Moviemistakes.com

Moviemistakes.com is an Internet website created by Jon Sandys in 1996 and is principally dedicated to the recording of mistakes found in movies and television; it also includes trivia, quotes, hidden DVD Easter Eggs and movie trailers. As of 01 March 2011 it currently lists more than 92,661 mistakes, of which over 7,700 have pictures. It also has 384 paid members and 23,250 free members. Paid members are on the decrease since the introduction of free membership. There was 1200 paid members in July 2008 when free membership was introduced.

History

Sandys initially became interested in the topic of movie errors while attending the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, England after noting mistakes in Jurassic Park and True Lies.

The MovieMistakes website started in 1996, then only a single page with a few mistakes and an email address. Sandys moved on to Southampton University, operating the site on the university server.^[1] In 1998 the Times newspaper ran an article on movie mistakes, including the web address of the site, bringing a considerable increase in traffic. In 1999 the site outgrew the university servers and moved to a dedicated server - Sandys also invested in some promotion and solicited advertising to finance the site.

On April 9, 2001 the site got a major boost when the Daily Mirror ran an article on mistakes in the film Gladiator.^[2] On the same day, Sandys was contacted by the popular UK morning show The Big Breakfast ^[3] and was invited to appear on the show to discuss movie mistakes, which became a weekly feature on the show until its cancellation. This exposure brought on invitations for more interviews and further interest in the website, the increased traffic leading to a temporary shutdown while the systems were upgraded.^[4] With these developments, Sandys began to work on the site on a full-time basis.

By 2003 the site was averaging 25,000 hits a day and a record 100,000 hits in December 2003 when an article on mistakes in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was posted on Slashdot, crashing the site server. A server upgrade was prompted in January 2005 when a list of the "Top Mistakes of 2004" was copied by several publications and the site received a record 150,000 hits, again crashing the site.^[5]

The site has been referenced in interviews with filmmakers informing them of their mistakes, most notably Peter Jackson ^[6] and Gore Verbinski.^[7]

Present day

In 2003 the site began to sell annual memberships offering members the ability to have their names associated with all their submissions, to be able to view screen-captured photos illustrating many of the mistakes and view the site without adverts, although membership is not required to submit mistakes, corrections and questions. The site has also expanded to include lists of the top mistakes, most mistakes, best pictures, videos, perfect films (those with no recorded errors) and a section for generic and specific movie questions, as well as links to other related sites. Sandys has continued to make occasional television appearances to discuss the topic.

In June 2008, the site was listed as one of PC Magazine's Best Web Sites for Movie Fans.^[8] although the article was somewhat negative about the site design. Since then, the site has undergone some functional and cosmetic alterations with the aim of making it more user-friendly. However since the changes, problems are less likely to be sorted out.

The site currently receives around 25,000 unique visitors per day.

Mistake types

The site categorises mistakes into eight different types:

Continuity - a mistake that continues between two or more shots, such as objects moving about without being touched or characters' postures changing too drastically in a too short period of time.

Factual Error - a mistake that clashes with the real world by being historically, geographically, or physically incorrect, including false statements by supposed experts or spelling/grammatical errors. Related to Plot Holes.

Revealing - a mistake exposing the film-making process, such as poor visual effects or an obvious stunt performer. Related to Visible Crew/Equipment.

Visible Crew/Equipment - camera crew, equipment, and objects used for filming becoming visible on-screen. Related to Revealing.

Plot Holes - a conflict in the internal logic of a film, such as a character doing something illogical and out of character simply to move the plot along. Related to Factual Error.

Audio Problem - a mistake related to the film's audio component, speech, sound effects and so forth.

Deliberate "Mistakes" - a mistake that is done on purpose by the film's creators for any one of a number of possible reasons.

Character Mistake - a significant error in dialogue or written words.

Other - mistakes that don't fit into any of the other categories.

Related projects

Since 2002 Sandys has written seven books on the subject, five dealing with movie mistakes, one with movie trivia and one with television mistakes. In May 2006 he started the first spin-off site BookMistakes.com, followed in March 2007 with GameMistakes.com. He is also a co-founder of RuinedEndings.com, which provides detailed synopses of movie plots. In May 2008 Sandys created Poll the Other One a site where people are able to view, add and/or vote on polls on any subject they choose. However this site closed not long after it opened. In December 2008, Sandys also began recording a weekly podcast called Movie Banter with Paul Kerensa, the founder of The Movie Timeline.com.

Sandys also served as program consultant on the UK TV show Movie Mistakes Uncovered.^[9]

References

1. ^ "UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON: Student's Wb page dedicated to movie mistakes.". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53872765.html. 
2. ^ "THE GAFFE-IATOR; 124 errors found in Oscar-winning film". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72944708.html. 
3. ^ "IMDb.com, Jon Sandys Filmography". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1120504/. 
4. ^ "movie-mistakes.com forced into short term shutdown.". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-73854541.html. 
5. ^ "Boo-boos filmmakers would rather we forget". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-104438533.html. 
6. ^ "Newsweek, Gaffes: Fellowship Of The Nitpickers". http://www.newsweek.com/id/60767. 
7. ^ "Outnow.ch interview with Gore Verbinski". http://outnow.ch/specials/2003/PiratesOfTheCaribbean/Interview-GoreVerbinski.E/. 
8. ^ "PC Magazine's The Best Web Sites for Movie Fans". http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2320861,00.asp. 
9. ^ "Full Cast and Crew for Movie Mistakes: Uncovered". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417346/fullcredits. 

External links

• Official website
• Jon Sandys at the Internet Movie Database