S03.E21: The Seventh Floor

[RemoteControlFreak]

On 5/8/2017 at 7:52 AM, Beezella said:

Also didn't care for the pregnancy bit. Or Jay and the reporter. However, I loved the opening of Blake's morning routine.

Did anyone else notice that when Blake is shown running near the Lincoln Memorial he's dressed for cold weather with long pants, a down vest and a head band and the other runners are all in shorts and t-shirts and the trees are in full summer leaf? Then when he leaves his house for work, it's winter again and he's wearing gloves and a scarf and the leaves are off the trees.  I hate when TV and movies can't keep seasons organized.

Edited May 21, 2017 by RemoteControlFreak

[CheshireCat]

27 minutes ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

Did anyone else notice that when Blake is shown running near the Lincoln Memorial he's dressed for cold weather with long pants, a down vest and a head band and the other runners are all in shorts and t-shirts and the trees are in full summer leaf? Then when he leaves his house for work, it's winter again and he's wearing gloves and a scarf and the leaves are off the trees.  I hate when TV and movies can't keep seasons organized.

If memory serves, Erich Bergen said that was filmed in DC. My guess would be that they inserted the shot since they shot the finale in DC. It was already spring in DC by then but they would have filmed the rest of the episode a few weeks earlier, in NYC where it was generally colder than it was in DC. (And even if they had filmed it at the same time, chances are, it would have been a lot warmer in DC because it was never really winter in DC anyway).

Edited May 21, 2017 by CheshireCat

[kwnyc]

Quote

Me too!  That cat and mouse game between Madame Secretary and the Chinese diplomat, and the chemistry the two actors have together (even over Skype) just really makes that pop.

They really do have chemistry. Loved that scene earlier in the year when they were live and the Chinese minister was a little drunk. When they are both retired from public service, I can see them co-teaching a class together. Or founding some really cool NGO.

[RemoteControlFreak]

On 5/21/2017 at 3:09 PM, CheshireCat said:

If memory serves, Erich Bergen said that was filmed in DC. My guess would be that they inserted the shot since they shot the finale in DC. It was already spring in DC by then but they would have filmed the rest of the episode a few weeks earlier, in NYC where it was generally colder than it was in DC. (And even if they had filmed it at the same time, chances are, it would have been a lot warmer in DC because it was never really winter in DC anyway).

I don't understand what you are saying.  The Lincoln Memorial is in DC.  The character Erich Bergen plays is shown running near the Lincoln Memorial in what is clearly spring or summer and with other people in the background running in shorts and t-shirts. He's bundled up like it's winter. Then in the next scene it's winter again with no leaves on trees. This is not about what was shot when and where. It's about attention to accuracy and detail when filming a television show.

Also, there is winter in DC.  There may not be piles of snow for three months on end, but the leaves fall off the trees and it gets colder. It's very obvious to discern the seasons in DC.

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

I don't understand what you are saying.  The Lincoln Memorial is in DC.  The character Erich Bergen plays is shown running near the Lincoln Memorial in what is clearly spring or summer and with other people in the background running in shorts and t-shirts. He's bundled up like it's winter. Then in the next scene it's winter again with no leaves on trees. This is not about what was shot when and where. It's about attention to accuracy and detail when filming a television show.

Also, there is winter in DC.  There may not be piles of snow for three months on end, but the leaves fall off the trees and it gets colder. It's very obvious to discern the seasons in DC.

What I'm saying is that they only filmed the finale in DC. They're normally filming in NYC. I don't know when they filmed this episode - there is so little Henry, I was wondering if they filmed most of this episode early (out of order) to accomodate his injury. Either way, if they did film in order, they would have filmed this episode a little over two weeks before going to DC to film the finale.  (If they filmed out of order, they would have filmed it much earlier). They would have filmed all of the outdoor scenes in NYC and they were obviously dressed for the weather in NYC, which is cold weather. They would then have gone to DC to film the finale a few weeks later and would have filmed the shot with Bergen running by the Lincoln Memorial and added it to the episode. Since they filmed in cold temperatures in NY, they had to dress Bergen warm in DC so that it fits with the rest of the episode. But it was already warm in DC by then, so the other people, who I'm pretty sure are real people, aren't dressed for winter. It's unfortunate but if they wanted Bergen to run in twilight, they don't have that much time to repeat the shot, so they just have to live with people being dressed differently.

And even if they had gone to DC with Bergen separately (before filming the finale), there is a chance that it would have been significantly warmer in DC than it was in NY because temperatures in DC were generally spring like this year, even during the winter months. (I know, my parents live in the area and my mom complained about the weather - no snow days. ;-)).

Edited May 24, 2017 by CheshireCat

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

The character Erich Bergen plays is shown running near the Lincoln Memorial in what is clearly spring or summer and with other people in the background running in shorts and t-shirts. He's bundled up like it's winter. Then in the next scene it's winter again with no leaves on trees.

Maybe they used a shot filmed earlier, and folded it into this episode.  

[RemoteControlFreak]

21 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

What I'm saying is that they only filmed the finale in DC. They're normally filming in NYC. I don't know when they filmed this episode - there is so little Henry, I was wondering if they filmed most of this episode early (out of order) to accomodate his injury. Either way, if they did film in order, they would have filmed this episode a little over two weeks before going to DC to film the finale.  (If they filmed out of order, they would have filmed it much earlier). They would have filmed all of the outdoor scenes in NYC and they were obviously dressed for the weather in NYC, which is cold weather. They would then have gone to DC to film the finale a few weeks later and would have filmed the shot with Bergen running by the Lincoln Memorial and added it to the episode. Since they filmed in cold temperatures in NY, they had to dress Bergen warm in DC so that it fits with the rest of the episode. But it was already warm in DC by then, so the other people, who I'm pretty sure are real people, aren't dressed for winter. It's unfortunate but if they wanted Bergen to run in twilight, they don't have that much time to repeat the shot, so they just have to live with people being dressed differently.

And even if they had gone to DC with Bergen separately (before filming the finale), there is a chance that it would have been significantly warmer in DC than it was in NY because temperatures in DC were generally spring like this year, even during the winter months. (I know, my parents live in the area and my mom complained about the weather - no snow days. ;-)).

So it does not matter when or where or how they filmed to get the result they got.

My point is that the result is a flawed and sloppy production. There are leaves on the trees at 5 am and no leaves at 7 am.  Blake is dressed for winter when everyone around him is dressed for summer.  

Edited May 25, 2017 by RemoteControlFreak

[CheshireCat]

3 hours ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

So it does not matter when or where or how they filmed to get the result they got.

My point is that the result is a flawed and sloppy production.

And my point was that it's not sloppy production. It is a result of different times of filming and two different locations. They cannot influence the weather and they cannot predict it either. They also could not have forced non-actors to dress for winter. Neither could they have extended twilight and set up the shot again without anyone else running through the shot. And the trees would still have had leaves.

I guess, the only thing they could have done is not insert a shot from DC but show Blake running somewhere else, filmed in NYC at the time. Guess they didn't want to do that for whatever reason.

[RemoteControlFreak]

2 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

And my point was that it's not sloppy production. It is a result of different times of filming and two different locations. They cannot influence the weather and they cannot predict it either. They also could not have forced non-actors to dress for winter. Neither could they have extended twilight and set up the shot again without anyone else running through the shot. And the trees would still have had leaves.

I guess, the only thing they could have done is not insert a shot from DC but show Blake running somewhere else, filmed in NYC at the time. Guess they didn't want to do that for whatever reason.

It IS sloppy production.

Shooting in one season and trying to pass it off as another season is sloppy.  If the show's resources (time and/or money) do not permit shooting outside in the season in which the action is intended to talk place, then they should work around it.  They can eliminate the outside scenes that give away what season it is or use a green-screen with stock footage.  

Also, I'm pretty sure those were not random "non actors," but paid extras who can absolutely be told what to wear.

[VinceW]

22 hours ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

It IS sloppy production.

Shooting in one season and trying to pass it off as another season is sloppy.  If the show's resources (time and/or money) do not permit shooting outside in the season in which the action is intended to talk place, then they should work around it.  They can eliminate the outside scenes that give away what season it is or use a green-screen with stock footage.  

Also, I'm pretty sure those were not random "non actors," but paid extras who can absolutely be told what to wear.

This episode was probably the poorest effort of top writer Matt Ward so far. The story was uneventful which suggests there was some kind of directive in place to check off certain boxes before season end which made things look sloppy. All of the DC outdoor footage presented as filler. 

Edited May 26, 2017 by VinceW

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

Also, I'm pretty sure those were not random "non actors," but paid extras who can absolutely be told what to wear.

If that were so, then why on earth would they not tell them to dress appropriate to the season they are trying to portray?

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

It IS sloppy production.

Shooting in one season and trying to pass it off as another season is sloppy.  If the show's resources (time and/or money) do not permit shooting outside in the season in which the action is intended to talk place, then they should work around it.  They can eliminate the outside scenes that give away what season it is or use a green-screen with stock footage.  

I really don't see what the problem is.

I think we can agree that the season this episode, The Seventh Floor, is supposed to take place in, is some time in winter/early spring since it was snowing when they welcomed the journalist at the airport. In accordance with that, everyone is wearing jackets all the time and trees did not have leaves yet.

So, the only shot that doesn't fit is Blake running in front of the Lincoln Memorial, right? Because trees have leaves (which I hadn't even noticed) and other people in the shot are wearing shorts while Blake is wearing winter gear. Every other shot corresponds with the season/weather they filmed in in NY?!

That fact is due to the fact that they filmed this one shot at least a couple of weeks later in a different location. Now, one can argue that there was no point in inserting a DC shot and that a shot of Blake running down a street in NYC or in Central Park or whatever would have done it, too. I would agree with that; I don't really see a reason for that DC shot since it's only a second long anyway.

But, for whatever reason, they had their hearts set on inserting that shot that they filmed at least a couple of weeks later in a different location, and because they had, they had to made do with what they were dealt with. And what they were dealt was a really mild winter and early spring in DC. DC had temperatures in the 70s in February. So, I would say they did the best they could and "stuffed" Blake into winter gear so that that corresponded with the rest of the episode that they had filmed in a different location in very different weather conditions.

 

2 hours ago, RemoteControlFreak said:

Also, I'm pretty sure those were not random "non actors," but paid extras who can absolutely be told what to wear.

As Netfoot pointed out, why wouldn't they have? If they were extras they probably wouldn't even have needed to provide them with clothes, they would have told them what to come in. There is absolutely no reason not to do that since they paid attention to that detail with Blake. And I truly doubt that they would have gotten permission to shut down the area where they filmed. It's one of the main roads leading into DC.

[RemoteControlFreak]

23 hours ago, Netfoot said:

If that were so, then why on earth would they not tell them to dress appropriate to the season they are trying to portray?

Because TV productions are shot out of sequence and things sometimes get sloppy when editing together pieces shot at different times and places to try to tell the story.  And because there can be miscommunication between the show's regular crew and local casting. And because sometimes the people putting a show or movie together don't think it's worth changing things. It's not uncommon to see people in TV (and, less so, in movies) bundled up as if it's cold, only to see people in the background dressed for summer, or vice versa, or to see the type of leaves on the trees in one scene and off in another, that we saw in this Episode.  Check out the movie "Sully" for a great example of the latter.

In the case of this episode, we do know that the running scene shot outside the Lincoln Memorial was shot in mid-April.  (How do we know?  From this on Erich Bergen's Instagram dated "six weeks ago" ... so about April 15: Erich Bergan Instagram)

So my best guess is that a call was put out for extras to jog in the background during the mid-April shoot in DC.  The extras showed up dressed for April in DC.  They couldn't change Blake's wardrobe because it had to match what he was wearing in the inside scenes and in the scene on the street outside his apartment which were already shot and could not be changed.  They didn't have time to stop production to get winter clothes for the extras, so they put them further in the background and slightly out of focus and hoped no one would notice, or if they did notice, they wouldn't care. I noticed and I care.

Edited May 26, 2017 by RemoteControlFreak

[shapeshifter]

On May 23, 2017 at 2:10 PM, kwnyc said:

They really do have chemistry. Loved that scene earlier in the year when they were live and the Chinese minister was a little drunk. When they are both retired from public service, I can see them co-teaching a class together. Or founding some really cool NGO.

Spin off!

[Hanahope]

I was a bit surprised by the pregnancy.  I know Daisy had started to date Joseph, but I thought it had been dinner once, then she found him dead.  I guess it was a blink and you missed it hook up night.  Daisy didn't strike me as the type who slept with the guy on the first date, especially without birth control.

I was also surprised that as assistant to the SoS, Blake didn't have the clearance to know certain things and he had to get Jay.

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

I was also surprised that as assistant to the SoS, Blake didn't have the clearance to know certain things and he had to get Jay.

I wondered about that, too. But since Blake remained in the room when they talked about the issue I wondered if it was really the security clearance or Blake's job. Blake doesn't really have negotiating power so it might have been his way of telling Blake that he doesn't talk about that with the assistant.