FalseGunshot and: Fake Gunshot

If I tell you nothing other than we have two tropes with those names, what do you think each of them would correspond to?

The Fake Gunshot seems to be a staged gunshot, i.e. the sort of gunshot you expect is used in productions, whereas the False Gunshot is a bait-and-switch - someone else fired a different gunshot than the one you thought just happened.

They're two different tropes, obviously, but the names leave a lot to be desired.

If we decide to want to rename them, something like Staged Gunshot would work for the former, and Bait-and-Switch Gunshot for the latter?

Indeed. The words "fake" and "false" means exactly the same thing, so having two completely unrelated tropes with both of them is a textbook case of not anticipating misuse.

Fake Gunshot: 30 wikilinks, 35 inbounds

False Gunshot: 49 wikilinks, 189 inbounds

Since the numbers on both are so low, let me count up questionable entries. These are the definitions I will be using:

• Fake Gunshot: A character is apparently shot and killed, but the whole act was staged (e.g. the bullets were not real)
• False Gunshot: A gun goes off and the audience wonders who just got shot

Unclear

• Fake Gunshot
  • The Lives Of Harry Lime: Mentions The Sting in passing (which is a correct example of Fake Gunshot).
  • Fake Kill Scare: Says to compare/contrast both tropes.
  • City Slickers: Probably correct and just needs clarification.
• False Gunshot
  • Undercover Brother
  • Resident Evil Degeneration: There is no actual gunshot, just the expectation of one. The victim is then declared Not Worth Killing.
  • Race For The Yankee Zephyr: A shot is fired, and the hero is hit not by a bullet but by a net.
  • Death Note: Says "mock execution" (implying Fake Gunshot), but I know enough about DN to rule this as 'unclear' rather than 'misuse'. Somebody who's seen the ep. please research.

Confusing the two

• The Shadow: "Standard practice in radio: you don't know who was shot until someone speaks up"
• Guns and Gunplay Tropes (only because it mentions both tropes)
• Deadly Closing Credits

No explanatory context

• Fake Gunshot
  • The Living Daylights
  • Film.The Game
  • The Father Luke Wolfe Trilogy
  • Mission Impossible
  • Lucky Number Slevin
  • Hudson Hawk
  • FX
  • Artemis Fowl
• False Gunshot
  • Series.The Wild Boys
  • Valkyria Chronicles
  • Ultra Marines
  • Space Wolf
  • Minority Report: Says "see Conveyor Belt of Doom above" but that doesn't explain the gunshot either.
  • Lifetime Movie of the Week
  • Irregular Webcomic
  • Horus Heresy
  • Graham Mc Neill
  • Recap.Doctor Who S 9 E 2 The Curse Of Peladon
  • Ben Counter
  • Series.Alias

Well, the good(?) news is that neither trope is getting misused (we do have a bit of "no context" listings, but that's par)

I propose that the dangerously-similar trope names should overrrule that and a minimum of Staged Shooting for Fake Gunshot. False Gunshot can be called Gunshot Scare or something if we want.

edited 10th Oct '11 10:48:32 AM by Stratadrake

Yeah, I think that regardless of misuse, the two tropes should be renamed for clarity since as sgrunt pointed out, their names mean the same thing.

There is now a page action crowner for those tropes here. Feel free to add options or tell me if you think that a crowner is premature.

I like Staged Shooting and Bait-and-Switch Gunshot for possible new names.

edited 12th Oct '11 5:45:10 PM by LouieW

Or Fake Out Gunshot.

Bumpage. I concur with the need for a rename.

Well, it looks like we do, indeed, want a rename for these tropes.

Which should we focus on first?

Well, we can call Fake Gunshot Staged Gunshot and False Gunshot Fake Out Gunshot.

Should we swap crowners?

Well, we're +14 and unanimous. Seems like a decent consensus.

Or perhaps for the latter, Gunshot Fake Out.

I'm thinking that it may be a good idea to focus this thread on finding new names for Fake Gunshot (given that's referenced in the title right now), and start another thread for the benefit of False Gunshot so that we can easily distinguish between the proposed names for them. (It also avoids the problem of needing to run a crowner for each in sequence).

How about Third Person Shooting as an alternate name for False Gunshot?

edited 18th Oct '11 2:19:00 PM by storyyeller

Egad, no! Not next door to Third-Person Shooter.

edited 18th Oct '11 6:12:25 PM by Stratadrake

Hmm... Maybe the case of a gunshot from another person can be named in reference to the Grassy Knoll or Oswald?

As for faking a gunshot death... couldn't that just be a fake death trope in general? I'm not sure if there is one already, but if not, it seems too much of an odd distinction considering there are lots of faked deaths, and pretending to be shot is only one of them.

We do have Faking the Dead, but that's rather too general.

Actually, a large chunk of the time a character fakes a gun shot wound, but not being dead. It's often an excuse to pull them away for medical attention.

sgrunt,

here

Since there is consensus support to rename False Gunshot as well, I imagine that we can probably make another thread for that change as you suggested or have both crowners running at the same time. Actually, I think it might be possible to attach multiple crowners to the same thread. If it is, then that seems like it would make the most sense in this situation.

Bumping for more votes.

Staged Shooting at 6:0

First, Fake Gunshot has been renamed to Staged Shooting. The wicks should be fixed, there are notes about the change on the Renamed Tropes page and in the renamed tropes thread, and I sent a report to move the discussion. It is probably worth it to check my work though.

Second, there is now an alternative titles crowner for False Gunshot here. Feel free to add names as you see fit.

Bait-and-Switch Gunshot is in the lead by 6 points, and already fits the "bait-and-switch x" title pattern we already have for a few other tropes. I say we call it.

Calling crowner.

False Gunshot is now a redirect for Bait-and-Switch Gunshot, the wicks should be fixed, the discussion page has been moved, and there are notes about the change on the Renamed Tropes page and in the renamed tropes thread. It may be a good idea to check my work here though.

In any event, it seems like the Fake Gunshot and False Gunshot renames have been completed, thanks to those who helped out with them.

Are we done with this thread then?