10 Movie Secrets Everyone Knows Except You
8. There's A Fake "Mistake" With Visible Film Crew - Gravity
As ridiculously convincing as Alfonso Cuarón's Oscar-winning masterwork Gravity might be - no, it wasn't filmed in space, but in the comparative comfort of a state-of-the-art soundstage.
Yet as a gag, Cuarón decided to have a little fun and insert into his movie the one thing that just about any filmmaker wants to avoid catching in the frame: visible crew members.
The film opens with a gorgeously fluid single take shot of the camera slowly inching towards the Space Shuttle Explorer, where we're introduced to Dr. Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Lieutenant Kowalski (George Clooney).
When Cuarón first pulls in close on Kowalski's face, for a few moments a bizarre shape can be made out in the reflection of his helmet. Yep - it's members of the film crew.
To be more specific, it's tricky to make out but the two figures are astronaut filmmakers: one is holding a camera while the other operates the boom mic for sound.
Cuarón is obviously poking fun at the basically impossible techniques required to achieve his mind-melting camerawork in space for real, not to ignore the fact that having a boom mic is near-pointless - and hilarious - given that sound cannot travel in space.