What's the most annoying trait you see in a script, movie or TV show?
Mine is "in media res". If you don't recognise the phrase, you've no doubt seen it. It's when a story starts at a critical point, and just before something truly bad happens... we cut back to the beginning and build up to it.
I hate it! Not only does it undercut the tension of the story (every one you see in that scene is safe until you get back to that point), but it's almost like the story is saying "look, the beginning is a bit boring but it WILL get better I promise!". A huge TV show opened its season with this and I couldn't believe it.
But it's not always bad! I thought Breaking Bad's pilot used this superbly. The opening scene was so crazy that it made you want to know how this man in his underwear and a gun got to this point in his life.
Do you agree? What other tropes annoy you?
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Angry teenagers.
It appears that every teenager is pissed off. How to make it good. Give them a reason to the anger. It may even make them seem like real people.
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This may seem trivial but I'm not a fan of limp dead bodies in caskets (Six feet under, Monk, etc.). Not sure if it's written this way or some executive/director notes it in. Rigor mortis is real. Oh, and when two character's who are about to kiss for the first time get interrupted. Geez.
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I hate that every computer geek can guess a password in less than three tries, crack military-grade encryption, instantly hack into any traffic camera, and assemble a complete life-history profile in 30 seconds or less.
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@MB probably a budget thing with the dead bodies, right? Speaking of the first kiss, I hate when there's a ticking clock where everyone's about to die and someone turns around and says "before we do this, I have something important to tell you... " It. Can. Wait!
Bob Johnson oh yeah! I once saw a movie where they hacked into a server using... a first person game?
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Bar fight scenes. A lot of them are the same.
When a majority of students bullies a teen/a teen is disliked by a majority of students for stupid reasons.
When characters don't believe a character who is telling the truth, but they don't have a legit reason to not believe them.
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predictability
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Everytime when at the end it all was just a dream or someone was in a coma. I have tried to figure out the story and then there is no plausible explanation, grrrr!
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I hate love stories in action flicks. Like, I want to see dudes killing each other. No one comes to a cheesy action film for romance haha And it's usually inserted halfheartedly, like as a footnote just thrown in to try and diversify. #Booooo haha
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Especially in horror, the overuse of sad music to hammer home that the character is sad. It turns the film into a depressing sludge you have to wade through. It seems like crutch or cover if either the script or acting isn't getting the point across. It is almost in the realm of "show, don't tell".
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I'm actually developing an Action script with a love story, Jessica. :) But I'm making sure the love story isn't half-hearted, and the script is also Comedy.
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Owing money to the mob as a source of tension or a ticking clock. I've never met a single person who owes money to the mob, but any time we need back some some every man, down-on-his-luck guy into a corner, it's because he took money from the mob.
I remember you mentioned that trope before, Jason. That trope is definitely over used.
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@Jessica, for sure! It seems like every movie needs a romantic plot, otherwise people won't watch it? #Boooooo all the way!
@Jason, they did this in Squid Game but mixed it up with his organs at least!
My other absolute worst trope is... the characters aren't real and they're actually fictional. That has never been interesting, ever. I was playing a game and enjoying it, and at the end, it was revealed the characters were mind-wiped and had their personalities (that were created by writers) implanted into them for a TV show. So now, none of the characters are real and nothing they've done matters. Unbelievable. I don't even know how you could make that good
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I hate how in many coming of age movies when the nerdy protagonist likes a girl and she’s with some other guy, the other guys is always the biggest jerk in the world. It’s a way to justify the protagonist stealing someone‘s girlfriend and make him "the knight in shining armor." However, for once, I'd like to see a movie where the guy isn't a jerk. That could make more conflict for the protagonist.
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That's every 80s movie haha.
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The Rubik's cube solves to prove intelligence. I also love how that cube ends up in the middle of a scene from out of nowhere.
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Love the image used! Breaking Bad is one of the few cases where the cold open of a character at a critical point, followed by "Three Weeks Earlier" (or similar) works well. When used poorly it is used to show the audience something interesting before a long spell of potentially dull exposition before anything else interesting happens. When used badly it can make a script feel less confident in itself, that the actual start of the story isn't interesting enough to keep the audience's attention. As with many screenwriting tools, its easy to use but difficult to use well. Great topic to discuss.