I’m no Stephen Spielberg or even a professional filmmaker, but I have made plenty of videos and have uploaded them onto my YouTube account. When people watch them, I hope they watch them for enjoyment and because they like my work, not to point out tiny continuity mistakes that would appear, as I am an amateur. This hasn’t happened to me yet as far as I know, however this has happened plenty of times to major films and is happening even more with today’s technology.

Although some of the mistakes are hilarious, I wonder whether they are worth pointing out? And more importantly why people go to the effort to watch these films so closely, I’m guessing over and over, to look for and point out these mistakes?

I recently came across an article that showed videos of some of the tiny continuity and plot mistakes that have made it into major films, ranging from Star Wars to Braveheart. In the days before YouTube or even the internet, some film lovers and avid fans may have seen these tiny mistakes and may have discussed them. However now there are plenty of websites and videos to point out and discuss these blink-and-you’ll-miss-them mistakes. Videos like this are usually found on YouTube and sometimes dedicated film websites such as IMDb.

These YouTube videos can come in all shapes and sizes, like this simple seven second video pointing out a Star Trooper hitting his head in Star Wars.

While some others go to the effort to make and upload videos pointing out every mistake in a film.

I recently came across a YouTube channel called CinemaSins. The videos on the CinemaSins channel focus on continuity and plot hole mistakes in a humorous way with a “punishment” at the end, which relates to the film that they are analysing.

However as humorous and slightly obnoxious as the CinemaSins crew might be, they even point out that they are not without fault. You will find on their YouTube channel, a video on everything wrong with themselves, which includes the facts that they go to the effort to point out these tiny mistakes that no-one would normally notice, and that their punishments have no real value. They also reveal that they have had 30 years of movie theatre experience between them and one of them was an extra in a movie. They may not be experts, but they are no amateurs either.

Some people point these mistakes out just for the fun of it or as a hobby, while some others take these mistakes more seriously, as they have expectations of seeing a great film, and they could see these mistakes as ruining the films for them. However, I again raise the question of  whether pointing out these mistakes are really worth it? I would say no, purely because at the end of the day, these films have already been made and the crew are not going to go back to correct or edit out these tiny mistakes. Also, despite these tiny mistakes, if the cast and crew aren’t enjoying critical success of their films, they would most likely be enjoying commercial success regardless. Besides, nothing or no-one is perfect.

Do you think that pointing out tiny mistakes in films serves a purpose? Feel free to comment below.