What are we paying you for?

I mean how hard is it really? Film directors get paid thousands of pounds to make and direct a movie, it’s what they have been trained to do, and it’s what they are supposed to be the best at. So how come they can’t seem to keep the bloopers out of certain films?

Take the film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” for example. Whilst in Africa, Agent Zero starts shooting and when he throws his pistols in the air, the slides are open, but just before he catches his pistols the slides are closed. This film is jam-packed with fancy fight scenes and incredible action sequences, and yet the directors seem to have missed something as simple as the slides on the character’s guns being open one minute and closed the next.

Speaking of things that are there one minute and gone the next, Disney’s eagerly awaited 3D animated movie “Up” makes a blunder in this department. When the bulldozer hits character Carl’s mailbox, you can see the bulldozer in the first shot, but it disappears after that. What really surprised me about this mistake was the fact that as this is an animated movie; you would think the illustrator would have remembered to just keep on drawing the bulldozer until the end of the scene!

It’s not just new releases that are failing to be blunder-free, as classics like the Terminator trilogy, the American Pie set and The Pirates of the Caribbean collection have all made some pretty big mistakes in their time.

The directors of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” make a silly and easily avoidable mistake by not paying enough attention to the numbers on the side of the planes used in the film. When characters John and Catherine are in the hanger at the runway, the plane’s tail number is N3035C, but when the plane is shown in the air, the number has magically changed to N3973F. This is only worsened by the fact that when they land, the plane’s tail number has changed back to N3035C.

The first of the American Pie films seconds the lack of attention paid by directors that I have just mentioned, during the infamous “bedroom scene”. The girl is first seen holding a clear cup full of beer, but when the camera moves away and comes back to her, she is holding a blue cup. The camera goes off the girl again and when it comes back on her for a second time, she is holding a clear cup again.

Whilst these constant switches between the appearance of an object are an obvious example of the director’s lack of attention to detail and continuity, they are not quite as bad as the blunder made in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”. Character Jack Sparrow is saying, “On deck, you scabrous dogs”, and directly over his left shoulder is a film crew member – in a tan cowboy hat, white t-shirt and sunglasses – just stood staring out to sea; completely unaware that he is in the shot!

I can understand that mistakes can easily occur during the immense process of cutting, editing and slicing together the different shots and angles of a certain scene – but why do directors not spot these obvious errors during the checking and screening processes? Even at preschool you were taught to check and double-check your work for mistakes, so you really would think that professional film directors and editors would have the common sense to check and double-check their work for mistakes!

I say move over movie moguls, as you clearly just aren’t cutting it. Bring on a new breed of director; one who pays attention to detail, understands the meaning of the word “continuity” and its importance in the film production business, and one who has the ability to spot their errors and correct them before the film is released. Now is that really too much to ask of these directors who are so highly paid and respected? I don’t think so.