10 Bizarre Ways Directors Tricked Audiences

[@JesseCohen]

A “recent” trick from the reboot Star Trek, by director J.J.Abrams, caught my attention. The skydive sequence might have been done via green screen and wires, with compositing to make up the bulk of the shot. Instead, to amp up tension, and drop budget, Abrams opted for much tighter in shots on each actors face. The “sky” background was actually reflections of the actual sky, bouncing off mirrored panels resting on the ground. And to simulate the “hand camera” visual blur needed to approximate the airspeed of falling, the director stood behind the camera body and physically shook it. All this being done in one of Paramount Studios secure parking lots. Like something out of a film school project, where the budget for aerial rigs and stunt teams simply wouldn’t exist, not to mention mitigating some of the risks inherit in that kind of work. Which goes to show, sometimes the oldest tricks are still the best. Bonus fact: Because the rhythm JJ used to shake the physical camera was so particular, for the digital composite shots that were used, a adapted plug-in camera controller was employed for use in the digital for/comp software. This meant he could tap on it in the same manner, like shaking a computer mouse back and forth, reproducing the stutter for the “digital” camera as the composite shots were being layered in. Neat!

[@Fibonacci64]

There was a LOT going into the sound production of “The Exorcist”. Bees, slaughering of pigs, that Avant-Garde music, a guy from the movie “El Topo” making the sounds of a twisting neck with a leather wallet, Mercedes McCambridge’s voice acrobatics, backward recording ... so much work. Amazing. You didn’t have computers and samplers then.

[@rodaross]

You forgot to mention the other ticky in Casablanca's scene. Bogart was a lot shorter than Bergman, yet he looks taller becuase he was standing on 3-inch wood bricks, like a personal small platform, all the time.

[@tobyoneil1969]

Yep, this. I was gonna drop this tidbit like them twins during Battle-Sh*it but you beat me to it. Very common during the last century of filmmaking. It still exists but they do it in weirder and smarter ways, for example in the MCU Spider-Man movies when Peter Parker and MJ (Tom Holland and Zendaya) stand next to each other in certain scenes, Holland puts his leg over Zendaya's lap causing her to squat a bit to support him, bringing her height lower and more the same with his. Its a weirder one but its there.

[@AlexReynard]

One of my favorites was the use of camera artifacts added to Wall-E to make it look like it was shot on film. Lovely subtle stuff.

[@Sacrid_Author]

The bit with Jar Jar's hand is extra cool when you realize nobody noticed that Jar Jar, who normally has four fingers per hand, suddenly has five fingers on one hand for exactly one shot.

[@toddboughn5168]

My favourite is Nolan using an actual nuclear weapon for Oppenheimer.

[@kamenanew9867]

That would be insanely illegal, he used a whole lot of dynamite actually. Yes real explosion with cgi added, but not friggin nuclear. Quit liking my thing I like killed the joke or something

[@leighprout]

@@kamenanew9867 theres no cgi apparently

[@kamenanew9867]

@@leighprout hopefully.

[@toddboughn5168]

@@kamenanew9867 It was a joke. What he pulled off is damned impressive.

[@kamenanew9867]

@@toddboughn5168 ah, Well it's nolan so I heh hope he didn't but I mean. It was impressive as hell but dangerous as well and just why lol

[@subbywan1422]

Secretly recording bowel movements and using the without securing permission gives a whole new meaning to dealing with residuals.

[@vaspecad]

In The first Resident Evil movie Marylin Manson added ultrasonic sounds to it (to add subconscious uneasiness) and there’s a cool story about a producers dog freaking out when they played the new tracks he sent for the movie in the edit bay.

[@robotzombie4754]

Dude recording the bathroom sounds is how he gets off😂

[@hugheffo]

I love the screen in phantom menace when princess Armadale, is staring out the window, where that red dress with glowing lights at the bottom, and you can see the cable going to an electric socket on the wall

[@davidlogeman1197]

My favorite is the use of a double amputee in The Thing to make it appear the doctor's hand were bitten off.

[@johnbernhardtsen3008]

that movie is my fav practical monster effects movie! the way the head "runs off" with the tongue flapping around and the neck is bio wires snapping off, just so effing good in the shot!

[@bamabarrelracer]

Gary Sinise as Lt. Dan is an AMAZING example

[@InnaGottaDavida]

Braveheart did the same thing. They hired an amputee missing a leg for the scene where a character gets his leg chopped off by a sword. While everyone else on the production thought it was a bit morbid, the amputee thought it was hilarious.

[@jamesryder8305]

Wait, wait, wait, which The Thing was this??

[@jeremyvettech5562]

​@@jamesryder8305John Carpenter's

[@JLove2000swrestling]

I remember the girls doing the battle shits in the public restrooms Clarissa and Chrissy I always wondered how the sound effects worked that was just funny as hell 😂

[@CannonRanger1]

For Harold and Kumar all I can say is that's a heckuva way to find out you're part of the SAG.

[@tinkerer3399]

Trucker #3: "I dunno why I keep getting these residual cheques, but I ain't about to complain."

[@izi5150]

I love the scenes using forced perspective with a moving camera in Lord of the Rings. The table conversation scene with Frodo Baggins and Gandalf the Wizard is amazing and still difficult for my mind to put together, even after seeing how it’s done. Peter Jackson did a great job with Lord of the Rings.

[@celestecornish6943]

Completely agree. I watched how they made that scene, then watched it again and I couldn't see how they did it!

[@ImAFatNerd90]

One of the farts in the Battle Shits scene was from a fart machine. I recognized the sound because I had one and it made the same noise.

[@louishart6725]

The Harold and Kumar one should have been number two.

[@bamabarrelracer]

I always loved the way Sean Connery recorded the opening monologue of The Highlander... Who wldve thought a bathroom wld be the perfect acoustics for his voice❤❤❤

[@davidalan528]

“Come on! Fish puppets and Muppets to stir the fears up? I squeeze screams out of chocolate syrup!” -Hitchcock to Spielberg, sorta

[@trinaq]

I never realised that the blood was chocolate syrup. Hitchcock was a sheer genius!

[@Jake-fw1vc]

Another interesting fact is that the Munsters set was almost entirely pink due to how the color turned out in black and white.

[@InDeathWeReturn]

I always heard it was ink

[@caronstout354]

​@@Jake-fw1vcthe original color of the original Frankenstein's monster was actually green, because it photographed as pale grey in the black&white film.

[@VictorStave]

Additionally, from what I’ve heard a couple of times, to get a truly authentic sounding scream of shock and surprise, Hitchcock suddenly shut off the hot water to the shower. Mean; But effective

[@hughmungus1501]

Pretty sure i found out because of epic rap battle of history refrencing it

[@moretea512]

Probably too gruesome to mention here, but "Cannibal Holocaust" tricked audiences a bit too well with the infamous impaled woman scene that the director faced very real murder charges.

[@Ummarth9]

Also, all the actual animal deaths in that film...though those shots aren't tricky in the same way. Showing my friend that bicycle seat was the ultimate behold my horror film knowledge back in college though.

[@danpollock43]

Ya he had to get his actors out of hiding to prove he didn't film a snuff film. Many animals did die tho. A few turtles, monkeys and an ox, but were all eaten by the locals

[@waterforgizmo3232]

And they still killed less animals than Milo and Otis 😂

[@fireaza]

I use the same trick from #10 when I bring a date home and want to make something look bigger than it really is.

[@InnaGottaDavida]

It's officially the worst job a little person has ever had.

[@IphigeniaAtAulis]

So let me get this straight. For Rogue Nation, the rug they used for the camera to film the practical stunt was so good at doing it's job that the director thought people might think the stunt was faked (even though it had been all over the press that Tom really did hang off the side of an airplane while it took off and flew around), so they decided to digitally add in camera shaking in order to make the shot look more real. What does that say about out level of technology.

[@M32Mirach]

That Casablanca scene always looked and felt like it was on a soundstage.

[@MrZombiePhil]

Pretty sure that Harold & Kumar behind the scenes clip was satire guys

[@sonofsun1320]

An echo chamber such as the toilet they used in Snow White is in effect, a reverb technique. Nice to know they were sparing no expense in that regard either.

[@winkletsdad]

"with which they were presented with"? Allow myself to introduce... myself.

[@FFA441]

Damien Cockburn tricked audiences and his crew into thinking he was blown up by a land mine by actually going to a war zone and getting blown up by a land mine. Absolute legend who should be on the list

[@SMDoktorPepper]

Wouldn't be shocked to find out the..bathroom noise...will be used for a century just like the Wilhelm Scream

[@KingOfHarlots86]

🤤 ah yes one never forgets the mating call

[@o2bnparadise]

If I remember correctly, they also used chocolate syrup or a mixture containing chocolate syrup in Cloverfield to film one of the death scenes that takes place in silhouette behind a lit biohazard curtain so that we see what happens without actually seeing it, and see the blood spatter on the curtain.

[@ConceptJunkie]

I believe Hitchcock also used chocolate syrup in "Psycho". edit: I guess I should watch the video before commenting.

[@tobyoneil1969]

yep, Lizzy Caplans death. She is TJ Millers 'love intrest' in the movie. They traverse the NY subways and are set upon by the Cloverfield's spawn. She gets attacked, and bitten. She gets sick and when the group emerge from the tunnels they are taken away by the military. She is isolated from the group because of her health but as the group flee the military checkpoint, camera guy catches a glimpse of her head exploding as more creatures emerge from her body (its been a while sense i watched the movie but i believe in the shot she is sitting upright and the blood spatter comes from her head, might be wrong but regardless, what you said happens in the movie).

[@leemcdonald1342]

#10 was also employed during Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

I'm guessing you are talking about the scene where they get out of the saucer and walk to V'ger?

[@Draknfyre]

@@TheRealNormanBates It was used to make the engine room look larger. The physical set was shorter than it appears. They used forced perspective combined with children in scaled-down protection suits at the far end to make them seem further away, and thus the set longer, than it actually was.

[@user-bw4lb3py4t]

Sean Connery recorded the intro for the Highlander in a bathroom

[@aaronburratwood.6957]

No kidding, I on the regular can produce perfect Oscar Winning poos. 100%

[@sogggy]

Directors also trick audiences to make Tom Cruise look taller.

[@thefrozenyak5272]

Platform shoes mostly.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

@@thefrozenyak5272 Hollywood has used every trick in the book: I've heard they've had him stand on apple crates, dug a trench for Nicole Kidman in *Days of Thunder*... Hollywood has been wingin' it for close to 100 years now.

[@thefrozenyak5272]

@@TheRealNormanBates Oh, I know. But honestly, do you think he's ever NOT wearing platforms/lifts? 😄

[@bamberlamb6512]

Surely you're not saying Tom Cruise isn't very tall, if only more people knew about this heinous conspiracy? The next you'll be revealing is that he's part of some sort of religious cult

[@SirBanana1992]

I remember Lord of the Rings using customized set pieces and camera angles to always portray the hobbits as smaller people rather than digitalized work.

[@salemslotandmore8278]

Thanks for the Video😀

[@554cortez]

Absolutely in no way does that Eyes Wide Shut scene not look fake lol.

[@tobyoneil1969]

When i first watched the movie (in the last 2yrs) i did not notice at all. Its cut and spliced well with other shots but now i am aware of what Kubrick did i can't unsee it and it looks dodgy. Found out the method a few months ago on a movie detail tiktok and just can't view it the same

[@bluegizmo1983]

The tilt shift minature effects in Game Night were quite obvious... I never for a second thought it was anything other than in camera tilt shift effects of real neighborhoods.

[@kelleyk28]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but the shots they showed, it definitely looks fake.

[@vaspecad]

They used it also in Social Network. Makes everything look like small toys

[@tzarp4345]

The #4 entry followed by the first two words of the #3 entry 🥴

[@McCrapweasel]

Never burn thrusters away from your own launch pad.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

I will always be impressed by the first *Terminator* film and *Aliens.* I knew they used a rear projection screen behind Linda Hamilton when they blew up the truck, but what I didn't realize was that the truck was a frikkin model. Even after seeing the behind the scenes, I still watch that scene and it _still_ looks like a real truck being blown up. *Aliens* used a hell of a lot of practical FX and trickery: the facehugger was a pull toy, with the legs on cogs that would make the legs move as it was pulled.. but the kicker will always be the Alien Queen. The scenes where you can see it full bodied fighting against the power loader is just a 2 foot tall puppet. Even knowing what it is and seeing them film it, it still looks real. Sure, you still have some of that puppet jankiness, but I still wouldn't want to face that thing in a dark alley. I'll have to give a shout out to *Blade (1999)* as well, in regards to establishing "the great (anime) leap" and "bullet time" one year before *The Matrix,* but what amazes me is the subway scene: just like with *The Matrix,* the train doesn't exist.

[@Draknfyre]

You want to be even more impressed with practical shots in a Terminator movie? Look up the deleted Terminator 2 scenes on KZbin, specifically the resetting the CPU one. That was ALL practical with a double, mirrored set and a fake wall and "mirror", with a double for John, Arnie's head was a replica, and Linda Hamilton's actual twin sister playing her "reflection." They practiced that scene for weeks to get it down. And in the end, it ended up being cut from the final print.

[@Whalewraith]

I think it was Serenity who did it first, but anyway they actually used camera shake to sell the fact the ship wasn't just CGI.

[@SonOfRojBlake]

"with which they're presented with"

[@mightybatillo]

Star wars episode I tricked the audience into thinking it would be a good movie lmao

[@screenwriterjohn]

Funny enough, some Munchkins were played by dwarves, the rest were kid extras. They didn't like each other.

[@riconh3llz666]

Jar Jar “my tongue is numbeth” Origin Bill Cosby : Himself Hilarious standup !!!

[@Sunprism]

To get E.T's distinctive gait, most of the time he's on screen he's portrayed by a young boy born with no legs, who walked on his hands.

[@spodoinklehorse]

Whoaaaaaa

[@KingOfHarlots86]

😂😂😂 no

[@spodoinklehorse]

@@KingOfHarlots86 ah now, don't tell me it isn't true

[@TheRealNormanBates]

I thought it was an asian woman in her 20's.

[@jim6214]

@ 1:32 "Snow White's Echo-y Singing Was Re-Recorded in a Toilet." That's the headline, right? But @2:13 you say, "bathroom". Which is it, the "toilet" or the "bathroom"? I think the bathroom makes more sense if you want to get an echo "effect". Some people sing "in the shower, or sing "in the bathroom" (while sitting on the toilet), but I don't think anybody sings "in a toilet", do you?

[@aturniakane4539]

diff in english and english lol

[@eddmario]

Bathrooms are called toilets in England for some stupid reason

[@button9]

Pretty sure the H&K one is made up, in the sense that they probably recorded that, but not fully in that manner. Feels more like a goofy SNL skit (and fits with H&K) than true representation.

[@robgronotte1]

"with which they're presented with"? Really?

[@alm2187]

Are we startled or impressed at 4:45 here? Pick one, will ya! 🤪

[@kylec2761]

With which they’re presented with?

[@jupiterthekitty]

only saw the thumbnail. white castle is my favorite movie ever!

[@purplep6070]

Did you really suggest that someone might sue over the sound of their sht? Like, wait a minute. I know that plop!

[@iamnotanaddict2905]

What's the film in the thumbnail?

[@tobyoneil1969]

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Its the Battlesh*t scene.

[@timprussell]

Man those Foley artists suffered for the craft.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your videos guys!🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤

[@marcjameswhelan]

Love your spam, loser

[@BrandonSmith84]

Alien clip in the far away shot if you look closely you can see the kid's face

[@jasonhennessy8155]

In star wars episode 4 the scene where the Darth Vader lands on the deathstar and walks through the parade of troopers. The troopers are painted in on a glass panel. As your focus is on darth vader your mind fills in the blanks for you as you've already seen the storm troopers earlier in the movie.

[@brucenatelee]

That Exorcist trick sounds like a cheap copout. Like, he didn't think his film was actually scary and tricked us into thinking it is. That's corny as fuck.

[@screennamemissing]

Imagine watching Harold & Kumar... and recognizing the sound of your own shits... xD

[@darrengriffin8609]

I wouldn't call Eyes wide shut masterful.

[@aaronburratwood.6957]

We love to attend the cinema once or twice a fortnight. Or there a-bouts.

[@Tigerpanzer6666]

waaaaait this looks like a game 1:21

[@eddyjoe1722]

It was boscoes syrup in psycho

[@DarkmanPoe]

Where the Hell did you get that thumbnail??

[@sheadupree252]

i would've liked this video but it was on 666. Sorry, hands tied

[@DoctorX17]

Movie MAGIC

[@MrMZaccone]

"With which they're presented with"??? What're you, from the department of redundancy department?

[@ryanbumpas6696]

Obligatory Lord of the Rings mention.

[@tobyoneil1969]

Need 10,000 Uruk Hai chanting? One could record a few hundred people and do sound work or just, you know, record a filled rugby stadium chanting. Not enough male extras? Hire women and glue beards on them. Worry about cgi'ing open eyes on a comatose body? Nope the actor can just keep his eyes open for a long time. Worried about how fluid an establishing shot might look? Why not film it and reverse the footage. Do ground breaking cgi to make your movie? Instead implement perfect practical effects centred around perspective and camera shots. Need haunting and terrible screeching and howls? Why not get a writer and co-producer to just screech into a mic for multiple hours. Film a scene that evokes emotional response? Its elevated because an actor actually got hurt. There is tons more than this.

[@Drillbit993]

What is the first movie where everyone is wearing robes and masks?

[@DarkmanPoe]

"Eyes Wide Shut"

[@jasonroosa2475]

Garbage Pail Kids

[@robgronotte1]

I've never seen Eyes Wide Shut, but the clip here looks awful where Cruise gets bumped by another guy. If it were that bad in the film, everyone would have noticed it was fake.

[@joeyreliford705]

I was wrong., My bad...

[@cranberriesdoodle1450]

Do you feel worse for Jeff Kushner recording poop sounds or the camera man he brought to record him recording poop sounds?

[@DavidMartinez-uv9qy]

Do Legendary Godzilla Vs Ming Lee from Turning Red

[@k-bear7707]

How not to make an explanatory KZbin video

[@ThisIsMeAndNotYou]

1 & 3

[@marcjameswhelan]

Muppet

[@rockero1313]

again with the audio thing. SHOW THE DAMN ORIGINAL AUDIO INSTEAD OF JUST NARRATING THE AUDIO

[@tommym7626]

1st

[@marcjameswhelan]

Get a life