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Hm. I'd suggest a second advantage of the "ball with fuse" or "stick with fuse" - and from there, the "C4 with unrealistic timer LED" makes a lot of sense: The
by tetha 5y ago
Hm. I'd suggest a second advantage of the "ball with fuse" or "stick with fuse" - and from there, the "C4 with unrealistic timer LED" makes a lot of sense:
The fuse can act as an agent of suspense, just as Hitchcock described it. It's a very simple indicator - a red dot or a flame, and the length of the fuse is how long to go until an earth-shattering kaboom. And it's obvious what's going to happen to a character if they hold it, so it's easy to create suspense. "Oh no, now the protagonist has the bomb. Oh yes, now the villain has it. Oh no, now the villain tricked the protagonist and put the bomb in their pants!"
That is much more interesting from a story telling point of view than a realistic bomb - a bunch of C4 with a mobile phone strapped to it and zero way to understand when it will ruin your day. Unless you include the trigger for those in the story, but then complexity grows.
- theshadowknows 5y agoExtra points for “earth-shattering kaboom” :)
- humanistbot 5y agoHaven't you seen a modern action movie where there is a block of C4 with a big digital timer counting down to 00:00? Seems to be used to the exact same dramatic effect.
- dylan604 5y agoOr a movie where the villian spends half the movie asking "where are my detonators?" If they are using detonators, rarely are there bright red oversized LEDs counters, or the loosely attached, spiraly wound wires just begging someone to ask "blue or red?"
- dEnigma 5y agoThat's exactly what they're saying. Look at the first paragraph.
- TheOtherHobbes 5y agoAct 3 in a traditional three act story structure is sometimes called The Ticking Clock because it's traditional to include a countdown. Having a literal countdown timer - usually for a bomb - is a standard trope in action thrillers. But any kind of deadline will do.
- cheschire 5y agoWhat are some good search queries to learn more about these types of standard structures, especially as it pertains to film and TV?
- karlkeefer 5y agohttps://tvtropes.org/ https://tvtropes.org/ has a ton of this kind of thing - not sure if that scratches your itch!
- jholman 5y agoHoly shit, just linking to an meme weapon like that, and not warning people? Not cool! To the uninitiated, do not follow that link unless you don't have anything else you need to do today. It is famous for destroying days of productivity.
- bmn__ 5y agohttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/609:_Tab_Explosion https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/609:_Tab_Explosio...
- Akronymus 5y agoObligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/609/ https://xkcd.com/609/ But yeah, tvtropes usually leads me down a wiki walk as well whenever posted.
- od1nos 5y agoYou can browse for all of them on https://tvtropes.org/ https://tvtropes.org/
- _carbyau_ 5y agoRed LED countdown is one thing. But don't forget the beeping. Gotta have a little beeper on it or it isn't the real deal. Sometimes I wonder whether aspects like this were added for accessibility reasons. IE blind people get a beep countdown.