Articles > How movies have got it all wrong with Info Tech
- Beeping noises when the computer's visual display changes, and only when the camera is viewing
Do we really need to be reminded that there are 'computers' in the scene? After all, we can see them; we're not blind, but the incompetent movie makers think otherwise! If your computer were to make beeping, blipping, buzzing and other clicky noises everytime something happened on your screen, you'd be very annoyed (and probably want to smash the computer or something). But the characters in the movies are all so blissfully unware... - Operators typing at keyboard and windows/text appear and scroll madly on screen
This is just plain stupid and purely for show to impress the audience. No computer system in the real world would do something like that (and if they did, it would indicate something seriously wrong, and the manufacturers might get sued for causing epileptic fits in suceptible users). The only other computer program that might do something remotely similar is a video game. I'm sure the wanna-be CIA hackers don't play games when they're trying to accomplish something... - Hackers come up to a system and operate it as if they were already familiar
If you've been a PC user all your life and tried to use a Macintosh for the very first time (or vice versa), wouldn't you fumble around a bit, trying to work out how it works? In most cases, it can take hours or even days for people to learn how to use foreign systems. But in the movies, hackers arrive at a foreign computer system and simply start using it as if they knew the system back to front. Go figure... - No realism: Computer UIs geared for show, not for user friendliness
Continuing on the previous point, have you ever seen how when some hacker tries to log into a computer system only to be confronted with a huge flashing red box saying "ACCESS DENIED" (accompanied by a intermittent buzzing alarm noise)? Wouldn't a simple dialogue box with a message saying "Access denied" with an "OK" button be fine? Movies always over exaggerate, removing the realism.