History Main / ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction

* The ''{{Film/Tekken}}'' movie features a scene where Jin fights Marshall Law inside a cage. The fight is televised and we see plenty of shots on the TV from inside the cage...except there's no camera in the cage and no sign of any filming equipment around as the fight is going on.

* ''{{Film/Super 8}}'' features a group of kids making an amateur movie, which we get to see during the credits. It is mostly filmed with the level of competence one would expect out of children, with terrible acting, cheesy dialogue, a cliched plot, and zero budget special effects. However, what gives away that the short was actually shot by a professional director (i.e. Creator/JJAbrams) is that the cinematography is pretty good. The shots have depth, there’s no dead space, and conversations are filmed with back and forth cross-cutting instead of all in one take. Even the shots that are trying to look bad (like when they break [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180-degree_rule the 180 rule]]) are unlikely choices from a cheap indie, since the kid director Charles has only a single camera so why would he move it to the other side of the room?

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'' is ostensibly about the production of a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch show (based on creator and star Tina Fey's tenure as head writer on SNL). While the production of said show is mostly played for laughs, the one thing that strains belief is that there are only three people in the cast of performes (in the pilot it was only two before Tracy Jordan was hired). There were seven performers in the original cast of SNL, and in 2021 there are ''twenty-one'' performers. Three seems like far too little to run a sixty to ninety minute sketch show.

* ''Series/Unreal2015'' is about the behind the scenes filming of a Bachelor-style reality show. Yet the show within a show seems to air its episodes live week to week. In our reality, such shows are shot and edited months before they are.
* A Brazilian telenovela had a scene in a dubbing studio that the actual voice actors of the country decried as horribly innacurate, with mistakes such as [[VoicesInOneRoom two actors in a booth]], the director pulling double duty as engineer, playing the whole scene instead of just starting where the voices come in, and the prospect dubber being complimented on takes that she's clearly flubbed.

*** In the final segment, the audience is directed to view TV's in the arena, which play out the completed production in the movie's intended order (Crew going about their duties. The third actor sees enemy planes. Enemy planes fly in and open fire on the ship. The crew reacts and scrambles. The third actor makes a phone call. The fourth actor picks up the phone, answers the third actor, and then begins working the ship consols, planes come about and release torpedos. The ship is torpedoed. Actors 1-3 react to the explosion. Actor 4 is hit by a deluge from the impact. Planes fly off.). To further stress the out of order filming, the director indicates that he filmed the actors in the planes some time ago and that what was shot today was the final shoot for the film and they can call it a wrap.

* Tyler Durden in ''Literature/FightClub'' is a part-time projectionist who likes to prank audiences by inserting single frames of pornography into children's films. The narrator explains that the pornographic frames are so brief that the audience doesn't consciously notice them, asking the reader to "divide a second into sixty equal parts" to illustrate the brevity. In fact, the industry standard framerate in films is 24 frames per second, rather than 60, so the pornographic frame would appear onscreen for 1/24th of a second [[note]]in the 2010s certain directors began experimenting with higher framerates, most notably ''Film/TheHobbit'', but as of 2021 these remain very much the exception rather than the rule in mainstream cinema[[/note]]. This error could potentially be chalked up to the narrator's own ignorance, except that [[spoiler:Tyler is the narrator's split personality and would be expected to have an understanding of framerates.]]

* The film ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' uses this, with the dog convinced that the show is real. This is {{hand wave}}d by saying that they wanted the dog to [[EnforcedMethodActing think the girl was actually in mortal danger, so they'd get a better performance]]. Still, method acting didn't come close to justifying the absurd expenses and [[NoOSHACompliance dangers]] incurred by the type of shooting they were apparently attempting. A network TV series in particular simply wouldn't have that kind of budget. Legality and budget aside, the director ''is'' shown as being a bit [[MadArtist insane]]. The network executive certainly thinks so. Furthermore, in real life the scenes of a television show are rarely filmed in the order they're scripted (The "cliffhanger" of Penny's capture certainly wouldn't have been saved for last).

[[folder:WebVideo]]
* ''WebVideo/KanePixelsTheBackrooms'': "The Backrooms (Found Footage)" opens with a clapperboard being used on an amateur film shoot, despite the camera (as demonstrated by the rest of the video) being one that records audio and video together.
[[/folder]]

* The use of a clapperboard at the start of every take regardless what other equipment the film crew is using. The purpose of a clapperboard is to help sync up the video to the audio, as professional film sets with high-end equipment will generally record the two separately. Amateur or low-budget films will often use a camera with an attached or built-in microphone, making the clapperboard perfunctory. If something is being filmed with no intention of using on-set audio, the clapperboard will generally just be held up for scene identification without snapping it, yet fiction still loves to have a character snap a clapperboard in all circumstances to indicate that a camera is rolling regardless.

* The use of a clapperboard at the start of every take regardless of the equipment that the film crew is using. The purpose of a clapperboard is to help sync up the video to the audio, as professional film sets will generally record the two separately. Amateur or low-budget films will often use a camera with an attached or built-in microphone, making the clapperboard perfunctory, yet fiction still loves to have a character snap a clapperboard shut to indicate that a camera is rolling regardless.

* ''VideoGame/TheMovies''. This game is about running a studio and making movies. However, you have to shoot all the scenes in order--which can mean that your cast and crew will shoot a scene on one set, then run to another set for the next scene, then back to the first one if that's where the next scene takes place. And if another movie is shooting on the set, they have to wait instead of shooting another part of the movie. And scenes are shot in a single take.
** This can get particularly irritating if one cast member is out of action, usually due to alcoholism and stress. The entire shooting schedule has to be put on hold while said thespian is cured of his or her ailments, rather than e.g. letting the camera team film shots where the actors are not needed.

** Then there's the disaster that was the [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E2RadioactiveMan Radioactive Man]] movie. One scene involved Ranier Wolfcastle being swept away in a river of ''actual acid'' with no one on set wearing anything more than a pair of safety goggles for protection.
--->'''Wolfcastle''': My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
** The Radioactive Man movie is also apparently filmed with only one camera - they make Milhouse do the same scene a zillion times so they can get it from different angles, instead of having several cameras focused on the scene.

* During ''Film/{{Gordy}}'', a camera has its ordinary lens secretly replaced with a wide-angle lens, to cause the commercial being filmed to be distorted. The cameraman apparently notices while he's looking through the camera, but all he does is rub his eyes. No one apparently noticed when the footage was being edited together. [[IdiotPlot Sabotage of this kind would require striking the whole film crew with blindness.]]

* The ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' expansion ''[[RecycledInSpace Gangstas In Space]]'' has the Boss playing the lead role AsHimself in [[ShowWithinAShow the titular sci-fi movie]]. Apparently, depicting an AlienInvasion of Stilwater involves building working alien fighters and using them to attack the lead actors, and the shootouts between the Boss and the aliens are shot with live ammunition and working laser pistols. But hey, this is the same game that features a ZombieApocalypse, [[MaskedLuchador lucha libre]] gangsters, a boss fight in virtual reality, and a [[DeadlyGame lethal game show/arena deathmatch]], so it's all fair.

* ''{{Film/Super 8}}'' features a group of kids making an amateur movie, which we get to see during the credits. It is depicted with the level of competence one would expect out of children, with terrible acting, cheesy dialogue, a cliched plot, and zero budget special effects. However, what gives away that the short was actually shot by a professional director (i.e. Creator/JJAbrams) is that the cinematography is pretty good. The shots have depth, there’s no dead space, and conversations are filmed with back and forth cross-cutting instead of all in one take. Even the shots that are trying to look bad (like when they break [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180-degree_rule the 180 rule]]) are unlikely choices from a cheap indie, since the kid director Charles has only a single camera so why would he move it to the other side of the room?

* ''{{Film/Super 8}}'' features a group of kids making an amateur movie, which we get to see during the credits. It is shot with the level of competence one would expect out of children, with terrible acting, cheesy dialogue, a cliched plot, and zero budget special effects. However, what gives away that the short was actually shot by a professional director (i.e. Creator/JJAbrams) is that the cinematography is pretty good. The shots have depth, there’s no dead space, and conversations are filmed with back and forth cross-cutting instead of all in one take. Even the shots that are trying to look bad (like when they break [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180-degree_rule the 180 rule]]) are unlikely choices from a cheap indie, since the kid director Charles has only a single camera so why would he move it to the other side of the room?

* A plot point of ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' involves the superheroes wearing miniature cameras to show their point-of-view during super fights, so that civilians can watch the footage and see the supers doing their best to contain the disaster. The cameras themselves are very efficiently compact and high definition for a [[{{Retraux}} supposedly '60s setting]]. Additionally, it's never addressed whether some of the footage would have to be edited out since there are parts where Elastigirl discusses secret information relevant to her personal identity, or some of the Screenslaver's hypnotic imagery recorded in the video. [[FridgeBrilliance Though in that case, it could be just what the Screenslaver was planning on.]]

* A plot point of ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' involves the superheroes wearing miniature cameras to show their point-of-view during super fights, so that civilians can watch the footage and see the supers doing their best to contain the disaster. The cameras themselves are very efficiently compact and high definition for a [[{{Retraux}} supposedly '60s setting]]. Additionally, it's never addressed whether some of the footage would have to be edited out since there are parts where Elastigirl discusses secret information relevant to her personal identity, or some of the Screenslaver's hypnotic imagery recorded in the video.

* ''{{Film/Super 8}}'' features a group of kids making an amateur movie, which we get to see during the credits. It is shot with the level of competence one would expect out of children, with terrible acting, cheesy dialogue, a cliched plot, and zero budget special effects. However, what gives away that the short was actually shot by a professional director (i.e. Creator/JJAbrams) is that the cinematography is pretty good. The shots have depth, there’s no dead space, and conversations are filmed with back and forth cross-cutting instead of all in one take. Even the shots trying to look bad (like when they break [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180-degree_rule the 180 rule]]) are unlikely choices from a cheap indie, since the kid director Charles has only a single camera so why would he move it to the other side of the room?

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E4WhereNoDuckHasGoneBefore Where No Duck Has Gone Before]]". No one on seasonal television has contracts that last longer than one season (except in cases where a show is renewed in advance), presumably to avoid situations like Major Courage's at the end of the episode.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', the X Transceiver commercial shown could not have been filmed in one shot and would have required a fair bit of editing. Furthermore, there is apparently only one film director in all of Unova, as he is working on several projects across mediums in a relatively short amount of time.
** There is an episode in[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the early Kanto series]] where the heroes participate in a movie. The director then proceeds to shoot the last scene of the movie, saying "I always shoot the last scene first, so I know how the movie ends". From the way he says it, this is implied to be a silly, comical quirk of his.
** Averted in ''Best Wishes'' with Luke and his movies, as their production is presented in a fairly accurate method; with the Pokéwood episode showing the necessity to shoot scenes out of order, then edit them into the correct order in post-production.

[[folder:{{Film}} - Animated]]

[[folder:{{Film}} - Live-Action]]

* The first scene of ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'', which has an action scene filmed in one shot for a [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within A Movie]] of [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Steven Spielberg's]] Austin Powers. RuleOfFunny.
* It's not entirely clear if the opening of ''Film/TropicThunder'' is intended to be this, or if it's intended to be a [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within A Movie]] that then cut to the actors. The camera is never seen, so it might not be intended as a single take.

* The opening scene of ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'' features Daniel recording for a cartoon. For the most part in the West voice recording for animation is done before the actual animating (Japan, however, animates, then records). Creator/ChrisColumbus DID acknowledge this in his commentary and figured it could be taken as Daniel dubbing a foreign cartoon. However, this doesn't make sense either as the lip-synch in the cartoon (produced by Creator/ChuckJones) is clearly English. Daniel is more than likely just doing post-production looping, either to just do touch ups on certain lines or maybe [[TheOtherMarty Daniel replaced another actor]] and is recording over the previous actor's work. Which makes sense from his conversation with the producer who complains that this session is already costing the studio and they're on a deadline. Also, you don't typically have a censor board overseeing the actual dubbing/recording of a cartoon...that would waste far too much of their time.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* ''{{Series/Extras}}'' has this trope in-universe, as the director of "When the Whistle Blows" is deliberately shown to be totally incompetent.

* Tyler Durden in ''Literature/FightClub'' is a part-time projectionist who likes to prank audiences by inserting single frames of pornography into children's films. The narrator explains that the pornographic frames are so brief that the audience doesn't consciously notice them, asking the reader to "divide a second into sixty equal parts" to illustrate the brevity. In fact, the industry standard framerate in films is 24 frames per second, rather than 60, so the pornographic frame would appear onscreen for 1/24th of a second (in the 2010s certain directors began experimenting with higher framerates, most notably ''Film/TheHobbit'', but as of 2021 these remain very much the exception rather than the rule in mainstream cinema). This error could potentially be chalked up to the narrator's own ignorance, except that [[spoiler:Tyler is the narrator's split personality and would be expected to have an understanding of framerates.]]

* Tyler Durden in ''Literature/FightClub'' is a part-time projectionist who likes to prank audiences by inserting single frames of pornography into children's films. The narrator explains that the pornographic frames are so brief that the audience doesn't consciously notice them, asking the reader to "divide a second into sixty equal parts" to illustrate the brevity. In fact, the industry standard framerate in films is 24 frames per second, rather than 60, so the pornographic frame would appear onscreen for 1/24th of a second. This could potentially be chalked up to the narrator's own ignorance, except that [[spoiler:Tyler is the narrator's split personality and would be expected to have an understanding of framerates.]]

* ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' has Creator/MattLeBlank's character acting in a movie - the inaccurate portrayal, in this example, was a device to show that [[TwistEnding it wasn't reality]]. This is similar to the ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'' example above.

* ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' has Matt [=LeBlanc=]'s character acting in a movie - the inaccurate portrayal, in this example, was a device to show that [[TwistEnding it wasn't reality]]. This is similar to the ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'' example above.

* A security camera example: In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Blunder Years" we see thirty-year-old security footage, complete with sound and in color, and it's filmed from different angles. It looks more like a {{Retraux}} television show.
** Then there's the disaster that was the Radioactive Man movie. One scene involved Ranier Wolfcastle being swept away in a river of ''actual acid'' with no one on set wearing anything more than a pair of safety goggles for protection.