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Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers
Posted by
Zonk
on Mon Dec 25, 2006 12:40 AM
from the toomanysecrets dept.
from the toomanysecrets dept.
Ant writes "A UseIt.com article talks about user interfaces (UIs) in film that are more exciting than they are realistic, and heroes have far too easy a time using foreign systems. The way Hollywood depicts usability could fill many a blooper reel. Here are 10 of the most egregious mistakes made by moviemakers. From the article: '3. The 3D UI - In Minority Report, the characters operate a complex information space by gesturing wildly in the space in front of their screens. As Tog found when filming Starfire, it's very tiring to keep your arms in the air while using a computer. Gestures do have their place, but not as the primary user interface for office systems.'"
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Ask Slashdot: What Movies Got Computers Right? 176 comments
boxturtleme asks: "There have been several posts recently about how movies have gotten computers, hackers, and other geeky stuff entirely wrong. A while back there was an article on Servers, Hackers, and Code In the Movies and another on Usability [of a GUI] in the Movies. Now we all know that most movies out there that have anything to do with technology get some part of it wildly inaccurate, though it often makes for a fun movie. This brings me to my question: What movies got technology right? This could range from movies about the past that represent it correctly to modern day movies or movies about the future that slashdot readers think present something within the realm of possibility. With all the complaining about bad movies, what movies do Slashdot readers think of as the good ones?"
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I do not care (Score:5, Funny)
This is a Unix system. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:This is a Unix system. (Score:5, Funny)
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Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, far before Apple (by about a decade) making Unix available to the common man, there was Linux. What was funny about that then was the unlikelihood of a kid having access to a Unix system. What was even funnier a few years later (by 97 or 98) was the fact that it was no longer unlikely! Kids, even 12-year-olds, had access to Linux and were using it and learning it.
Really, when I saw this one, I had to check the date on the article, because I thought it was quite old. The biggest examples of most of these are things like the first Mission Impossible, Independence Day, and as mentioned, Jurassic Park.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Linux (Score:4, Informative)
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Re: Jurassic Park (Score:3, Funny)
What I think is funny is that, in a movie that features dinosaurs, cloned using frog DNA, running amok and basically eating a theme park, the biggest complaint here is that a kid can figure out how to use a computer.
Technical Difficulties Diversion? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, I wouldn't want to watch someone debug or "bond" with a difficult system either. I'd rather see the results.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
What an arrogant remark. What, 12-year-olds can't read, or something?
Ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
Methinks a bit of perspective is called for...
Re:Ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Ridiculous... (Score:4, Insightful)
Movies, ESPECIALLY Hollywood sci-fi movies, aren't made primarily to be depictions of reality. Verisimilitude has its place, but not when it's going to slow down the narrative progress.
Parent
Re:Ridiculous... (Score:5, Interesting)
but then, in Pulp Fiction, whenever something serious is going down, John Travolta is in the can.
i) Robbery at the diner.
ii) Mia ODing
iii) Bruce Willis returning to his apartment to fetch his daddys watch - consequently ends up shooting Travolta while he is *in the can*.
So, just wanted to point out that there is at least one movie where 'can usage' is central to the story.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ridiculous... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Ridiculous... (Score:4, Funny)
Well, most of the time, anyway. "So much for the seashells. See you in a few minutes." [imdb.com].
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I liked the UI in Minority Report (Score:3, Interesting)
Login screens (Score:5, Funny)
You've Got Mail is Always Good News is a good one from the list though. I'd love to see the movie of the same name change so that Meg Ryan opens up her Mac notebook to a "You've got mail", which turns out to be 37 advertisements for penis enlargement pills and viagra. Hehehe...
Hardware issues. (Score:2)
I remember watching "The Lone Gunman" one day (thank God that show didn't make it!) and they needed more processing power to crack a password to take over a hijacked plane. "We could do this if had one of those new Octium 4's!" Well, they get one, right before the plane hits the building, they pull out their existing processor, I assume and Octium 3, and drop in the new
Old Hardware issues. (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing odd. On mainframes you can pull complete assembies off, and add without powering down. Some of the old timers here can tell you of hardware that could take almost anything and survive. It's just consumer equipment that has lowered everyone's expectations.
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searching is easy too (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you sure that was a Boolean search... (Score:4, Funny)
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#10? (Score:4, Informative)
This guy didn't do his research. It wasn't that specialized of a security system.
http://fsv.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
Grandfather (Score:4, Interesting)
All this griping because the kid knew Unix was stupid. It makes sense in the context of the movie, which is all that matters. I mean, filling in dino DNA with frog DNA was ridiculous, but it worked within the confines of the movie.
At twelve, I was programming assembly language on the Apple ][ for high-speed 3D wireframe graphics (like Bill Budge's cool toolkit, only sucky). It's not surprising a bright kid wouldn't know how to fly through a 3D interface on which she already had experience thanks to her understanding and very rich grandfather.
Parent
How it should work (Score:3, Interesting)
Think about how tedious a computer scene would be if the user had to navigate Windows, KDE, or even Mac OS X. While the herione was trying to find her husband's company's secret documents she'd log in
The way it works in the movies is the way it should work. Log in, type "find Kyoto meeting minutes", a bunch of matrix-ish characters scroll across the screen, and there it is.
Re:How it should work (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:How it should work (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
=)
Re:How it should work (Score:5, Informative)
I guess you don't use OS X. Apple aready has this feature, it is called Spotlight. Commnad-Space <saerch term> and OS X will provide a list of matching files based on Meta data and file contents. Okay, it is missing the matrix style characters, but it is close.
Parent
Flailing arm interface (Score:2)
What about enhance? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Twas the night before xmas... (Score:5, Funny)
As I clicked on my mouse,
Across a pile of old floppies, I had tried to degauss;
Windows kept hanging with a Blue Screen Of Death,
While I cursed out Bill Gates under my breath.
The missus slept, as did the kids and newborn,
So I took the time to surf for some porn.
I found a free site that contained many jpegs,
(So that's just exactly, how chickens can lay eggs!)
When out down the hall I heard a loud noise,
I jumped out of my chair and put back the boys.
I figured the wife must be up and about,
If caught again, she'd toss my ass out.
I laced up my robe and thought of a story
About why I'm up and how to say sorry.
I stuck out my head by the light of the john
(One of the kids must've left the light on)
I squint and I strain to see what is what
When what hove into view was a giant red butt.
The first thing I thought was to reach for a bat
(Wait a minute. A red suit, fur trim and he's fat!)
The Claus man is here with high-tech type gadgets
The latest geek toys that run all the gamuts.
New cell phones! New sound cards! New controllers and games!
For Xbox! For Gamecube! For Playstation and MAMEs!
Wireless Routers! And they're eleven G!
Not slow! Not slow! Not slow like B!
As dial-up was, before we all had high speed,
Time seemed to slow as I watched with my greed.
" All those wonderful toys" as the joker did say,
Where does he get them? Best Buy and Ebay?
And then, with a beeping, off went my pager,
(Some idiot at work with a dumb question, I'll wager)
As I fumbled to stop the beep-beeping sound,
Santa had stopped and now turned around.
It was unfortunate that he tripped the motion detector
Because the police would soon be dispatched to our sector
He dropped the toys to make quick his escape
And he flew 'cross the room like that dude in the cape
His ass -- How it rippled and flapped, I say truly
It's explained in a principle by a guy named Bernoulli.
Yes, he flew 'round the room just like he was Neo
While playing a song by Letters To Cleo
I silenced the alarm and he returned to the floor
I said I was sorry, but boy, was he sore!
He hitched up his belt and headed my way
But I managed to calm him with some Grand Marnier.
We laughed, we talked and he told me his troubles
About a lawsuit, an affair and a chimp named Bubbles.
He was falling down drunk. He walked with a sway.
I thought I had better take the keys to the sleigh.
I pulled out my cell phone and called for a cab
To take the jolly old elf back to his lab.
He spoke not a word, but threw up on my slippers.
By the smell, for breakfast, he must've had kippers.
That's about the time the policemen arrived,
So I went for some coffee to get old Santa revived.
In his current state and with no ID to display,
The cops had no choice, but to haul him away.
He gave me the finger as the cops drove out of sight,
" HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT.
Re:Twas the night before xmas (fixed the cadence) (Score:3, Informative)
Not to be a grammar nazi, but the cadence was off in too many places. Rather than just bitch about it, I'm submitting a revision for your consideration. I tried to stay true to the original intent. [sigh] The silly "characters per line" restriction is preventing me from posting, so I'm going to ramble here a bit to get the stats up. Yep, nothing relevant to read here, so just skip down a bit.
More crap for the "characters per line" restriction, dammit: Four score and seven years ago our fathers br
Too hard to keep your hands in the air? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Errr, no. Teachers are exhausted after a full day's teaching for a reason. I used to work in the pit at an oil change place and I can tell you, keeping your hands up in the air ain't no picnic. In fact, after awhile on a busy day, you just want to go up top so you can let your arms hang slack.
Voice interfaces inefficient? (Score:5, Funny)
Voice:
"Computer, what's the status of the plasma conduit in section XYZ?"
Alternative:
Okay, Engineering -> Systems -> Energy -> Plasma Conduits -> Section XYZ -> Status
Voice:
"Computer, how many crew members on board are human, female, and single? Oh, and with big boobs?"
Alternative:
Hmmm, Personnel -> Crew Listing -> Filter based on species, gender, marital status ->
Anyway. I just thought it seemed silly. A lot of times it's easier to say what you want than it is to write it out. If the computer can understand written english that isn't specially formatted, then why not take it to the next step and have it accept voice input? After all that is said, they did still have LCARS and all, so it isn't like voice interaction was the only way to work with the computer.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Just cross-reference your results with the uniform size database. One more reason for custom-tailored uniforms.
No "Independence Day" references? (Score:5, Funny)
Jeff Goldblum['s character] is able to plant a virus in the computer designed by AN ALIEN SPECIES. This assumes he has a good working knowledge of not only their user interface, but their hardware, software APIs, programming language, and arguably their natural language as well. Oh, and he learned all this in, like, a day. Granted, he had a Mac, but still.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The fighter was part of a recon group sent a little faster than the rest of the fleet, so that they would arrive earlier. The rest of the fleet was also traveling at relativistic speeds, and for them, the time difference between parting with the fighters, and arriving to Earth orbit could've been several weeks.
Best movie usability scene ever. (Score:5, Insightful)
User Interface? Minority Report. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people describe the UI of the air traffic control system I work on as dull but thats because you need to give it your total attention for six hours straight without your eyes getting tired.
Different requirements from your example, with the totally opposite outcome, but the argument that the UI has to suit the application is a g
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Let's take the ATM machine for example. Initially the machine was created to reduce the load on tellers for easily automated tasks. These machines would often directly generate reve
Almost credible... until right at the end. (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok. It was kind of hard reading yet another person who does not understand that movies are NOT reality. But at times it was mildly amusing, and almost credible. I say almost, because right at the end of the article there is a one line sentence that made me realize the author of this piece has ZERO comprehension of the real world. Most likely because the author is too busy trying to force reality on an obviously non-reality based for of entertainment. The line was this;
Users blame themselves when they can't use technology
Im sorry, but having worked in IT for almost a decade now, I have yet to hear one person who blames themselves instead of the 'stupid computer'. Hell, in this society, we even call car wrecks 'accidents' because nobody has the stones to take responsibility. Yet, this guy somehow believes that people are blaming themselves that they dont know how to use a PC? The only thing I can even think comes close to this is the people who walk around using the phrase "Im computer illiterate" as some sort of badge of honor. To which I always think "If you cant take the time to educate yourself about something you know you should be trying to learn, do you think its a great idea to BRAG about it?"
That one line in the article is more fanciful than ANY of the movie situations presented.
If only paper archives were as useable (Score:3, Interesting)
What really impress me is the hero's ability to navigate through an old-fashioned paper archive.
The hero and the heroine break into the very big company, find the small room with the "Archives" sign on the door, open the drawer "E-G", browse through the nicely arranged folders, and pick the folder with the incrimination evidence.
Where I work, we have paper archives all over the place. Even though we know the system, it can take a day finding the information we are looking for.
Re:Sound effects? (Score:5, Interesting)
By way of example, in the original pilot of Star Trek (original series) the test audience felt the opening sequence felt unnatural, because when the Enterprise was zooming into view there was no sound. That was as it should have been, this being a starship traveling through vacuum parsecs from anything resembling an atmosphere. However, as soon as Roddenbery's people added the swoosh! sound effect, everybody was happy. I've seen both sequences and I must admit I prefer it with the sound, even though I know better.
Parent
Re:Sound effects? (Score:4, Funny)
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...and for the UMPTEENTH time... (Score:4, Informative)
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