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Comment by WalterBright | Hacker News Reader

Every time I see a 555 number in a movie, I'm reminded that it's a movie and am dropped out of immersion.

So what if the movies use a real number? They could just sign up for a number, use it, and no harm done.

Or just use 867-5309. Wherever that number goes, the person there is expecting it.

Better Call Saul had real phone numbers which you can call and get a little prerecorded clip which ties into the show. Almost every time these numbers were not a main focus of the single shot they appeared in - most people wouldn't even notice them.

Short list:

Need an Attorney? Better Call Saul! (505) 503-4455

Need a Will? Call McGill! (505) 842-5662

Retirement Funds Drained? Call Davis & Main! (505) 242-7700

Want a Gangster who’s macho? You got Nacho! (505) 242-6087

Tips are Frail? Go to Day Spa & Nail! (505) 842-5325

For what its worth, Scrubs did put a real number in one of their episodes. They had a real phone that went around being answered by cast & crew and everyone had a blast. They remember it quite fondly.

2000s were a different time.

Accidentally had my (desk) phone number go out on a TV program which typically gets around 100k viewers (was burnt into a screen in the background of an interview) earlier this year. Very disappointed than nobody phoned it.

Same. My favorite geezer hacker/heist movie, Sneakers, drops a realistic San Francisco phone number (415 area code) near the end. I always wondered who would pick up if dialed...

> Or just use 867-5309. Wherever that number goes, the person there is expecting it.

As soon as everyone switched to all use 867-5309 you'd have the exact same problem. You'd learn to recognize it immediately and all immersion would be lost.

I agree it's annoying and the whole fake phone number thing should die. For all the money they waste making and advertising movies and TV shows they can fork over the money for a phone line in the appropriate area code and if people call it they can harvest the cell phone numbers for spam and market research or something.

> Every time I see a 555 number in a movie, I'm reminded that it's a movie and am dropped out of immersion.

What about a cut? A camera zoom? A title screen? Sub-titles? I am intrigued about how you experience films.

I am intrigued about how you experience films... or books for that matter. If all you see is black and white letters, does this mean you could never experience immersion in the story?

I experience immersion in books. What drops me out of immersion is misspellings. I remember one which was a good story, but about 90% of the pages had at least one misspelling. It's like hitting a pothole when you're driving.

Book misspellings have changed over the years. Since people use spell checkers now, they are of the form:

    He arrived at the top of the stairs painting heavily.

Yes, that's an actual example :-)

With films, I drop out of immersion when seeing things like reflections of the camera crew, anachronisms, etc.

It's slightly individual, e.g. some may pick up on misspellings in books (or anachronisms or mismatching sound in video) more easily than others, but my theory is whenever something concerns the story or requires any effort to determine whether it concerns the story or not it breaks immersion.

Misspellings in books, foreign objects or people in a show or film, obviously fake phone numbers and things like that fall into that category.

On the other hand, things like paper quality or font choice (and lens angles, cuts, video resolution, color) tend to not break immersion if the story is right.

I am a filmmaker. I went to film school. Maybe that has something to do with it?

I cannot recommend enough a book called In The Blink Of An Eye by Walter Murch.

Ah, then there's no need to be intrigued by how WalterBright experiences films. Just remember how you experienced films before you went to film school, or remember how you experience a book or a cartoon (unless you went to book or cartoon school too I guess).

Scenes and cuts, like letters on paper, are the medium. A phone number OTOH is part of the story. Immersion is broken by a badly told story, not the medium.

Going to film school would likely ruin movies for me, as I'd see the man behind the curtain. I used to watch the "making of ..." bonus features, until I realized they'd ruin the movie.

It's like that for video games for me. I used to program them for a job when I was in college. Ever since, when I see a video game, I don't see the game so much as how it is constructed and programmed.

Thanks. This is a good point. I don’t remember experiencing films that way. I actually struggled to even follow storylines in films when I was younger, so I don’t think I ever got immersed as described.

Or a lens flare for that matter

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief

We see real life through a lens, we don't see real life with 555 numbers

You absolutely do NOT see real life through a lens. This is one of the first things you learn in film school.

It's literally impossible to see without a lens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_(anatomy)

You know what would be cool? If a movie bought a zero day and put it in. Haha! It would be neat if the exploit stayed undiscovered till release.

They might get sued unless they ensure that it's patched before release, though.

I experience the immersion drop as well. However, a fake area code for a number registered by the production can have the same effect if it doesn’t match the city or character in the scene. The older you get, the more of them you know. :)

If you don’t use an area code in the shot (looks natural, especially in productions set in the past or when handwritten), you really need a fake number because a production is not going to be able to scoop up that number for every area code. Dozens or hundreds of random people will end up being harassed.

Let's set more movies in the UK, there's various ranges to choose from (expand the Notes section at the top):

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/inform...

Mr. Robot had real phone numbers which were part of the ARG.

> Mr. Robot had real phone numbers

And even real IP addresses. :) The attention to detail in the show was something else.

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