Computers and typing on Smallville.

[Nospam]

As a computer professional am I the only one that is annoyed with scenes where one of the actors or actresses are using a computer and we see or hear them type and type and type and type and type and type some more? What the fark are they typing? The Gettysburg Address? A Perl script? What?

I know it's petty, but it really annoys me and this episode was one of the worst in this regard. :\

[RJLCyberPunk]

As a computer professional am I the only one that is annoyed with scenes where one of the actors or actresses are using a computer and we see or hear them type and type and type and type and type and type some more? What the fark are they typing? The Gettysburg Address? A Perl script? What?

I know it's petty, but it really annoys me and this episode was one of the worst in this regard. :\

Umm are you a journalist? Have you ever written a piece of fanfiction at least? If so you'ds know that writing an elaborate fanfiction or in the case of a Journalist an elaborate article it does take time is not like you type 3 characters and presto!:rolleyes:

[citizenlen]

Actually, I was wondering what Allison was typing because there was nothing on the screen. no codes or anything but the desktop and the window for the money transfer.

[Nospam]

Umm are you a journalist? Have you ever written a piece of fanfiction at least? If so you'ds know that writing an elaborate fanfiction or in the case of a Journalist an elaborate article it does take time is not like you type 3 characters and presto!:rolleyes:

What the hell are you talking about?


Actually, I was wondering what Allison was typing because there was nothing on the screen. no codes or anything but the desktop and the window for the money transfer.

That scene and the one with Lana in front of a computer at the ISIS Foundation are two great examples. Tippity tap, tap tap. What are you doing?

[xrayvision]

My biggest gripe about computers in this show are how various characters who had no training can suddenly do everything with a computer.

[Lara Lane]

As a computer professional am I the only one that is annoyed with scenes where one of the actors or actresses are using a computer and we see or hear them type and type and type and type and type and type some more? What the fark are they typing? The Gettysburg Address? A Perl script? What?

I know it's petty, but it really annoys me and this episode was one of the worst in this regard. :\

Je suis d'accord! the inaccurate usage of computers (typing, hacking, cracking, etc) in this show really pisses me off.


Actually, I was wondering what Allison was typing because there was nothing on the screen. no codes or anything but the desktop and the window for the money transfer.

LoL! I too was wondering what Allison was typing herself, like the director says "action" and she thinks "what will I write while I pretend to write?? I know, my name once and again!" or "the lines I'm supposed to say"

[TheANIMAL (marcus)]

I record the sound of typing then, loop it and play it over and over to help me go to sleep...

[minerva73]

LoL! I too was wondering what Allison was typing herself, like the director says "action" and she thinks "what will I write while I pretend to write?? I know, my name once and again!" or "the lines I'm supposed to say"

:lol: I bet that they just push random buttons when they're doing it or their name like you said. :p

Eventually when they're going on their typing spree, they either show somebody interrupting them or some new information dug up about someone. So I guess they make it seem like they're so deeply rooted in their work or whatever they're typing, so that when they do either of those things, it'll seem important. :confused:

[eas]

The typing doesn't annoy me as much as the weird things like, "I know, I'll piggyback off of his server and stop his money transfer!" And then suddenly a window pops up that says, "money transfer happening right now. Click here to make it stop if you are a hacker....".

Having worked in the wire transfer department of bank for one year, that pisses me off much more.

[TheANIMAL (marcus)]

Yeah, hacking is alot more complicated than Chloe has ever made out. You cant just do stuff like she does, otherwise everyone would be intercepting banking details, and believe me there are people in real life with more alot skills than Chloe.

[theotherJane]

What really amused me was the fact that Chloe has Stellure installed on her computer. (http://www.stellure.com/)

:lol:

[Nospam]

:lol:

Or that she simply typed "blond woman" into the search box on the Metropolis Police database. :rotfl:

[paolinki25]

:lol: Maybe they just type a bunch of gibberish. Dude, the DP is a freaking mess without Perry. :p

[Nospam]

In an interview Allison revealed that she actually types her lines in scenes where she is required to type. Apparently Tom just types his name over and over again. :lol:

[borednow]

What I hate is that the writers just use computers like magic wands. Can't figure out how to get out of this jam? Chloe can hack the pentagon and use her internet resources to track the sales of individual comic books. They have the probably most powerful Superhero ever at their disposal and this is what they come up with? nb hhhyuhyhuhyhyu <- What it looks like when someone smacks their head against a keyboard, just FYI.

[MidgardDragon]

This isn't exactly confined to Smallville. Often movies and television have people "type" when they're not supposed to just to have something happening in the scene.

[NotTodayPete]

I thought it was silly how Chloe could stop a bank wire transfer just by hacking into canary's computer, lol

[Vergon6]

It's just like on shows where someone is dialing a phone number but that really only press like 3 or 4 numbers. They should either go all the way or just pretend they are doing speed dial haha.

[litew8]

A Perl script?
lOl
lOl
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And you'll notice, she's typing while a script is actually running. As if to imply that her typing is allowing the script to progress. How cheap and contradictive. I could understand if she were to hit the Enter key every couple of seconds, but to constantly rat-ta-tat-tat is bogus and apparent.

[Radioflyer]

My biggest gripe about computers in this show are how various characters who had no training can suddenly do everything with a computer.Well, we never did get to see what courses all of the characters took in school.

----- Added 3 Minutes later -----


Je suis d'accord! the inaccurate usage of computers (typing, hacking, cracking, etc) in this show really pisses me off.



LoL! I too was wondering what Allison was typing herself, like the director says "action" and she thinks "what will I write while I pretend to write?? I know, my name once and again!" or "the lines I'm supposed to say"It would be more belivable if she pulled in a nerd buddy, or something like she did in the early years but that would take too long.

----- Added 7 Minutes later -----


What I hate is that the writers just use computers like magic wands. Can't figure out how to get out of this jam? Chloe can hack the pentagon and use her internet resources to track the sales of individual comic books. They have the probably most powerful Superhero ever at their disposal and this is what they come up with? nb hhhyuhyhuhyhyu <- What it looks like when someone smacks their head against a keyboard, just FYI.gotta give them some credit. At least they aren't talking to the computer and it's not talking back.

[Welling_is_pretty]

In an interview Allison revealed that she actually types her lines in scenes where she is required to type. Apparently Tom just types his name over and over again. :lol:
:rotfl: that is so cool that you know that!
I've always wondered what Allison types in those scenes (and in the few that Tom does as well). Sometimes I watch her fingers to try to see what letters she's typing away at to figure it out.

What I think is funny is that characters on shows either type a lot of just barely. Like a character will say "let me search the database" hit 3 keys and say "well, I've tried everything I know!" :lol:
Or conversely, like Chloe, will type for ages, fingers flying over the keyboard and then say something like "well, I put in her name and I couldn't come up with anything".
But htat's why Chloe is such an awesome sidekick. She does things with a computer that only Oracle could manage! (kudos to anyone who got that!)

[minerva73]

The strange thing that I noticed was Lana in the episode when she was typing. She was viewing footage of Lex in the Isis place and she was typing like crazy. Maybe it's the type of technology that she uses in her video cameras to view someone that she has to type an entire paragraph instead of using a mouse. :\

[triplet]

Actually, I was wondering what Allison was typing because there was nothing on the screen. no codes or anything but the desktop and the window for the money transfer.

Actually, in an interview Allison says she types her lines when she needs to do typing in the show.

Tom says he types his name over and over again...

ETA: oops, no spam beat me to posting that tidbit... :D

As for the typing, yeah that confuses me. I mean, there Chloe was, doing all this typing, but there were no text boxes up, no word processing documents...

Wouldn't clicks of a mouse have been more appropriate? But it doesn't surprise me. They clearly have no idea how to really use a computer on this show, they've had problems with that the entire series, Delete was a particularly bad example of this from the third season.

[Nospam]

Wouldn't clicks of a mouse have been more appropriate? But it doesn't surprise me. They clearly have no idea how to really use a computer on this show, they've had problems with that the entire series, Delete was a particularly bad example of this from the third season.

Yeah...Delete. :\

Love your reviews, Trip. :)

[InLove_with_Chloe]

In an interview Allison revealed that she actually types her lines in scenes where she is required to type. Apparently Tom just types his name over and over again. :lol:

Sounds like something his character would do.....
:lol:

[ShelbyKent]

Sounds like something his character would do.....
:lol: TW is internalizing his character's BDA-ness :lol:

----- Added 51 Seconds later -----

As for AM's techniques..... they toss her the verbal tongue twisters so i think typing the lines helps her remember?

[Nospam]

TW is internalizing his character's BDA-ness :lol:

----- Added 51 Seconds later -----

As for AM's techniques..... they toss her the verbal tongue twisters so i think typing the lines helps her remember?

:lol:

I was going to make a comment along those lines. No offense to TW, but he comes across in interviews as a pretty serious, boring guy.

[eas]

:lol:

I was going to make a comment along those lines. No offense to TW, but he comes across in interviews as a pretty serious, boring guy.

Ah, poor TW. The sense I've gotten is that he's incredibly funny, but he tries really hard not to show it, because he's afraid of things being taken out of context.

There's an incredibly hilarious interview out there with Kristen (from Eonline) where he talks about this practical joke he played on Jensen & Jared from "Supernatural". That makes me think that he's not as serious and boring as he likes to make himself out to be in most interviews.

[borednow]

How about the trick he apparently played on MR when he was directing 'Freak'? Something about replacing a bunch of papers with stuff not suitable to be discussed in an interview. MR talked about it once. TW sounds like fun.

[Lara Lane]

How about the trick he apparently played on MR when he was directing 'Freak'? Something about replacing a bunch of papers with stuff not suitable to be discussed in an interview. MR talked about it once. TW sounds like fun.



What did he he replaced the papers with? Hot, naked Clex Fan made manips? :p

[red_sun1938]

Back on my Apple II series in the late 80's, I wrote a program that would take random keystrokes and turn them into a canned sentence. I had seen Wargames way too many times and Matthew Broderick typed what sounded like 500 charaters while all that showed on the screen was a three word sentence.

Chloe's typing in Siren reminded me of that and I laughed out loud immediately.

[borednow]

What did he he replaced the papers with? Hot, naked Clex Fan made manips? :p

He didn't say. MR just said he thought he was going to get arrested for having them on an airplane. :lol: or something like that.

[chloesmygirl]

It's a TV show folks not real life.

[gx25236]

All organizations in Smallville universe are using unpatched software, configured to accept remote commands without password identification and all firewalls in Allow All mode.:eek:

[HowardFilms]

Haha, I notice this a lot in TV but it was insane in that scene with Chloe...what the hell was she typing?

[Nospam]

Back on my Apple II series in the late 80's, I wrote a program that would take random keystrokes and turn them into a canned sentence. I had seen Wargames way too many times and Matthew Broderick typed what sounded like 500 charaters while all that showed on the screen was a three word sentence.

Chloe's typing in Siren reminded me of that and I laughed out loud immediately.

Cool. :lol:

I remember a looooooooong time ago at Expo 86 in Vancouver I swapped the program disks running on the computers on display between the Italian pavilion and the Mexican pavilion. Needless to say much confusion was caused.

[jazel]

As a computer professional am I the only one that is annoyed with scenes where one of the actors or actresses are using a computer and we see or hear them type and type and type and type and type and type some more? What the fark are they typing? The Gettysburg Address? A Perl script? What?

I know it's petty, but it really annoys me and this episode was one of the worst in this regard. :\

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
sorry Jeremy :\, I really don't mean, to laugh at your pain.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[kentfamily]

Hey people, when shows or movies are made. SOUND is put in after the taping of the show. The typing that you hear is someoen else typing away and put in later. Even voice is done afterwards too.

Remember in SEASPN ONE? Pilot show? If you watch the commentaries, TPTB mentioned when Clark walked Lana back from the cemetery she gave him a kiss on the cheek. TPTB had made that kiss. So it is ussually added on later.
Thats why there is Sound and Effects Director credits at the end of movies made or shows.

[litew8]

Shhhhh..... do you hear that noise?

http://www.ilsiciliano.net/MISC/RATATAT.gif

[borednow]

Haha, I notice this a lot in TV but it was insane in that scene with Chloe...what the hell was she typing?

Apparently her lines. :eek:

[Lazy Boy]

The strange thing that I noticed was Lana in the episode when she was typing. She was viewing footage of Lex in the Isis place and she was typing like crazy. Maybe it's the type of technology that she uses in her video cameras to view someone that she has to type an entire paragraph instead of using a mouse. :\

Maybe she has another little window open on the screen we couldn't see where she was writing her own fanfiction, you know the one where Chloe, Lana and Lois are in a three way love triangle......
Anyhoo, it's just a show but I do take the point where Al and Miles do get a little lazy with protraying the characters IT skills.
Regarding Tom Welling, perhaps he's writing his name to remind himself who he is as he doesn't exactly have his character's "mind like a titanium trap".

[aXem]

I find the typing scenes and oversimplification of computer processes amusing.

[kal-el_Girl]

As a computer professional am I the only one that is annoyed with scenes where one of the actors or actresses are using a computer and we see or hear them type and type and type and type and type and type some more? What the fark are they typing? The Gettysburg Address? A Perl script? What?

I know it's petty, but it really annoys me and this episode was one of the worst in this regard. :\

hahaha that was so funny!! that's really what I always think when they're at the computer, ok, so I'm a designer and basically you barely use the keyboard so what's the deal w/ all the typing THEY'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!!:rotfl:
AND the most imp. question who are they typing to?
the world will never know!:p

----- Added 6 Minutes later -----


:lol: Maybe they just type a bunch of gibberish. Dude, the DP is a freaking mess without Perry. :p

BTW where on earth is Mr. White?
come on bring him on board already!!

[ClarksGal]

That scene and the one with Lana in front of a computer at the ISIS Foundation are two great examples. Tippity tap, tap tap. What are you doing?

Yeah, I've noticed that too. You're right, it is annoying. Especially when what they are supposedly doing should be using their mouse, or something. The place I noticed it the most was in Bizarro, when Clark and Chloe were pow-wowing about Bizarro, and Chloe just started typing while Clark was talking. She wasn't really even looking for anything yet!

[triplet]

Yeah...Delete. :\

Love your reviews, Trip. :)

I didn't review that episode for KryptonSite, but boy... that probably woulda been like a 1.

I LOATHED that episode!

With a Passion.

It's probably one of my least favorite, right up there with Blue and Lucy.

http://deephousepage.com/smilies/shudder.gif

Oh, and thanks!

:D



I was going to make a comment along those lines. No offense to TW, but he comes across in interviews as a pretty serious, boring guy.

Well, that is an offense to Tom, but I don't think he's boring. I think his mocking of Chloe behind her back in Persona was him fooling around and then the director decided it fit the character so he kept it in.

Smart and funny and not serious.



Hey people, when shows or movies are made. SOUND is put in after the taping of the show. The typing that you hear is someoen else typing away and put in later. Even voice is done afterwards too.

Remember in SEASPN ONE? Pilot show? If you watch the commentaries, TPTB mentioned when Clark walked Lana back from the cemetery she gave him a kiss on the cheek. TPTB had made that kiss. So it is ussually added on later.

Thats why there is Sound and Effects Director credits at the end of movies made or shows.

Yes, a lot of the sound is added later, its called Foley Editing, but the voices are not always done later. It doesn't sound natural when it's looped (that's what you call it when dialogue is recorded later).

Think about the sound in the third original Star Wars film (I mean the old third one, not that dreck that was the new third one), the sound was all looped later. They didn't sync record in the studio at all.

It's because sync sound is very hard to do well and if you've got dodgey equipment it can be nearly impossible.

It was common in British films of the 60's and 70's to loop everything afterwards mostly because it saved money, but the British director of that film looped the dialogue because it was part of his "style."

http://deephousepage.com/smilies/shudder.gif

I hated that part of the film. It made the dialogue sound flat and phoney. It robbed it of its emotion.

They do loop in Smallville, but only when the have to. It's very time-consuming, it can take hours per each minute to do (from what I understand), and there is just not enough time for them to do that.



Maybe she has another little window open on the screen we couldn't see where she was writing her own fanfiction, you know the one where Chloe, Lana and Lois are in a three way love triangle......

http://deephousepage.com/smilies/shudder.gif


Anyhoo, it's just a show but I do take the point where Al and Miles do get a little lazy with protraying the characters IT skills.

I think it's mostly a time-saver, they don't have time to explain every little thing and computer hacking isn't a very visual thing and it'd be too boring to explain it all so they just make it up as they go along sometimes.

But even so, I busted them on Siren for that. Dumb. How could Chloe hack into a bank from Dinah's work computer?

I'm not an IT pro like some in this thread, but I do know my way around a computer (I do tech support) and it is really eye-roll worthy at times.


Regarding Tom Welling, perhaps he's writing his name to remind himself who he is as he doesn't exactly have his character's "mind like a titanium trap".

He is not dumb.

:mad:

He wouldn't be as good an actor and director as he is if he weren't very smart, but don't just take my word for it.

His costars have said from time to time that they're surprised just how smart Tom is.

James Marsters is one of the smartest actors working and he thought so. So did Rutger Hauer and he's also very smart.

And he probably types his name over and over because he's not as good a typist as Allison. His name might be something he can do fast.

There's nothing worse than an actor who plays a character who should be able to type, like a future world class reporter, and can't.

He probably realizes that and no one is going to get a good enough view of what he's typing to notice he's typing "Tom Welling" over and over again.

[The Krypton Knight]

Go trip! lol. Love the insight into the show that you give, and keep the reviews coming!

[triplet]

Go trip! lol.

:D

Yeah, don't you dare diss Tom around me!

:D

I see something like that and I'll come to his defense every single time. I think he's all sorts of awesome, but mostly because he's very smart on top of everything else.


Love the insight into the show that you give, and keep the reviews coming!

Thanks! I will.

:D

[dcmarriott]

My biggest gripe about computers in this show are how various characters who had no training can suddenly do everything with a computer.

Agreed! Computer hacking has become the lazy writer's plot device of choice.

Smallville's writers have been especially guilty this season. In various episodes, we've seen Chloe, Lana and Kara hack into government or corporate computer systems that would likely have very high levels of security. Do you really think that someone with a high school computer course can do that? If Chloe's skills are that good, why isn't she working in the Daily Planet's IT department? And when did Kara take a course in 21st century human computer science?

Professional writers should be able to come up with something less obvious and more plausible to move their plots along.

[morethanmeetstheye]

I've read that interview too about AM and TW, and it made me laugh. I think it's smart of her to type up those crazy lines. Her delivery is simply phenomenal with the material she is given.

On wikipedia it says that she was cast for her role because Gough and Millar felt she had a "rare ability to deliver large chunks of expositionary [sic] dialogue conversationally."

I've always felt that this was true. Before I found out, I remember thinking: "Wow, if anyone else was saying that line right now, it would sound awkward..." :)

[wendelboe]

Maybe instead of the mouse they use the keyboard to move the mouse by clicking :rotfl:

[Compton]

I understand what you are saying. I can type reasonably fast and accurately (touch type) but do sometimes look at the keyboard. On Smallville and most other programmes featuring computers this always happens. However, I expect that to get round the bother of having them type the correct thing, they just go "tippity, tappity"!

One thing I noticed at the Isis Foundation is when Lana takes Clark (or is it Bizarro) into the computer screen room, all the computers are on with the logo swirling round, despite being covered with bubble wrap! Surely they would heat up? She presumably hasn't been there for about a month but there they are using up our energy - no wonder there's a fuel crisis!