MovieChat Forums > Zero Day (2004) Discussion > Argh, realistic until the shooting... S...

Argh, realistic until the shooting... Someone slap the 911 operator.

posted 19 years ago by pinokiyo
13 replies | jump to latest

I felt like I was watching a real documentary. The movie was so perfect -- up until the school scene; the acting by everyone was superb up until that point. However, the kids in the school -- which they all probably had the most simplest role, compared to others, to just run around -- and yet they failed to do so in a realistic manner. It just totally killed the mood. It was laughable. The kids would run like Lemmings and, by the far the funniest, they would take the same route AROUND the tables when they could've just went straight. Hilarious.

Also, the 911 operator was EXTREMELY annoying. I've heard real 911 operators before -- many times -- and they don't have to narrate like that: "Reloading", "Rapid Fire", "Weapons Loaded", "Weapon empty" -- uhh, what?! (You can tell they had separate sound track for those because she says it practically when it actually happens). Does that operator have a part-time job as a game voiceover too or something? It was just too funny. Actually, it was REALLY annoying. I would've bursted a gut if she had said, "Head shot!" too. Seriously, we didn't need a play-by-play announcer. A real 911 operator would've been just fine. And I'm sure many would agree it was extremely annoying when the operator kept asking "Andre, are you there?" A MILLION TIMES; Lady, obviously he's not. If I was the co-director, 1.) I would've replaced the operator with someone better and also fix her lines. or 2.) Have the operator actually speaking with different students that escaped (so we don't have to keep hearing her annoyingly say "pick up the phone"!), AND the students can state what is or was going on! (Like in Bowling for Columbine) or 3.) Just completely get rid of the whole 911 operator idea, so we can hear Cal and Andre better. I think I would've been more into that scene if I didn't have to hear that annoying operator. Silence is usually louder than words.

Also, it doesn't make sense how the operator is able to hear everything so well; the cell phone, which was from some kid calling the police, was in a totally different area. I mean, I can understand being able to hear loud gunshot, but being able to hear Andre and Cal speak was unrealistic. The operator somehow knew that one of the victims escaped too. Totally unrealistic. The operator even says "Andre is being apprehensive" -- how the hell does she know which one is Andre? But then right after that line, she says "Perpetrator is being apprehensive". Ridiculous.

I think there could've been more survelliance cameras than just three! The school just felt really empty. How hard is it to find a bunch of random people just to run around in the school. I mean, if there's hundreds of students then I would understand people bumping into each other -- but come on! -- there were only like 15 or so.

Also, Andre and Cal were both making bombs but it never showed them using it at the school. Huh? Therefore, the bomb making tutorial just seemed pointless.

I'm being picky about these things because the whole movie was just perfect and realistic up until that point, but these flaws just totally killed the mood then.

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[–] swearjar 19 years ago

I feel the exact opposite about the ending. Anything more and it would have glorified the violence. I liked the operator thing. Also the shooting doesnt start when that last scene does, i think were suppose to assume that they have done more than what we see. Keep in mind they wouldnt have had a massive budget.

late for the sky

[–] stelancaster83 19 years ago

yeah the ending was amazing - the blurry CCTV footage let the viewer know what was going on but wasnt detailed enough to make it "movie" like. The way the directors shot the end scence (no pun intended) added to the realism and to me was probably the most moving scene ive seen in pretty much any movie.

The voice over by the 911 operator added to it as well, increasing the tension with her calm voice was extrodinary.

I would definately recomend this film

[–] pbnj1275 19 years ago

I agree that the 911 operator added realism, but sometimes I just wanted her to shut up! It would have been nice to hear what Cal and Andre were saying. What was going through their heads? What did they say to each other. You can barely make out their discussion about "shoot on three or after three" because the operator keeps telling Andre to pick up.

But I did like the idea of showing the actual shootings through survelance cameras because the violence isn't really seen and makes the whole scene more terrifying - you know the idea that what you don't see is more scary than what you do see.

But yeah, there were definately times when that operator should have just shut up!

[–] Chris_TC 19 years ago

To the original poster: so what should the operator have done after Andre didn't pick up the first few times she asked? Sat there and just listened?

"or 3.) Just completely get rid of the whole 911 operator idea, so we can hear Cal and Andre better."

Why is it so important to hear everything they say? I found the entire sequence very realistic and very disturbing.
And by the way, the only reason why you heard any voices at all was the fact that there was an open phone line. Security cameras generally don't record any sound. So getting "rid of the whole 911 operator idea" would have gotten rid of all sounds and voices.

Andre had picked up the phone and carried it around with him. Also, the operator had heard his name, so his name was the only one she knew. It's obvious that she tried to get him to talk to her again and again. It's beyond me how you could find this annoying, since it adds so much to the realism of the sequence.

[–] pinokiyo 19 years ago

You thought it was realistic how the operator was being a play-by-play announcer? (ie: "Reloading", "Rapid Fire", "Weapon Empty") It was unnatural and sounded very scripted, unlike how the whole movie played out. I know professionally they need to stay clam, but she was unhumanly way too calm. She must have no human soul. All these shots fired and she was still doing the play-by-play announcement of kids getting shot, yet, not once does she say, to whoever she was announcing these things to, about sending units immediately to the scene. But the biggest reason it was annoying was how the operator kept saying "Andre, can you pickup?" in the very SAME annoying TONE. If you know anything about video/audio editing, you can tell they had separate audio track for those lines only and just stuck them in those moments. Very unnatural. And what's hilarious, or rather ridiculous, is when she tries to talk Andre out of shooting himself by saying, "We can work this out". I mean, if the movie purposely wanted to portray 911 operators as being brainless and annoying, then they succeeded.

"Secruity cameras generally don't record any sound." is what you said -- if they get rid of the 911 idea, then the camera they will use can be capable of recording sound as well. Simple as that. I mean, when you think about it, it's already hard to believe in itself how the audio from the phone was perfectly matched with the surveillance camera later on, anyhow.

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[–] MilleniumMacster 19 years ago

to the OP, the operator was able to hear them through the cell phone because Andre was holding it. And I think the Security view was fine, it got the suspense out without using blood (it's a low-budget film). Added to the already chilling realism.

[–] Chris_TC 19 years ago

Why did she announce what was happening? Uh, maybe because she was briefing the police? The police need as much information as possible about what's going on inside the building, so it makes perfect sense that she reported what she heard through the phone.

Also, your entire line of reasoning is just a bit weird. "She was unhumanly way too calm"? How do you know that? These people get trained to deal with situations that would cause normal people to freak out.
When she hears the final suicide shots, she even does lose her calmness for a second, you can clearly hear that.
I thought the whole depiction was very well done.

[–] punkvenji 19 years ago

Actually I didnt notice her until i watched to movie 2 or 3 times (no, I dont have a life.) and i didnt even find her all THAT annoying before i read about her being annoying. The only thing i dont get is why they hired an actress to play the 911-operator (it being a low-budget film and all).

Even though it is a bit annoying, it does give a realistic touch to it, i mean she cant just sit there and do nothing? + its probably a procedure she learned in 911-operator school.

[–] power-if-not-corruption 18 years ago

I agree, I was sitting there wishing I could reach into the TV and strangle her and stop that @#$% beeping!! I missed a lot of what Andre and Cal were saying because of the stupid woman and the beeping. Even apart from all that, I was shaking when it finished. The operator thing would have been good if she hadn't said "Andre? Are you there Andre? Andre pick up. Andre we can get you out of this. Andre?" a million times.

[–] silentspeakersmusic 18 years ago

This thread is kinda dead, but I have a question. Why was there beeping? What the hell was it? Like a low-battery on the phone? Hehe.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] RepublicofE 10 years ago

I understand why people find the dispatcher annoying. In any other film it would sort of be like a narrator saying "the bad guy is walking over to the table. The bad guy is talking to one of his victims. The bad guy has just killed one of his victims." But I think the idea was to show the disconnect and confusion between the shooters and the outside world. The dispatcher is receiving information exactly as the actual Jefferson County operators would have, and it shows just how out of touch with what was happening the first-responders were. Remember, you can see what is happening visually in the library on the screen. The dispatcher can't. She doesn't know the layout of the library, what the shooters look like or if they even go to the school, how many people are in the room, or what their end game is. By the time you get to watching the library footage, you just watched over an hour of exposition for what is happening by the perpetrators themselves. The dispatcher hasn't, the dispatcher is completely in the dark. For example, when she says "they've got them held hostage" she doesn't realize yet that they are planning on clearing the room. And during the actual CHS shooting, a lot of the first responders did indeed believe they were responding to a hostage situation and that's part of the reason why they wren't ordered into the building until it was too late. When Andre and Cal return to the library after several minutes of roaming the school, at one point Andre takes one of his handguns and dry-fires it at his head several times, making a clicking noise. But the operator doesn't report "perpetrator is pointing gun at head; may be suicidal". She reports it as "weapon empty". She is still in the dark about exactly what is happening down to a detail like that and it's actually pretty chilling if you really think about it. To get the full impact of it and fully understand why Ben Coccio decided to include a narrator for the library scene, I would recommend listening to that scene again while not actually watching it visually. And imagine just how traumatic something like that must be, to be witnessing an event like that unfolding right in front of you but only through a non-visual medium while you are powerless to intervene or even give clear direction to the police as to what is happening.

I think the operator also serves to demonstrate how Andre probably rejected the attempts of people around him to reach out to and help him, which were offered even right up to the time of his suicide.