So THAT's Why Texting In TV Shows And Movies Looks So Fake

Those of us who run a little finicky perceptive might have developed a few TV and movie bugbears over the years. 

For instance, you might wonder why characters never say “bye” when hanging up the phone on-screen. You might have questions as to why Hollywood refuses to actually call zombies “zombies”, as well. 

You may even want to know why actors never seem to drink from a full cup.

Well, we at HuffPost UK have answers for those. But after noticing a post on X (formerly Twitter), we realised there was an issue we hadn’t tackled ― why do text exchanges look so fake in TV shows and movies?

So what’s going on here? 

The original poster is right. It doesn’t take much money to build up a realistic-looking text exchange between two characters. 

Indeed, writer, director, and editor Tony Zhou shared in a YouTube video that  “texting is kind of visual so in theory this shouldn’t be hard”. 

“And yet every time a filmmaker cuts to an insert of a phone, you can hear the audience yawning,” he adds. 

But while sending the texts is basically free, “the director can save a tonne of money by not shooting 60 close-ups of phones,” Zhou explains. 

Each shot is more pricey than, say, having an actor read the text aloud or editing in text above the phone à la BBC’s Sherlock and I May Destroy You. 

Perhaps that’s why, when we do see screens, there hasn’t been enough close-up shots to warrant a buildup of text. It’s also “slow” and boring, to watch someone text.

Then, there’s the question of visibility ― the phones sometimes have to use “huge Grandma font” to be seen,” Zhou says, which is harder with more crowded text. 

So how should we show texts? 

On-screen texts, which appear in a bubble as the character types rather than in a separate shot of a screen, have been seen in shows like House Of Cards. 

Speaking to The Atlantic, artist Ben Grosser said this overlaying style (seen in a different way in Sherlock) neatly combines the character’s performance and texting. 

It reflects a “hybrid reality, a continued blend of being in physical space wherever we are, but constantly also engaged in digital connections — everything from text messaging to social networks,” he said. 

Zhou agrees, saying the House Of Cards method “combines action and reaction in the same frame”. 

So long as I don’t have to see that white space above the first on-screen message between a son and mother, I’m happy...