Prominence of text/ WhatsApp messages present-day in films & series

[T & P]

I know smartphones have become an integral part of everyday life, and that present-day films and series ought to reflect this. But am I the only one who’s getting really fatigued of their frequency and relevance in so many TV series, and to a lesser extent films?

it seems to have become the go-to plot device for many a genre: a serial killer tricks his intended victim by impersonating a friend of the vic and texting them to set up a meeting; a wife finds her husband is cheating on her by checking his messages; a dejected main character in a will-they-won’t-they romcom goes out of his apartment to hit the singles bars and leaves the phone behind, and as the door closes the camera zooms in on the phone as the screen lights up with a WhatsApp from the love of his life.

And even when they’re not an important plot development, long text conversations between characters chatting are now common as fuck. And to add insult to injury often the messages that appear on the screen are tiny, and unless one has a 55 inch-plus screen you have to put your glasses on to read them.

Time to dial this shit down. Who’s with me?

 

[oryx]

I know smartphones have become an integral part of everyday life, and that present-day films and series ought to reflect this. But am I the only one who’s getting really fatigued of their frequency and relevance in so many TV series, and to a lesser extent films?

it seems to have become the go-to plot device for many a genre: a serial killer tricks his intended victim by impersonating a friend of the vic and texting them to set up a meeting; a wife finds her husband is cheating on her by checking his messages; a dejected main character in a will-they-won’t-they romcom goes out of his apartment to hit the singles bars and leaves the phone behind, and as the door closes the camera zooms in on the phone as the screen lights up with a WhatsApp from the love of his life.

And even when they’re not an important plot development, long text conversations between characters chatting are now common as fuck. And to add insult to injury often the messages that appear on the screen are tiny, and unless one has a 55 inch-plus screen you have to put your glasses on to read them.

Time to dial this shit down. Who’s with me?

Me, completely agree with your analysis.

 

[platinumsage]

I think this was the first time I saw them overlaid on-screen:

How Text Messaging in House of Cards Captures the Zeitgeist

Cable and Satellite subscriptions are feeling somewhat irrelevant in the modern world, why do we need to spend over £50 a month for 300 channels of mind numbing garbage when a £5.99 subscription to…

neilchughes.com

tbh I think it would be a bit weird if texts didn't play a part in many dramas.

 

[Reno]

Modern films and tv series reflect modern life, not sure what the problem is. You look around you in any public space and a majority of people will be texting. This is how most people communicate now and in films taking place in the present, that will be reflected. Like with anything, bad films will communicate this poorly, good films will do this well.

 

[skyscraper101]

I’m waiting for them to start doing overlaid texts on Coronation Street. But it needs to be something funny like a group text promo on half priced hot pots at the Rovers.

 

[Orang Utan]

That’s how people communicate - it’s just reflecting that. If you have to put your glasses on to read text, then so be it, you need to wear glasses

 

[Epona]

Can't afford a big enough telly to read that sort of shit on screen, subtitles are ok but often other text on screen is too small.

 

[Santino]

I can't say that I've noticed them being used as a plot device very much.

 

[Reno]

And even when they’re not an important plot development, long text conversations between characters chatting are now common as fuck. And to add insult to injury often the messages that appear on the screen are tiny, and unless one has a 55 inch-plus screen you have to put your glasses on to read them.

Time to dial this shit down. Who’s with me?

If you can only make out text and other details on a screen with glasses, then you should be wearing glasses all the time. It's not the fault of the programme, it's your eyesight. If you have a really small telly and you can't make out text and details even with good eyesight, then you are sitting too far away.

Before digital media, we got shots of letters, newspaper articles and notes which characters read in films and on tv and the text on screen was no larger then. If anything, concise text messages against a contrasting background should be far easier to make out than a shot of a letter.

 

[Marty1]

I know smartphones have become an integral part of everyday life, and that present-day films and series ought to reflect this. But am I the only one who’s getting really fatigued of their frequency and relevance in so many TV series, and to a lesser extent films?

it seems to have become the go-to plot device for many a genre: a serial killer tricks his intended victim by impersonating a friend of the vic and texting them to set up a meeting; a wife finds her husband is cheating on her by checking his messages; a dejected main character in a will-they-won’t-they romcom goes out of his apartment to hit the singles bars and leaves the phone behind, and as the door closes the camera zooms in on the phone as the screen lights up with a WhatsApp from the love of his life.

And even when they’re not an important plot development, long text conversations between characters chatting are now common as fuck. And to add insult to injury often the messages that appear on the screen are tiny, and unless one has a 55 inch-plus screen you have to put your glasses on to read them.

Time to dial this shit down. Who’s with me?

Just buy a 55 inch-plus screen and be sure to wear your glasses.

 

[T & P]

If you can only make out text and other details on a screen with glasses, then you should be wearing glasses all the time. It's not the fault of the programme, it's your eyesight. If you have a really small telly and you can't make out text and details even with good eyesight, then you are sitting too far away.

Before digital media, we got shots of letters, newspaper articles and notes which characters read in films and on tv and the text was no larger then.

I don't need glasses to read subtitles when they are on, or I put them on.

But when film & TV series makers started to stamp on iphone-style text messages on the screen, like the screengrab from platinumsage above, they do it in a variate of sizes. Sometimes they're big enough, sometimes nowhere near as much, and decisively smaller than any subtitle I've come across.

 

[Reno]

I don't need glasses to read subtitles when they are on, or I put them on.

But when film & TV series makers started to stamp on iphone-style text messages on the screen, like the screengrab from platinumsage above, they do it in a variate of sizes. Sometimes they're big enough, sometimes nowhere near as much, and decisively smaller than any subtitle I've come across.

I can easily read the text in platiumsages screengrab above, even though it is lower resolution and far smaller than a tv screen. So that should pose no problem on an actual tv screen if you sit at the right distance.

As I said, text has always been represented on screen, be print or digital and film or tv series make sure it's large enough to read. I sometimes watch stuff on my ipad, which has a small screen and I've never had problems there. You are trying to create a problem where none exists. If you really can't read the text, you'll need new glasses.

 

[T & P]

I can easily read the text in platiumsages screengrab above, even though it is lower resolution and far smaller than a tv screen. So that should pose no problem on an actual tv screen if you sit at the right distance.

As I said, text has always been represented on screen, be print or digital and film or tv series make sure it's large enough to read. I sometimes watch stuff on my ipad, which has a small screen and I've never had problems there. You are trying to create a problem where none exists. If you really can't read the text, you'll need new glasses.

TBF having sometimes to use glasses is a side effect of the issue, and is not my main gripe with. The ever-present use of whatsapp/text conversations flashing on the screen, sometimes long conversations at that, as well as the fast-establishing cliche of creating suspense or drama by a protagnist missing a crucial text message flashing on the screen, or being tricked by an antagonist's mischievous text message, is getting extremely fucking tiresome for me at the quantities it's being used.

 

[Reno]

TBF having to use glasses is not my main gripe with the issue. The ever-present use of whatsapp/text conversations flashing on the screen, sometimes long conversations at that, as well as the fast-establishing cliche of creating suspense or drama by a protagnist missing a crucial text message flashing on the screen or being tricked by an antagonist's mischievous text message is getting extremely tiresome for me at the quantities it's being used.

Life changes, films and tv reflects that. Good films and tv shows use new technology well, poor films and tv shows resort to cliches and not just in regard to smart phones. I'm not sure this was worth another "that awful newfangled thing films and tv shows do now" thread.

 

[Dom Traynor]

I get more annoyed when stories find excuses to get characters into areas with no phone signal, but I like the asthetics of texts on the screen, and the little bloopy SFX.

 

[Reno]

I get more annoyed when stories find excuses to get characters into areas with no phone signal, but I like the asthetics of texts on the screen, and the little bloopy SFX.

In horror films and thrillers there is no getting around it because otherwise the film would be over at first sign of a threat. It's not that unrealistic though, mobile phone coverage in many places in the US is genuinely crap.

 

[platinumsage]

I think it's great displaying them on-screen. It allows you to see the character's face as they read or send them, rather than some view of the actual device over their shoulder.

 

[Dom Traynor]

In horror films and thrillers there is no getting around it because otherwise the film would be over at first sign of a threat. It's not that unrealistic though, mobile phone coverage in many places in the US is genuinely crap.

That's all true, I live in NZ where all you have to do is drive into the bush for 20 minutes and there is nothing not even 1G never mind 5

 

[marty21]

I think it's great displaying them on-screen. It allows you to see the character's face as they read or send them, rather than some view of the actual device over their shoulder.

This ^^^