History Main / ShootTheMoney

** ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy kind of [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zags]] it. Certainly, there are many many shots showing what exactly the trilogy's $285 million budget was used to make. In fact, the reason why the films and their large-scale CGI battles (where each fighter reacts independently thanks to the Weta-developed Massive engine) exist is because Creator/PeterJackson had purchased some very expensive workstations for ''Film/TheFrighteners'' and needed to find a project that allowed him to get his money's worth out of the machines.
*** There were also minor things which were incredibly detailed and never shown on screen. For instance, in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing Return of the King]]'', Éowyn wears an intricate dress for a scene in which she's only shot from the chest up (a fact lamented on the DVDCommentary by Creator/MirandaOtto), and Théoden's breastplate had beautiful and intricate stitching and details on the ''inside'' -- but Creator/BernardHill still thinks it made it on screen in a sense, because it made him ''feel'' like a king when wearing it.

** ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy kind of [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zags]] it. Certainly, there are many many shots showing what exactly the trilogy's $285 million budget was used to make. But there were also minor things which were incredibly detailed and never shown on screen. For instance, in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing Return of the King]]'', Éowyn wears an intricate dress for a scene in which she's only shot from the chest up (a fact lamented on the DVDCommentary by Creator/MirandaOtto), and Théoden's breastplate had beautiful and intricate stitching and details on the ''inside'' -- but Creator/BernardHill still thinks it made it on screen in a sense, because it made him ''feel'' like a king when wearing it.

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* This is why FullMotionVideo video games were so prevalent on the [[UsefulNotes/OtherSegaSystems Sega CD]], the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]], and pretty much anything that ran [=CDs=] in the early '90s. Switching to CD-drive-based technology was expensive, but the actual gameplay rarely required more than the 8 megabytes that you could fit on a simple cartridge. So what are we going to fill all this extra space with? Why, video files! The gimmick then lost its appeal quite quickly -- actors, props, and sets are expensive, even more so when they're ''good'' -- and was quickly phased out in favour of pre-rendered cutscenes, which at least didn't take up such a disproportionate chunk of the budget. Games then starting using the space for voice acting, music, and 3D assets instead.

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There isn't necessarily [[TropesAreTools anything wrong with this]]. Making the most of your budget is what really makes the industry appreciate you, and having a good trailer image works in your favor. The only real pitfall is if you can get a better artistic effect by ''not'' shooting the money -- for instance, how the expensive prop shark in ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' was little seen in the film, but that made the shark [[NothingIsScarier scarier to the audience]].

** Brazilian soap opera ''Series/OClone'' sent its crew to Morocco and filmed a lot of scenery and action there, even some scenes intended to happen much later in the story.

* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' had a $10.5 million budget, and $6.5 million of it went to special effects. The first thirty minutes of the film is showing off the trained monkeys, the space stations, and the moon colonies.

* If it is an expensive locale, then we see lots of travelogue, scenes of the characters traveling through the iconic scenery. Especially in very scenic locations like Hawaii.
* If it is an expensive prop then we'll see a lot of the prop and the plot will feature it heavily. Your only hope is that it isn't a SpecialEffectsFailure.

* If it is animation then you don't waste any shots, 'cause you don't animate something you aren't going to use.

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with this. Making the most of your budget is what really makes the industry appreciate you, as having a good trailer image works in your favor. It may run into trouble with artistic value, as [[Film/{{Jaws}} showing less of a faulty prop]] may prove NothingIsScarier or knowing a character is defined by their CoolMask and keeping the popular actor hidden behind it.

''Please'' do not confuse with MoneyMakingShot. Also this trope has nothing to do with using cash [[MoneyMauling as ammo]] or pumping stacks of bills full of lead ([[WesternAnimation/CodeMonkeys Mr. Larrity]] shot a pile of money once, then stabbed it).

* While it's toned down in following and preceding works, the ''Anime/GhostInTheShell Innocence'' team must have spent a ton of money on the CGI exterior/flyby shots, and they're damn well going to show them to you.
* Same with ''Animation/SkyBlue''.

* Notably averted in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', in which Creator/JackieChan's character Monkey got surprisingly few lines, making many people wonder why they had to get ''Jackie Chan'' for that role when they could've essentially gone with a cheaper actor.
** Animated films do this a lot. The actors don't need to do much, just read the lines, so they don't need to be paid much. Live films are incredibly hard work compared to sitting in a warm studio with a microphone, cracking jokes with Creator/JackBlack and Creator/AngelinaJolie. Plus, Creator/JackieChan provided technical guidance with the fight scenes - he is the master of kung fu comedy.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'':
** You know that opening multiplane camera shot on the morning Pinocchio goes to school? The one that's barely on screen for a full minute? That entire shot, which used a specially constructed horizontal multiplane camera, cost $50,000 to shoot, as much as the budget of a single Disney short cartoon!
** The panning multiplane crane shot during the "Hi- Diddle-Dee-Dee" number, which lasts barely 33 seconds on screen, cost almost as much money (around $35,000).
* Literally the entire reason ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'' exists is so Creator/RichardWilliams can show off every trick, technique and method of hand-drawn animation he learned from the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation golden age]] masters. To Williams, money was no object: if it could be animated, it would, whether or not it was relevant or cost-effective.
* The remake of ''Westernanimation/{{The Lion King|2019}}'' made a photorealistic recreation of Africa and its animals, and it wastes no time to show it. Meaning [[{{Padding}} wastes a lot of time]] to properly show it.

* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' had a $10.5 million budget, and $6.5 million of it went to special effects—62%. The first ''thirty minutes'' of the film is showing off the trained monkeys and the space stations and the moon colonies.
* Averted again in ''Film/{{Alien}}'', where the huge Space Jockey in its "pilot chair" was built by artist Creator/HRGiger for a lot of money and was used only in one scene. (then again, 30 years later [[Film/{{Prometheus}} it inspired a film of its own]])
* Next time you watch ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'' pay attention to the number of, sometimes gratuitous, shots of helicopters. They were getting the most out of those rentals.
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' surely qualifies too. The otherworldly environments and creatures get a lot of screentime, and many scenes seem there specifically to show how the crew were taking 3D effects to the next level.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' showcased newly-developed technology [[ActingForTwo that allowed the cast to play]] [[IdenticalGrandson past/present/future counterparts]] of their characters.
* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'''s interrogation scenes between Preston and Mary, despite simply being two people speaking to each other, were incredibly expensive. Mary required multiple dresses of various shades of pink and each scene required a smaller table than the one preceding it. Director Kurt Wimmer felt that it was absolutely necessary, despite squeezing the film's already tight budget, because the richer colors and the closing distance between the two characters showed that Preston was emotionally opening up and beginning to perceive beauty.
* Very much averted in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films. They created an animatronic hog's head to mount on the wall of the Hog's Head pub in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. It appears on-screen for a few seconds and you'll only notice that it moves if you're looking for it. On ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', four makeup artists spent five hours on a background extra dubbed "tattoo man" and, in the end, he doesn't appear in the final cut. The actors have often noted that the sets have much more detail than what is visible on-screen, something which ultimately paid off for the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. And that doesn't even get into all the {{Classically Trained Extra}}s.

* Averted in ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Despite the expense of the animatronic sharks used to film the movie, they were plagued with mechanical difficulties which limited their screen time. Most critics agree that this works to the benefit of the movie [[NothingIsScarier creating a more frightening atmosphere]] and increasing the effect when it does appear.
* [[Film/JudgeDredd The 1995 film adaptation]] of the classic British comic character ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', starring Creator/SylvesterStallone. Despite one of Dredd's most famous traits being that he has never taken off his helmet or shown his face (at least not when he wasn't disguised, injured or bandaged to the point where you can't actually see his face) in the more than 30-year history of the comic, the producers were paying for a big name star so Stallone went helmetless about 20 minutes into the movie and stayed that way.
* Also averted in ''Film/KingKong1976''. A giant animatronic version of Kong was built and cost 1.7 million dollars to make, but because it didn't look convincing enough, it was only seen in a couple of seconds-long shots, and boy, [[SpecialEffectsFailure can you tell]].
* The entire ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy embodies this. The level of detail put into the, well, everything is astonishing, and it shows. Every penny of its $285 million budget is right up on the screen.
** Minor subversion in one scene, mentioned in the extended edition DVD for ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'': Still in Rohan, Éowyn offers a cup to Aragorn, and he drinks from it. Creator/MirandaOtto, along with the costume designers, lamented that the dress she wore as Éowyn for that scene was fantastic and intricate, particularly the skirt and sleeves - in a scene shooting the actors from the chest upwards.
** The trilogy actually has a lot of subversions. For example Bernard Hill noted that Théoden's breastplate had beautiful, intricate stitching and details--''on the inside'', where only he and wardrobe ever saw it. However, it served to make him feel like a king.
* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' is a major BigBudgetBeefUp of the infamously low-budget children's TV show ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. Just in case the audience doesn't catch the hint that it's a BigBudgetBeefUp, the very first scene of the movie is a lengthy ''sky-diving'' sequence. It isn't the slightest bit relevant to the plot--the whole stunt is supposedly a fundraising gig for the Angel Grove Youth Center--but it's an effective way to show off the budget.

* ''Film/{{North}}'': Creator/DanAykroyd and Music/RebaMcEntire appear as the [[EverythingIsBigInTexas stereotypical Texan family]], and sing the film's only song, a parody of the ''{{Series/Bonanza}}'' theme song, despite ''North'' not being a musical (and despite ''Bonanza'' actually being set in '''Nevada'''). [[spoiler:And it's also possibly {{Foreshadowing}} since the movie's AllJustADream.]]
* ''Film/PacificRim'' built a fully functional Jaeger cockpit, mounted on hydraulics that would allow it to rotate, drop, and tilt to mimic the exterior behavior of the titanic mechs as they moved according to the actors' motions inside. Naturally this set was redressed into all four of the Jaeger cockpit interiors we see, with frequent shots of the actors performing an action before cutting to the CG robots mimicking it.

* ''Film/Sahara2005'': Averted when a plane crash that took up 45 seconds of film time and cost $2 million to film was cut to make room for the ProductPlacement scenes.[[note]]Although that is arguably just a ''different'' way of shooting the money.[[/note]]
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Film/{{Soapdish}}'' where a network executive mentions the simulated ocean background for the SoapWithinAShow cost the studio over [=$100,000=].
* [[Film/{{Solaris 1972}} The Soviet film version]] of ''Literature/{{Solaris}}'', directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, used this trope to justify the production team's trip to Japan by a ''[[LeaveTheCameraRunning long]]'' highway scene in the middle of the movie.
* Same with Frank Miller's ''Film/TheSpirit''. The Octopus is always hidden in shadows in the comics, but when you pay for Creator/SamuelLJackson to play the role...
* ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', before it got cut to a reasonable length. The crew spent lots of cash and elbow grease on the ''Enterprise'' and they'll be damned if they can't show for it.
** Justified somewhat in that the effects seen in the movie were done by John Dykstra and Douglas Trumbull in a huge rush after the special effects firm originally hired failed to produce anything remotely usable after a year's effort. At the last minute someone from Paramount decided that since the studio had spent so much money on the effects, they should be front and center in the movie—cutting a number of character-development scenes in the process.
** Further justified by the ''Enterprise'' sets having originally been built for the SequelSeries project that became the movie after ''Film/ANewHope'' came out. Since they would never be used for a weekly TV series, the script was written to take full advantage of them as they were struck after production wrapped and never reused.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The iconic opening space battle of ''Film/ANewHope'' was actually due to this trope. The ship that was originally the ''Millennium Falcon'' was decided to be too close in appearance to a ship from another movie, so they rushed out a new design at the last minute. In the meantime, the original ''Falcon'''s model was repurposed as the ''Tantive IV'', Princess Leia's blockade runner. Ironically, the model for the ''Tantive IV'' was twice as large and detailed as any other model made for the movie, but only is in the film for around a minute.
* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': The uniforms and helmets made for the movie would be used again and again in other Science Fiction productions, such as an episode of ''Series/Firefly''.
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'' is often accused of spending an inordinate amount of screentime with April O'Neil to justify the hefty pricetag of hiring Creator/MeganFox for the role, though her involvement is likely much less costly than the price of the cgi/motion capture necessary for the Turtles themselves.
* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', judging from its opening, intended to keep the presence of the T1000 ambiguous for a while (letting the audience think that Robert Patrick's character was another human sent back to stop another T-800). [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil The trailers, of course, ignored that to show off the then-new and awesome morphing effects]].
* ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'': They made the most expensive film made up to that point, and damned if you don't see every penny of it. Along with travelling shots showcasing the digital ship or its lavish interiors, there's the extended sinking, basically in real time.

* ''Film/TronLegacy'' would follow its predecessor, especially since CGI team knew they working on a film that was the sequel to something most of them revered as 3D modelers and designers, so they made every dollar count. This is shown best during, of course, the new Light Cycle sequence.

** Brazilian producers do this very often. One of the most emblematic and recent examples was ''O Clone'', where the crew went to Morocco and filmed a lot of scenery and action there, even some scenes supposed to happen later in the story.
** Venezuelan soap producers are infamous for filming in gorgeous natural exteriors during the first chapters of a story, and then reusing the exterior location shots over and over while the rest of the show films on studio because most of the money was spent on those chapters.
** When part of the action on Colombian soap ''Series/YoSoyBettyLaFea'' moved from dull Bogotá to sunny Cartagena de Indias, there were a lot of scenes showing Betty wander by the beautiful beaches and the pretty buildings of the latter city.
*** The Mexican version ''La fea más bella'' didn't miss a single chance to show off when the action shifted from Mexico City to Acapulco and New York.
** A Brazilian and Venezuelan fad during TheNineties and early Nougties: build their own BuildingOfAdventure location, namely a small town (usually only the facades, but still), or a department store. In an infamous case, a ''small mall'' set was built, but when the soap tanked and the set became too expensive to maintain, they ''blew it up'' on camera to do the double feat of disposing of the set and adding more drama to the plot (incidentally [[DropABridgeOnThem using the explosion to dispose of the most unpopular characters]]).

* The original ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' shot the episode "The Lost Planet of the Gods" on location in Egypt, and used [[SpecialEffectsFailure a shot of the pyramids of Giza]] as an establishing shot for the lost human homeworld of Kobol.
** The original ''Battlestar Galactica'' used to be famous for overusing the Viper launch sequence, as it was very expensive high-tech special effects... at the time. Most of the battle scenes were reused and clipped together to suit the needs for script. It wasn't unusual, for example, to see the same clip of four weapon shots tracking up to a Cylon ship before blowing it up, sometimes flipped left for right to add a little variety. The only reason they didn't flip them upside down and get four clips instead of two is that [[SpaceIsAnOcean everyone knows which part of the Cylon ship is the top]]. The cockpit interiors were carefully matched to the actors called for in the script, so one does see different hands and different shots of joystick manipulation, but the cockpit '''set''' was later recycled for the ''Buck Rogers'' television show, including the [[http://www.joelowens.org/bsg/index.html relabeled Vietnam-era OV1-C "Mohawk" recon aircraft joystick]].
** When the show costs over $1 million per episode in 1978, you can't be too afraid of seeing the same shots each episode.
* The British series ''Series/TheBill'' once had an end of season CliffHanger involving a (no doubt expensive to hire) police helicopter. The helicopter features prominently in the ending, and there's lots of footage of London shown from the helicopter.

** The characters in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace "The Ark in Space"]] spend an awful long time in the cryonic chamber (even though the useful controls, supplies and computers are elsewhere in other rooms) because the set was extremely beautiful and expensive and one of the most ambitious sets the series had yet executed. All scenes that don't ''absolutely'' have to take place somewhere else in the ship take place in it.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield "Battlefield"]], producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner decided that StockFootage of a helicopter simply wouldn't do, and what the show ''really'' needed to blow its budget on an actual one. So we get long, lingering shots of the helicopter transporting TheBrigadier around.
** In the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld second episode]] of the Ninth Doctor's series, we are introduced to the Face of Boe, an enormous disembodied head in a tank, clearly an extremely expensive prop. It takes practically no part in the story other than looking exotic. Fans with some grasp of the economics of television production ''knew'' they'd be seeing more of it. And so it proved, as it returned in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E1NewEarth following]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock two]] series, complete with actual importance to the story.
** Many alien species in the new series will frequently appear multiple times, as a way to justify their very well done special effects and costumes. The Ood have made multiple appearances, and so have the Sontarans, Judoon, and Slitheen (strangely enough, after their first appearance in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]], the Autons don't show up again until the end of Season 5.)
* The sitcom ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' had a special set in Australia. Much footage of Sydney's Harbour Bridge and Opera House was shown, [[ArtisticLicenceGeography as well as Uluru.]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS2E9Blackwater Blackwater]]", "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E9TheWatchersOnTheWall The Watchers on the Wall]]", and "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS6E9BattleOfTheBastards Battle of the Bastards]]", are easily the most expensive episodes of the show. They use fewer locations than usual and discard most of the show's usual FourLinesAllWaiting. The production staff is pulling out all the stops for a truly expensive action sequence and making ''damn'' sure they get a whole episode's worth of material out of it.
* The producers of ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow'' originally built the Bid Red Chair for a one-off segment as a tribute to ''[[Series/TheTwoRonnies Ronnie Corbett]]'' but the prop and the associated hydraulics were so expensive that they turned it into a regular segment, which quickly became a trademark, to close each show to justify the cost.
* A series 6 episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' featured a video game developer who succumbs to a medical complaint while testing his new virtual reality game, depicted using very expensive-looking CGI. Not only do House's team find an excuse to give us another look by playing the game themselves while supposedly investigating his symptoms but the patient is also obliging enough to develop hallucinations that incorporate similar CGI elements. In addition, whenever any future episodes show characters playing a video game it is always this one. The controls have inexplicably been mapped from the original virtual reality system to standard console controllers while the graphics remain as pre-rendered shots from camera angles that would make gameplay very difficult, but at least it gives the show an excuse to reuse the CGI footage again.
* Used and lampshaded repeatedly a few years back on ''[[Series/LateNight Late Night with Conan O'Brien]]''. They had used a giant whale costume with functioning blowhole for one sketch. After that, Conan announced that they would feature the costume in as many sketches as possible in order to justify the price of several thousand dollars, and broke the per-scene cost down after each sketch. This was done on at least 8 separate episodes (Conan often has running gags over the course of a week or two of episodes, of course).
** Inverted on his last couple of weeks on NBC, where he presented a series of one-off sketches supposedly constructed to be as expensive as possible to the network such as "Purchased fossil of a ground sloth from the Smithsonian spraying an original Picasso with beluga caviar." Generally, these sketches featured obvious fakes or donated loaners. The music for these segments, on the other hand, all had impossibly high royalty payments and was specifically selected to screw with the network since a single clip could end up costing NBC tens of thousands of dollars should it ever be rerun. This is part of the reason why O'Brien's NBC run has been more or less locked away forever.

* The Vendaface machine on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' was meant to be only used once, but executive producer David Lazer suggested that he should be used more often as it was an expensive puppet to build.
* ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' premiered with a movie. While in the movie the Rangers only morphed once, they also got a much more elaborate morph sequence than prior morphs. First, their uniforms appeared (via two transitions, first adding the belt, then the uniform), then their helmets assembled themselves into place, with an added close-up for Tommy, the Red Ranger. This translated into the series proper - Saban likely paid a lot for them, so the morph sequences would be shown in full just about every time. This unfortunately ate into the episodes' run times as the whole sequence took about two minutes, an ok amount in a 90 minute movie but not a 22 minute episode. Notably, when four-fifths of the cast were swapped out midseason, the replacement morph sequence is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter and less detailed, lasting about 30 seconds even if each individual morph is in the sequence.

* A smaller version of Zoe was used for the ''Series/SesameStreet'' special "[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Abby in Wonderland]]" (Zoe played the Dormouse, called Mousey the Hatter Helper here). However, it was used for a few episodes in season 40 alongside the normal-sized Zoe.
* The producers of ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'' spent a tonne of cash on the show's modelwork and sets, and made sure that they got their money's worth; shots of the show's Eagles taking off and crashing and blowing up were used over and over again, and alien spaceship popped up in several different guises in different episodes. Creator/BrianBlessed even guest starred as two completely different characters in two episodes a season apart.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'''s 200th episode special featured a very expensive puppetry (same as from ''Thunderbirds'') setup. The subsequent skit/parody went on for about three times as long as it should have. All for a cheap "wires cut" gag.
** The ''Stargate'' production team built a very expensive medieval set for their Season 9 Ori story arc. It appeared quite regularly through the last 2 seasons of ''SG-1'' and occasionally on ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. After ''SG-1'' finished, the ''Atlantis'' producers were able to use all the sets built, and the medieval set featured in every 2nd episode.
** And then there is the "Kawoosh". The original effect involved firing a jet engine into a pool and filming it underwater from a lot of angles to be reusable.
* All the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series and films have generally been filmed in the greater Los Angeles area. In some cases locations have been used since professional film making began in LA and are still used today.
** Ever wonder why Kirk and the gang found [[AllPlanetsAreEarthlike yet another Earth clone]]? The production team did manage a lot for making do with so little. ''Especially'' for the Nazi episode.
** A lot of the studio models and CGI models of ships were recycled from one show to the next, sometimes as simple as flipping them upside down or [[PaletteSwap recolored]].

** Showing a high degree of savvy about the economics of television production, when Gene Roddenberry wrote the pilot for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', he deliberately invoked this trope by adding a scene in Engineering, knowing otherwise the costly set would never be built.
** The Original Series offered up a kind of diffuse example. It was one of the first generation of television shows broadcast in color. As such, color televisions were still a luxury good, and color production equipment sure wasn't free either. Thus all the sets were painted and lit in what is now considered ''incredibly garish'' color, to wring maximum spectacle out of the expensive gear. This wasn't the case initially, though, with the first pilot, "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage The Cage]]", even though it was filmed in color and gave us the TropeNamer for the GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe; the set changes were made with the second pilot.

* In addition to dedicating an entire episode to their Japanese train vs. car race, ''Series/TopGear'' filmed several Japanese car reviews while they were in the country.
** A good portion of any cross-country episode (Botswana, Japan, Vietnam) will be spent on shots of either scenery or local culture.
*** The Arctic Special uses this trope.
** Subverted in Clarkson's review of the BMW X6 in the final episode of Series 14 (which they supposedly had run out of money for), where he briefly visits exotic locations for rather trivial reasons in an episode strapped for cash! This includes visiting Spain to see if the handling is better (it isn't), Switzerland to see if the car can deal with snow (it can't), Hong Kong in search of a metaphor (an expensive skyscraper) and to Australia to see if the glovebox works upside down (it does)! In the same episode, Hammond's review extensively used gratuitous and costly CGI that served no real purpose in showing off his car's features. The [[BrickJoke end result]] is that the show James had no budget for his segment and had to cobble together a segment that was mostly him having tea with the woman who invented the modern road sign.
* ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'' took pride in filming each episode on location, all over the world (partly, they did have headquarters in London, Spain, Prague, Morocco and South Africa, but did fly the actors around and filming a lot more than mere establishing shots.) Cue lots and lots of SceneryPorn.

* You can bet that this is probably how a lot of theatres operate, especially community theatres that operate on a very catch-as-catch-can kind of way. If, for example, a patron of the arts donates a large amount of clothing that's very period-specific, say, TheSixties, expect them to find a play set in the Sixties so they can use it.
* Theatre/MissSaigon and its helicopter. The helicopter is the most expensive and most iconic part of the show... and is only on stage for a minute or two.

* This trope is why FullMotionVideo video games were so prevalent on the [[UsefulNotes/SegaOtherSystems Sega CD]], the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]], and pretty much anything that ran [=CDs=] in the early '90s. Switching to CD-drive-based technology was expensive, but the actual ''game''play rarely required more than the 8 megabytes that you could fit on a simple cartridge. So what are we going to fill all this extra space with? Why, video files of course! The gimmick lost its appeal quite quickly - actors, props and sets are expensive, ''good'' actors, props and sets even more so - and was quickly phased out in favour of pre-rendered cutscenes, which at least didn't take up such a disproportionate chunk of the budget. Games then starting using the space for voice acting, music and 3D assets instead.
* A related idea is that of mandating the use of a game console's gimmick in games released on it, most infamously [[{{Waggle}} motion controls]] during UsefulNotes/{{the seventh generation|OfConsoleVideoGames}}, which ranged from "obviously limited but still usable" (most UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} games) to bad enough to indirectly kill companies (''VideoGame/{{Lair}}'').

* After five years of working on their Hydroengine (an engine where water flows realistically) Dark Energy Digital made ''VideoGame/{{Hydrophobia}}'', a game based on a boat, which is flooding.

* Evidently, the reason why ''every'' campaign in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' involved a dam blowing up and changing water levels, using the exact same dam model to boot.
* The TransformationSequence for each goddess are clearly where the original ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia'' spent most of it [[NoBudget non-existent]] budget, lasting over thirty seconds and being unskippable every time (also masking some pretty horrendous optimization issues - the new model took about that long to load in, which is why it was unskippable). This became a theme in the series, and even as late as ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'' new transformations are usually shown off in unskippable glory during pivotal cutscenes at least once.

* In ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic'', one behind-the-scenes sequence explains that they had to cut Snuka's best scene short to make room for their three-minute-long unabridged sequence of the mummy strangling a redshirt: Lee (Snuka's actor) is paid (far) below minimum wage, while the CGI mummy cost money.

* ''The New Adventures Of Captain Scarlet'': Gerry Anderson Productions had spent a small fortune acquiring the latest and greatest in CGI animation technology and talent, and by 'eck they were going to give it a workout. SceneryPorn, TechnologyPorn and all the elaborate and detailed visual effects they could devise ensued; episodes like "Swarm" and "Rain of Terror" were rather obviously [[StarringSpecialEffects written around a fancy new trick the techies had come up with]], but the results did look pretty damn cool.

* Joked about in ''WesternAnimation/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' where, in the series finale parodying {{clip show}}s, Sam tells Max to stop talking, it costs money.

* The remake of ''Westernanimation/{{The Lion King|2019}}'' made a photorealistic recreation of Africa and its animals, and it wastes no time to show it. I mean, [[{{Padding}} wastes a lot of time]] to properly show it.

** And then there is the "[[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome Kawoosh]]". The original effect involved firing a jet engine into a pool and filming it underwater from a lot of angles to be reusable.

* ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' premiered with a movie. While in the movie, the Rangers morphed only once, they also got a much more elaborate morph sequence than prior morphs, where first their uniforms appeared (via two transitions, first to adding the belt, then the uniform), and then their helmets assembled themselves into place, with an added close-up for Tommy, the Red Ranger. This translated into the series proper - they paid for the CGI transformations, they're not going to use them only the once, so the morph sequences would be shown in full just about every time - which ate into the episode run times, as, while a movie wouldn't notice this too terribly, on a twenty-two minute show, taking about three minutes for just stock footage is a BIT of a problem. Notably, when four fifths of the cast were swapped out midseason, their replacement morph sequence is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter and less detailed, lasting about twenty seconds, if they all got an individual sequence.

* ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'':

** Minor subversion in one scene, mentioned in the extended edition DVD for ''Return of the King'': Still in Rohan, Éowyn offers a cup to Aragorn, and he drinks from it. Creator/MirandaOtto, along with the costume designers, lamented that the dress she wore as Éowyn for that scene was fantastic and intricate, particularly the skirt and sleeves - in a scene shooting the actors from the chest upwards.

* Theatre/MissSaigon and its helicopter. The helicopter is the most expensive and most iconic part of the show.. and is only on stage for a minute or two.

* This trope is why FullMotionVideo video games were so prevalent on the Sega CD, the 3DO, and pretty much anything that ran [=CDs=] in the early 90's. Switching to CD-drive-based technology was expensive, but the actual ''game''play rarely required more than the 8 megabytes that you could fit on a simple cartridge. So what are we going to fill all this extra space with? Why, video files of course! The gimmick lost its appeal quite quickly -actors, props and sets are expensive and ''good'' actors, props and sets even more so- and was quickly phased out in favour of pre-rendered cutscenes, which at least didn't take up such a disproportionate chunk of the budget. Games then starting using the space for voice acting, music and 3D assets instead.
* A related idea is that of mandating the use of a game console's gimmick in games released on it.

* The TransformationSequence for each goddess are clearly where the original ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia'' spent most of it [[NoBudget non-existent]] budget, lasting over thirty seconds and being unskippable every time. (They also masked some pretty horrendous optimization issues - the new model took about that long to load in.) This became a theme in the series, even as late as ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'' new transformations are usually shown off in unskippable glory during pivotal cutscenes at least once.

%%* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' surely qualifies too. - ZCE

%%* ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'': They made the most expensive film made up to that point, and damned if you don't see every penny of it. - ZCE

* ''Film/PulpFiction'': The Jackrabbit Slim's set was extremely elaborate and featured lots of extras in costume as 1950s stars. It was the most expensive set piece in the film, so it's easy to see why the camera does a sweeping tour through the whole establishment as Mia and Vincent find their seats.
* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': The uniforms and helmets made for the movie would be used again and again in other Science Fiction productions, such as an episode of ''Series/Firefly''.

* Also averted in ''Film/KingKong1976''. A giant animatronic version of Kong was built and cost 1.7 million dollars to make, but because it didn't look convincing enough, it was only seen in a couple of seconds-long shots.

** Its long awaited sequel, ''Film/TronLegacy'' would follow suit much the same way; especially since CGI team knew they working on a film that was the sequel to something most of them revered as 3D modelers and designers, so they made every dollar count. This is shown best during, of course, the new Light Cycle sequence.

* The Vendaface puppet on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' was intended as a one-shot, but producer David Lazer insisted on it being used a couple more times as it was expensive to build. It even made an appearance as the Vendawish in one episode.

* ''Film/Sahara2005'': Averted when a plane crash that took up 45 seconds of film time and cost $2 million to film was cut to make room for the ProductPlacement scenes.

** Animated films do this a lot. The actors don't need to do much, just read the lines, so they don't need to be paid much. Live films are incredibly hard work compared to sitting in a warm studio with a microphone, cracking jokes with Jack Black and Angelina Jolie. Plus, Creator/JackieChan provided technical guidance with the fight scenes - he is the master of kung fu comedy.

* Averted again in ''Film/{{Alien}}'', where the huge Space Jockey in its "pilot chair" was built by artist H.R. Giger for a lot of money and was used only in one scene. (then again, 30 years later [[Film/{{Prometheus}} it inspired a film of its own]])

* The entire ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' trilogy embodies this. The level of detail put into the, well, everything is astonishing, and it shows. Every penny of its $285 million budget is right up on the screen.

** ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' actually has a lot of subversions. For example Bernard Hill noted that Théoden's breastplate had beautiful, intricate stitching and details--''on the inside'', where only he and wardrobe ever saw it. However, it served to make him feel like a king.

* ''Film/{{North}}'', which has Creator/DanAykroyd and Music/RebaMcEntire in minor roles, has both sing the film's only song, despite it not being a musical, because if two big name singers are going to be in a movie, don't expect them to be silent.

** The Original Series offered up a kind of diffuse example. It was one of the first generation of television shows broadcast in color. As such, color televisions were still a luxury good, and color production equipment sure wasn't free either. Thus all the sets were painted and lit in what is now considered ''incredibly garish'' color, to wring maximum spectacle out of the expensive gear. This wasn't the case initially, though, with the first pilot, "The Cage", even though it was filmed in color and gave us the TropeNamer for the GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe; the set changes were made with the second pilot.
** The main reason the ''Enterprise'' didn't send a shuttlecraft down to rescue Sulu's landing party in "The Enemy Within" when the [[TeleporterAccident transporter wasn't working properly]] was simply because Creator/{{NBC}} refused to budget for one. Even with scripts explicitly calling for shuttles (Oliver Crawford's "The Galileo Seven" and Creator/GeneRoddenberry's "The Menagerie"), NBC wouldn't budge. The full-size model and interior set were ultimately funded by model kit maker AMT, who received the license to market ''Star Trek'' model kits in exchange (a license that continues with their parent company Ertl to this day, though not exclusively), and the studio got [[StockFootage a lot of mileage]] out of the model shots for "The Galileo Seven". Amusingly, a genuine commercial AMT ''Enterprise'' kit made it into the series proper, as the destroyed ''Constellation'' in "The Doomsday Machine", as a way to save money.

* This trope, coupled with availability and scheduling conflicts, is why Rita and Runt stopped appearing after a while in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. Not only was Bernadette Peters expensive, each segment required an original song that needed to be written, scored, and recorded, significantly adding pressure to the show's small budget.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' Treehouse Of Horror segment "Homer³", where Homer enters the third dimension and is subsequently rendered in CGI, where upon he remarks that he "feels like I'm wasting a fortune just standing here".
* Joked about in ''WesternAnimation/{{Sam And Max Freelance Police}}'' where, in the series finale parodying clip shows, Sam tells Max to stop talking, it costs money.

* {{ZigZagged}} in ''Series/GameOfThrones''. In [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]], Tyrion loses much of his nose in battle, turning his already-misshapen face into a twisted lump of scar tissue. In the series, he receives an understated scar that Margaery Tyrell says may actually make him ''better''-looking. Partially this is to save the time and expense of putting Creator/PeterDinklage behind an elaborate facial prosthesis, but mostly it's because, if you hire ''Peter freaking Dinklage'', the last thing you do is hide that gorgeous mug from the camera.

''Please'' do not confuse with MoneyMakingShot. Also this trope has nothing to do with using cash [[MoneyToThrowAway as ammo]] or pumping stacks of bills full of lead ([[WesternAnimation/CodeMonkeys Mr. Larrity]] shot a pile of money once, then stabbed it).