My Little Game of Thrones Coffee Cup Experiment
Okay, so you all remember that coffee cup in Game of Thrones, right? Stuck in the middle of Winterfell like it owned the place. I was rewatching some episodes the other day, and that scene popped up again. Got me thinking, you know? How does something like that actually slip through? Seemed like a funny thing to try and figure out myself, not like I have a big-budget set, but just messing around at home.
So, I decided to run a little test. My own ‘Game of Thrones coffee cup’ practice session. Here’s what I did:
- Finding the Prop: First thing, I needed a cup. Didn’t have the exact brand, obviously, but I grabbed one of those plain paper coffee cups I had lying around. Close enough for my purposes.
- Setting the Scene: Then I tried to make my living room look vaguely ‘period’. Threw a dark blanket over the coffee table, dimmed the lights a bit. Looked absolutely ridiculous, but hey, it was part of the process.
- The Action: I put the cup down on the table, right in the middle of my ‘set’. Then I just started doing stuff. Walked around, pretended to adjust things, basically tried to simulate being busy or distracted, like people on a real set might be.
Putting it to the Test
I tried a few different things. Placed the cup prominently. Tucked it away slightly behind a book. Then I’d try to focus on some other task – reading something on my phone, fiddling with the TV remote, anything to take my direct attention off the cup.
Here’s the interesting part: When I knew I was looking for the cup or thinking about it, it was impossible to miss. It stuck out like crazy. But, a couple of times, when I genuinely got sidetracked – like when my dog started barking at the mailman – I actually forgot it was there for a second. My eyes just scanned right past it.
I took some photos too, trying to frame the ‘scene’. And yeah, in the pictures, the cup looked totally out of place. Glaringly obvious when you look at a still image later. But in the moment, amidst imagined chaos? Easier to miss than I thought.
What I Reckon Happened
My little home experiment wasn’t exactly scientific, of course. But it did make me think. It’s super easy for us, watching comfortably at home, maybe even pausing, to spot these things. We’re looking at the scene. The people in the scene? They’re focused on lines, lighting, camera angles, a million other details.
So, yeah. I reckon it’s just a case of tunnel vision. People get so focused on their specific job, they miss the obvious thing right in front of them. It happens. My silly experiment showed me how easily my own brain could just edit out the out-of-place object when I wasn’t actively looking for it.
Anyway, that was my practical adventure into the world of misplaced fantasy coffee cups. Made me appreciate the job of those continuity people a whole lot more. It’s harder than it looks to keep everything perfect when there’s so much going on.
