Line #54 Main/SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil


1	->'''Kaneda:''' Tetsuo, are you OK? Who's this freaky kid? And why don't these helicopters make noise until ''after'' they've been hovering overhead for several minutes?\
2	'''Colonel:''' RARR NUMBERS.
3	-->-- [[http://www.toastyfrog.com/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailTheatre Toastyfrog Thumbnail Theatre]]: Akira (part 1)
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5	In TV and movies, when we're not supposed to see something yet, we can't hear it either, regardless of how little sense that makes. Cars will not be audible [[SurpriseVehicle until they come unexpectedly screeching around the corner]] or over the hill or out of the alley, people will turn up without having made any footsteps, an animal will not start its low growling until it's in shot. Sometimes when the reveal is being made by a camera {{pan}}, the sound will FadeIn as the subject becomes visible, as though the sound was being made the whole time, it's just we weren't at the right ''angle'' to hear it before.
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7	This is often justified by the protagonists' attention being somewhere else so that they (and by extension, the audience) don't hear what otherwise would be perfectly obvious until it's right on top of them. It's only justifiable up to a point, though.
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9	SubTrope of the RuleOfPerception. Compare and contrast ItsQuietTooQuiet, NothingIsScarier, and ParanoiaFuel. The total inverse is HellIsThatNoise, when you hear something bad but ''can't'' see it. OppositeTrope of SoundOnlyDeath, you can only hear this person dying, not see it.
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11	See also SurpriseVehicle, StealthHiBye, and BehindTheBlack. Often overlaps with EnemyRisingBehind, RightBehindMe, and TheEndOrIsIt. Not to be confused with the MonkeyMoralityPose, which is a trio of characters each covering their ears, eyes, or mouth.
12	----
13	!!Examples:
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15	[[AC:Advertisements]]
16	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6KmBRkKF_4 "Can't Look"]]: This 1999 British ad is about child abuse and presents its message this way. The camera pans over a baby's bedroom full of posters and toys --each character is covering their eyes over the sound of off-screen yells and sobs. Pretending not to see something doesn't make it disappear.
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18	[[AC: Anime & Manga]]
19	* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'': A military helicopter comes out of nowhere in an early scene and lands in the middle of the road, taking up most of the scene. The helicopter sound effect doesn't start playing until after it has been onscreen for a second or two.
20	* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Berserker and Ilya's sudden appearance in the middle of an empty street completely catches Shirou unaware. This is {{justified\|Trope}} because, like any other Servant, the humongous and usually quite noisy Berserker has the ability to recede into spirit form. This occurs in the original visual novel, but the anime makes it more apparent.
21	* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'': {{Inverted}} in episode 21. Mion desperately yells "gomen-nasai" while [[FadeOut fading out]] as the camera view switches to Shion. And Shion isn't even paying attention anymore.
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23	[[AC:Fan Works]]
24	* ''Fanfic/{{Entropy}}'': The Wisers are the literal personifications of this concept.
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26	[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]
27	* ''Film/AlienVsPredator'': Lex is climbing up a sheer ice cliff when she receives a call on her cell phone and answers it. If that wasn't illogical enough, she continues climbing during the conversation, and when she arrives at the top, she discovers that the person she's talking with was standing in front of a helicopter (!) at the top of that very ice cliff.
28	* ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'': Padmè and the Jedi rescue squad are backed into a ring in the centre of an arena. Though surrounded only by the relative quiet of droids making clicking noises, it still takes Padmè to shout "Look!" and a shot of the sky to trigger the BRRRRRRZZZZZ of the descending clone gunships. This is doubly surprising when one considers the arena has the shape of a giant ear.
29	* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'': The titular monster is somehow able to sneak up on the protagonists after the helicopter crash in the middle of a park with considerably less noise and movement than one would expect, despite the fact that he was in the middle of several buildings a few blocks away perhaps a minute before. In strict fairness, rewatching the key scene reveals warning footsteps and camera-jounce vibrations, but it's still somewhat credibility-stretching how quietly the monster manages to move for this key moment.
30	* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': Frustratingly enough, a street full of people is unable to hear or feel a 300-foot tidal wave until it's within a hundred feet of them.
31	* ''Film/FinalDestination1'': A bus that smashes into a lead character with a spectacular roar the instant they step off the curb but approached in utter silence before then.
32	* ''Film/TheGeneral1926'': This happens a lot in silent movies, where the lack of synchronized sound makes the illusion easier to get over. Here, Johnnie does not hear an entire Union Army regiment passing right behind his back.
33	* ''Film/{{Goldeneye}}'': James and Natalya are under the impression that they are alone in a field. When Jack Wade approaches and gives the reinforcements the command to come out of hiding, several men pop up out of the grass. While it may be plausible to never notice the soldiers, it's quite a stretch to not notice the multiple helicopters directly overhead, which can suddenly be heard the second they drop into view.
34	* ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'': It demonstrates that this trope is senseless in any sense. Abe Sapien's introductory scene features rotten eggs which can only be smelled while in-frame, despite having been present in the scene for several minutes. Joked about on the commentary: "Is it too late to send this back to editing?"
35	* ''Film/JurassicPark1993'': The Tyrannosaurus rex --whose footsteps make the earth tremble-- appears out of nowhere during the climax, apparently having snuck in. The scene was added late in the production (the book doesn't feature the dinosaur) because the producers were so impressed by the T-Rex model that they wanted to show it off more.
36	* ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'': A helicopter shows up from behind Dedalus' house without having made a sound until the heroes see it.
37	* ''Film/TheLongestDay'': A squad of American paratroopers is holed up in a house. Despite having somebody on watch a Tiger tank sneaks up on them. It's quite funny -.every time the lookout turns around for a cigarette or quip with his mates the tank silently glides out of an alley and across the street into one on the opposite side.
38	* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'':
39	** ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers The Two Towers]]'': Aragorn hears the Riders of Rohan and pushes Legolas and Gimli to hide behind a rock. None of the Horsemen, however, notice the three heroes despite the fact that before hiding, they were standing 20 feet ahead of them, right in front of them, on top of a hill, in broad daylight. However, once they've passed and Aragorn yells at them, then they notice.
40	** When the band of Rohirrim rides right by, the three give each other quizzical looks as if to say "huh ... they didn't notice." This was on account of the cloaks from Lothlórien, which make it difficult to see against any background -- green, grey, brown.
41	** In the original book, they spot the Riders from ''very'' far off already (five leagues by Legolas' estimation), consciously move down to the foot of the hill so as to not present an easily visible silhouette, sit huddled in their Elven cloaks, and have to wait for some time.
42	* ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'': Marcus, Kyle Reese, and Star are in the base of some non-Resistance humans. The base is being approached by a completely silent machine hunting squad consisting of a prisoner carrier, a Hunter-Killer, and a HUGE Terminator. Only seconds before they attack does Star sense their presence; the sound the Terminator makes can be heard milliseconds before he strikes.
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44	[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
45	* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': At the end of [[Recap/FireflyE04Shindig "Shindig"]], Mal and Inara are sitting on the edge of the gangway over the main cargo area, seemingly alone. It's only when the camera shot changes to a view of the whole deck, that we see the cargo of cows, who are audibly mooing.
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47	[[AC:Theme Parks & Rides]]
48	* ''Ride/JimmyNeutronsNicktoonBlast'': Poultra's thunderously-loud footsteps cannot be heard by the characters until she walks right inside the throne room.
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50	[[AC: Video Games]]
51	* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'': This is an actual gameplay element. While you can hear necromorphs in most situations, if they're sneaking up on you (especially in a vacuum), you won't be able to hear them, ''and'' there won't be [[MusicalSpoiler a scare chord]] until you actually look at them. Paranoia-inducing the first time you discover this.
52	* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': In the opening cinematic, a Machine enters the frame moments after Rost's narration mentions their existence for the first time. Once on screen, it makes loud mechanical noises as it moves, which should have also been audible during its off-screen approach.
53	* Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem: Occurs in NES video games, usually due to technical limitations. Especially egregious with scrolling games on 8-bit consoles. This is because the system simply didn't handle offscreen objects; if an object left the screen, it just disappeared. (It caused notorious respawning issues and is widely seen as [[FakeDifficulty one of the most artificial ways possible]] to increase the difficulty of a game.)
54	* ''VideoGame/TriOfFriendshipAndMadness'': The fox can be seen throughout several of the chapters sitting in an out-of-reach location or trotting along the walls. He'll make a jingling bell sound, but only if you're looking straight at him.
55	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
56	** The Devilsaur is a gargantuan Bigger Than T-Rex in Un'Goro Crater, who is still able to sneak up on most players.
57	** Developers took an attempt to avert this with the [[ExpansionPack Burning Crusade]] starting zone Fel Reaver: it ignores normal visibility range so it can be seen miles across, its steps have audible stomps and ''quake the earth'', it frequently gives off a foghorn... [[FailedASpotCheck And still manages to sneak up on players.]]
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59	[[AC:Webcomics]]
60	* ''Webcomic/EvilDiva'': In the tenth issue, Diva is brought to an extremely crowded party. Bodies are pressed against one another so tightly that she and her sister, Tia, practically need a snowplow to get through in some panels. However, after Diva sits down with [[MonsterOfTheWeek compulsive rapist Tommy]], the action focuses on the two of them. The massive clusters of other people vanish from the room mysteriously, and soon [[spoiler: Tommy decides now would be as good a time as any to go to prison for raping a little girl]]. The struggle goes on for a whole page without a single other person in the room noticing, even with Diva shouting at the top of her lungs (although Tia, who went outside, can hear Diva just fine). Then, miraculously, [[spoiler: Diva summons her magical wand into her hand]], an action that creates a small popping noise. We get a reaction shot from the other partygoers. The ones that were standing there next to the entire thing the whole time. Now that the audience can see them, suddenly they're shocked about a [[AttemptedRape rape]] situation going on ten feet from where they're standing.
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62	[[AC:Western Animation]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': During one of the musical numbers in [[Recap/BigCityGreensS2E4 "Green Christmas"]], Bill sings in a muffled voice due to having a candy cane in his mouth. The thing is, his voice only ''becomes'' muffled when he turns his head so the audience can see the candy cane, despite the fact that it would logically have been in his mouth for the whole line.
64	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In [[Recap/TheFairlyOddParentsS1E7FatherTime "Father Time!"]], Timmy goes back in time to see his parents when they were his age. The two of them introduce themselves to him (unaware that he's their son), and when they say their names, a conspicuously out-of-place truck blares by, totally obscuring their identities to the audience.

Context Main / SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil