BRING BACK BLOOPERS!
Illustrations by Sara McConnell
“CUT!”
The word that serves as a fine line between the polished, edited scenes put out for an audience’s viewing pleasure and the seventeen different takes of an actor who can’t stop laughing at their own joke. Among all of those missed lines and actors breaking into fits of laughter lies something just as memorable as the movie itself—blooper reels.
Most popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, bloopers once served as a reward for anyone with the patience to sit through the credits. They reinforced the revolutionary idea that actors are just as human as we are. Behind every perfectly delivered line was just a normal person messing something up and trying again.
This endearing and humbling connection still exists today on smaller scales, such as in small or student-made films, where the finished product is just as important as the steps it took to get there.
“After projects, professors usually ask for behind-the-scenes footage,” said Syracuse University television, radio and film (TRF) student Javi Berczely. “Being on set and just knowing how to have fun is something that professors want to see.”
These little accidents and mistakes are a big part of what makes the process of filmmaking so enjoyable, and in some cases can even improve scenes—a random honk of a car, or a weird tilt of the camera could very well become the next Wilhelm’s scream. Initially unintentional, but powerful enough to make the cut!
Recently, however, the professional world of film has decided to develop a personality comparable to that of a soggy piece of cardboard.
Sadly, blooper reels became the newest inmate in the asylum of irrelevance. This isn’t because actors suddenly became perfect—trust that they did not—but because of recent changes in the film industry. Fewer comedies are hitting theaters, and with them go the unscripted, playful moments from which most bloopers flourish. Actors also juggle tighter schedules from booking multiple roles, and budgets leave less room to linger on anything that is not essential for the overall product, and apparently, fun was included in that cut.
“There's certainly plenty of laughs that happen on set, but there's not a focus on capturing those moments outside of what we're capturing on the camera,” SU TRF professor Molle DeBartolo said.
In other words, the mysterious case of the missing bloopers was not caused by a lack of interest, but because they stopped being a priority. The film industry has made the shift from joy and whimsy to speed and efficiency.
Likewise, marketing is a driving force behind the decrease in blooper reels. Bloopers were once an incentive for someone’s dad to drop his entire paycheck on a special edition Monsters, Inc. DVD to see what Mike and Sully were getting up to when they thought the cameras weren’t rolling. Now, audiences get that behind-the-scenes content through social media constantly, as more celebrities feel the need to inform the public about their lives every time they inhale.
The appeal of blooper reels has not disappeared completely. If anything, they are needed now more than ever. In a world where everything is polished, the people yearn for imperfections and mistakes that are nothing but human.