History Main / VisibleBoomMic

* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow;

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' episode "The Loogie Hawk"

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture", Plankton has trouble holding up the boom mike (since he's so tiny) and, as a result, the mike not only enter the scene, but it goes into Mermaid Man's mouth as he's speaking.

-->-- '''The Cinema Snob'''(on ''Film/{{Dolemite}}''), ''WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob''

[[quoteright:330:[[Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boom_mike_shadow22.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:[-♫ ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGNxKnLmOH4 Oh, I'm being followed by a BOOM shadow...]]'' ♫-] ]]

-->-- '''WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob''', on ''Film/{{Dolemite}}''

[[folder:Anime]]
* Whenever the ''Sinnoh Now!'' crew shows up on ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', expect someone to be clobbered by the boom mic at one point.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* Happens on the ShowWithinAShow in ''Disney/{{Bolt}}''. The director is angry about it, not because the audience could have seen it, but because the ''dog'' could have seen it, since it would have spoiled his EnforcedMethodActing. Strangely it's not visible within the movie itself the first time, but only when the director points this out in the editing room.

[[folder:Web Original]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4WorldWarThree "World War Three"]]: When the sergeant is giving orders after Green and Asquith have gone upstairs in the lift, guess what's reflected in his goggles?

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

->''"The boom mic is so far into the shot I could describe the boom mic operator as a sketch artist!"''

->''"The boom mic is so far into the shot I could describe the boom mic operator to a sketch artist!"''

* ''Film/{{Ransom}}'', the Creator/MelGibson movie: One can be seen just after Gibson realises his kid's missing.

** After Betty and Ralph leave and Brad and Janet are talking, we see the tip of it and it's shadow broadcast on the church wall.

* Deliberately used in the monologue of a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' episode hosted by Jon Lithgow.
** Also "deliberately" used when Tina Fey hosted the first show back from the writers' strike. Since the strike didn't do anything for the crew except put them out of work for a few weeks, the boom mike operator kept "accidentally" dropping the mike into frame, sometime hitting her.

* Referenced in a ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' short revovling around the filming of a commercial for Homestar Runner's favorite brand of marshmallows. Homestar spaces out during filming, on camera, and someone has to tap his head with a boom mic to remind him to say his lines.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode parodying ''Series/TheXFiles'', [[KentBrockmanNews Kent Brockman]] mentioned that the boom mic operator was being fired the next day, then the boom operator hit Kent in the head with the mic.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up": During the final scene between the businessman (three-armed Martian) and the counterman (three-eyed Venusian), as the counterman says, "And I agree with you about what they call music," a shadow from an overhead boom mike (on the counterman's hat) moves slightly.

** It's not uncommon in the Classic series for the boom mike shadow to actually obscure actors's faces. When the Doctor barges into Dr Quinn's house in "Doctor Who and the Silurians", the boom shadow seems to actually follow Quinn's face around as he moves about the set.

*** When the Robomen descend from the Dalek ship in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".
*** The Renaissance-era scene in "City of Death".
** During the minefield scene in "The Sea Devils", the Doctor appears to fend off a boom mike with his sonic screwdriver.
*** Under the stairs of the freighter in "Earthshock", the boom mike and the entire pole can clearly be seen in the background. Mind you, they did try and obscure it with set decoration and draw the eye away - but once you see it, it stands out like a sore thumb.
*** A rare one from the new series - in the scene in "The Lazarus Experiment" when the Doctor and Martha are in her apartment for the second time, the boom mic can be seen above the TARDIS' "PUBLIC CALL" lettering.

* In the first episode of ''Series/StElsewhere'', there's a long dialogue scene where the characters are walking through the corridors, and the mike is visible for a few moments.
* One of the worst offenders is the original ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' series, where the Visible Boom Mic could be spotted countless times floating over a main character's head.

* [[BreakingTheFourthWall Happens]] in ''Series/CornerGas'' when Brent and Wanda are [[DiscussedTrope discussing]] the comparative qualities between [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall production values and substance]].
** To clarify: The boom mic drops down and hits Wanda in the head, she then grabs it and throws it back off screen.
* This happened so often on ''Series/SouthOfNowhere'' that the fan forum declared Boomy the Boom Mic an integral character on the show and came up with a variety of EpilepticTrees and {{Parody Fic}}s to tie Boomy to the plot.
* An interesting is example is in the "Breaking Glass" episode of ''Series/MythBusters''. Since this is a science reality show, the visible boom mike isn't a problem as far as suspension of disbelief. The problem is that in the scene in which singer Jaime Vendera shatters a wine glass with only his voice, some viewers thought that the visible boom mike was some sort of sonic gun used to break the glass. Incidentally, in the same scene, some viewers thought a lens flare was a string attached to the glass, somehow used to shatter it. Both can be seen [[http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-adam-savage-on-breaking-glass.html here]] starting at the 0:43 mark.

* The boom mike showed up in the shot at least once during the 10-year run of Friends.

* Played for laughs in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' when the Bluths discuss whether Michael's British girlfriend might be a spy trying to eavesdrop on their business plans. As Michael argues that [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs nobody is trying to listen in on them]], the [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall board room's boom mike is clearly visible]].
* Snuck into an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. When Frasier and Niles exit the kitchen, the boom mic quickly crawls up off-screen.

* In ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'''s Lampooning of ''Film/{{Gorgo}}'', you get a rare look at Mike Nelson's microphone. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6NWEmwunmg&feature=youtu.be&t=9m17s (When he turns his head to say "Hey, Tom Servo!")]]
* In Season 1 Episode 9 of ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast1987'', the boom mic dips into the shot as Catherine walks into Alexander Ross's office.
* Spoofed in ''Series/VictoriaWoodAsSeenOnTV'' in the Show Within A Show dismal soap opera Acorn Antiques. Mr Clifford (Duncan Preston) is on the sofa when a dramatic revelation makes him stand up quickly, bashing his head on the boom mike. The rest of the scene is him in a fetal position holding his head in agony while the other characters carry on the scene, even reacting to dialogue he hasn't said.

[[folder: Web Animation ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* A [[https://www.moviemistakes.com/picture140471 reflection of one]] appears in the car windshield when Ralph and Betty drive off near the start of ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''.

** Also "deliberately" used when Tina Fey hosted the first show back from the writers' strike. Since the strike didn't do anything for the crew, except put them out of work for a few weeks, the boom mike operator kept "accidentally" dropping the mike into frame, sometime hitting her.

* This happened so often on ''SouthOfNowhere'' that the fan forum declared Boomy the Boom Mic an integral character on the show and came up with a variety of EpilepticTrees and {{Parody Fic}}s to tie Boomy to the plot.

Boom mic sightings were not uncommon in open-matte TV transfers of films intended for projection at 1.85:1, as more of the image was being shown than originally intended. This, too, has all but disappeared with the advent of widescreen HDTV.

* In the 6th episode of the TVTropes webseries ''WebVideo/EchoChamber'', the boom operator, cameraman, and boom are visible in the window reflection. However, the cameraman, Zack, was already a major character on the show, and WordOfGod has hinted that the boom operator is his brother, Dave.

* The UmaThurman[=/=]Creator/MerylStreep film ''Prime'' is filled with these. You could easily make a drinking game out of spotting the boom mics.

** The crew is also quick to point it out when it happens in one of the movies they're watching.

* Used purposefully in ''Film/BlackDynamite''.
* Happens so often in Film/{{Dolemite}} that WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob made a drinking game of it.
** And it's not only the boom mike, the hand and head of the boom mike operator appear in the shot too, leading to the page quote.

* {{Lampshaded}} in the slasher film spoof ''Film/TheresNothingOutThere''. A character is cornered by the monster when the boom mic drops into the shot. He then TakesAThirdOption by ''grabbing said mic and swinging to safety on it''.