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BrandonSP
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21 Nov 2012, 7:56 pm

Does anyone else here have a tendency to lose track of what's going on in a movie? This happens to me a lot, especially if the dialogue-to-action ratio in the movie is very high. I don't know whether the problem has to do with the excessive dialogue boring me or if it's written in a way that confuses me (e.g. heavy use of slang and idioms). Maybe I have a hyperactivity issue. What do you think it could be?


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CosmicRuss
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21 Nov 2012, 8:06 pm

Yes, this happens to me almost all the time.
I am not a film lover but if there is a film I am interested in I wait until it is released on DVD then I can stop it when I like, view it as many times as I feel necessary to take it all in.

When I did 'go to the movies' my friends were always sick of me saying "what happened?". :lol:


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redrobin62
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21 Nov 2012, 8:09 pm

Talkies do confuse me sometimes, especially some of those film noirs from the 50's and 60's. Espionage, some science fiction and hentai/anime films can also confuse me as their plots seem to always wander off in all directions.



arielhawksquill
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21 Nov 2012, 8:16 pm

Turn the subtitles on. You'll miss less.



dyingofpoetry
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21 Nov 2012, 8:19 pm

BrandonSP wrote:
Does anyone else here have a tendency to lose track of what's going on in a movie? This happens to me a lot, especially if the dialogue-to-action ratio in the movie is very high. I don't know whether the problem has to do with the excessive dialogue boring me or if it's written in a way that confuses me (e.g. heavy use of slang and idioms). Maybe I have a hyperactivity issue. What do you think it could be?


I lose track of plots a LOT (pretty common for autistics) and the reasons are usually that 1. we merely have trouble following conversations unless it's clearly directed toward us and 2. that we tend to space out and lose big chunks of the dialogue while we're lost in our heads.


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CosmicRuss
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21 Nov 2012, 8:28 pm

arielhawksquill wrote:
Turn the subtitles on. You'll miss less.

I agree. I even do that with tv programmes - my DVR does that.
dyingofpoetry wrote:
BrandonSP wrote:
Does anyone else here have a tendency to lose track of what's going on in a movie? This happens to me a lot, especially if the dialogue-to-action ratio in the movie is very high. I don't know whether the problem has to do with the excessive dialogue boring me or if it's written in a way that confuses me (e.g. heavy use of slang and idioms). Maybe I have a hyperactivity issue. What do you think it could be?


I lose track of plots a LOT (pretty common for autistics) and the reasons are usually that 1. we merely have trouble following conversations unless it's clearly directed toward us and 2. that we tend to space out and lose big chunks of the dialogue while we're lost in our heads.
Yes - analysing why that person has left the cinema for the 2nd time in a row? Do they have a weak bladder or something? :lol:


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Jayo
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21 Nov 2012, 8:44 pm

I don't really have so much of a problem with dialogue in movies as the subtle nuances and filtering of relevant items that the camera lingers on (foreshadowing that they'll come up later on, things like that. Definitely, it's trouble integrating the relevant items into meaningful significance - that whole "parts-to-whole" challenge that people on the spectrum have - plus theory of mind issues, why someone suggests something to another character with a sly glance and we think "why would she possibly want to walk away at a time like this" but an NT watching it with me will instantly say "oh, she's in on the plot, she knows that he's going to get assassinated when he goes downstairs to the pool" - then the bigger picture of why the guy was being led to his death - things like that tend to elude us w/o being able to naturally read into non-verbal nuance, ToM, and the bigger picture...clearly designed with NT audiences in mind!! !



tb86
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22 Nov 2012, 6:23 pm

Inception
What I always keep forgeting is what they're after. What they get will allow that chinese guy to take over Cillian Murphy's company.



Robdemanc
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24 Nov 2012, 5:29 am

Yes I do. I often need to watch the film a few times before I can appreciate it. This is especially true if its a complex thriller. I remember watching The Pelican Brief and not having a clue why these people were after the main characters. But after a few times watching it I found I was able to enjoy it.

Unless the plot is simple to follow I will not appreciate the first viewing.



b9
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24 Nov 2012, 7:34 am

BrandonSP wrote:
Does anyone else here have a tendency to lose track of what's going on in a movie?


i lose track of what is going on because i become distracted by a prop or some other irrelevant detail that will generate a long string of consideration in my mind that consumes my attention for a sufficient time to ensure that i lose track of what is happening.

i do not watch movies much because i am not very interested in them, but when i do, i tend to be interested in aspects of them (like period ornaments, or trying work out what the extras in the background may be talking about) that are not intended to be focused on, and as a result the camera ceases capturing video in many scenes before i am satisfied that i have inspected them fully.

an example that occurred last night when i was in bed going to sleep and idly witnessing a movie:

i became annoyed that what i was looking at ( the design of a power outlet plug on the wall in a 1940's period film that was filmed recently) was torn from my gaze by a scene change.
i then started to pay attention the lengths of scenes before they cut to another scene, and i used my watch to time them, and i found that there were no scenes longer than 30 seconds, and those "lengthy" scenes usually contained periods of silence with alternating close ups of people faces who said nothing.

then i wondered whether maximum "scene length" is carefully calculated after much research as to the attention spans of average people, and i decided that it must be so.

then i was moved to disgruntlement because i extrapolated what i had just considered to explain the reason for the immense displeasure i experienced the previous night.
that night i was watching a show about the demolition of a large building.
most of the show was devoted to the personalities of the demolition people, and i was quite impatient to cut to the chase, and i was annoyed that they pad out a 40 second demolition process into a 60 minute documentary using 40 minutes of "recaps" and 8 minutes of scientific instruction, and 10 minutes of alpha males talking in their deep voices which is a lure for a female section of the potential audience who like that sort of thing.

then when the demolition happens, they count down and you see about 2 seconds of the blast, and then it is off to a commercial. then when the commercial break ended, i got a round of recaps and i became mildly enraged. is the amount of recaps to remind silly people what they have just watched, or is it a fraudulent loophole where you can effectively record 1/2 hour of actual content, and use the next 1/2 hour to recap the first 1/2 hour, and then show the prized gem (the actual demilition) in only the last 40 seconds?

when they showed the demolition at the end, there was no scene that was more than 10 seconds in length. it was extremely frustrating to me. the first clip was the building starting to fall from one camera, then the scene was cut to another angle from a different camera, and this process continued in a ring of about 19 different camera locations, and i did not see an uninterrupted static view of the demolition from any angle, let alone the 19 full length scenes that i could see if they played each angle from detonation until the dust had cleared. but people will lose interest after a few seconds, and to show the clips in their singular totalities would reduce their audience.

anyway, that is the tangent of the thought that i was propelled into by the scene change that cut off my view of a power outlet in a movie, and by the time i had returned to inspecting the movie it was almost over.



MacDragard
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24 Nov 2012, 10:58 am

I feel that way especially with the Game of Thrones series, although that's a relatively difficult series to follow considering that the story is anything but linear since there are five or six different plots running simultaneously. Not to mention that the whole show is about politics and family rivalry.



MusicMama
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24 Nov 2012, 11:08 am

I do that too! And I have issues with face recognition as well so I have a hard time keeping characters with similar hair styles straight. Old movies where all the men have the same haircut and dress the same are extremely difficult for me to watch.