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Circular Drive
- 125 statements
- 23 feature instances
- 10 referencing feature instances
| Circular Drive | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Circular Drive | label |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive | page |
CircularDrive | |
| Circular Drive | comment |
Alien Invasion. Natural Disaster. Kaiju attack. Big catastrophes naturally require a big response, and what better way to depict a big response than to show them mobilizing an entire army? There's only one problem: you can only afford twenty extras, two jeeps and three trucks... and one of those won't start. Thus was born one of the classic techniques of cinema: The circular drive. Need to depict an entire armored division with only three tanks? Simply drive them in a big circle that passes the camera and hope that nobody notices the markings don't change. You can turn a Suspiciously Small Army of twenty extras into an entire battalion if you frame your shot right. Note that this is not restricted to vehicles - pretty much any object will do, provided it can be steered appropriately. Takes advantage of the time-worn technique of having vehicles turn in front of the camera to add action to a scene, but the same three or four vehicles passing in the same repetitive sequence is going to be a dead giveaway. Alternatively, the same vehicle (or vehicles) may be noticeably present in multiple scenes for no apparent reason, which is particularly egregious when the scenes are supposed to be separated by time or distance. Pretty much a Dead Horse Trope these days unless deliberately Played for Laughs. The modern equivalent is repeating the same airplane, boat or whatever multiple times using CGI. For a similar technique used in animation, see Wraparound Background. |
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| Circular Drive | fetched |
2023-11-07T02:17:16Z | |
| Circular Drive | parsed |
2023-11-07T02:17:16Z | |
| Circular Drive | processingComment |
Dropped link to Dolly: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Circular Drive | processingComment |
Dropped link to RedScare: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Circular Drive | processingComment |
Dropped link to RuleOfFunny: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Circular Drive | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Circular Drive / int_33dd1d90 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_33dd1d90 | comment |
Half-Life 2 features shots where citizens are seen from afar, such as on the monitors in Kleiner's lab: the stream of citizens walking on the security cameras are actually the same low-resolution model that respawns back at the start point as soon as it walks off-screen. | |
| Circular Drive / int_33dd1d90 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_33dd1d90 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Half-Life 2 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_33dd1d90 | |
| Circular Drive / int_35a060cc | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_35a060cc | comment |
Airplane!: Played for laughs, of course: The circle is obvious, the film is sped up, and as it goes on more and more incongruous vehicles (including a beer truck, a wiener mobile and a farm tractor) get added in. | |
| Circular Drive / int_35a060cc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_35a060cc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Airplane! | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_35a060cc | |
| Circular Drive / int_3cd90f30 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_3cd90f30 | comment |
Arrested Development: The family is paid to build a wall across part of the US\Mexico border but isn't able to deliver. Instead, George and Buster drive around a silo a few times, attempting to pass it off as the wall. | |
| Circular Drive / int_3cd90f30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_3cd90f30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Arrested Development | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_3cd90f30 | |
| Circular Drive / int_41c887f7 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_41c887f7 | comment |
Lampshaded in The Truman Show, when Truman realizes this is happening with the vehicles that are passing by. | |
| Circular Drive / int_41c887f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_41c887f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Truman Show | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_41c887f7 | |
| Circular Drive / int_4403bb07 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_4403bb07 | comment |
In Space Thunder Kids, some footage of the tanks is blatantly the same couple of frames recycled for over a minute. | |
| Circular Drive / int_4403bb07 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_4403bb07 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Space Thunder Kids (Animation) | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_4403bb07 | |
| Circular Drive / int_45b21df3 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_45b21df3 | comment |
A variation shows up in Monty Python's Life of Brian with the Roman Soldiers repeatedly trooping into and out of the hideout of the Peoples' Front of Judea. If you look closely you'll notice that the number of soldiers going in is different from the number coming out. | |
| Circular Drive / int_45b21df3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_45b21df3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Monty Python's Life of Brian | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_45b21df3 | |
| Circular Drive / int_468bebb0 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_468bebb0 | comment |
Parodied in the Discworld novel Moving Pictures. | |
| Circular Drive / int_468bebb0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_468bebb0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Discworld | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_468bebb0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_531c562b | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_531c562b | comment |
Top Secret! played for laughs when the camera cranes back to display the entire circle. There is also a running feet example similar to the Hogan's Heroes example below... only to have the feet break into a time step on the third pass. |
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| Circular Drive / int_531c562b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_531c562b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Top Secret! | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_531c562b | |
| Circular Drive / int_72350c3a | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_72350c3a | comment |
Gettysburg uses this technique to allow an admittedly large number of extras to represent two huge armies. Particularly noticeable with the cavalry. The actors can change their uniforms but their horses can't change their coats. | |
| Circular Drive / int_72350c3a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_72350c3a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gettysburg | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_72350c3a | |
| Circular Drive / int_84e1f890 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_84e1f890 | comment |
Gojira, particularly noticeable with the firetruck scene: There's only one truck! Also common in later Godzilla films when miniatures aren't being used. | |
| Circular Drive / int_84e1f890 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_84e1f890 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gojira | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_84e1f890 | |
| Circular Drive / int_8667f7b0 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_8667f7b0 | comment |
An in-Universe example from Dad's Army where the platoon was on guard at a local Italian POW camp and had to conceal the fact that most of the prisoners had temporarily escaped (they were working for Private Walker and would be back before dawn). They got the remaining ones to jog through their hut over and over again while the authorities did a headcount. The officer in charge of the count gripes that all these Eyties look the same to him. | |
| Circular Drive / int_8667f7b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_8667f7b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dad's Army | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_8667f7b0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_880cfa15 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_880cfa15 | comment |
Hogan's Heroes: Used twice in the opening credit sequence with running prisoners and guards falling out for a midnight rollcall. The camera is aimed at their feet to hide the fact that it's the same men both times. Another example occurs in an episode where the prisoners loop into a truck they are being loaded into in order to convince their guard, the loveable but hapless Sergeant Schultz, that he is bringing full numbers home to the camp. Though Schultz does think he has seen some of the prisoners before, he is easily convinced otherwise. |
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| Circular Drive / int_880cfa15 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_880cfa15 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hogan's Heroes | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_880cfa15 | |
| Circular Drive / int_8d81bc90 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_8d81bc90 | comment |
M*A*S*H: used in at least one of the "bugout" episodes, with anachronistic vehicles thrown in to boot. | |
| Circular Drive / int_8d81bc90 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_8d81bc90 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| M*A*S*H | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_8d81bc90 | |
| Circular Drive / int_97a9afc3 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_97a9afc3 | comment |
The superintelligent rats pull this off in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. When the main colony is about to be bulldozed by scientists looking for their escaped rats, they have enough advance notice to evacuate most of the population, but they know a suddenly-empty nest will seem suspicious. Seven or eight volunteers remain, and when the nest is opened, they run a circle route in varying patterns to present the illusion of a steady stream of escaping rats. | |
| Circular Drive / int_97a9afc3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_97a9afc3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_97a9afc3 | |
| Circular Drive / int_a33d74a4 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_a33d74a4 | comment |
In the Sword of Truth, Jagang did this to make it look like the army went one way, forced a confrontation with Kahlan as she went scouting, and pretended to believe that his ruse had fooled her. His army attacked that night. | |
| Circular Drive / int_a33d74a4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_a33d74a4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sword of Truth | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_a33d74a4 | |
| Circular Drive / int_a5f98cbf | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_a5f98cbf | comment |
In Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, just after the "every sperm is sacred" song, the children are seen slowly walking out of the house; and the same children appear more than once. | |
| Circular Drive / int_a5f98cbf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_a5f98cbf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_a5f98cbf | |
| Circular Drive / int_abfcff6a | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_abfcff6a | comment |
In the Rocky and Bullwinkle serial "The Metal Munching Moon Mice" Boris Badanov, pretending to be a pied piper, runs the same few moon mice in front of Rocky & Bullwinkle over and over again; at one dollar per mouse, they soon owe him thousands. | |
| Circular Drive / int_abfcff6a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_abfcff6a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Rocky and Bullwinkle | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_abfcff6a | |
| Circular Drive / int_b36b5dbb | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_b36b5dbb | comment |
In-movie variation in Help! - in the Bahamas, the police chief welcomes the Scotland Yard detective and presents a squad of policemen for inspection - the squad consists of only four men, the last in the row ducking and heading to the front of the row as the other two pass by. | |
| Circular Drive / int_b36b5dbb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_b36b5dbb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Help! | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_b36b5dbb | |
| Circular Drive / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
Doctor Who did this with Daleks before the revival came and could finally afford some decent CGI. | |
| Circular Drive / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_c43df4d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_c43df4d8 | |
| Circular Drive / int_cd713f4 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_cd713f4 | comment |
In his first novel, The Stainless Steel Rat has apparently escaped a police dragnet and is hiding in a freighting company warehouse, when he suddenly realises that a truck he just saw entering the warehouse is the same one he saw exiting a short time before. This can only mean the police have the warehouse sealed off and are redirecting the trucks back inside keep up the illusion that business is going on as usual. | |
| Circular Drive / int_cd713f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_cd713f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Stainless Steel Rat | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_cd713f4 | |
| Circular Drive / int_cfc46816 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_cfc46816 | comment |
An episode of Land of the Giants featured the heroes stealing a bunch of giant spark plugs. There was only one spark plug prop, though clever editing handles the issue quite well as they steal one at time and immediately hide them all. | |
| Circular Drive / int_cfc46816 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_cfc46816 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Land of the Giants | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_cfc46816 | |
| Circular Drive / int_de287e60 | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_de287e60 | comment |
Flyboys: The same generic, red CGI Fokker Dr.1 triplane appears multiple times, often within the same scene. | |
| Circular Drive / int_de287e60 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_de287e60 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Flyboys | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_de287e60 | |
| Circular Drive / int_ef0c089b | type |
Circular Drive | |
| Circular Drive / int_ef0c089b | comment |
In Cannibal! The Musical, this is an Overly-Long Gag. Townsfolk spill forth from the local tavern, and the same 30-something people are seen about a dozen times. | |
| Circular Drive / int_ef0c089b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Circular Drive / int_ef0c089b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Cannibal! The Musical | hasFeature |
Circular Drive / int_ef0c089b |
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