "aren't really hurting each other" [[ProWrestlingIsReal (even though they are)]], or that the staged fights aren't "realistic" enough. Hence, the custom of wrestlers slicing themselves on the sly for that good old "bloodbath" effect. |
| 159 | [[/folder]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 162 | * In the 1930s, Australian radio broadcasts of cricket overseas weren't actually done from the ground. The commentary was based on ball by ball telegraph reports, and sound effects such as canned applause and an artificial bat-on-ball sound were used. The trope didn't come into play because listeners knew the difference from having listened to local games; "synthetic broadcasts", as they were known, were abandoned in 1938 when shortwave reception had improved enough that the action could be delivered directly. |
| 163 | ** A similar technique, known as "re-creation", was routinely employed by American baseball announcers for radio broadcasts of out-of-town games prior to the 1950s, for both technical and budgetary reasons. Some announcers would take full advantage of the creative potential in this; Rosey Rowswell of the Pittsburgh Pirates, for example, would punctuate the team's home runs by having an assistant noisily drop a tray in the studio and then inform his listeners that the ball broke the window of a fictional "Aunt Minnie". |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 167 | * Laser weapons in ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' are said to come with built-in noisemakers to satisfy customers who expect sci-fi-style sounds when they're fired. Otherwise, they would be mostly silent. |
| 168 | * Lasguns in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe have explored every angle of this trope they could find. In the art and the video games they are huge highly-visible coconuts, because otherwise you wouldn't know they were firing. In the fiction they are described as firing invisible, near-silent beams. There is a button to make the beam visible again, but this is officially for training purposes (read: playing laser tag) rather than actual combat. The only 'Pew', so to speak, is the audible snap of the air ionizing. |
| 169 | ** This also comes up when lasguns are given to Guard regiments who come from planets where most readily available weapons use chemical propellant. Guardsmen who expect guns to make a loud bang and flash when fired get fake noises and lights because the familiarity is good for morale. Guardsmen from less developed worlds are used to the relatively silent bow or crossbow and get no special treatment, while Guard regiments on appropriately advanced worlds are already used to las weapons. |
| 170 | ** In a similar fictional case, the guns in ''{{Manga/Gantz}}'' make a pathetically small sound and do nothing more than glow at the barrel. |
| 171 | ** In reality the predominant noise is the sound of cooling fans and water pumps. Occasionally, there will be a soft "pfft" sound when the laser fires, and that comes from the noise of the Xenon flash tubes used to pump the laser. High power microwave sources are also silent except for the cooling. What fun is a death ray that sounds like your air conditioner? |
| 172 | ** High power laser weapons actually might not be silent so much as they would switch which end the noise is on. The impact of a laser weapon on a target would actually produce a loud bang since it's vaporizing material into a rapidly expanding gas cloud; AKA an explosion. This might incidentally make them pretty crappy stealth weapons since the sound is inherent to their damage mechanism and can't really be dampened. |
| 173 | * Also in ''Warhammer 40,000'', the Orks manage to {{justif|iedTrope}}y and {{exploit|edTrope}} this trope. Because their latent reality warping abilities make anything a sufficient number of Orks believe become true, [[RedOnesGoFaster Red things go faster]], louder guns do more damage, and things that look science-y and have ''most'' of the wires in the right place can do whatever a halfway competent [[GadgeteerGenius Mekboy]] says they can. A commonly held theory is that orks specializing in stealth gain much of their [[ImpossibleThief inexplicable ability to infiltrate]] locations despite being, well, ''[[HighlyVisibleNinja extremely large, heavily armed, green slabs of muscle with impulse control issues]]'' from the fact that most orks believe stealthy, disciplined orks do not exist. It's canon that they get a considerable boost from the fact most ''humans'' don't believe they exist, and so get lazy about perimeter security. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 177 | * Figures of Ben Reilly as the [[Characters/MarvelComicsScarletSpider Scarlet Spider]] invariably includes his hands in ComicBook/SpiderMan's classic "web-shooting" pose. However, Ben never actually did that; he modified his web-shooters to fire without the pose. But the pose is so iconic that it gets included anyway. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 181 | * CrateExpectations has become a sort of coconut effect. Almost every game that involves ammo (and many that don't) have crates that must be broken to get ammo. Creator/{{Valve|Software}}, for example, found this out during playtesting of VideoGame/HalfLife1. They attempted to avoid including crates, but so many people wanted something to use the crowbar on and get ammo from that they eventually had to give in. |
| 182 | * ExplodingBarrels could easily be classified as this. By now, most people realize that shooting a barrel won't actually cause it to explode, but for a game to not have explosives that can be triggered by shooting them would be just odd to the gaming audience. [[http://www.peoplecanfly.com/blog/2011/01/we-had-to-use-red-barrels/ People Can Fly]] found that just trying to change the ubiquitous colour (red) of the exploding barrels to green for ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'' didn't work right for the players. |
| 183 | ** Which is odd, given that green exploding barrels are also common in games - the TropeCodifier ''Videogame/{{Doom}}'' only has gray barrel with light green gas in it, and later games like ''Videogame/{{Borderlands}}'' color-code it, by releasing corrosive liquid - so gamers are just as conditioned to shoot them as red ones. |
| 184 | * Every PlatformGame since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' has had a special sound effect for when the hero jumps, except for some of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games (but the DoubleJump made a woosh noise to indicate the upgrade activating). Then again, JumpPhysics in platformers is generally not realistic. |
| 185 | ** This even affects the 'realistic' platformers as seen in the SNES' heyday. Climbing up 3 straight-jump-up ledges in a row makes it sound like the hero of say, ''VideoGame/{{Flashback}}'', is attempting to drop a log cabin in an outhouse. The boingy springy sound gets replaced with 'old man toilet grunts.' |
| 186 | ** In more classic first-person shooters, the main character says "hop" or grunts with every jump which is rarely the case in real life. |
| 187 | * In the MMORPG ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', the standard space-battle trope of [[ExplosionsInSpace explosions]] and [[SpaceIsNoisy other sound effects happening despite the inability of sound to travel in the vacuum of space]] is justified in the game's lore. The sounds aren't actually real, but because the player's character is piloting the ship from within a sense-depriving goo-filled pod, the outer-space sounds are created by the ship's computers to give the pilot's mind something to focus on. |
| 188 | ** This may be justified in this game specifically, however. Space in EVE Online seems to have fluidic properties, as ships will slow to a stop without constant propulsion, cruise missiles are described as a "lifting-wing" missile, and corpses instantly freeze when exposed to space. If this is true, the space would also presumably transmit vibrations. |
| 189 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Tyrian}}'' uses the same justification: The ship's computer simulates sounds from outside to help the pilot keep paying attention and as a navigation aid. |
| 190 | ** This seems to be "industrial standard" justification, right from the ''Film/ANewHope book'' back in 1979. |
| 191 | ** The onboard television crew in ''Literature/StarshipOperators'' mentions that they have to add explosion noises to satisfy the viewers at home; ordinarily, the fights would be silent. |
| 192 | ** The space combat computer game ''Elite'' justified the noise of laser impacts and enemy ship explosions as the sound of the hits/explosion broadcast from the target's radios. |
| 193 | * A number of video games have film grain among the video options, as an homage to older movies: |
| 194 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', the original Platform/{{P|layStation2}}S2 version of the game had film grain as the default. Notably, this was removed in the HD release and fans were ''pissed''. |
| 195 | ** ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV The Lost and Damned]]'' |
| 196 | ** ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' and [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 its sequel]]. |
| 197 | ** After completing ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'' for the first time you can enable four increasing levels of film effects. |
| 198 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has a major and highly popular [[http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=39947 modification]] that focuses entirely on simulating low quality or badly damaged film, to make the game look like old Westerns. |
| 199 | ** ''VideoGame/StubbsTheZombie'' had film grain as the default. |
| 200 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has a couple examples. Along with the above-mentioned film grain, one NPC in the third game mentions turning off the sound emulators so he can watch an enemy dreadnought "sink" in complete silence. This suggests that SpaceIsNoisy is [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] ''in-universe,'' probably due to this trope. |
| 201 | ** Flying vehicles default to having inertial dampeners active, which the players and Shepard take for granted. Steve turns them off in one instance so the two of them can feel actual G-forces and the sensation of speed. |
| 202 | * The whole trope RealIsBrown pretty much sums this up nicely. In real life, colors of all saturation and paleness exist, let alone lighting can vary in both outdoor and indoor settings, so things like ray tracing and desaturating are actually ''unrealistic''. |
| 203 | ** A special mention can go to ''[[VideoGame/SimCity Sim City 4]]'', in which took the trope to the extreme in which not only modern (which is somewhat justified, because some people associate brown as "earth-friendly") but also classic Victorian and Gothic (the Chicago 1890 and New York City 1940 styles) into the brown filter. Considering that most Victorian houses were nicknamed "Gingerbread houses" for their use of many colors, one must wonder what they were thinking... Of course, the fanbase is now led to believe that if anyone creates a building that isn't drab brown or gray and dull, they're insane. |
| 204 | ** This idea comes from the sepia photographs leading people to believe that everyone at that time wore drab clothing. The same phenomenon happens in Old West movies. People of that era loved bright colors, but any depiction of them will be in dark brown and black clothing. |
| 205 | * Many modern video games use a variety of effects to look more realistic, which are far from it. These include, but are not limited to: bloom, grey colour pallets, blood and water splattering on the screen, ridiculously bumpy normals and a weird 'wet glisten effect' on skin and characters. Strangest of all, it seems like the viewer would be aware of what the sun or people actually look like. |
| 206 | ** Parodied in ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' where the "realistic filter" option removes the vibrant colors and replaces them with muted browns and grays and puts in so much bloom that the game is virtually unplayable. |
| 207 | ** In the same way that animated studios take efforts to replicate shortcomings of real cameras, video games often go to great lengths to get the washed out effect of an overexposed shot (or a really bright light source), which is dubbed "HDR," when in reality this is tone mapping. Amusingly, HDR is also what photographers use to ''get rid'' of that effect. |
| 208 | ** Many 'realistic' video games have very long draw distances, making everything look extremely crisp and sharp all the way to the horizon. In reality, atmospheric perspective means everything should get hazier (and tinted blue) the farther away it is.[[note]]Though this would be realistic on the moon or anywhere else without an atmosphere.[[/note]] |
| 209 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', which is known for its ''cartoony graphics'', actually takes into account the effect of atmospheric perspective. It even simulates the effect of the ''curvature of the Earth'' on the appearance of far-away objects. |
| 210 | ** These effects have largely gone away or toned down as graphics developers shifted towards a new paradigm known as Physically Based Shading. As the name implies, all of the lighting functions are based on actual physics rather than an artist playing around with the lighting until it looks right. The result is scenery that looks highly realistic to most lay people. |
| 211 | * Plenty of [[GunsAndGunplayTropes gun tropes]] are like this, due to the fact that most people who played FPS video games or watched action movies started years before being allowed to handle military weaponry (if they ever do so). In fact, [[http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/video-games/4255750 this article]] in ''Popular Mechanics'' indicates many times the guns in games such as ''VideoGame/RainbowSix: Vegas 2'' are first made "extremely accurate, based on factory stats and more" then toned down, not just for balancing reasons, but because of "the drive to make guns feel like the ones we've seen in movies." Like [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotguns loaded with buckshot]]: |
| 212 | -->''People associate shotguns with powerful, close-range weapons ... So a shotgun blast [in the game] will punch through walls and armor just fine, even though buckshot is known for its lack of penetration in the real world.'' |
| 213 | ** Sniper Rifles are especially the case for this. One of the earliest sniping games, ''Silent Scope'', gave bonuses for head shots because they were more challenging. This has led to the trope of sniper rifles in games ''only'' killing on a head shot - even though real sniper rifles will kill on a shot anywhere above the waist, which is a far preferable shot precisely because aiming at the head has a high chance of missing. |
| 214 | * While it has been noted that the movement speed of FPS player characters has been noticeably reduced since the days of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' (who could manage about 50 mph at full sprint), not many know that, by scale, modern FPS player characters still move much faster than a real person (''especially'' a real soldier with their rifle readied and aimed forward). Most can manage more than 20 mph simply walking forward, with higher speeds obtained if sprinting. A character moving at real human speed would be painfully slow, especially in WideOpenSandbox games like ''Franchise/FarCry'' or ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' |
| 215 | * The guitar peripheral for the first ''VideoGame/RockBand'' game drew some criticism in that, unlike the older ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' counterpart, the strum bar didn't click. Many players were disconcerted at this, and felt as though the lack of audible feedback meant that it wasn't working properly. For this reason, [[PlayedStraight later versions of the peripheral included a clicking strum bar.]] |
| 216 | ** That said, if you actually [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin strum]] the strum bar, there will be a sound. Too loud a sound, in fact. |
| 217 | ** Might be justified in the fact that no matter how off you are in playing the song, as long as the game thinks you hit the note, the song will play perfectly. This is jarring because you can't figure out if you're on beat or not. |
| 218 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series games feature a day/night system with night colors vivid enough for distant objects to be seen clearly, albeit in blue tones. Naturally, many players feel that these nights are unrealistically bright, leading to numerous "darker nights" {{Game Mod}}s which make it near-impossible to see without a light source (torch, lantern, [[FantasticLightSource spell]], etc.). In actuality, the vanilla games are very faithful to what a pastoral country would look like with no electric light pollution, especially considering the large size and brightness of Mundus' [[WeirdMoon twin moons]] in [[AlienSky the night sky]]. |
| 219 | * For military shooter players, how does the M18 Claymore mine work? It's a directional proximity mine that detonates when enemies pass in front of it, right? Actually, no. As the LandMineGoesClick page will tell you, it's fired by remote control like a block of C4, never being a proximity mine. However, the perception of the M18 Claymore mine being a directional proximity mine is so ingrained into people's minds that almost all depictions of the Claymore in video games feature it being proximity-detonated instead of command-detonated (though most HandWave it by adding fictional laser tripwire triggers). |
| 220 | * In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', the flamethrower does not work in a vacuum. This makes perfect sense, as a fire requires oxygen. However, this version, intended as a tool for melting ice in the absence of an atmosphere, is actually one of the few chemical designs that ''could'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic work in a vacuum]], as [[AllThereInTheManual described in supplemental material]]. This was fixed in [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 the following game]], where the flamethrower worked fine in vacuum. |
| 221 | * Several modern pinball simulations have the flippers sag down slightly when hit by the ball at high speed, to demonstrate the use of realistic physics for the flippers (whereas older pinball games applied physics only to the ball). While real physics does allow this to happen, on a real pinball machine if the flippers visibly sag in this way it means that the machine is badly maintained (the flippers are out of alignment and/or the holding magnet coil is weak). |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 225 | * Sergeant Schlock of ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' favors an impressively large plasgun which powers up with an ommmmmminous hummmmmmmm and a glowing barrel. When he goes in to get a new one, he discovers that improvements in technology have led to it being replaced with a small, silent, and more powerful model. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20020901.html Schlock is appalled, and storms out as the salesman desperately calls after him, claiming that they can give it an impressively large cosmetic casing and a speaker to simulate the hummmmmmm.]] Not just personal prejudice there; Schlock is a mercenary, and [[WeaponForIntimidation intimidation]] is part and parcel of the trade. The hum is a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-08-29 proven deterrent]], and the [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-03-15 glow of doom]] from the barrel is nothing to sneeze at, either. It's like selling an intimidating HandCannon without a hammer to [[DramaticGunCock cock dramatically]] ''or'' a LaserSight to show someone exactly which part of their body it will blow off. |
| 226 | -->'''Schlock:''' Grumble...''[[IWillShowYouX Mount]] '''[[IWillShowYouX you]]''' [[IWillShowYouX in a big round case...]]''\ |
| 227 | '''Narrator:''' Arms dealer, know thy market. |
| 228 | ** Several shots of open space feature the bright, iridescent colors seen in colorized satellite images. The author notes that space doesn't work that way, but people were so used to the idea of colorful space objects that recording devices and windows have special filters that mimic the effect. |
| 229 | * In the alt-text of [[http://xkcd.com/359/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' comic, the author discusses that using a new Guitar Hero controller that doesn't click is unsettling. |
| 230 | [[/folder]] |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 233 | * Reflections of shiny objects in many animations often appear as sparkles even if the objects or light sources weren't moving at all. [[AudibleGleam "Ting" and "ping" and sometimes metallic "whii" sounds]] are quite common to accompany with reflections. |
| 234 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 235 | ** Parodied in the episode "Radioactive Man", where two kids watch a crew member painting a horse with black-and-white spots to look like a cow: |
| 236 | --->'''Martin:''' Uh, Sir, why don't you just use real cows?\ |
| 237 | '''Painter:''' Cows don't look like cows on film. You gotta use horses.\ |
| 238 | '''Ralph:''' What do you do if you want something that looks like a horse?\ |
| 239 | '''Painter:''' Ehh, usually we just tape a bunch of cats together. |
| 240 | ** You can also thank the opening (as well as numerous episodes, like the Treehouse of Horror short ''The Terror of Tiny Toon'') for making a lot of people think plutonium is a glowing green rod. So much so that a lot of people are surprised that plutonium is actually a silver-gray metal that glows red or orange. Radium is the material that glows green, and even then it doesn't glow green on its own: as it decays it releases ionizing radiation which excites fluorescent chemicals to cause the glow. |
| 241 | ** For that matter, the idea that radioactive waste is a glowing green liquid which sloshes out of barrels when they're tipped over also owes ''The Simpsons'' for its popular acceptance. In reality, the core nuclear waste produced by a power plant takes the form of solid gray cylinders: the expended fuel rods. They are indeed stored in barrels, but if tipped over, the contents aren't getting very far unless a flood or tornado manages to lift and carry them somewhere. |
| 242 | * Done in the CG ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' show with R2-D2, where his paint scheme has a "brush stroke" look to make it appear like he had been produced by hand. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d on ''Series/AceOfCakes'', when Charm City Cakes were commissioned to make a cake to look just like that version of R2, and they noted that they had to also include those elements, which they generally tried desperately to avoid. |
| 243 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Being a setting populated by sentient equines, the show uses the old "two coconuts banging together" sound effect in interesting ways. For example things that would normally involve hand sound effects are replaced by the coconut sound effect (Or something somewhere between a real hooffall and the coconut) to reflect the fact that the characters are hoofed creatures who are using their forelegs as a substitute for hands. As for walking, the sound effects fairly realistically use the coconut-ish sound on pavement but a duller thud on soft ground. |
| 244 | * ExploitedTrope InUniverse in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' by an infiltration android that GrewBeyondTheirProgramming and was hunted by the NSA for it. After taking heavy fire and falling several stories, said android (named Zeta) is left a burning wreck. Turns out, he was using his holographic projector (that allowed him to pass for human by superposing the hologram over his robotic frame) to fake the flames, and the agents, clearly believing that DamageIsFire, were fooled by the holographic flames long enough to convince them to break line of sight so that he could create a new human like illusion and leave before the agents get in line of sight range again. And then Batman drops explosive to create some rubble and make it seem like Zeta self-destructed. The NSA team leader was GenreSavvy enough to order his squad to dig into the rubble until he finds what's left of Zeta or is forced to realize he's been had... |
| 245 | * Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', when Rick's ship gets a flat tire in the middle of space. |
| 246 | -->'''Morty:''' It's just crazy, how much it feels like a regular flat! |
| 247 | -->'''Rick:''' Oh, no, no. That's just my custom-programmed, fully-immersive flat tire indication experience. I... I can turn it off. (''He does. The ship stops shaking.'') I thought it was cooler than the celebrity voice package, but here. (''Presses another button.'') |
| 248 | -->'''Christopher Walken:''' Flat tire? You should be Walken! |
| 249 | -->'''Morty:''' Oof. |
| 250 | -->'''Rick:''' Yeah. |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 254 | * According to Harley-Davidson's official videos when the Milwaukee-Eight motor was launched for the 2017 model year, the engine's gear-driven counterbalancer mechanism, previously introduced on Twin Cam Softails in 2000 as a chain-driven unit, was so effective that it cancelled out ''all'' engine vibration. This would've been good and all, but Harley riders have gotten so accustomed to the [[GoodBadBugs vibrations]] that they complained the new motor was ''too smooth'' and thus didn't feel like what a Harley should; Harley reportedly made the counterbalancer a bit less efficient to appease enthusiasts. |
| 255 | * The "clackety-clack" sound of trains travelling along the tracks come from the wheels travelling over small gaps in rail segments, which in the past were quite frequent. Today, with improvements to railway construction this noise is largely eliminated everywhere except when travelling over switches and other irregular imperfections in the track or some considerably dilapidated regional lines, but that classic sound is still the universal noise of 'a train is moving'. |
| 256 | * Digital cameras and cell phones still make a shutter sound when they take a picture, even though they're more than capable of taking photos silently. This is even an EnforcedTrope in some countries that have laws requiring cameras to make a sound when taking a picture, to prevent people from taking candid photographs of others without their consent. |
| 257 | * In modern cars, the "clunk" of a car door shutting isn't due to anything mechanical, it's added in because people expect it. Ditto "engine noise" in electric cars.[[note]]Of course, it has the added benefit of letting vision-impaired folk know that a vehicle is coming, by sound.[[/note]] |
| 258 | * The StukaScream wasn't actually a feature of the Stuka dive bomber's aerodynamics or engine, but rather a siren attachment named the Jericho Trumpet, which was intended to be a psychological terror weapon. It certainly succeeded at that role as far as fiction is concerned, but in-turn it's become the sound that seemingly ''every'' plane makes when it's doing a strafing run, is flying low to the ground, or is about to crash. |
| 259 | [[/folder]] |
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