Caesar: And in Rome, Marc Antony is to speak for Caesar. His authority is not to be questioned.
Canidius: His word will be yours. As always, Caesar’s word is law.
Caesar: Of course. But remind him to keep his legions intact. They make the law legal.
– Wanger. W. (Producer), Mankiewicz. J.L. (Director). (1963). Cleopatra [Motion Picture]. United States: 20th Century-Fox
Even though remakes are as old as the movie industry, the recycling of ideas in the American film landscape is getting more prevalent.
In the 1930s, the storylines of 16 percent of the 500 most successful films were recycled. Films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were made several times. Treasure Island (1934) and A Tale of Two Cities (1935) had been produced previously as silent films.
In the 1980s, the percentage of rehashed storylines increased to 22 percent. The 80s became the decade in which the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series were continued. It was also the time of the Scarface remakes (1983) and the creation of franchises such as Die Hard, Police Academy and Rambo.
In the first ten years of the 21st century, no less than 36 percent of the 500 most popular films are either a remake, sequel, spin-off or part of a franchise. Harry Potter, Pirates of The Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, and (again) Star Wars – to name a few – are turned into film series. Other examples include the Disney remakes of the Marvel superhero films, and the modern takes on Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Miami Vice (2006).
“We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.” – Michael Eisner, Disney CEO (1984-2005)
In other words, there has been a 20 percent increase over 80 years since the 1930s in the number of major American films whose storylines is either a remake, sequel or spin-off. The number of mainstraim American films which can be labelled “recycled” according to these criteria was 36 percent in the 2000s.
In 2002, Norwegian footballer Kenneth Kristensen signed for third-division team Floey and was paid his weight in shrimps.
The modern Spanish Navy is still called the Armada.
There are more Catholics in Scotland than in Northern Ireland.
A 2005 United States medical research project showed that 20% of interviewees admitted to taking Derbisol, a drug that does not exist.
The director and producer of the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof was called Norman Jewison.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
Batiatus: A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself.
– Lewis. E. (Producer), Kubric. S. (Director). (1960). Spartacus [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal Studios
Gracchus: Let’s make an old-fashioned sacrifice for Glabrus’ success.
Caesar: I thought you had reservations about the gods.
Gracchus: Privately I don’t believe in any of them, and neither do you. Publicly I believe in them all.
– Lewis. E. (Producer), Kubric. S. (Director). (1960). Spartacus [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal Studios
In traditional champagne production, a remueur is someone who, every now and then, slightly turns the bottle to aid fermentation.
Research using rabbits has led to 26 Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine.
The Japanese for ‘handbag’ is handubagu.
Modern homing pigeons find it convenient to, every now and then, follow motorways and ring roads and turn left and right at junctions.
Women make 25% of the films in Iran, compared to, 4% in the United States.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
‘The court considers it has obligation to add comment to its verdict. By the force of evidentiary conclusions you, Captain William Bligh, stand absolved of military misdeed. Yet officers of stainless record and seamen, voluntary all were moved to mutiny against you. Your methods, so far as this court can deserve showed what we shall cautiously term an excess of zeal. We cannot condemn zeal. We cannot rebuke an officer who has administered discipline according to the Articles of War, but the Articles are fallible, as any articles are bound to be. No code can cover all contingencies. We cannot put justice aboard our ships in books. Justice and decency are carried in the heart of the captain or they be not aboard. It is for this reason that the Admiralty has always sought to appoint its officers from the ranks of gentlemen. The court regrets to note that the appointment of Captain William Bligh was, in that respect, a failure. Court is dissolved.’
– Rosenberg. A. (Producer), Milestone. L. (Director). (1962). Mutiny on the Bounty [Motion Picture]. United States: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Abby Singer: The penultimate shot of the day. Named after production manager Abby Singer, who would frequently call “last shot of the day” or “this shot, and just one more,” only to have the director ask for more takes. Also called ‘martini shot’.
Alan Smithee: A notorious pseudonym used by directors unwilling to have their own name mentioned in the credits of a film when they weren’t happy with the final cut. Its use was discontinued by the Directors Guild of America after the 1998 satire Burn Hollywood Burn about the practice – a huge box office failure starring Eric Idle – revealed the alias to the public.
“Alan Smithee is the name used when directors disown a film, either because they’ve lost control of the final cut, or because it’s simply too awful to admit to. Smithee’s oeuvre include such classics as Hobgoblins II, Boggy Creek III, Hellraiser IV, and most famously, Dune, where he co-directed with David Lynch.” – Stephen Fry, QI series A
Best boy: The chief assistant in charge of people, equipment, and scheduling the required quantities for each day’s work. The origin of the term is from ‘pre-union’ times when the line between the Grip (mechanical) and Electric departments was less rigid. When the head of either department needed another body temporarily, he would go to the head of the other department and ask him to “lend me your best boy”. By default the second in charge of either department came to be known as best boy. Female chief assistants are also called ‘best boys’.
Blacklist: This originally referred to actors and directors shunned by Hollywood during the 1950s for alleged ties to Communism. It now refers to the annual ‘blacklist’, an insider survey that compiles the year’s best unproduced screenplays.
Champagne roll: Usually at 100 film rolls, or sometimes 100 hard-drive downloads on a digital shoot, the cast and crew get a celebratory glass of champagne.
Chekhov’s gun: “One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.” This quote by Russian writer Anton Chekhov gave birth to the principle requiring that every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplacable, and that everything else be removed.
Chyron: Text graphics which appear at the bottom of a screen used to describe time, place, or name of person on screen.
Cowboy shot: A shot framed from mid-thigh up. Earned its name during the filming of many westerns, when this was a common framing used.
Dolly: A small platform for the camera, designed to roll along special tracks. Although Steadicams have reduced their use, dollies have certain unique strengths. In particular, they are still used for the so-called Vertigo shot, where the camera zoom in while the dolly moves backwards, severely altering the perspective.
Dope sheet: A list of scenes from the script that have already been filmed. An accurate dope sheet is the responsibility of the assistant cameraman.
Dutch tilt: A shot composed with the horizon not parallel with the bottom of the frame. Used frequently by Orson Welles and in Batman movies.
Giraffe: A mechanically extendible and manipulated boom microphone.
Honeywagons: Portaloos.
Hot set: A set where set dressers and prop persons have finalised placing furniture and props for filming a scene and on which a scene is in the process of being shot; labelled thus to indicate that it should not be changed or disturbed.
Jib: The arm of a mechanical crane.
Macguffin: A term used by Alfred Hitchcock to refer to an item, event, or piece of knowledge that the characters in a film consider extremely important, but which the audience either doesn’t know of or doesn’t care about. A notable example is the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.
Magic hour: The short time before sunset when light levels change dramatically and very quickly.
Matte shot: A shooting technique where painted artwork (ordinarily on glass) is combined in-shot with live action, to create the illusion of a grand backdrop. Although old-fashioned, it’s still used by Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and King Kong (2005).
Off-book: When an actor has completely memorised their lines and cues, they are described as being off-book – no longer in need of their script.
“I don’t dream at night, I dream at day, I dream all day; I’m dreaming for living.” — Steven Spielberg
Ozoner: Slang for a drive-in theatre.
Pick-ups: Footage filmed after shooting wraps, usually of minor shots. In the case of The Lord of the Rings, however, pick-up shots were major and essential. Peter Jackson even went so far as to film several pick-ups for the extended edition of The Return of the King after the film had won eleven Oscars.
Quota quickies: Low budget films made in the UK in the 1930s. The Cinematographic Films Bill passed in April 1927 stipulated that all UK cinemas would have to include a proportion of British films in their programmes. The percentage varied, rising to 20% at one time. The ‘quota quickies’ were generally of a quite low quality, although some have turned out quite good.
Scene chewing: An extreme, over-the-top performance that dominates the screen. ‘Chewing the scene’ (or: ‘chewing the scenery’) suggests that actors are so engaged in their histrionic portrayals that furniture pieces and backdrops are left with big dental impressions.
Shemp: Named after Shemp Howard, the third stooge in The Three Stooges. Howard died in 1955 while still working on a film. A stand-in was used, but the director made sure his face could not be seen. Nowadays, anyone appearing on screen whose face is not seen and who has no lines is called a (fake) Shemp.
Sleeper hit: An unpromising or unpublicised movie that suddenly attains prominence and success.
Sprockets: The tiny square holes on both edges of a piece of film that fit onto the notches of a film projector.
Squib: A small explosive device that simulates a bullet hit or very small explosion.
Sword-and-sandal-epic: A colloquial term for an epic film set in Roman times or any other period, real or imagined, in which characters use swords and wear sandals.
Red herring: In a way, the opposite of Chekhov’s gun. A red herring draws attention to a certain element in a narrative in order to mislead.
Rhubarb: Background conversation by extras. So-called because extras were often asked to mutter the word ‘rhubarb’ to produce the effect of genuine conversation, with their mouths moving convincingly. Also known as ‘walla’.
Rotoscoping: Little used nowadays, this was once an invaluable technique for producing high quality animation and was a favourite method in Soviet cartoons. It refers to the time-consuming process of shooting scenes with actors in live-action, and then tracing over those images to produce an animation.
Whip-pan: When the camera pans particularly quickly, resulting in motion blur. This is often used to sneak in a hidden cut.
Wilhelm scream: Originally recorded as a sound effect for the film Distant Drums in 1951 and named after the character who yelped it out, this distinctive scream was archived in the Warner Brothers sound effects library, and was subsequently used in countless films, first simply as a generic stock scream, and later because sound supervisors and directors used it in their films as a sort of touchstone or homage to earlier films.
Winnebago: The giant trailers that stars occupy when not required on set.
Zoopraxis: An early movie process developed in the 1870s, which involves a disc that includes serial pictures being rotated in front of a light source, to create a sense that the objects projected were moving.
“Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out”
― Martin Scorsese
Knowledge Guild 