When people talk about "movie magic", they're not talking about the many potions and arcane spells cast to put a film together (although the former definitely comes into the process of some actors; looking at you, mid-era Robert Downey Jr). They mean the ineffable transformation of a load of people messing about in front of a camera, pretending to be other people, into something you actually want to spend a surprising amount of your hard-earned money on watching at the local Odeon. A film set, obviously, looks very different to a finished film. The polish comes in the edit, in the addition of special effects, in the cuts that make sure you don't see stunt doubles, in music and foley being added in post-production (seriously, most blockbuster action scenes would be really disappointing if they used the sound on set. At least, you'd be able to tell nobody was really punching each other). But part of that magic is the audience never think about any of those things. How can they? They're viewing the finished product, a - in theory - polished and immaculate piece of cinema, which absolutely doesn't look like a load of people messing about in front of a camera, possibly on a sound stage, whilst a crew of between ten and several dozen people watch from behind the camera and try to be quiet. It's a spell you can ruin in an instant by peeking behind the curtain and paying attention to the man hanging out back there. The illusion is spoilt, you realise that before CGI everything looks ridiculous, you see arch enemies hanging out together, you see nightmarish horror villains chilling out between takes. It makes all of that very serious stuff look... well, silly. Here are twenty behind-the-scenes shots that make films look stupid.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
