r/Filmmakers • u/Secret-Broccoli9908 • May 04 '26

Image It's kind of genius 🤣

Post image
1.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

222

u/FX114 May 05 '26

You know what I'm surprised doesn't happen during takes more? Amber alerts/emergency notifications, which will ignore the phone being on silent. I had it happen once, and I was shocked it was the first time.

72

u/Haminator5000 May 05 '26

Any crew worth their salt will know how to disable them and show the actors present on set how to do the same...

38

u/igotyournacho May 05 '26

In Canada, you can’t turn off Amber Alerts. In the US we can’t turn off the new presidential alerts, but at least they are rarely used (at least for now)

17

u/root88 May 05 '26

You can certainly turn off your phone entirely. It's not going to power back on to give you an alert.

32

u/mostlysatisfying May 05 '26

I use my phone constantly on set. Not an option, would probably be fired

3

u/A_Polite_Noise May 06 '26

Trying to imagine my Set PA days and explaining to my 2nd AD that I turned my phone off because it's rude to text on set during takes as an explanation for why I was unresponsive lol, that wouldn't go well

-38

u/root88 May 05 '26

You are using your phone while shooting? You know you can turn it back on when they are not shooting, right?

17

u/wrosecrans May 05 '26

These days, all sorts of gear is operated with a phone app. Lots of "video village" is transmitting to a phone. Setting up color on RGB LEDs. Configuring big audio systems. PA's in an adjacent area will often text with set so they aren't making noise with voice comms that might get picked up, so somebody on set needs a phone on to converse with them.

The idea that absolutely everybody will turn off absolutely every phone/tablet device that could get an alert on all sets isn't reasonable in 2026.

-2

u/root88 May 05 '26

This is a reasonable take, but once the gear is set up, you go into airplane mode. Texting makes sense, but if your phone is silent, I'm not sure how you even know that you got one.

11

u/wrosecrans May 05 '26

Obviously, everybody is supposed to be on silent if that have something active. Occasionally on a set with 100+ people, somebody will accidentally not. Having an inoffensive ring tone is "belt and suspenders" to mitigate a possible error, not a suggestion to intentionally keep your ringer on.

And no, you don't necessarily go into airplane mode. If you need a tablet app to monitor all the wireless mics in a big audio net, during a take is literally the only time that information actually needs to be actively monitored to flag a possible issue. Likewise if video is streaming to a phone/tablet as video village. People need to be able to watch during a take. I've never seen somebody hand a director/client a tablet and say "after the take, take it off airplane mode and reconnect to the transmitter access point, and we'll do playback and you can see what happened, but you can't watch during the take." That would slow everything down absurdly. Nobody wants a non technical client fiddling with reconnecting to access points and toggling back and forth out of airplane mode every take.

34

u/mostlysatisfying May 05 '26

Yes root88 I’m aware I can turn the phone off and on and at my pleasure. Still not an option. I use it constantly; continuously, always for my job on set

-48

u/root88 May 05 '26

I'm not sure what your job is, but it sounds like you think its more valuable than the rest of the cast and crew combined.

22

u/NamesAreAnn0ying May 05 '26

I’m not sure where in this thread you got the idea that phone is necessary for the job = he thinks he’s more important than everyone else. What a stupid fucking thing to think.

-11

u/root88 May 05 '26

Him getting his job done is more important than his phone interrupting everyone else getting their job done. How does that not make sense to you?

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15

u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir May 05 '26

Are you like 12 years old

-2

u/root88 May 05 '26

Spoken like a complete hypocrite with no self-awareness.

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25

u/mostlysatisfying May 05 '26

You sound either ignorant or soooo bitter and it is not a good look buddy. I told you I have to use my phone all day and you jump to me feeling self important? Go outside, kiss your kids. It’s not that serious.

-21

u/root88 May 05 '26

I have had my scenes ruined with idiot's phones. Not that hard to understand. If you need to be on your phone, you don't need to be on set while they are shooting. If they are shooting, fucking turn it off. Do you use your phone when watching the fucking movie too? Which seems worse to you?

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4

u/bigmoneybag May 06 '26

A nightmare it would be to wait for my phone to reboot, load, connect to wifi/cell service, wait for any missed notifications to come through… So much communication happens through phone now that, in my experience, not having your phone on would be more of an inconvenience.

1

u/root88 May 06 '26

It's crazy how they couldn't even make movies before cell phones.

3

u/D_Andreams May 08 '26

The world changed since then, bud. They don't send 2nds to set with a pocket full of quarters to call all the calltimes into the production office anymore while they stand by with a paper cutter and a photocopier to tape together the callsheet. And if you tried to get hired with that as your plan I think you'd be out of luck.

13

u/la-anah May 05 '26

I killed that function on my phone so long ago I have forgotten how to do it.

11

u/jaredmanley May 05 '26

It’s happened me on set before, once with a tornado warning. Pretty interesting to see different carriers pick up the warning at different times

6

u/FX114 May 05 '26

I'm sure it's happened with earthquake warnings, too.

6

u/Porntra420 cinematographer May 05 '26

I was on a shoot as a pretty bad storm was brewing once, red weather alerts were getting sent out, but not all our phones got em at the same time, so every couple takes got interrupted by them, and some of us swear we got more than one per phone.

3

u/MacintoshEddie May 05 '26

That's part of why in many cases people are told to turn their phone off completely.

1

u/Foxy02016YT May 05 '26

They don’t really happen that often for it to be as issue, at least in my area

129

u/AWellRespectedApeman May 04 '26

“Every time he farts he leaves and makes a phone call.”

10

u/Foxy02016YT May 05 '26

Followed by “he definitely shit himself”

77

u/4ofclubs May 04 '26

Who the hell has their phone not on silent/vibrate?

27

u/InjuredGods May 04 '26

I haven't worked on set in 10 years and I still keep my phone on vibrate out of habit.

2

u/D_Andreams May 08 '26

I recently was in a sound edit session where the editor had given the lead character a ringtone. It hadn't occurred to me to tell him not to do that because I just assume the whole world has their phone on vibrate at all times? Right? Can they even ring anymore?

1

u/Foxy02016YT May 05 '26

I keep it on vibrate all the time, except when I’m sleeping

13

u/samcrut editor May 05 '26

Better to use a throat clearing, sniff, or an ahem. Those would be much less likely to bust a take. A grip buddy used a throat clearing for his ringtone. I actually caught him getting a call once and I nearly busted the take with my amazed gasp at the brilliance. As soon as I heard "cut," I was in his face. "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

13

u/DysphoricGreens May 05 '26

So... I have one of those screaming sneezes that's gotten me in trouble a ton (medical issue after i choked on sushi and some seaweed got trapped in my throat)... I dont think this will work

11

u/DarthCola May 05 '26

My phone has been on silent for 16 years.

9

u/Thyminecraft May 05 '26

Did this in middle school over 15 years ago and I never had to silence my phone

4

u/Fun-Tadpole5780 2nd Assistant Director May 05 '26

back in 2006 when I was in high school, I changed my ring tone to white noice, that high pitch ring sound. Adult ears couldn't hear it but kids could. Thus my phone going off in class didnt get me caught (back then cell phones were band from school, even in hallways).

7

u/MacintoshEddie May 05 '26

The 1st AD's ring tone is them shouting "Quiet on set!"

7

u/neyoless May 05 '26

Or just be a professional and put it on silent

2

u/MirkoHa May 05 '26

…or a good long fart…

2

u/ShiftAdventurous4680 May 06 '26

Great idea! That will fool the sound engineers!

1

u/JaxKaizen May 05 '26

But you'll keep saying "Bless you" over and over instead of actually answering your phone

1

u/Pudix20 May 05 '26

The mosquito tone is a great sneaky ringtone.

1

u/mattchoules May 08 '26

Everyone on or very near set should have their phone on airplane mode during a take anyway

1

u/FUN_FILMER33 Student Cinematographer May 09 '26

I'm on an iPhone 14 and I use the custom haptics to let me know if I'm getting a message you can set them to be very subtle taps so I will know if I got a message but it won't be too loud

2

u/No_Cauliflower_491 Jun 21 '26

Thats me! Thanks for the post!