Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Beware the Hole!

I was relaxing, in my jammies, with a cup of tea and a cat on my lap, watching one of my favorite Hallmark movies. In the first 10 minutes.... Plot hole!

Photo courtesy of Anthony DeRosa, Pexels.

And it wasn't the only one. By the time I got to the end, there were 8 plot/situation holes. How did all of them get past:

author

agent

editor

copy/film editor

producer

director?

Here they are:

1- A minor character, a soldier, tells main character that he and girlfriend set wedding date. He immediately gets killed. Main character gives dog tags to 'widow.'

2- As the camera pans through the picturesque town, sometimes there is snow, sometimes not- and sometimes it's the same place, like a main character's home, on the same day. (not a plot hole, but a situational/filming hole. Still, someone missed it.)

3- Main female character's hair is perfect when she is in the office. She goes outside for a brief scene, hair gets wet from falling snow and looks droopy. Yet, walks into the office and wa-la! hair is perfect again!

4- A supporting character has a horse drawn sleigh, and mentions he wants to put wheels on it. Camera pans across sleigh, and... it has wheels.

5- It's a Christmas movie, so there shouldn't be little green buds on the trees....

6- This is more an acting thing, but director should have caught it- female lead doesn't close her eyes when kissing the hot male character, so I'm not convinced of the attraction. (I would have offered to take her place.)

7- People in the church are singing (really pretending) and their mouth movements don't match the words to the songs. At least the main characters seem to know the words. (The others have hymnals so they should have been able to fake it better....)

8- In the end scene, the main female character is chasing after the main male character, who's had a head start leaving town. And yet, she had time to run to a diner and get a chicken salad club with extra crispy curly fries to go, and bring it to him.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the movie, but careful editing is essential. I've read books where I stop and say, "Wait! That can't be!" It's even WORSE when it's my own book.

So Hallmark, call me, I'll be happy to watch and suggest edits. And, maybe, you could take a look at my manuscript....  ;)

Char