List of Most Common Movie Errors

Being that I am someone who minored in film in college, and have spent much of my life studying the movie industry, I have found that I have become a bit of an expert on the subject of movies. I have also found that there are common errors that are made in movies that directors often miss. I have compiled a listing of the most common movie errors.

Boom Mike

If a character is sitting down in a room, pay attention to the top of the screen. Chances are very good that you will either see a shadow that is moving at the top of the screen, or that you will see a black fuzzy thing on the screen for a moment. This would be the boom mike. It would also constitute the most common error possible in a movie.

I once heard a film professor point out that you can see either the shadow of a boom mike, or the boom mike itself in about 40 percent of movies. While I have never tried to follow up on this number myself, I do take it for an educated guess from a professional.

Ice

If a character in a movie is talking while drinking a beverage with ice in it, pay attention to the ice to notice a movie error. You will notice in most cases that the ice either never melts, or melts at an uneven rate.

One of my favorite movie errors of all time involves ice water. It is from the movie, The Departed, and has not been reported on many movie error sites.

When Captain Queenan brings Costigan into his house so that they can talk about Frank Costello being an FBI informant, Queenan offers Costigan a glass of, "ice water." If you notice, there is not any ice in the glass. You will also notice that there is never any condensation on the glass, which would be caused from the cold temperature of the water.

Clocks

While directors have gotten better with this type of movie error, there are still many that do not pay attention to clocks that are on the walls in shots. It is common that the clock will either change drastically during the scene, or that it will be different from the time that it is supposed to be in the movie. A prime example of this type of movie error comes in The Hospital (1971) starring George C. Scott.